First week of Classes

Hello,

I have now been in Amman, Jordan for about two weeks.  I had one week of orientation and this last week I had my classes.  Since I last posted (about the Dead Sea) nothing too interesting has happened.

Like I said though, I started classes last Sunday.  On Sunday, Tuesday and Thursdays I have my local Jordanian Arabic dialect class.  It is the class that I am most interested in because I want to learn how to talk to the people in this city that I am living in. That was my biggest original goal for coming to this country.  It is going to be difficult because it is a lot different than the Standard Arabic I previously learned.

Sunday through Thursday I have my Modern Standard Arabic class.  There I learn the formal Arabic language, which is usually just used on the news, in classrooms and with government officials.  But by learning that, it is easier to pick up on the other dialects because they all have to same root system.  My formal Arabic class is the hardest one I am taking.  It is very difficult because our teacher speaks only in Arabic very often. But in time I figure I will catch on.

The other two classes I am taking are Area Studies classes.  They are “America and the Arabs” and “Israeli and Palestinian conflict”.  Both those classes will be interesting to me because they involve issues with my career goal of being a Middle Eastern diplomat.  Both of the professors are well-educated and good speakers.  For the final in the Israel and Palestine class I have to write a 25-page paper. 

Well that is enough about my school life, now I’ll talk about some interesting stuff.

First I will talk a little about my host family.  I am extremely happy about the family I got put in.  My host mom-Ma’ma, host brother Fadi, host sister Widad, and a couple Syrian houseguests live in the house with me.  They are all nice and treat me well and they are Christians. Ma’ma has two other daughters named Nadia and Wafaa that both have little children that come and visit us often.  Their 5 and 7 year old children treat me like an older brother and always want to play with me.

The view from my bedroom window

Again

Ma’ma cooks fantastic meals and always makes me eat about 3 servings worth, I am going to come back to the states weighing about 20 pounds more.

The most exiting thing so far for me is getting to school in the mornings.  I get in a little white car, which is a public transportation vehicle, and go to a place called dewar dekhali.  That ride costs me 35 quirsh(Jordanian cents).  Then I get on the white bus and it takes me to the main gate of the university, which costs me another 35 quirsh.  The driving is so crazy her that I am not even going to attempt to describe it.  Sometimes I am forced to use a regular taxi and they usually try to take extra money.  So I have to stand my ground and tell him in Arabic that I am paying the amount on the meter.  Sometimes they get mad and yell.

Last night I went to a bar on Rainbow Street.  I had a glass of local Jordanian wine, which I enjoyed.  About 20 of us students went to the bar together and celebrated our first week of class being over.

A church down the street

I will end with a funny little story.  For my classes I have 3 required books to get.  So my buddies and I went to the bookstore and asked for the books.  The clerk went and got one book and put it on the copy machine and printed us off three new copies.  That is how all the bookstores are here.  They don’t abide by copyright laws which makes it cheap for me.

-John Michael Middleton