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 So, after quite a bit of confusion, I know the homestay situation now (kind of).
After having such an amazing homestay/exchange student experience in Spain last year (shoutout to Clara, Elena & Julia <3), that I was really looking forward to living with a homestay in Jordan. But when my acceptance letter came and it said that we were staying in apartments with other NSLI-Y students, I was excited to live with the other NSLIYers but also kind of disappointed to not get the authentic experience of living life with a Jordanian family. After all, when in Spain, my favorite experiences where when we went to the Feria (huge carnival) and walked around and had the best Spanish churros with my host family and got to experience life as a Spaniard. Those experiences were just as enriching as all the sites we saw. Recently though, I found out that we will be staying in apartments with 3 other NSLIYers for about 3 weeks and then after Ramzan ends (around July 6), we will stay with host families for 3 weeks. I am so excited because this is honestly the best of both worlds! I am so excited to get the chance to get to know the other NSLIYers really well in the beginning and go through the process of getting adjusted to Jordanian culture together, but we will also have quite a bit of time to live with and become a part of a Jordanian family. It also makes a lot of since because I know that many families speak little to no English and when we move in, we want to have a foundation of Arabic so that we are able to communicate. Furthermore, moving in after Ramzan is smart because life definitely slows down during Ramzan and we wouldn't want to be rude and eat in front of our host families while they are fasting. I haven't gotten any specifics about who my host family is but I know that that information should be coming around the beginning of June. I will keep you updated. Bye! Sophia Unfortunately, Islamophobia is all too real and nowadays, the fear extends beyond just Islam itself but all things associated with it, like Arabic. After reading this article in the New York Times about a college student who was deplaned for merely speaking Arabic, I was really astounded and made me realize how important programs like NSLIY and YES Abroad* are in encouraging understanding between the US and other countries and cultures. The thought that the mere mention of Arabic provokes the assumption of terrorism really disappoints me.
On the other hand, I was really uplifted after reading this article (also in the NYT) which highlights a Muslim high school girl who lives a couple of miles from San Bernardino, wears the hijab and won Prom Queen. It makes me really happy to see that a community who was harshly affected by a tragedy to be able to overcome the temptation of becoming bitter and hateful. These are 2 super thought provoking articles I would highly suggest reading if you have the time! Let me know in the comments below if you see any other interesting articles about Islamophobia or people actively working against Islamophobia, I would love to read them. Bye! Sophia *The Kennedy-Lugar YES Abroad Program is another study abroad program through the State Department that sends students for a year to countries with significant Muslim populations. The focus of the program is not on language but predominantly on cultural understanding. Now that I am able to formulate some basic sentences, I thought that I would properly introduce myself to you in Arabic. !اسَّلامُ عَلَيكُم .اِسمي صفية وَهانْوَتي .انا مِن مدينة سن فرنسِسْكُ في امريكا .عُمري أربعة عشرة سِنة Translation-
Greetings (literally-Peace be with you). My name is Sophia Vahanvaty. I am from the city of San Francisco in America. I am fourteen years old. !اهلً وساهلً
First of all, I just want to highlight the fact that I officially only have 45 days left until I get on a plane to head to Pre-Departure Orientation in Washington DC!!!! That's less than 2 months which is kind of blowing my mind. Especially considering that I only have 30 school days left of freshman year! Anyway, this is the 4th week of Arabic study so I thought I would keep you guys updated. We are working through the Alif Baa textbook series and every week we do a different unit. We learn new letters, new vocab and about cultural things like etiquette and how to interact with others. Even though I had an informal understanding of how to read and write letters from religious school and learning how to read the Quran, there is so much more nuance to all the sounds and pronunciations of the letters and how they interact with each other than I expected. It does mean that I don't have to alliterate anything when learning vocab which is really nice. The Arabic language is truly beautiful to write and listen to and if you are interested, take a look at this fun alphabet song below- As those of you who know me personally know, I have a little bit of an obsession with quotes. They cover my computer desktop and coat the walls in my room. I snap pictures and screenshots of interesting quotes I encounter and I love collecting these tiny capsules of wisdom. Here's one for all you fellow avid travelers out there-
"If you wish to travel far and fast, travel light. Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness and fears." In light of my crazy levels of excitement for this summer, I found this quote that I think is so incredibly true...
"Never forget that anticipation is an important part of life. Work's important, family's important, but without excitement, you have nothing. You are cheating yourself if you refuse to enjoy what's coming."-Nicholas Sparks I have recently received a rough draft of my travel itinerary and as all this information starts to come to me, it starts to seem more and more real. I don't know when it will fully sink in that I will be going and studying in Jordan for two months this summer!!! (AAH, I kind of internally start jumping up and down every time I start thinking about it.
Anyway, the basic gist of it is that I fly out of SFO on June 13 (62 days from now!), stop in Chicago for a couple hour layover and then fly to DC where we will stay for two days for the Pre Departure Orientation (PDO). On June 15, we will depart from DC and have a stopover in Vienna, Austria briefly on our way to Amman. On the way back, we leave from Amman at 3 am and fly to Frankfurt, then DC and then finally back to San Francisco. The more than 30 hours of travel time back from Amman will definitely be tough. I will keep you updated on any more info that comes my way. Sophia |
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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