Amman - Day One!

First "real" day one in Jordan. I woke up to the call to prayer at about 5am, I think. I wasn’t sure at first what was happening because I heard it in my dreams. You know, like when your alarm goes off and somehow you dream about it before you actually wake up, and I had only gone to sleep about 3 hours before that with the help of a sleeping pill—and it was very, very dark out still. I was expecting to hear it at some point, well probably at many points, however I certainly wasn’t expecting it to wake me up. It was strange, yet comforting, and not scary at all. It’s a very soothing, and clearly very Arabic, rhythmic chanting. All the mosques play the call to prayer five times a day, and I believe we must be in the center of it all because it went on for about a half hour. Right when I thought it went away, it would roll back around and get louder and louder again. I think I must have fallen back to sleep because when I got up again, it was very sunny and bright in my room and I guess around 630-7am.

View from my room - UJ is down the hill and to the right.


So this was my first time looking out my window and really seeing where I was. It’s pretty spectacular. We are perched on one of the sides of one of the many hills that make up Amman. Square, white-ish buildings surround ACOR with some large patches of dirt here and there, basically the equivalent of empty lots—just much dustier and no vegetation. As far as I can see, there are large portrait pictures of King Abdullah scattered about. Many cats around – no dogs. A fairly busy main drag down the hill and across that street and just down to the left is the University of Jordan.

Cats everywhere - no Elaine, you can't pet these ones - although they look like everyday housecats, not tomcats or alleycats. No dogs anywhere.


I hadn’t spoken to Gary yet and suddenly I felt some manic rush to get ready for whatever today was going to be, so I drank my EmergenC got in the military shower (not a real one, you just can’t keep the water running the whole time, water conservation is simply a way of life here). Because I only have one outlet adaptor, everything has to be timed. Things need to be plugged and unplugged and everything gets their turn with the juice. My hairdryer almost blew up because sparks flew when I plugged it in and it started to smell like it was burning – thank god I only needed it for a short time, otherwise I might be bald right now.

I got ready in record time, and went downstairs to grab coffee and breakfast from the kitchen and wait to see Scudder. There’s a dining area next to the lobby with a large kitchen where everyone can grab what they want to eat for breakie that you have to prepare yourself: eggs, toast, cereal, coffee, tea, milk—whatever’s around. Then lunch is a more formal affair and served @ 2pm. You must tell them if you are going to attend because they are big on NOT wasting food. There is a family that has been cooking here for something like 30 or 40 years and because they are Muslim, there will never be pork served here, nor can you bring it in out of respect.

The dining room adjacent to the lobby at ACOR - kitchen is through a door to the right.


Lobby of ACOR


Scudder arrived somewhat disheveled – the airline lost his luggage again. Ack! This happened when he went to Morocco during his past trip. He got in later than expected (3am) due to filling out the missing luggage forms and all that jazz. I was introduced to Char at breakfast who I’ve heard a lot about. She is a professor from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, (near where I grew up) and a good friend of Scudder’s. She is in the heat of her sabbatical and teaching online classes for now. Last time she was here she brought a troupe of students from Washington—a neat lady who we will be having dinner with later tonight.

I went with Gary to grab some toiletries so he could be somewhat groomed for his presentation at the University of Jordan this morning. I think men aren’t supposed to sit with women, or maybe they are supposed to sit up front for directions. But I sit in the back and Gary sits up front. It cost him about 30 dollars to grab some shaving essentials, shampoo, etc. Yikes! However, there wasn’t any time to get him any new clothes, so the two-day old clothes were going to have to suffice for now.

Front of ACOR


Front Courtyard of ACOR


One of the views from the deck - there are many plants and flowers Mom would love.


View from back of ACOR - my room is second window down from far left


Olive trees everywhere

Touchdown

Salaam,

I am going to copy some of an email I sent to my family here - sorry if you've read this before, just not much time to rewrite now.

After 2 delays, my cell phone dying and MacBook charger being left at the Burlington security (Arrrghhhh)... I finally made it.

I cant even begin to think about what to say right now. The flight was good... the flight attendants were unlike any women ive ever seen - exotically GORGEOUS. When I first saw them in the gate at JFK, I had no idea they were Royal Jordanian flight attendants--they appreared like a classic army of beauties from the 70s in matching ensembles and were perfectly groomed. Red skirt suits, matching black hats with hair neatly pinned and perfect makeup. Oh and 3inch black pumps... everything identical. They treated us way better than the WestJet or JetBlue I am now used to. About an hour into the flight when my sleeping pill was just kicking in.. a woman asked me "chicken, beef, or fish" I was like "what?" Who still serves meals on planes???? I had no idea. So I had this lovely (for plane food) chicken marsala with veggies and rice, salad, bun with butter and gruyere cheese and some berry pound cake which was very good. What???? I slept as best I could, for I dont know how many hours...but I slept for sure. I woke up about 10 mins before they turned on the lights.. I had just realized the had closed all our windows and primped our pillows while we were sleeping. WEIRD. Then a woman came around with hot towels to wake us up. (PS - there was a flight prayer on the tv screen)

Then another meal... scrambled eggs, hash browns, sausage, croissant and bun with jam, fruit bowl, banana/strawberry yogurt and OJ and coffee. Haha...

I can't explain what it was like when I realized I was flying over the Meditteranean Sea... and then the most eastern tip of the shore over Tel Aviv near the Gaza strip then Amman. The airport was interesting... borderline rickshaw but not quite, size of the Burlington one but with MEGA security. There was exchanging money... which I'm, pretty sure I got screwed on, then the visa line, then customs line... then downstairs to get your bags. When I realized I was one of the last people without my bag... some baggage belt kid came over to me and asked me how many bags I was looking for, I told him one, he looked at my baggage ticket, and then at the same time I looked up and saw it.. and he did too. Then he took it, and I was assuming he worked for the airline, and told me to follow him, which I did and then he put my stuff through security... they insisted on scanning my film... I have no idea if its screwed out not now. And then all of a sudden I realized he was trying to take my luggage all the way to whereever I was going. I tried to get him to drop my stuff and said, "I'm Ok, I'm Ok, I can take this," and he just dropped it and looked at me as I walked away and he said, "tip tip tip," so I handed him 2JD, which I realized now is like 10bucks... Grrrr. Ohh well.. Damn Gary for leaving me.

Then I walked out into the arrivals area and there were Muslims everywhere crying for their newly reunited families... it was crazy... then through the crowd I saw some skinny kid, probably early 20s with a sign with my name on it. I was like, "Yesss," cause if he wasn't there, I was going to have to wait 6 hours there for Gary. So I got in his car and I realized where I was... in the Middle East. Everything... everything... everything... is different. We drove past tanks and soldiers out of the airport. The air is about 65 right now... not bad. I can tell though it gets HOT.. and it's dark so I can't really see much. All the buildings are white... all of them. The things that we would think are tacky back home like velvet and chandeliers in every room, are common. I saw so many things on the 30 minute drive to ACOR (American Center Oriental Research... more on that). Then we passed a huge fireworks display... apparently that's common, too. One of the girls I met today told me that fireworks are a nightly thing. I asked why and she said they used to fire their guns into the sky for fun, and banned that when bullets were coming back down and hurting people - DUH! So now fireworks are for fun.

I read that its impossible to pretend you know how to drive around Amman, and I can see why. It's laid out on a series of hills and everynow and then theres a crazy "circle" like a roundabout that everything it attached to. Lot's of honking and passing. We get to Acor and it seemed nicer than I thought, although I wasn't expecting so many people in suits to be standing around. I wasn't quite sure where to get in and I was told I would see a security soldier who would tell me, but someone pointed and I went in. I was met my Janet, a tiny Asian employee here. I wasnt expecting ayone to be here when I got in, I was just told to find my key in an envelope and go to my room.

She briefed me where to go and helped me with the small elevator as I stood with my luggage, it was noisy upstairs and I could tell something was going on. A couple with a security guard came to stand by the elevator and Janet said he could go first. And he said, no, I could go, I have all this luggage... and then she insisted he went first, I thought "Whatever," and the couple went in and their guard spoke into his sleeve and pressed the buttons. Once the door closed Janet turned to me and said, "that was the Prince Hussan." I was like HOLY SHIT! I've written papers about the royal family! I guess the director of this place is having some sort of party here tonight... not really sure the details.

Anyways... I found my room, and on the way I passed 2 girls sitting at a dining area on my floor, waved and asked if I was on the right floor. They were very nice and around my age or younger. My room is more than I thought it would be, but it's nothing fancy... don't get me wrong. Gary was right when he told me it was like a glorified dorm. I have 2 twin beds, 2 HUGE armoirs, a fan, lamp, bureau, and desk. And my own bathroom which I wasnt expecting. WORD! I told Janet I would be back to talk to her and on my way back I stopped and spoke with the 2 girls, Sarah and Jackie, and they were very friendly. They are studying at the University of Jordan for a semester and are from a military school in Pennsylvania. I think I learned more from them in 10 minutes than I could have spending hours on Google and reading books. Even one jumped up to ask "Michael," who has a Mac, if he has the same as me so I can use his charger. I'm sitting in the seminar room now to email, which has about 10 computers with internet free to use when the room is available. There is coffee and tea downstairs and a huge kitchen for breakfasts we make ourselves, toast, eggs, cereal... and then everyday theres a big lunch. We can take water from pitchers in the kitchen to our rooms, cause can't drink the tap water. And each floor has it's own private kitchen for personal food, and a room for ironing (and I bought a travel iron!) and a fairly equipped living room with tv, dvd, couches, tons of games and books. I can see how it's easy for Americans to feel comfy here.

OH MY GOD! Michael just came to find me in the seminar room here, and is letting me borrow his MacBook charger... sweet. He also said there was a MacStore here. The people here are really really nice so far.

I will post pictures and more tomorrow. Goodnight whatever time it is!
Jenica

Thank you, merci, danke, shukran, gracias, arigato...

This is a very informal shout out to all my peeps. I just want to thank you all for your love and support. You know who you are! I'm sitting in BTV (Burlington airport, I'm down with city codes! My years at OUC aren't all wasted!) waiting for my flight to board. We are hitting a delay already. Lovely, grrreeeeat start! My connection in JFK to Amman isn't until 11pm, and it's only 3pm now, so no biggs. I'm already feeling that manic bliss of free wifi - GO BTV! I'm sure its just the beginning of many elated moments where I get to plug in to cyber satisfaction. Oh, the things we take for granted.

I just spent almost 20 bucks on Lake Champlain Chocolates in the silly magazine store to bring and give away to new friends. The same chocolates would have been no more than 10 on Church St or no more than 5 at Cheesetraders. Sweet. :)

Also, I just realized I packed most of my homework into my overweight suitcase (I almost had to pay a $50 fee for being a few lbs over- Delta kindly waived it) that I won't see for another 18 hours of so. Brilliant.

Guy over the PA just said my flight is another hour delayed. Grand. Cuddling with my wifi for now.

Stay tuned.

The meaning behind the madness...

Salaam,

So the days are getting nearer and time is closing in on our adventure. When I first started working on this post (I have sat down to edit this particular one and finish it on several occasions but time is getting the better of me lately) there were 2 weeks to go until our departure date; now there is a just short of a week. I've been busy with school, work, internship, moving, yadda yadda. I have a handful of notes that I have collected this past month that I'm going to start pouring out here. Once I am in Jordan, I hope to be posting and adding photos daily.

I will be traveling with Dr. Gary Scudder, Coordinator of Social Sciences & History, Global Modules Guru, and professor at Champlain College, to Jordan this Sunday, October 21. The purpose of my involvement is providing publicity for the Global Module project that is being embedded into Champlain College's new CORE Division (more on that later) which will require a substantial amount of research. This semester, Gary is in the process of recruiting international classrooms to participate and commit to exchanging online dialogue (sort of a virtual classroom) with our students. This is an unprecedented activity and has been a great success thus far for us and the partnering international institutions. Part of my recruitment is to write a series of articles. ONE - about the development of the new CORE curriculum; TWO - The history and placement of Global Modules into the classroom and into the new CORE curriculum; THREE - my experiences in Jordan at the University of Jordan meeting the students and faculty on the other side of the exchange.

Needless to say, I am experiencing a myriad of emotions about the whole experience so far. I am thankful and honored to be a part of this, excited to travel and meet new people and see new things, nervous to go the Middle East for the obvious reasons, anxious about making the most of my time because of the short duration of the trip, and curious to explore my personal boundaries and abilities. I wouldn't be human if I didn't admit that the combination of these emotions are making me a bit queasy. I am thankful for the amount of support surrounding me, it's keeping my head above the water.

Off to the madness for now! Cheers!

Bienvenu!

So, I've done it. This means it's actually, really happening.

I've set this blog up to comb over my life and experiences while on a upcoming trip to Jordan. (Check out Gary Scudder's blog posts about Jordan, which is almost redundant as he's been there so many times now.) As a woman traveling to the Middle East, I suspect that I will see not only myself, but my place in this culture (Western/North American) through a whole new lens. Admittedly nervous (at times totally freaked out), hopefully this will be a space for me to lay it all out; the ups and downs, my fears and excitements, and my general zany notions and observations. I leave in three weeks already!

WOW!