Saturday, February 21, 2009
The Rain
Today it’s raining. Dealing with rain here is a major hassle. Drainage is not very good, which is forgivable considering it only rains a few inches every year in the winter. The uneven terrain doesn’t help either and some of the stairways and streets can turn into rivers. Even our street, which is in a relatively flat area, has a foot of standing water in it. The streets and sidewalks here are also paved differently, so they get really slippery when wet, like when it’s slushy back home. Just last week I fell down a small flight of stairs in the rain. Thus getting around is not fun. Even though it might not be good for us, there has been very little rain this winter. They’ve been praying for the rain at mosques and so all the locals are pretty happy about this.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Happy Birthday
This week was my birthday, among other things. I’m not sure if it was because of that, or if it was a coincidence, but on Wednesday one of the students who works for CIEE and her home-stay came over to our apartment to cook dinner. They made something called “Upside Down”, which is thus named because it gets flipped over before serving. The dish was basically chicken and rice, with cinnamon and some other spices mixed in. There was also an eggplant and tomato salad, and a chocolate cake. It was nice to have a home cooked meal, as most of the stuff I have been eating is either at restaurants or involves putting things on pita bread.
Really, aside from that the rest of the week was not particularly interesting. Classes are pretty intense, especially Arabic, and I’ve spent most of my free time studying or reading. On Sunday and Tuesday my class has four straight hours, which is completely exhausting. I’m usually in bed by 10:00, which is a sharp change from home. We did get internet in our apartment last weekend, however, so that has made things a bit easier. Anyway, things have been going pretty well.
Really, aside from that the rest of the week was not particularly interesting. Classes are pretty intense, especially Arabic, and I’ve spent most of my free time studying or reading. On Sunday and Tuesday my class has four straight hours, which is completely exhausting. I’m usually in bed by 10:00, which is a sharp change from home. We did get internet in our apartment last weekend, however, so that has made things a bit easier. Anyway, things have been going pretty well.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Classes
I feel that the quality of the last two posts wasn’t that great, since I had written them almost a week before I posted them and then retroactively tried to update them. I’ll be sure to do better in the future.
Anyway…today marks the end of the first week of classes. Everyday I have at least an hour and a half of Arabic, and four on Sundays and Tuesdays (on those days there’s an hour of lab, and on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday we have a one hour colloquial Jordanian lesson). It can be intense and a bit overwhelming at times, and it’s hard to keep up with the huge amount of new vocabulary, but our teacher is really good and keeps the class engaged.
In addition to Arabic, I’m also taking two area studies classes. One is Intro to Islamic Civilization, a history class. The other is titled “Archaeological and Historical Survey of Jordan and Palestine”. So far we’ve only really been going over background stuff and introductions, but both have been really interesting and have good professors.
The University of Jordan is where we’re taking classes. I’m definitely surprised by how big it is. There are about 30,000 students there, so it’s a bit smaller than Penn State. It seems really big in terms of acreage, but that may be because there aren’t a lot of good sight lines. The university is built on the side of a hill in an old forest, so there are lots of trees everywhere. The buildings are also a lot more spread out than in University Park.
My classes are in the Faculty of Education and the Faculty of Engineering, which are pretty much on opposite ends of the campus. Both buildings are labyrinthine and difficult to get around. They’re also not in the best shape. There are roof tiles missing, stickers and graffiti on the walls and the chairs, chunks of stuff missing, lockers with no doors on them, etc. They’re basically reminiscent of a stereotypical ghetto high school. The bathrooms are really bad, too. I’m not really sure how often they clean them, if ever, and there’s no soap or toilets available, just holes in the floor. I made the mistake of using one a couple days ago, one that I’ll be sure not to repeat.
That being said, the students there are known to really take pride in the university. At first, this seemed kind of surprising, but then I thought about what aspects of Penn State I’m proud of. It’s not the impressive new construction, the sleek landscaping, or the bridge in the IT building; it’s things like Schreyer’s, the graduation rate of our athletes, and the high quality of my professors. The University of Jordan is one of the best universities in the Middle East, and even though there’s not a smart board or a computer in every room, the facilities get the job done. It would be nice to have toilets and soap in the bathrooms, though.
Anyway…today marks the end of the first week of classes. Everyday I have at least an hour and a half of Arabic, and four on Sundays and Tuesdays (on those days there’s an hour of lab, and on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday we have a one hour colloquial Jordanian lesson). It can be intense and a bit overwhelming at times, and it’s hard to keep up with the huge amount of new vocabulary, but our teacher is really good and keeps the class engaged.
In addition to Arabic, I’m also taking two area studies classes. One is Intro to Islamic Civilization, a history class. The other is titled “Archaeological and Historical Survey of Jordan and Palestine”. So far we’ve only really been going over background stuff and introductions, but both have been really interesting and have good professors.
The University of Jordan is where we’re taking classes. I’m definitely surprised by how big it is. There are about 30,000 students there, so it’s a bit smaller than Penn State. It seems really big in terms of acreage, but that may be because there aren’t a lot of good sight lines. The university is built on the side of a hill in an old forest, so there are lots of trees everywhere. The buildings are also a lot more spread out than in University Park.
My classes are in the Faculty of Education and the Faculty of Engineering, which are pretty much on opposite ends of the campus. Both buildings are labyrinthine and difficult to get around. They’re also not in the best shape. There are roof tiles missing, stickers and graffiti on the walls and the chairs, chunks of stuff missing, lockers with no doors on them, etc. They’re basically reminiscent of a stereotypical ghetto high school. The bathrooms are really bad, too. I’m not really sure how often they clean them, if ever, and there’s no soap or toilets available, just holes in the floor. I made the mistake of using one a couple days ago, one that I’ll be sure not to repeat.
That being said, the students there are known to really take pride in the university. At first, this seemed kind of surprising, but then I thought about what aspects of Penn State I’m proud of. It’s not the impressive new construction, the sleek landscaping, or the bridge in the IT building; it’s things like Schreyer’s, the graduation rate of our athletes, and the high quality of my professors. The University of Jordan is one of the best universities in the Middle East, and even though there’s not a smart board or a computer in every room, the facilities get the job done. It would be nice to have toilets and soap in the bathrooms, though.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Let me upgrade you...
Last Friday we moved out of the Al Manar Hotel and into our apartments. I have two roommates. Our apartment is fairly close to the University of Jordan. It's within walking distance, though it certainly isn't a very fun walk with all of the traffic.
Our apartment is really, really nice. It’s nicer than any student housing I’ve ever seen. In fact, it’s nicer than my house. The rooms are really large and spacious. Everything is bright and the furniture is nice and new. We have a kitchen with all the necessary equipment. However, to remind us we’re in Jordan, we have a gas stove with the gas tank right next to it. Starting it up is kind of intimidating, especially the oven. We can only keep the heat on for a couple hours a day, since we only have a limited supply. Luckily it’s pretty warm here, so it’s not a very big deal.
The bathrooms are also really clean, and also a bit different than those back home. Water is an important commodity in Jordan, and the sewage system is apparently very antiquated. You don’t flush toilet paper, you throw it in the wastebasket. All the bathrooms, even a lot of public ones, have bidets (if you don’t know…wikipedia). The shower’s are also really low flow, but ours are very clean. Public bathrooms are another matter, however. They’re for the most part really disgusting and to be avoided, even the ones at the University of Jordan. We haven't figured out how to use the hot water yet, so showering has been unpleasant.
Our apartment is really, really nice. It’s nicer than any student housing I’ve ever seen. In fact, it’s nicer than my house. The rooms are really large and spacious. Everything is bright and the furniture is nice and new. We have a kitchen with all the necessary equipment. However, to remind us we’re in Jordan, we have a gas stove with the gas tank right next to it. Starting it up is kind of intimidating, especially the oven. We can only keep the heat on for a couple hours a day, since we only have a limited supply. Luckily it’s pretty warm here, so it’s not a very big deal.
The bathrooms are also really clean, and also a bit different than those back home. Water is an important commodity in Jordan, and the sewage system is apparently very antiquated. You don’t flush toilet paper, you throw it in the wastebasket. All the bathrooms, even a lot of public ones, have bidets (if you don’t know…wikipedia). The shower’s are also really low flow, but ours are very clean. Public bathrooms are another matter, however. They’re for the most part really disgusting and to be avoided, even the ones at the University of Jordan. We haven't figured out how to use the hot water yet, so showering has been unpleasant.
In Jordan
I know it’s been over a week since my first entry, but I have not forgotten about this. The hotel where everyone in our group stayed during orientation is the Al-Manar. They had wireless in the lobby, but it was excruciatingly slow and eventually stopped working with my computer. Also, this website is in Arabic so it was difficult to navigate. Most of last week was spent at orientation, nothing very exciting.
I arrived last Friday, January 30th after a ten hour flight from JFK. It’s only the second time I’ve ever flown and was not a great experience. It was hard to sleep and a bit bumpy. Luckily it was mostly empty so there was plenty of room. The Amman airport is surprisingly far from the city and is pretty much in the middle of the desert. It was about a forty-five minute drive to the hotel. Once we arrived we had dinner and then I went to bed.
Orientation week was generally not very noteworthy. We had a lot of information sessions, most of which were redundant and uninteresting. Some of the highlights included (on Saturday) a train ride where we ended up at a Bedouin tent where we got a presentation on the indigenous way of life. On Monday there was a scavenger hunt. Our group had to go find the South Bus Station and Bennigans (which apparently is pretty coutoure in Jordan, complete with valet). It was about an hour bus ride to get to South Station, which is located in a pretty shady part of Amman. From there it took another hour to find the Bennigans, since nobody knew where it was. When we finally returned to the hotel where we were having dinner and making presentations, we were over an hour and a half late. For our troubles my partner and I got a pocket Arabic dictionary.
On Tuesday we had our Arabic placement tests. Since they were for people from all levels and I had only had two semester, I was able to answer next to nothing. It was very distressing. Apparently I did well enough to place into Intermediate I, which was exactly where I wanted to be. Hopefully it’s where I belong. We generally spent a lot of time at the University of Jordan, which is the Harvard of Jordan and one of the best universities in the Middle East. The campus is pretty nice, though it looks a bit outdated compared to a lot of American universities.
The most striking thing about Amman so far is just how sprawling it is. Imagine being in the rolling hills of the northeast, except instead of trees, fields, and a few houses, it’s nothing but white, cube-shaped buildings as far as the eye can see. In reality, the city only has about 2,000,000 people living here and when you look on a map you realize that it isn’t all that big. In person, however, it’s discombobulating.
I arrived last Friday, January 30th after a ten hour flight from JFK. It’s only the second time I’ve ever flown and was not a great experience. It was hard to sleep and a bit bumpy. Luckily it was mostly empty so there was plenty of room. The Amman airport is surprisingly far from the city and is pretty much in the middle of the desert. It was about a forty-five minute drive to the hotel. Once we arrived we had dinner and then I went to bed.
Orientation week was generally not very noteworthy. We had a lot of information sessions, most of which were redundant and uninteresting. Some of the highlights included (on Saturday) a train ride where we ended up at a Bedouin tent where we got a presentation on the indigenous way of life. On Monday there was a scavenger hunt. Our group had to go find the South Bus Station and Bennigans (which apparently is pretty coutoure in Jordan, complete with valet). It was about an hour bus ride to get to South Station, which is located in a pretty shady part of Amman. From there it took another hour to find the Bennigans, since nobody knew where it was. When we finally returned to the hotel where we were having dinner and making presentations, we were over an hour and a half late. For our troubles my partner and I got a pocket Arabic dictionary.
On Tuesday we had our Arabic placement tests. Since they were for people from all levels and I had only had two semester, I was able to answer next to nothing. It was very distressing. Apparently I did well enough to place into Intermediate I, which was exactly where I wanted to be. Hopefully it’s where I belong. We generally spent a lot of time at the University of Jordan, which is the Harvard of Jordan and one of the best universities in the Middle East. The campus is pretty nice, though it looks a bit outdated compared to a lot of American universities.
The most striking thing about Amman so far is just how sprawling it is. Imagine being in the rolling hills of the northeast, except instead of trees, fields, and a few houses, it’s nothing but white, cube-shaped buildings as far as the eye can see. In reality, the city only has about 2,000,000 people living here and when you look on a map you realize that it isn’t all that big. In person, however, it’s discombobulating.
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