While in Jordan, I was really lucky to have a family who not only welcomed me into their home and were so caring the entire time and taught me so much about Jordanian culture and Arabic but I also really felt like I was a part of their family. Not just my immediate family but all the grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles and friends made me feel welcome at all gatherings and get-togethers. Family and friends are a really big deal in Jordan. Our apartment was a revolving door of extended family and friends who would drop by to chat, have tea or just say hello. And if someone wasn't at our house, we were probably at someone else's house. Several times a week, we would drop by both sides of my host grandparents house to chat and they would shower us with snacks and sweets. And odds were that while we were there, another cousin or aunt or uncle would be there too. Jordanians have a really wonderful priority on being surrounded by people who love you. Even our next door neighbors, who my family was very close with, became a place I felt so comfortable going over and having snacks and chatting. I really cherish the sense of community I felt in Jordan. Besides just spending time with friends and family, I attended quite a few parties/celebrations with my host family including an engagement party of a family friend and my host grandmother's birthday party. The engagement party was so much fun. It was all women plus the groom and everyone sat in chairs in a circle with a dance floor in the middle. Everyone claps and enjoys kunefeh and tea. My host great-aunt and all of her friends ended up pulling me into the middle of the dance floor and showing me how to dance as everyone clapped around us and it was just so much fun. My host grandmothers party was also a really enjoyable experience. It was at my host aunts house because she had a huge patio set up with a big covered seating area and an above ground pool and a cards table and I just had a blast playing cards, scootering around with all my host cousins and siblings. Also, every group that came brought a cake so lots of yummy cake too. Another excursion with my family to "Brand Street" (because it has a lot of shopping for the big name brands) led us to meet Jordanian celebrity, Laith Ali. Bye!
Sophia
1 Comment
Mustafa
8/27/2016 07:29:57 am
Your host family was very generous both in terms of time as well as going out of their way to make you have a true homestay experience. They really took you in as one of their own. Experiencing the web of extended community life is something that we have generally lost in America at the expense of individualism and greater material well-being.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
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
All
Archives
April 2017
|