I have so much on my plate, but I decided to add just a little more, and join the language partner program. I met my partner, who we will call Jill. I don't use people's real names because privacy is really valued out here. So, any name you find on my blog is not real. It just makes my stories easier to talk about. Anyway, so I met Jill, and her English was pretty bad, just like my Arabic. Between us both, we found communication somewhere in the middle.
It happened to workout that my roommate from orientation has a language partner who is friends with Jill. In fact, there is a group of four or five girls who were already friends, so we ended up in a big group together.
It is Arab culture to be really touchy. It is not uncommon to see people of the same sex walking down the street holding hands. They are really, extremely affectionate to each other, although publicly, this does not cross gender lines. At my adoptive family's house, a few of them greet me with kisses on my cheeks. In this situation, my partner was immediately wanting to lead me around by the hand, and stood much closer than I am used to. It is such a different culture.
Many people do not allow their daughters, even at the college age, to travel much alone. Part of the language partner experience was to go downtown, and then explore. This group of girls did not know how to get down town at all, and could not remember where anything was from previous excursions with their own families. For them, it was just as much of an unknown as it was to us. They had just as much trouble as I do with transportation.
The natives were as giddy as middle school girls. A lot of the time, Jordanian women have a fairly stern, non-smiling face. This does not mean they are mean or upset...it's just how they are. These girls were a huge contrast to what we were used to. I really loved seeing them so happy, but I also didn't really know what to do with it, since I could not understand much of what they said to each other.
So, we rode a bus downtown. There could not have been more people put on that bus. We were standing on the stairs that go out the back, and we worried the doors might open and we'd fall out. Eventually, we got there, and we walked to try some new things. I had Kinafa, and it's my new favorite dish. I can not say how much I loved it. It's some kind of cheese, with sugar and nuts mixed in. I don't know how else to describe it, but it was so very, very good. I'm going to ask my adoptive family to teach me how to make it.
On the way to our next destination, we saw lots of traditional stores. I saw this woman walking with her shopping on her head. I was impressed by her balance. I don't think I could have done that.
The next thing we tried was this drink made from sugar cane. It was made literally, right in front of us. They took the sugarcane, and then put it through the equivalent of a wood chipper/juicer. I expected it to be sweeter. It kind of tasted...I don't know...earthy? I didn't like it at first, but it grew on me.
There were fruit stands all around, and little winding streets.
We then went to the sook samik, which translates to fish market, and which was, as expected, full of fish. It smelled horrible, and I was glad when we moved on.
We walked by this beautiful mosque. It is the masjid hussein, I think, and it was almost like a castle. By this time, it had been a really long day, and my back was aching from the heavy backpack. I really was ready to be done.
The next stop was to buy a scarf. I did not understand exactly what this scarf represented, but the colors were based on the countries of and around Jordan. I got a red one, which I was told represents Jordan. Jill told me to tell this random guy to put it on my head, so here it is. I needed something to put on my head for the camel ride this weekend, so here, now I have it.
One of the last things we saw was the butcher, with dead stuff hanging in the window. I like to pretend the food at the grocery store wasn't recently walking around. Jill was raving about how fresh the meat was...so I guess it was probably walking around yesterday or the day before. It felt morbid to look at these corpses hanging on hooks, but as an American, I like to be far removed from my food's origins.
I really enjoyed this experience, and I have the entire semester to get to know Jill and her friends better. Hopefully, as my Arabic improves, so will our communication.
It happened to workout that my roommate from orientation has a language partner who is friends with Jill. In fact, there is a group of four or five girls who were already friends, so we ended up in a big group together.
It is Arab culture to be really touchy. It is not uncommon to see people of the same sex walking down the street holding hands. They are really, extremely affectionate to each other, although publicly, this does not cross gender lines. At my adoptive family's house, a few of them greet me with kisses on my cheeks. In this situation, my partner was immediately wanting to lead me around by the hand, and stood much closer than I am used to. It is such a different culture.
Many people do not allow their daughters, even at the college age, to travel much alone. Part of the language partner experience was to go downtown, and then explore. This group of girls did not know how to get down town at all, and could not remember where anything was from previous excursions with their own families. For them, it was just as much of an unknown as it was to us. They had just as much trouble as I do with transportation.
The natives were as giddy as middle school girls. A lot of the time, Jordanian women have a fairly stern, non-smiling face. This does not mean they are mean or upset...it's just how they are. These girls were a huge contrast to what we were used to. I really loved seeing them so happy, but I also didn't really know what to do with it, since I could not understand much of what they said to each other.
The next thing we tried was this drink made from sugar cane. It was made literally, right in front of us. They took the sugarcane, and then put it through the equivalent of a wood chipper/juicer. I expected it to be sweeter. It kind of tasted...I don't know...earthy? I didn't like it at first, but it grew on me.
We then went to the sook samik, which translates to fish market, and which was, as expected, full of fish. It smelled horrible, and I was glad when we moved on.
I really enjoyed this experience, and I have the entire semester to get to know Jill and her friends better. Hopefully, as my Arabic improves, so will our communication.
No comments:
Post a Comment