Travel Log Part II
I've now been in Jordan for 9 days and as with all good travel its touched me, made me think, made me laugh and helped me see the world through new eyes. It seems to me that travel widens the eyes and stretches the spirit.
My dear childhood friend Dorothy Walline is a Peace Corps Volunteer posted in the Jordan Valley in a town called Ma'addi. (Also spelled Mu'addi and a few other spellings) Though many media sources project Arabs and Muslims as people fundamentally different from average Americans, I am finding that they have much more in common with Americans then the Africans I live with do. Conditions here in the Jordan Valley are not exactly parallel to American suburban life, but life in the capital city of Amman, home to 38% of Jordanians seems to be. After being picked up from the airport Dory and Wael whisked me off to one of a number of McDonalds' around the city and we finished off with ice cream and hot chocolate at a cafe. A few hours later we were speeding down the hairpin turns of the mountainside road leading down into the valley. Dory lives in a modern, if uninsulated, apartment not much different from the apartment I grew up in, across the river and through the politics, in Israel. My favorite place is the roof top from which I took my first pics of the area. But, as it turns out Dory and Wael won't be living here since the, "when it rains, it pours" effect struck and her landlord is clearing both renters out of the building for his own personal use. Luckily PC came through and the newlyweds will be living across the street, in a place twice as big. Blessing in disguise?
Early on Dory gifted me with a shmagh or red and white Jordanian headscarf that you often see Arab men on TV wearing. They are bedoin in origin. The red and white ones signify Jordanian ancestry, the black and white, Palestinian and the white, Egyptian, in general. (Though there are a variety of people who use the white one.) For females, since only old bedoin women wear them, I've chosen to wear mine as a shawl, much to the satisfaction of my Jordanian hosts. As far as dress goes here, this is not a place where you will be harassed in the streets for wearing something inappropriate, but out of respect for custom Dory's house guests and I have chosen to wear long sleeves covering our arms and high neck shirts to stay within the boundaries of modesty here. Many women here including almost all of Wael's female family members wear the hijab or headscarf, but it is not mandatory, even for Jordanian women, so we do not. The Queen Rania of Jordan herself once said that covering is a choice and she chooses not to. Beside that men and women tend to wear western style clothing, jeans, sweaters etc. Some women wear lovely decorated gowns called thobes that are long sleeve and beautifully embroidered.
Now for a list of characters in this great vacation saga. I've already intruduced Dory, but now for the other out of towners. Dory's mom, dad and sister, Aunt Vera, Uncle David and Katy are long time family friends from the Israel years who now hail from around Scranton, PA. Erin and Tracey are Dory's college friends from Mt. Holyoke and Laura is a high school / middle school friend now living in Fredricksburg, MD. On the local side there's Dory's fiancee, lovable, generous, kindly and outgoing Wael, the 12th of 13 children. Since everyday of my stay has involved sitting and greeting at least one group of family members in this family loving society it's worth breaking it down for you. Wael's father had two daughters before his wife died. Then he remarried and Wael's mother had 11 children. Consequently the 2 older 1/2 sisters are in Dory's parent's generation while Wael himself is 30. (Note: when a couple has a child they become known as "Mother of, or Father of that child" sort of backwards from Hausa culture in which children's names reference their fathers') Notable family members include Sulyman, who lives in PA, Abu Rama, a family leader in Jordan, Om Seif, who spent 5 years in CA and speaks great English, Abid caretaker of many the family farms and the trouble making jokester of the family, and Safaa, Wael's younger sister and Dory's original Arabic tutor.
We see members of Wael's family daily and they are always hosting us. They are exceedingly hospitable. We sit in the family home often and get served first Arabic coffee, then tea, then Turkish coffee. This happens in every home we have visited so far, and we've visited many of the 13 siblings. We've been walking around town with Safaa and been out to the farms of Sulyman, Abid and Wael. Farming is a big part of the culture here in the valley. They farm all kinds of veggies.Wael's late father had farms far across the bordering into the West Bank back before the creation of Israel. They would even travel to Jeruselem frequently. Now national boundaries have been cut out and of course much conflict followed. To me it seems so unnatural to live insight of a border you can not easily cross. In Niger all I need to do is gear up and head for any horizon I see. Despite living near this border life is normal here. There are no armed police or military roaming the streets like in Israel and there is a general sense of calm, despite existing memories of war. The old minaret on the local mosque bares the marks of the 1967 war with Israel. Yet when I asked Wael about changes since his childhood, he said that there is a feeling of geopolitical peace and the possibility of having a future that was absent in his childhood. Yet as one guidebook astutely put it, Jordan is a country whose fate is largely decided by external forces. Signs on the road for the Saudi, and Iraqi borders are a reminder of that fact.
Check out my photos on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=25684&l=acb74&id=743524458
And look up the video documentary on Jordan done last March, featuring my new imaginary boyfriend, Jordan's King Abdullah II.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3581730273695407556
Next time:
Wedding dress pics! Dead Sea pics and much, much more!
My dear childhood friend Dorothy Walline is a Peace Corps Volunteer posted in the Jordan Valley in a town called Ma'addi. (Also spelled Mu'addi and a few other spellings) Though many media sources project Arabs and Muslims as people fundamentally different from average Americans, I am finding that they have much more in common with Americans then the Africans I live with do. Conditions here in the Jordan Valley are not exactly parallel to American suburban life, but life in the capital city of Amman, home to 38% of Jordanians seems to be. After being picked up from the airport Dory and Wael whisked me off to one of a number of McDonalds' around the city and we finished off with ice cream and hot chocolate at a cafe. A few hours later we were speeding down the hairpin turns of the mountainside road leading down into the valley. Dory lives in a modern, if uninsulated, apartment not much different from the apartment I grew up in, across the river and through the politics, in Israel. My favorite place is the roof top from which I took my first pics of the area. But, as it turns out Dory and Wael won't be living here since the, "when it rains, it pours" effect struck and her landlord is clearing both renters out of the building for his own personal use. Luckily PC came through and the newlyweds will be living across the street, in a place twice as big. Blessing in disguise?
Early on Dory gifted me with a shmagh or red and white Jordanian headscarf that you often see Arab men on TV wearing. They are bedoin in origin. The red and white ones signify Jordanian ancestry, the black and white, Palestinian and the white, Egyptian, in general. (Though there are a variety of people who use the white one.) For females, since only old bedoin women wear them, I've chosen to wear mine as a shawl, much to the satisfaction of my Jordanian hosts. As far as dress goes here, this is not a place where you will be harassed in the streets for wearing something inappropriate, but out of respect for custom Dory's house guests and I have chosen to wear long sleeves covering our arms and high neck shirts to stay within the boundaries of modesty here. Many women here including almost all of Wael's female family members wear the hijab or headscarf, but it is not mandatory, even for Jordanian women, so we do not. The Queen Rania of Jordan herself once said that covering is a choice and she chooses not to. Beside that men and women tend to wear western style clothing, jeans, sweaters etc. Some women wear lovely decorated gowns called thobes that are long sleeve and beautifully embroidered.
Now for a list of characters in this great vacation saga. I've already intruduced Dory, but now for the other out of towners. Dory's mom, dad and sister, Aunt Vera, Uncle David and Katy are long time family friends from the Israel years who now hail from around Scranton, PA. Erin and Tracey are Dory's college friends from Mt. Holyoke and Laura is a high school / middle school friend now living in Fredricksburg, MD. On the local side there's Dory's fiancee, lovable, generous, kindly and outgoing Wael, the 12th of 13 children. Since everyday of my stay has involved sitting and greeting at least one group of family members in this family loving society it's worth breaking it down for you. Wael's father had two daughters before his wife died. Then he remarried and Wael's mother had 11 children. Consequently the 2 older 1/2 sisters are in Dory's parent's generation while Wael himself is 30. (Note: when a couple has a child they become known as "Mother of, or Father of that child" sort of backwards from Hausa culture in which children's names reference their fathers') Notable family members include Sulyman, who lives in PA, Abu Rama, a family leader in Jordan, Om Seif, who spent 5 years in CA and speaks great English, Abid caretaker of many the family farms and the trouble making jokester of the family, and Safaa, Wael's younger sister and Dory's original Arabic tutor.
We see members of Wael's family daily and they are always hosting us. They are exceedingly hospitable. We sit in the family home often and get served first Arabic coffee, then tea, then Turkish coffee. This happens in every home we have visited so far, and we've visited many of the 13 siblings. We've been walking around town with Safaa and been out to the farms of Sulyman, Abid and Wael. Farming is a big part of the culture here in the valley. They farm all kinds of veggies.Wael's late father had farms far across the bordering into the West Bank back before the creation of Israel. They would even travel to Jeruselem frequently. Now national boundaries have been cut out and of course much conflict followed. To me it seems so unnatural to live insight of a border you can not easily cross. In Niger all I need to do is gear up and head for any horizon I see. Despite living near this border life is normal here. There are no armed police or military roaming the streets like in Israel and there is a general sense of calm, despite existing memories of war. The old minaret on the local mosque bares the marks of the 1967 war with Israel. Yet when I asked Wael about changes since his childhood, he said that there is a feeling of geopolitical peace and the possibility of having a future that was absent in his childhood. Yet as one guidebook astutely put it, Jordan is a country whose fate is largely decided by external forces. Signs on the road for the Saudi, and Iraqi borders are a reminder of that fact.
Check out my photos on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=25684&l=acb74&id=743524458
And look up the video documentary on Jordan done last March, featuring my new imaginary boyfriend, Jordan's King Abdullah II.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3581730273695407556
Next time:
Wedding dress pics! Dead Sea pics and much, much more!