We have officially arrived in Jordan!!!! We all cheered (in our inside plane voices, of course) upon flying over Amman and were able to see beautiful aerial views of the city that will be our home for the next 6 weeks. We then arrived at Queen Allia International Airport and were warmly welcomed by our driver, Saeed. We packed into our bright orange van and headed back to Amman, which is about an hour away. We listened to Arabic pop music and enjoyed getting our first glimpse of Amman and Jordan. We excitedly sounded out words we saw on signs and rejoiced at being able to understand the cognates (هارديز=Hardee's). While there were not that many people out and about because it is Ramadan and everyone is fasting, it was exciting to see different landmarks and buildings and start to get to know more about Jordan. For example, did you know that Jordan is a hub for medical tourism (travel to another place because of their medical care) and Amman's King Hussein Cancer Center is considered the best in the Middle East. As for the weather, thankfully, while it is hot, the aridity keeps it from feeling to muggy and though I live in a place where it rarely is hotter than 85˚, it hasn't at any point felt uncomfortably hot. However, the aridity definitely makes dehydration a very real problem and since it is illegal to eat or drink in public (fines reach up to 40 JD (Jordanian Dinars)) from sunrise to sundown during Ramadan, it has been hard to stay properly hydrated. We arrived at the apartments where we will be staying for the next 3 weeks about an hour after we left for the airport. We got our keys and headed up to get settled in our rooms. I'm sharing our 2 bedroom apartment with Olivia and Chloe and will be sharing a room with Chloe. Here are some pictures of our apartment: As for amenities, we have everything we could have wanted. We have really good internet (you can even stream things), hot water, AC and fans and filtered water cooler. The apartments are all slightly different but all have the same components. But what we can all agree on is that the roof is the best part. They have set up a super nice sitting area with rugs and mats to sit on on the roof and it has a really nice view. It is the perfect hangout area at sunset when all the neighbors turn on their colorful Ramadan lights and we can hear the call to prayer from the neighboring mosques. We finished out the night with shawarma. Here's what a typical shawarma in Jordan looks like: More updates on life in Jordan soon!
Sophia
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Despite a long day of traveling yesterday to get to DC, my roommate, Olivia, and I woke up pretty early and headed down to breakfast at the Au Bon Pain next door. I don’t know why, but after studying all these Arabic customs and social norms, I have become hyperaware of the social norms in the US and how diverse they are even within the same country. For example, something really simple that was a big shift was the amount of people walking down the streets of DC wearing suits. In San Francisco, the whole concept of formal dress is so difference and I didn’t realize to what extent SF is so casual until seeing such a large sea of men and women in suits. Another side note about DC, I love how so much history and all the monuments are so incorporated into the city. Last night, as I drove to the hotel from Ronald Reagan National Airport, I saw so many of the monuments, the State Department building and crossed Pennsylvania Ave. After breakfast, we headed across the street to the American Councils (ACES) office. While NSLIY is funded and conceptualized by the State Department, American Councils does the selection process and is one of the organizations that actually implements some of the programs (like ours). We headed inside a room with the tables set up in a U shape and were bombarded with a ton of information packed into 9 hours. It moved by so quickly but I got to know the other students a lot better. We started the day off by introducing ourselves in Arabic and then got a quick overview of NSLIY as a whole and ACES role in the program. After that, a man from the Department of State Bureau of Education came and talked about why foreign language study is important to national security and a peaceful world and talked about the different jobs and internships the State Department offers. We also got to meet a current State Dept college intern and ask questions. After that, we had a break and I got to meet all the students. They all seem super amazing and it’s so nice to meet so many other students who are as interested in language study and learning about other cultures as I am. After the break, we got the Program Overview and Schedule which is what everyone was really looking forward to. It included all the specifics of the program and it made everyone even more excited for the program because now we all have super specific things to look forward to. Here’s an overview of some of the important things we learned about- - there are 21 high school students from all over the country in the program, 12 girls and 9 boys (15 who were always planned to go to Jordan and 6 students who used to be going to study Turkish but switched after the trip was cancelled after a bombing in Bursa) - we have a Resident Director (RD) and Assistant Resident Director named Michael and Katy who both speak Arabic fluently and have spent an extensive amount of time in the area - While we all had no previous Arabic experience before this, we are split into 3 different class groups for the summer based on a placement test we take the first day - We will be visiting Ajloun Castle, Petra, Wadi Rum, the Dead Sea and a lot of other cultural excursions within Jordan - We will be staying in apartments with 2 other roommates for the duration of Ramadan and after it ends, we will move in with host families for the last 3 weeks There was a ton more info that I will share as it becomes applicable. We then had lunch and then split up into 2 groups. My group first went to the bank and cashed our stipend checks and received our t-shirts and textbooks. Then we returned and talked with Michael, our RD about how we cope with stress and deal with tough situations in Jordan and also how to discuss religion and other controversial topics with our host families and other people we meet. Afterwards, we talked about staying healthy, went over how to greet others and got an overview of the academic program. Here’s an overview of the academic situation- - We will be studying at the Qasid Institute, a renowned Arabic school where many diplomats, college students studying abroad and other study Arabic - The school week is Sunday through Thursday because Friday is the holy day in Islam - Our school day is from 8:30-12:30 - We will spend 3 hours studying Modern Standard Arabic (what is in newspaper, media and is taught in school) and 1 hour studying shaami (Levantine Arabic) - 2-3 hours of homework is to be expected every night - after school we will do different cultural excursions and activities Later, Patrick, who did the exact same NSLIY Jordan program last year came and talked about his experience, gave advice and answered lots of questions. We learned of all the best restaurants and how to navigate out of uncomfortable situations. He was super helpful because there are definitely many things that only someone who has gone through the experience can tell you. After we were done, we had dinner and then headed out to walk to the White House. While I had come to DC with my grade in 6th grade, we saw all the monuments except for the White House so it was really nice to see it this time. Oh and by the way, as we were standing there, the presidential motorcade pulled in so that was pretty fortuitous timing. After the White House, we headed back to the hotel, I studied for an hour with Olivia, Ally, Katharina and Rachel and then worked on my blog and went to bed.
I can’t believe that tomorrow we will be leaving for Jordan! While I should probably be focused on the 2.5 hour long math final exam that I will start in approx. 7 minutes, I find myself thinking about eating منسف and بوظة instead. There is less than a week left until I depart for Pre-Departure Orientation so while this blog will soon be full of pictures of my own, I thought that I would give you guys a little preview of what's to come– Amman–PetraWadi RumThe FoodIf all that doesn't make your mouth water, then I don't know what would. :) Hope you guys have a little bit of an idea of what's to come! !معالسلامة
صفية |
We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us. !أهلا و ساهلاHi! I'm Sophia, a high schooler from the San Francisco Bay Area. I received a scholarship through the State Dept. to study Arabic in Jordan in the summer of 2016. Categories
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