The Good Life

Life in Jordan is growing on me. I have thoroughly enjoyed the weekend so far and may make a trip to Amman tomorrow for lunch and a movie. Prince of Persia, perhaps?

Last night we met up with a friend of ours from Yale, Jesse, who is teaching applied-English at one of the local colleges for the summer. After dinner (lamb kebabs, grilled onions and tomatoes, pita, hummus, and two random bowls of what seemed to be salsa), Jesse invited us over to his friend’s house. She is an American teaching English, as well. We had an incredible time, to say the least: met some really cool locals who spoke good English (including my first set of Arab twins), learned some new words, and enjoyed a few games of beer pong.

We spent today at one of our professor’s homes in the village of Sum. Their hospitality was incredible. If anything unites Southern American culture and Jordanian culture, it’s the hospitality. We arrived at her home and we’re introduced to the family. Shortly thereafter, her husband served us shots of Arabic coffee. I’m still wired, as that was the first of many times I got served the incredibly strong coffee. After an hour of sitting around chatting we sat down for lunch: chicken mansaf. It was delicious but I mistakenly drank the warm laban (fermented yogurt/milk-like sauce) thinking it was my water and have yet to fully recover. The thought of it makes me feel sick. Disgusting. After lunch, we were served hot tea with sugar and mint then brought a large platter of assorted fresh fruits including apples, bananas, oranges, and cucumbers (?!). More tea after the fruit then we moved into the sitting room for a few rounds of apple-flavored Argeela (aka sheesha/hookah/hubbly bubbly). This room was made for some mad chill-time. There was a table for the coals in the center with floor cushions/couches on every wall. Juice and desert came about half an hour later. We were stuffed. Somehow or another we got on the topic of music and the husband insisted that one of the other guys who plays the guitar and I take a shot at the Udd. We failed miserably, but it wasn’t completely our fault. The instrument was way out of tune and neither one of us had any clue how a Udd is supposed to be tuned. It was interesting, though. A few of us, me included, took a quick nap before heading to a traditional Arabic engagement/wedding celebration, which was the purpose of our trip in the first place. From what I understand, we attended the public announcement of the couple’s engagement at which the two families grant blessing upon the relationship. When we walked up, the girls went with our professor into a building for dancing and the guys stayed outside with the husband to observe the “ceremony.” We were served more food, a local favorite called "kinafa" (basically bread with cheese and honey) and more coffee while at the party. The engagement period is for the bride and groom to become better acquainted with eachother and work any problems out before the actually marriage, which usually occurs about a year later. They do not live with eachother during this time but are actually recognized as a couple by their religion. At least that’s what I understood but could be completely wrong. Let’s just say that the marriage process is, like most things, much different here. When we got back to our professor’s house we were served our final course: honeydew and watermelon. One of the guys in our group asked for salt to put on his watermelon and the entire family thought we were all so strange.

I’ve been spending a lot of time at the café near or hotel, where I am now actually, because the Internet is so much faster than the hotel. They always bring you a water bottle when you sit down, too. I like that. It’s incredibly loud at the moment due to the World Cup game between Ghana and Uruguay, go figure.

A few more cultural notes: Toilet paper is elusive and it’s a real problem. I just can’t get into the bidets. Too much information? Hope not. A large majority of cars and all of the taxis here are manual. And have I told you they use their horns incessantly? It’s very normal to see guys showing affection to one another: holding hands, locking arms, greeting each other with alternating kisses to each cheek three times, etc. Girls marry young, like 17 young. Families usually leave rebar sticking out on the top of their houses to avoid paying taxes on the property, as it’s considered “under construction.” Quite clever if you ask me. More to come later…

Miss y’all.

-Alex