Sunday, June 28, 2009

Billardo

Just got back from hanging with the guys at the local billiards club. I ran the table and was officially called the "Wahash" (the monster in Arabic). It is fun to start seeing relationships form and to further develop friendships with my teammates. While a smoke-filled room is not my typical hangout spot, it was fun to try to talk to the local guys and invite them to the class that we will begin teaching shortly. Many of the guys honestly think I am Arabic and often start going off on me in Arabic. When they see my puzzled look, they get excited that I am an American and this starts a new conversation. 

I finally shook my sickness today. I woke up a little earlier than normal which actually helped with the whole headache thing and we helped one of the families that just returned from the States with moving furniture and trimming hedges. Tim and I are naturals and will probably have to turn down hedge work in the near future. We actually had the dullest clippers ever and it was an absolute riot trying to tear these hedges apart. It was fun to begin a relationship with this family and to get to know their kids. After working, we enjoyed a great meal of Red Curry together and heard a little of their story.

Anyways, after the meal I felt ready to go and we meet some one of our friends at the Billiard place. I also finally invested in a "Shmog," one of the Arabian style cloth hat things which I will undoubtably be wearing often. I bought the red and white checkered one which symbolizes Jordanian heritage! Love you. 

Saturday, June 27, 2009

You got wet, and I got wet!

This blog entry is themed based upon the title. Hopefully it will make more sense after some extrapolation and anecdotes. So the other day, I was at the beach with some of the families I had meet from the company. One of the families just arrived back from a year in the states and they have 4 kids. The smallest of the kids in age and stature is named Titus, and after dinner I walked with him to the shore of the Red Sea (I love saying that). His mother had told him that he could only go in the water up to his knees, which he did. However, as he would reach into the water to pick up throwing rocks, the water would soak his shirt and face! One of the things that we did this particular trip was to drop big rocks into the water to create a splash. One of the rocks shot up a tidal wave and splashed both me and Titus. When he figured out this act of science he continued to find rocks that had the same effect, each time laughing uncontrollably and saying, "You got wet and I got wet." It was a priceless moment.

So I had to include that story into my blog and I wanted to try to incorporate it into a larger theme of my time here in Jordan. On the trip back from this particular time at the beach, we got stopped by the police about ten minutes outside of Aqaba. The driver, my roommate Tim, has no license and luckily, the police officer was impressed that I grew up in the same state that is Governed by Arnold Schwarzenneger and Tim had a registration card for the busted van that we drive. As we continued on the road the van started to loose speed and we looked and saw that the gas gauge was past empty. So here we are, 10 minutes out of the city, it is 105 degrees and we have no phone. As the car is rolling down the hill it shuts off completely which means the power brakes no longer work. Tim quickly restarted the car as it was going and it started back up with a roar. Seriously, we probably restarted the car 15 times as we rolled into the gas station. There is not doubt that Christopher Columbus has the whole world in his hands, both big and small.

I imagined that I would have this crazy social life during my time here in Aqaba and was excited to meet my first Jordanian bud while snorkeling. See, often time the rock is dropped and two people are effected but it takes additional effort to have a relationship come to fruition. Therefore, I called my friend Thursday night to plan a time to get together. He answered the phone by saying, "Why did it take you so long to call?" In the Jordanian culture, people are the priority so when I said we would hangout when I meet him, he expected to hangout much sooner than a week after the fact. I am learning. So Tim and I ended up meeting him at a hotel downtown. Now I thought it would just be us but Tim ran into two other guys he knew from class and my friend also brought his brother, his brother's friend and his uncle. So we went from three to eight, which led to such a fun time and awkward embraces. During the time together, we talked of many things, including religion, American credit cards and why people are poor in America. I hope this friendship continues to grow because I really like my friend a lot.

When his brother arrived, I had already meet him once before this, he went in for the Arabic greeting which is a series of kisses on both cheeks. I had seen Tim do it before and once with a guy named "Captain Khalid," the 8th strongest man in Jordan! So needless to say I was scared by that experience and was hesitant to greet anyone in such a way. So when my friends brother went in for the kisses I closed my eyes and engaged in this cultural embrace. Minus the whole rubbing against beard, it was a great experience! 

We are continuing to plan for the English classes that will begin this next week. I will be teaching a conversations course to more advanced students. Still not sure class sizes and exact details but am excited to get into a rhythm and to meet more Jordanian people. I am learning a great deal about myself here and have found myself battling on multiple fronts. It was a larger transition that expected, arriving in Jordan soon after a major life change with school and opening my life up to a potential new direction. On top of this, I have struggled a little with the fact that I am only here for a short while and want to help and grow but at the same time know that I am not here for myself. If nothing else, I am going to continue to look ahead and take each curve in stride. So here is how it all ties in, while some things like throwing rocks can be dangerous sometimes you just have to live a little. 

I am also really enjoying my team. They are different from other people that I have interacted with. I am getting to know my roommate better each day and is very different from me in many ways. However, we connect on many levels and really balance each other out. I have learned so much from him already and is challenging to hear his perspective on his time here in Jordan. He is very gifted and is potentially going engineering background for product design. I almost feel like we are brothers, both walking through this adventure together, not sure if he feels the same but probably. The girls are great to, they are very culturally versed and their fixation on cultures is a little different than I am used to. But again, they are a blessing and taught Tim and me the other day how to make "Mong Style Fried Rice Made in the Jordan Valley." It very much feels like a small family, as Tim and I have taken on the older brother roles, watching out for them and helping snorkel and stuff.

So here is the clincher, despite the hard times, I want to continue to place myself in a position to be splashed, in the face of both danger and discomfort. Miss you all.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Manville

Marhaba (hello in Arabic). Tonight we went down to the "Ballad," the downtown area of Aqaba with the crew. After a long day, we went to the Ballad to eat and peruse the area. Before I tell you of the adventure that was had, I want to let you know that we had our first lesson of Arabic today and did a personality test of sorts. Our Arabic teacher is Armenian and was born in Bagdad. It was exciting to begin to learn the language as it is a big step towards engaging the culture. I was also encouraged that I had remembered a lot of what I had already heard from conversations with people in the past few days. After this, we did a personality test to begin the conversation of goals for the summer. First off, I do not really like planning goals or having things too planned out, yet I am seeing the value of looking ahead. It was an encouraging and challenging time to identify areas of growth of the summer.

The personality tests was called DISK, which is an acronym for something. The test itself was brutal as I felt like I was all of the possible answers for all the questions. I ended up as an "I," which is accurate as it stands for inspirational! Just kidding. I mean tests like this are frustrating because it is fairly easy to look behind the question to what characteristic it is pointing to. Therefore, it is easy to fudge the results. However, I did struggle through and tried to answer as honestly as possible. But I did turn out an "I" and the team agreed that I was clearly an "I." I am not sure of all the specifics, but basically an "I" is a optimist encourager that takes charge of the group through his example and in turn, inspires. I will let you know more of what this means as we will discuss it more in depth tomorrow. 

So at the Ballad tonight we found Manville. As the girls went shopping, the guys walked around the Ballad. We took a step down an alley and found a group of probably 300 guys hanging out. Seriously, their was not a girl in sight and this disturbed me at first. Picture this, a football field area where the first 20 yards was uncovered and had 5 rows of chairs. Guys formed circles and sipped on hot tea and hukka while some were watching King Kong an a little T.V. and the others were watching WWF Women's wrestling. Next to this was a covered area with a similar seating assortment. However, three T.V's with a low-budget Egyptian soap played and pumped sound into the area with a series of cheap speakers. Again, tea and hukka were shared by all. Then, next to this was the big covered area where 200 guys sat, watching either WWF, the Egyptian soap, or Terminator. As we took a seat, we ordered tea and enjoyed the brotherhood that evolves  when you put 300 guys in the same area with bad film, tea, and hukka . My life will no longer be the same. 

Monday, June 22, 2009

Running in Hot Weather

Before I forget, I wanted to share a quick anecdote about my recent running adventure. After a quick lunch we had some free time before our next meeting and Tim and I went home. Tim was feeling tired from a late night but I wanted to go work out. We now have a gym membership but I needed Tim to go with me to go to our gym as I do not quite know how to get there yet. So I figured I would just brave the elements and go running outside. Now, this was in the heat of the day and it was closing in on 105 degrees. However, I was aware of the harsh conditions and brought 2 liters of water on my journey. I started the run and stopped every few minutes to take pictures of the local beauty, like sand boxes and dead cats and stuff. About 20 minutes into the run, I had no water and every limb in my body was cramping. I was not sweating because the heat was so fierce that the sweat would dry right off my body. I knew I was in trouble and began to walk home. I finally made it home and as soon as I took a step into my cool living room my body let go the sweat floodgates. I did not stop sweating for the next 15 minutes. Safe to say that I will never do that again, and from now on I will just sit at home in the air conditioned family room. Love you all.

Groupies

The rest of the company team arrived on Sunday and it has been a busy two days with orientation type stuff. The team, now consists of Tim and I, Gene and Jessie, and three college girls from the states. The girls are from an ethic group that is a small tribal community near China. They are from different parts of the US, but all happen to be from the same ethnic background and it has been awesome getting to hear about their history. One of the huge aspects of orientation was learning the Jordanian culture. As I have written before, hospitality is huge and is one of the seven virtues of the country. The girls really took this on tonight as they had us all over for a common meal shared their tribe. It was a pretty standard Asian meal, but was a nice change of pace from the Arab food I have been devouring the past few days.

After dinner, we sat around a fire in the backyard of the guest house. We basically drove around the city and found extra wood sitting around construction sites for the fire. It was a strange experience at first as we were sitting around a fire, in 80 degree weather at night, being lullabied by prayer from the local mosque. You see, the five prayer times are projected across the city from loudspeakers from the mosques, so we get the chance to hear it five times daily. It was such a reminder of what is really going on around us, making the bonfire just that much more special. We sang, roasted (Smors that is), danced, and let loose with some classic lyrical improve. It is cool to see the team clicking after this short time, and in a culture that is oppressive it is all the more important for unity.

Today we took a driving tour of the city and saw the dichotomy between the traditional Arab nation and that which is heavily influenced by affluent nations. Less then 10 minutes from my posh pad, are brick huts and tents of the bedouin people. This is a place where goats and camels are common, and very little women were seen outside the home. Just minutes from this area was a new development called Soria. Large influx of capital from The Ameratis, and western countries have given nearly $26 Billion in invested capital to build a ridiculously exclusive 5 star housing and hotel complexes. Right now Jordan is considered a free economic zone and many of the typical economic regulations including taxes and policies on earnings have been minimized to spur growth. As you can imagine, this new push for growth has huge possibilities for the Jordan country and I am excited to see how I could possibly get involved. It is such a stark contrast to the traditional Arab society that exists just minutes away.

Tomorrow we start language tutoring, were we will be having Arabic lessons for the day. We will do this for 1.5 hours every week to fully immerse ourselves in the culture. I miss you all and look forward to hearing of your adventures upon my arrival. 

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Shopping, Falafels, and Toilet Sprayers

Went out this morning to the equivalent of a downtown shopping area. It is near the tourist area of town and is in close proximity to the beach and massive Jordanian flag. We stopped into a local place with outdoor seating and enjoyed a series of traditional Jordanian dishes. The main component was a flat little bread that you would then dip into a collection of hummus with different goodies in the middle. The other staple food was the falafels that you would place in the bread and dip into the hummus mix. Honestly, the aesthetic appeal is just not there for me, but I want to try everything while I am here and it actually was quite enjoyable. We finished the typical breakfast, which often is not eaten until 10:00, with tea and a mango fruit smoothie.

Then went and walked around the local shopping area, in pursuit of hair clippers, an alarm clock, and aloe. Through the shopping area, most stores had the exact same offerings, but the Arab people find pride in owning their own stores. However, many of the stores had some quality offers such as Croc shoes, American watches and Jergens lotion. Then about every third store is a shop called "Ducans", that are basically mini 7-elevens that sell cheap sodas and 2 liter water bottles. With the extreme heat, water is a must and a huge 2 liter jug is only 500 fils, the equivalent of 75 cents.

So every Sunday, we have a meeting with the believers from around the area. It was a powerful time of fellowship and encouraging one another. There were about 8 of us, most from the US and two from South America. It is fun to hear stories and how each person arrived where they are now. One of the guys is a flight instructor for Jordanian flight school and has been here for the past three years. A different but effective avenue as a tent maker of sorts.

While at the meeting, I took a restroom break and arrived in the hottest bathroom of all time. I did my thing as soon as possible and noticed an interesting contraption on the back of the toilet bowl. I knew it was a bidet of sorts and wanted to figure out how to us it. As I was standing, facing the toilet I pressed down on the side of the unit and a large stream of dirty water launched out and sprayed all over my pant leg. You might want to write this down: Do not push down the bidet button while standing in front of the toilet!

Friday, June 19, 2009

Snorkeling for a Sunk Ship in the Red Sea

Went to the beach of the Red Sea today with the Wolske's to relax for the holiday. Here in Jordan, Friday and Saturday are basically taken as a holiday and are recognized as the weekend. It is typical for families to go the beach together, and when I mean go I mean like 12 + hours at the beach. You see, family and hospitality are valued highly by the Jordanian people and it is not uncommon for them to keep entertaining guests and spending time with family all day long and deep into the night. 

From the beach where we were located, you could look out and see 4 countries at once. To the left of the beach about a mile down was Saudi Arabia, Egypt is located directly across the Sea, to the right of Egypt at the end of the Gulf is Israel and I was obviously in Jordan. The beach was filled with people and shade was sought after like gold. Lining the rocky sand was little coverings made of of straw that acted as the best form of shade around. After searching around we landed a spot close to the sand soccer field and the water. After some Jordanian style pizza, Gene and I went snorkeling around the reef of the Red Sea. 

It was my first time ever snorkeling and as the Red Sea is so salty, I found the buoyancy to be the first surprise. With the big daddy fins I glided through the water around the reef  that started about 10 meters off of the beach. We swam among the coral and saw the most incredible colors and sights below. I kept my eyes peeled for Egyptian horse carts and luckily did not see any. One of the cool parts of the area of the beach we were at was that 20 years ago the government sunk an old ship off of the coast to help encourage the reef growth. I guess the reef uses the ship as a foundation to grow off of and around. The ship is identified by a huge floating buoy and Gene and I swam out to it during our snorkeling session. As I got closer, I had the most scared feeling that someone or something was going to come up out of the ship and grab me and take me below. As I swam over the remains of the ship I could not help but be filled with a slight state of eeriness. The boat was about 10 meters below but the details of the ship could be clearly seen. 

Back on land, I meet a new friend named Ahmad, who is a taxi driver. He has offered me his driving services for free and I spent some time meeting his family. During the time I was offered tea, which is the staple of Jordanian hang out times, which was amazing ("Zachy" in Arabic). However, in meeting his family I never was introduced to his three sisters and we instantly separated into a circle of guys and a circle of girls. Ahmad and me spoke of the way marriage works in Jordan and how when he wants to marry he will ask the permission of the father before he has every spoken to the girl. After our tea and chat, we swam back out to the ship which was scarier the second time. It was fun having him explain to me the different fish and identify things I did not notice the first time. We then played soccer and volleyball. We played volleyball with 9 Jordanian guys and they were laughing the hardest during the whole game. I would laugh because I was forced to create dialogue that I perceived them to be having in my head and then I would respond in English ("Ingglezy" in Arabic). This caused them to laugh even harder and it was such a fun time.

Then I got home and decided that as Tim was gone, it would be a perfect time to put clothes away and cut my hair. As the only outlets are in the kitchen I took a mirror and set it up near the sink and planned on cutting my hair in the sink. I started and the blade moved slowly to the point where it was pulling my hair out like in the days when my sister pulled hair (She actually never did that). I messed with the settings on the converted and thought that maybe my clippers just needed a charge. After some time, I plugged them in again but to the same result. I then figured I could just plug the clippers right into the adapter without the converter and they started up with the most force I have ever heard. Naturally, I smiled and started cutting my hair for the seven seconds the clippers worked. So it turns out the plugging in an item that can only handle 120 Watts into a socket that gives out 240 Watts will kill your appliance. Now I have no clippers and will be resorting to the good old barber.

My roommate has 7 friends over from Boston and they are spending the night with us tonight. They are all asleep now but it was exciting to hear about their journeys and compare challenges and adventures of our time in the Middle East. To my family and friends, you are missed.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Home Sweet Home

Been a Jordan resident for about 16 hours and it has been a full day. It began by meeting three Arab college students on the plane ride from Amman to Aqaba. They were very affluent and were going to be spending the weekend on their fathers Yacht in the Red Sea. Apparently in their world, private drivers, Yacht's and trips to Dubai are standard. They actually invited me to join them for a poker night but I had to decline due to my commitments to the center. It however was a good introduction to the widely diverse Jordanian culture.  Two of the students were actually women and payed little attention to the cultural traditions of the women of Jordan as they engaged me as if I was a close friend. Even in my first day here in Jordan, I can already attest that this was not the normal interaction between men and women. In fact, most women I saw today were covered in full Burkas (Only their eyes showing) and would not even look into the eyes of a man. Additionally, most women walk behind the man as a sign of submission, which I do not think would fly in my relationship.

My residents for my tenure in Jordan is a nice house that is completely furnished, has a front patio and three bedrooms and two baths. It is located in the 8th area, as the residential areas are sectioned off into areas. We have our own parking for the busted van named "Chuck Norris" that Tim and I drive as well as a full AC system. The house has nice tiled floors, a spacious kitchen with all the amenities of your typical American kitchen. I was shocked when I walked in a saw the place. The guest house also has quality furniture that is reminiscent of a pottery barn magazine. Luckily, Tim enjoys playing music and games and so we have spent our down time bonding over Jam sessions and Settlers of Catan. As I have talked of my roommate but not expounded on him, I am sharing a room with a guy named Tim who has been in Jordan for about a year. He is also 23 and is patiently educating me about the culture and language of the area. Upon my arrival, immediately following a quick breakfast with Gene and Jessie, Tim took me to the local gym and we spent an hour running and pumping the iron together. This will be a good place to meet people and engage in the culture outside of the typical day at the center. Tim is a great guy who played hockey in college and also dabbles in music. I am stocked to get to know him better.

The weather was almost unbearable, as it was 85 degrees when I exited the plane at 8:20 in the morning. Coupled with my jet lag and serious depravity of water I was struggling prior to lunch. Once I got food in my system, which was an incredible mix of chicken, rice, yogurt and a salsa mix, I felt better and took a brief nap to get ready for the first interaction with students from the center. On the second day, Tim and I went and meet the guys for a game of basketball and soccer. We played with the locals until it was too hot, "Shoab" in arabic, which meant it was well over 100 degrees. One of the guys I meet, named Ahmad was showing me his music collection and we ended up jamming to his favorite cuts of Avril Lavinge and Backstreet Boys!

I will be working at the  center in an area called Mach Dude (totally messing up the name) and is a restored building that was believed to be haunted by the natives. The first floor is a coffee shop, second floor is English classrooms and the third floor is the women's aerobic center. I had the opportunity to attend the English graduation tonight and meet many of the students that will be continuing their English education next term as well. I meet two guys named Muhammed and Ali and had the opportunity to hear about their lives, family and faith. This is a very excepting culture and it is pretty easy to extend relationships beyond the teaching platform. I am excited to see how these relationships develop and enjoy the special aspects of the culture. 

Besides my accommodations, I was also surprised with the fact that Mcdonalds, Burger King and Safeway are located in Jordan. I vowed to Tim that I would not eat out at American fast food while in this country. I am also surprised that the culture here wakes up late, around 9 and works late till about 9. This culture stays up very late as last night we played Settlers with some of the Shabob till about 2. It is not uncommon to see families shopping for groceries at 1 AM. Well I am off to see the city. See ya later.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Arab Lands, Ready and About

So I have been in the air for 16 hours, spent 16 hours waiting at the gate, 1 hour in Frankfurt, and have 1 hour left of flying before Aqaba. Honestly, I have loved the waiting time for two reasons. First, it allows me to soak up the experience without rushing into it, and it allows the excitement to marinate. Minus the fact that I am the only guy in the Middle East right now wearing shorts and Chacos I am ready to go. 

On the plane ride from Portland to Frankfurt I meet a high school kid named Lars. He was a big guy from Northeast Germany. He was doing a study abroad in Grants Pass and had not been home for 11 months. Cool kid and we are going to maintain contact over the internet. He has been dating this girl starting three months prior to his departure for the States and had made him a calendar for his birthday that had special pictures of them all the way up to his arrival date home. Totally reminded me of Em and Lars and I reminisced of our girlfriends together. It really helped dull the pain of leaving Em, family, and friends!

I had the opportunity to read quite a bit in Frankfurt and also spent a good amount of time napping, sprawled across the waiting room seats with my arm wrapped through the strap of my bag. During my time in Frankfurt, I really experienced the harshness of the culture. First, I wanted to try a German beer that Lars recommend for me and as the drinking age is 16 I felt comfortable drinking with the lad. The lady instantly said no to Lars as he asked for me in German and she said no to me as well. I was a little taken back and she informed us that we had to be 18. I assured her I was well over 18, and she requested my ID. After looking over the ID she said she did not believe me and handed me a hand crafted German beer anyways.

Next, I had a question about the money exchange and how much some of the coins I had were worth. I wanted to eat but did not know if I would need to exchange for more Euros. They had a 1 and 2 on them but Lars had told me that they also used cents so I was wondering if these were Euros or cents. I said to the lady, "Are these just 1 or 2 Euros or are they cents?" She laughed and said she that my question was dumb and that she was glad she was going home. From this I inferred that they were in fact Euros. Thanks.

The flight from Frankfurt to Amman was great. We passed over the Alps on the Austrian side which were incredible. The peaks were spread out over different distances and so it had an interesting blend of white-capped peaks and green hills from an aerial view. It was also set against the backdrop of a ruby red sunset. We also had an amazing meal of chicken and I sat next to a government technician setting up "stuff" in Baghdad. 

Oh yeah, and I am totally getting used to full head coverings for women. It is so apparent that God is a God of the nations, all of them. See ya.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Airport

I have entered the International Terminal at the Portland Airport. Stayed up late packing, so I am a little tired but very excited to begin reading The Last Lecture, a book I have been wanting to read for a while. On our way to the airport, we ran into snails-pace traffic about 45 minutes from the airport. The only thought in my mind was that we were going to have to go straight to the airport rather than stop at REI in Portland. Based on a road trip I took over Spring Break I found a particular brand of under garments that one can wear for an extended period of time. As the elements will be quite grueling in Jordan, durable underwear will be an important item to have. So I left this morning with the intentions of buying two more pairs and had no other under garments packed. Therefore, with the traffic, I might have been forced to leave for Jordan with only the skivvies I had on. Luckily, traffic subsided and we were able to stop at REI.

I am pumped for this adventure, excited for the long travel time, and absolutely unsure as to what to expect. Stay posted. The first leg of the trip is Portland to Frankfurt. It is ten hours in the air, which could be three potential movies, three meals, reading both the Last Lecture and Lonely Plant Jordan, and conversations. The possibilities are endless but I better get off this CPU before I miss them. See you in Germany.