« March 2005 | Main | May 2005 »

April 27, 2005

Save the Camels!

This article doesn't have anything to do with Jordan at all but it meets the camel criteria so that means I get to post about it.

There are several really funny points in the article I found today on Yahoo News entitled "Australia to Cull Wild Camel Population". First is that they are killing the camels because they are drinking all of the water. Is that ironic to anyone else? As I learned in Arabic class (in Arabic of course), camels only need water once every 14 days! How in the world are they drinking all of the water?

Secondly, why don't they just move the camels to another country? I know plenty of Jordanian families that would love to have a camel! Of course, you would have to be careful about flooding the market and driving camel prices down but I am sure we could work something out. Or we could just make lots of Jesus-sandals out of them! They sell them in Jerusalem and Damascus but they are kind of expensive so maybe we could fix that problem with all of these camels. Or we could give shoes to an entire poor nation. I know that sounds harsh but at least then the camels would be used for something.

The third rediculous point of this article is that, quote, "Australia has a history of infestations by animals from overseas". You mean they didn't learn their lesson the first time they imported crazy animals? Wow, even Jordan isn't that weird.

Posted by rcollins at 7:11 AM | Comments (2)

April 25, 2005

American Idol meets Big Brother

Today, I read the funniest article that I have seen in a very long time. When I saw the headline ''Star Academy' Winner Detained' I could not resist!

Star Academy is a bit like American Idol except that the contestants live in one big house and are taped 24 hours a day. My family here was obsessed with it so I have watched quite a bit of Star Academy while I've been in Jordan. Every Friday night there is what they call "Prime" where all the contestants perform and one of them gets voted out of the house. It is really over-produced and everybody is pretty bad but it is fun to watch anyways.

Anyways, this article talks about Hisham, the winner of Star Academy 2. Supposedly he was in Saudi Arabia and got arrested because he was kissing and touching girls in a public place. That is definitly not allowed in Saudi Arabia and would cause quite a scene. Although I think it is funny because I was a fan of Katia who he beat when she got voted off. He only won because he is from Saudi and there are too many bored housewifes there voting for him.

Ha, as you can see, the show has definitly grown on me and everyone here has their favorites. My host sister keeps telling me that she is going to go on Star Academy 3 (although I know for a fact she isn't a singer) so maybe some day we can all vote for her! Unless Mohammed, my rapping host brother, beats her there. Yup, it's another crazy day in Jordan.

Posted by rcollins at 7:28 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

April 24, 2005

The Palestinian Problem

This morning I had the opportunity to tour a Palestinian refugee camp run by UNRWA outside of Amman. Not many people actually have the opoprtunity to see this type of thing so I was definitly looking forward to the trip.

The camp conditions wern't too surprising when we finally arrived. The refugees live in houses, not tents, and have running water and electricity. The streets are narrow and dirty but it reminded me of any poorer part of a city, particularly the poorer parts of Amman. We visited a boy's elementary school and the health center after being breifed on the status of the Palestinian camps in the region. The camp we went to is the biggest in Jordan and hosts about 80,000 refugees.

Although it wasn't surprising, the camp conditions were still extremely sad to see. Walking in to a classroom stuffed with 45 second-grade boys probably isn't unique to the refugee camps but it is frustrating. The library we saw is not only locked away so that it can only be used under strict supervision but it also only contains about 100 books, most of which seemed to be dictionaries. It definitely didn't contain my idea of pleasureable reading.

After the boy's school we saw a learning center for "slow" or "disabled" learners. This was definitly the cleanest building we saw and seemed to give us some hope that there really is a growing and flurishing society in these croweded streets. These types of services move beyond temporary fixes and focus on the fact that a new society needs to be taken care of now. The refugee problem does not seem to be chaning any time soon and it is important to focus on the current situation instead of an idealized past or future.

Karl passed along an interesting article about this exact predicament in Lebanon. The Lebanese government is trying to find a ballance between complete acceptance of the situation and complete denial of the problem. So far, the steps that they have taken have only led to poverty and to violence so a new strategy is necessary.

The article also brings up another interesting point about the Right of Return. I asked my friend Adel the other day about how many Palestinians woudl actually return to Israel if they were given the chance. He told me, being half Palestinian, that there aren't very many at all that would want to return, they just want to know that they can. The article references a survey that says just that: only a very small percentage of Palestinians would actually return if they could. I am quite curious to know if this fact would make a difference in negotiations if the Israelis knew this and what effect it would have. In my opinion, it could very well encourage people to make new compromises.

In the end, the sadest part about my experience was seeing the lines of people waiting at the health center. Although it is great that they get some kind of care, there is no way that is is completely comprehensive. The money just isn't available to supply the equipment that they need.

In the end, I think that I am truly blessed to have the opportunities that I have. These problems are not unique to refugees in any way but it is still important to understand how these people live. Hopefully it is visits like these that will solve this conflict and return peace to both the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Posted by rcollins at 6:58 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

April 23, 2005

The Syrian Border

If you need a Syrian visa, I'm definitely the person to talk to. Well, really any girl who is willing to smile at the border guards and bat her eyelashes a bit will do.

Yes, this weekend Rob, Haley, and I made our first trip to the Syrian border to try and get visas. It is easy to get them at the Embassy in Amman but the $150JD charge that goes along with them is a bit expensive. So, we had heard that if you go to the border and wait around a while they will fax your information to the Embassy and only charge you $16USD. So, Wednesday afternoon we headed up to the border and decided to wait it out. After 7 1/2 hours and a lot of eyelash-batting we finally got in! It was quite amusing to sit in the processing room playing cards and eating the snacks we had brought. Rob and Haley passed the time comparing choir repratoire and making paper airplanes as I sat trying to read a book that I had read already. At about 11:30 that night we were given the thumbs up and we paid for our visas entered Syria.

I didn't have many expectations about Sryia being a wonderful place before I left. I had heard that it could be uncomfortable for foreign girls and that it was very different from Jordan but I didn't expect to love it as much as I did. We picked to go on a holiday (the Prophet's Birthday) so I didn't know if anything would be open but it was acutally better because everyone was out enjoying themselves. There were banners and balloons everywhere as we wandered through the Souk (market). I felt like I was on the travel channel because everything was just so interesting. The souk is really old and the streets aren't wide enough for cars so there are just tons of people wandering around doing their shopping.

We also went inside the Ummayad Mosque and an old palace that has a museum in it. They were both incredibly beautiful and I have tons of pictures that I can't want to get developed. I was really impressed with the city and can't wait to go back. Even if it is just to see the flash-back-to-the-Soviet-Union army uniforms.

Our trip back to Jordan was quite uneventful and I was glad to crawl back in to bed after a long day. It is supposed to be easy to get in to Syria a second time so next time we will get to enjoy the city without an 8 hour wait. Although I think it is worth the wait.

Posted by rcollins at 8:39 AM | TrackBack

A Little Behind

In the last week I've gotten a bit behind on this blog thing. Basically it is because I had 6 tests in the past week and a half! I spent every minute of my day in class or studying for the many many exams that I needed to take. I have managed to do fairly well on several of the tests so I am not too worried about my grade. Of course, by fairly well I mean that I didn't fail like I thought I would so I really don't know what the end result will be.

Level 4 has turned out to be quite a challenge. The biggest problem is that I just don't have the vocabulary that the other students do. I know as much grammer and catch on just as quickly but when it comes to just random vocab I am really behind. Slowly I seem to be catching up but I don't know if I will ever know enough! Watching the other American students struggle as much, if not more, makes me feel a bit better but it is still difficult to enjoy class when it is so hard.

My Democracy class is going well. Last week we had a Fulbright scholar come in and give us a lecture on Islamic Democracy. It was really interesting and they guy was very knowledgeable. One of the neat things about Jordan is that it is really easy to meet with some very important people. The scholar has complete access to all of the members of the Muslim Brotherhood here in Jordan so the research he is doing is pretty accurate. Instead of reading books, he gets to go straight to the source and ask questions about what they actually mean when they give speeches.

International Relations is a different story, however. I probably shouldn't post that I think this class is a waste of time because I think there are some professors who have this link but I'm gonna go ahead and say it anyways. I am learning nothing in this class! We had a midterm last week and the questions were quite rediculous along with the 45 minutes we were given to complete it because he was tired of waiting around for a full hour! At least we finally have a copy of the book so that I can try and get some information out of it.

Anyways, now that midterms are over I can go back to being bored. And worrying about my summer situation. I have had two interviews this last week and have a strong preference but won't know until the end of this week sometime if I got the position or not. Please cross your fingers for me, it isn't fun to worry about this abroad!

Posted by rcollins at 7:54 AM | TrackBack

April 18, 2005

The Miracles Never Cease Here on the Sea of Galilee

My friends and I had quite the adventure this weekend. I was really looking forward to the trip because it would be the first time I had been to Israel but the trip was much more exciting than I could have ever predicted.

After my two tests on Thursday, Adel, Sam, Rob, and I took a taxi to the northern border crossing into Israel. Leaving Jordan wasn't a problem and it took us about 15 minutes to go through all the checkpoints. When we got to the Israeli side, however, a woman immediately took our passports and started looking at us suspiciously. We made it through the metal detectors without any problems but we couldn't proceede on to passport control because we still hadn't received our passports back. After several minutes of staring at our passports, the woman decided we were definitely suspicious and that she needed to question us individually. She took me aside first and asked me lots of crazy questions about where I was going and why I had been in Jordan. I definitely tried the "I go to BRANDEIS" bit but it didn't seem to help.

Oh, and while she was questioning us, she figured out that we all had two passports and requested to see them all. I wasn't worried because mine doesn't have any stamps from forbidden countries but Sam has been to Syria five times and Adel has been to Lebanon. This led to even more questioning and the realization that we were going to be there for a while.

The border guards finally gave us back our passports and let Rob and I through the border after about an hour and a half. Sam and Adel, however, spent about another hour and a half being questioned and examined inside the border. Rob and I did our best not to panic as we imagined them being tortured or deported or worse!

We finally all made it through the border so we grabbed a taxi and headed to Nazareth. In Nazareth we stayed in a youth hostel inside a Convent that is built over the suspected house of Joseph. It was a great place to stay and was right in the center of the city. That night we saw some of the sights including Mary's well and some awesome churches. In the morning we went exploring and then took a tour of the ruins under the Convent.

After our tour, we found the bus that would take us to Tiberius and make the one hour trip. In Tiberius we explored the shopping areas and the waterfront and found a nice hostel just a few blocks from downtown. There aren't very many sites to see in Tiberius so we just kind of hung out for most of the afternoon. The funniest part was watching all the shops close down at 4pm because Shabbat was comming! I felt right at home watching the Jews of Tiberius walk to services. Although, I was a bit worried that we wouldn't get dinner which also reminded me of Brandeis. . .

We decided that the next day, instead of paying an arm and a leg to explore the Golan Heights, we would bike around around the Sea of Galilee. The guide book said it was a great way to get around and should only take us about 4-5 hours at a pretty comfortable pace. We rented our bikes and set our alarms for 6:30am so we could be on the road by 7am.

Everything was going smoothly until I realized that my bike wouldn't shift into high gear. Although frustrating, I figured that it wouldn't be too big of a problem. The first site we stopped at was the ancient Galilee boat also known as the "Jesus Boat". It was the only thing I really wanted to see so we watied the half an hour for the place to open. The boat was amazing and the entire process of digging it out of the mud was really cool to watch. It took 11 years to get the boat ready to display and now it is stable enough to sit in a museum without protection.

After the boat, we went to two different churches. The first was supposedly where Jesus feed the 5000 and the second is where Jesus told his diciples to fish on the other side of the boat. The first church was actually closed so we didn't see the actual rock but we got to walk around out side. The second place was really nice and even had a place where you could walk into the water if you wanted to. I did not walk in the water but I did steal a rock from the shore. I never thought I would get to see any of these places so it was awesome to see where Jesus actually walked, even if the places aren't exact.

Just after this church was about the point that I realized that we wern't going to make it around the lake in 4 or 5 hours. We were about 1/6th of the way done and it had taken us almost three hours already! The ride was a lot harder than the guidebook described.

At about 1:30, we arrived half way around the lake in a town called Ein Gev. The town is Kibbutz that hosts a lot of tourists and supposedly has a ferry across the lake. Hopeing to take advantage of this ferry, we stopped in the town and went to ask about the boat. Of course, when we asked we got a confused look that basically said "It's Saturday, there is no transportation available on Saturdays!". We exhausted all of the taxis and busses they could suggest but we wern't getting anywhere until the boys went to talk to one of the tourist boats that were waiting on the beach. After about 45 minutes, we were promised that if there was room we could take one of the boats to Tiberius. We finally ended up on a giant wodden boat that was taking Swedish religious pilgrims across the lake. We even stopped to pray in the middle. . . :)

The whole adventure was quite tiring but we finally make it back to the hostel and found a taxi back to the border. Everything went fine at the border and we were all so glad to be back in Jordan where we can at least pretend to speak the language and know where we are going!

We thought that was the end of our journey, but we wern't two miles from the border when I was in my first major car accident. Don't worry mom, we are all ok, but neither of the cars were going anywhere any time soon. What happend is a truck pulled out in front of us and although our driver tried to stop and honked his horn neither of the cars could stop in time. We were a little shaken up but still in one piece and thankful that we were on our way home. The driver called another taxi and we headed, uneventfully, back to Amman.

It was awesome to see how beautiful Israel is and to hang out with another culture that I at least try to understand. The people I went with are all pretty pro-Palestinian so I felt a bit akward at times because I was really enjoying the Israeli experience. I dont' think that anyone will ever be happy with my opinions because they aren't extreme enough on any side. At least now I can use first hand experiences to back up my arguments when I talk about the conflict.

Posted by rcollins at 6:55 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

April 13, 2005

Just in Time

Yesterday I got a text from our resident director that all the students had to bring their passports to our weekly meeting. My first thought was that we were all being sent home and my wonderful vacation was over. Well, after I realized that they didn't ask me to pack my stuff, I was quite curious as to the real reason. I proceeded to call Sally, our resident director, and tell her that she couldn't have my passport because I was leaving the country this weekend and was going to need it.

At the meeting, Sally collects all of the passports and continues to tell us that if we haven't left the country yet we will be required to take blood tests on Sunday and become residents of Jordan for the year. I promptly raise my hand and ask politely, "If we are leaving the country this weekend do we need the tests?" And guess what, we don't! I happen to be leaving the country right on time to avoid the nasty blood tests associated with being a Jordanian resident. Whew.

My friends and I just happend to plan a trip to Nazareth and the Galilee area this weekend. We are leaving tomorrow afternoon, just in time!

Posted by rcollins at 8:06 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

April 11, 2005

Excitement on Campus

Recent events in Israel in relation to the Gaza pullout and the protests outside of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, campus here at UJ has been quite crazy lately. Yesterday there were protests at the Main Gate where they burned American and Israeli flags! Basically, it wasn't a great day to be an American in Jordan. I stayed away and didn't have any problems but I know that people are pretty angry.

Basically, what is happened is that Israeli settelers decided to protest around the Dome of the Rock because of the planned Gaza pullout. The protests supposedly ended peacefully but that doesn't really matter if you are an activist college student. It is much more fun to protest!

Check out the following articles for more information:

Jordan king warns against harming al-Aqsa
The Division or Demolition of the Al-Aqsa Mosque

ps: the second one is just for fun, full of conspiracy theories but I figured it was appropriate, enjoy!

Posted by rcollins at 9:08 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

April 10, 2005

Back to the Fun

This weekend I had the opportunity to go to a Circassian club here in Amman. We got to watch the a group of about 40 youth practicing traditional dances for the Jeresh festival this August. After that, we sat down to some traditional sweets and, of course, tea. We then got to view a video of their performances at last years Jeresh festival.

The best part, was seing the costumes that they wear while dancing. The Circassians were originally in Russia, near the Black Sea so their costumes are a mixture of Russian and western European with a Middle Eastern flair.

The Circassians are a Muslim people, whose Russian name (and Arabic name) is Cherkess. Known in antiquity, they inhabited the western side of the Caucasus and the Crimea. In 1829 the Ottoman Turks were forced to cede Circassia to Russia. At this time the Circassians occupied almost the entire area between the main Caucasian range, the Kuban River, and the Black Sea. After the Russian conquest of the area, about 400,000 Circassians migrated to Turkey. There are today large Circassian groups in Turkey, Syria, and Jordan.

Posted by rcollins at 7:09 AM | TrackBack

April 9, 2005

In Response to Josh

Although Josh will probably never visit this site again, I thought I would take a minute to explain why I am in Jordan in the first place and what this experience means to me.

I am a junior at Brandeis University studying Politics and History and took up the Arabic language because I was tired of French. I quickly realized that Arabic is really a strategic language in today's world and that I had a great opportunity to study politics from a different perspective. I really believe that the only way we will ever have peace in the Middle East is if we understand, hands-on, the culture and traditions that abound in this region.

Not only am I here to understand the culture that surrounds me in Jordan, I am also here to better understand my own culture and why I am an American. If I criticize America it is only because I know that criticizm is the only way to make our country a better place. I know, from my studies as a politics and history double major that it is my responsibility to make the changes I want to see. I appreciate the opportunities that being an American has given me but it would be a waste of time and money if I just took this education and experience and gave up on my country. Unlike some people, I do not think that America is headed in the right direction and I would stick by that no matter who was in power. But I am in no way ready to renounce my citizenship.

I also feel that I have a very unique perspective. For the last three years I, as a Christian, have been studying at Brandeis University which is about 65% Jewish. I have had the wonderful opportunity to immerse myself in the Jewish culture and am in no way anti-semetic. If I have said anything offensive on this blog, I am truly sorry but most likey it was made in jest. Now, while in Jordan, I have the opportunity to use this perspective to promote greater understanding. Something I believe can only have positive results. I also must remind you that I have no fear of persecution here because of my religious beliefs. Obviously the country is mostly Muslim but that does not mean that there is no religious freedom in Jordan.

I really do believe that Americans need to start treating other with more respect. I understand that it is sometimes advantageous to move to the U.S. but that does not mean that these people wouldn't rather stay in their own country. I know that most Jordanians love Jordan and that if the U.S. started paying attention to the real need of our foreign allies then these people would never have to leave their country to support their families.

Jordan has its problems and is not a perfectly open society but that does not mean that we should give up on the people here. America has its problems also and yet no one is ready to give up on us. Although Josh may think that I am the naive one, I encourage him to take advantage of the world around him and learn to appreciate what God has given us no matter who your god is.

Posted by rcollins at 6:58 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

April 6, 2005

Introducing Mohammed

My host brother is quite a character and deserves a post all to himself.

Usually he just likes to follow me around a bit and watch the English language programs with me. Sometimes he tries to convince me that he knows Kung Fu and swings around a kitchen knife, but his favorite game is asking me what celebrities I know. "Do you know Madonna? Do you know know Bugs Bunny? Do you know Julia Roberts? Do you know Pokemon? Do you know Spiderman?" and on and on and on. I have decided that these questions come from an idea that all Americans know celebrities and that all we do is watch tv. (and mostly bad tv based on the characters that he usually mentions)

Last night we were watching a Disney channel movie called "Luck of the Irish". It is a pretty silly movie where the main characters are leperchauns living as normal people. Anyways, my host brother kept calling the leperchauns genies instead so I decided that I was going to make fun of him. I spent the next half-hour trying to convince him that all Arab families must have a genie because that's what I saw on TV. I challenged him to find one English movie about the Arab world that doesn't have a genie in it but he couldn't come up with one! The only example he could think of what "24" which is a not a movie or is it set in the Arab world. Instead, it is a show where Arabs put a bomb in LA. . . yeah, that's a great sterotype. . .all Arabs are terrorists. My come back was that the bomb hasn't gone off yet so maybe there is still a genie inside. :)

At this point he left the room and came back 10 minutes later singing. Well, rapping is more like it but it was in this really high-pitched voice and in horrible English.

"My name is Mohammed and I live in Amman,
I didn't go to school today,
today is a holiday,
so I stayed at home with my Uncle,
he was sleep till 1,
I take a shower,
then watch tv. . .

I decided that maybe if I correct his grammer he will stop so I start telling him what he is doing wrong. "It's my Uncle woke up at 1pm and I went to take a shower." Well, this prompted him to tell me that he was going to join Star Academy and become a rock star. I of course told him that that wouldn't happen unless he stopped rapping in that high, squeaky voice and improved his grammer. What he didn't originally tell me was that he was going to rap in Arabic so that meant that he now needed to demonstrate his Arabic rapping abilities.

"Ismee Mohammed,
ana escoon fee amman. . . "

Well, at least this time it wasn't in a squeeky voice.

Posted by rcollins at 7:42 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Taking the Bus

The excitment of this was was learning how to take the bus to school on Sunday. My host sister's friend, Manar, studies Chemical Engineering at the University so she taught me how to take the big green bus that goes right by my house. It saves me about .75JD (or two falafal sandwiches) every time I ride it so hopefully it will add up eventually.

The best part is that riding the bus is actually a culutral experience every time. Today I realized that I was the only woman that was uncovered and not from Southeast Asia. Women from Southeast Asia in Jordan are usually maids or housekeepers of some sorth so I am pretty sure that these women are on their way to work. There are always a few Jordanian women that are covered and either on their way to work or to the University. Other than that there are a lot of working class men going someplace or another. I definitely stick out when I board the bus (especially today with my calves peaking out from below my skirt and flip-flop sandles). It is fun to see how people interact with each other and to try and figure out where they are going and why. Of course, I have no idea what they are actually thinking but it is still fun to observe these people.

It is nice because I am beginning to feel a little more comfortable being the foreigner in Amman. I still don't like being stared at or having comments made about me but I also know that most of it is harmless. No matter what I wear or how I act I am going to attract attention so as long as I don't feel unsafe then I really have no problems. I would probably stare at (or at least notice) a foreigner in the States so I just have to trust that the Jordanian's intentions are just as good as mine would be. Anyways, I'm beginning to feel more at home.

Posted by rcollins at 6:44 AM | TrackBack

April 3, 2005

Pictures!

My pictures are finally on-line and captioned. To view them just click here, you will need a snapfish account to continue any further.

Enjoy!

Posted by rcollins at 9:20 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

The More Typical Study Abroad Experience

This past weekend, my friends and I took a trip to Aqaba and the Red Sea. It was much more the typical study abroad experience- laying out on the beach, getting tan/sun burnt, and generally having a good non-educational time.

The complete story, however, is a little bit more adventurous than that. First we almost left Haley behind because she forgot her passport and we needed it to stay in a hotel. On her way to the bus station she got stuck in Amman traffic and borded the bus at the last possible second. The funny thing was that there are no busses that leave on time in Jordan. Except this one, of course.

The trip to Aqaba was uneventful except for the horrible sand storm that we had to drive through. In fact, for about an hour and a half the highway was closed and we had to park on the side of the road and wait out the storm. It looked exactly like a Minnesota snow storm except everything was brownish-orange and much warmer.

When we arrived in Aqaba, we needed to find a hotel so we spent about an hour wandering the streets going from hotel to hotel only to find that most of them were full! We finally broke down and stayed at the Aquamarina III which was only 4JD more than we planned on paying. We figured it was worth it, though, because they had a free breakfast and access to the beach. The breakfast was great but when we made our way to the beach we found about 10 feet of beach covered in about 500 Arab men. There were some women but they were all covered and sitting around the swimming pool watching their children swim. Annie and I quickly decided that this wasn't going to be a comfortable place for us girls so we quickly headed right back out again.

We decided it was worth the 5JD to go to Baracuda Beach down the street and feel like we could actually wear bathing suits. The beach was awesome though and definitely worth the money. We hung out all day until it was time for dinner which we ate at Quizno's. Yes, there is a Quizno's is Jordan although it isn't as good because there is not bacon in this crazy country. (if you haven't noticed, a staple in the Quizno's menue is bacon so there is a big difference when there is none to be found)

On the way to dinner, however, my flip flop decided to break! So basically I hobbled to dinner instead of walked and then had to borrow Annie's shoes so that I could buy some new ones. I did manage to find some 1JD blue-light-special flip flops, however, that are serving me just fine.

The way home was truly uneventful and after a long weekend it was nice to crawl into bed (after I watched Star Academy, of course). I think the moral of this story is that Jordan really is a way of life and there is no escaping it. Even on a routine trip to the beach things are going to tend to be a little rediculous.

Posted by rcollins at 6:54 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack