(no subject)
Greetings to all!
Well the program itself has finally started, suddenly I am surrounded by
thirty American students and can no longer even attempt to disguise myself
as a student. Yesterday, the first day most students arrived, eight of us
went for lunch, and whereas previously I could attempt to speak Arabic
before I stumbled now, with such a large group, the Jordanian speak to us
almost entirely in English. It is however nice to have some people to
speak today, and a formal schedule. In the evening three of us went out
for coffee, a liberal Republican from Ohio (a dying breed), an Arab-Indian
from Wisconsin who attends college in Colorado, and it was a nice
enjoyable more relaxed and discreet visit with Jordan.
Today we toured the city of Amman, in all its ancient glory. The first
thing to note about Amman is that most of what you see now is really new.
Although Amman is built upon a neolithic settlement, a bronze age
agricultural cluster, a Canaanite town, a Greek city, a roman town, a
umyyad settlement, it all but failed to exist from the 16th century
onward. At the turn of the century it was a small collection of houses,
and now it is a sprawling modern metropolis of about 3 million.
Nevertheless the age of the city is very present in the citadel and the
roman amphitheater.
The citadel (city on a hill) was home to the earliest settlements, and
includes a roman temple to Hercules, a byzantine church, and a large
mosque, market, and royal homes for the leader of the city. [I realize
that I am writing a textbook so I am going to switch tactics and put more
information about the happenings as compared to the past.) Needless to say
I was mesmerized by the baths, the archaeological museum and the shear age
of the site. They are moving the archaeological museum to a much more
modern facility, and that will help as the current setting is a bit dry
and almost unappetizing (at least for non-nerds). The next stop was the
roman theater. The area now know as Jordan was taken over by the Romans to
control trade with the east (diverting it away from the Nabataaens in
Petra). An important city, the theater seats 7,000 and also contains a
much smaller side theater.
After the theater we toured the newest grand mosque in Jordan, King
Al-Abdullah mosque, and it was very impressive. An interesting part of
this tour was that the women on the trip had to put on black coverings
before entering the mosque. During worship the women usually worship
either at home, or in a separate smaller mosque. Women do not usually come
to worship or to pray though out the day, this is probably a reflection of
the traditional role women played in Arabic societies, namely as the
managers of the house and the keepers of the family.
After the mosque we set off for some very grand houses from the 1920's,
which included some smaller museums and very interesting information about
the music (they have a version of the bagpipe, probably Prue-Scottish as
the scotts obtained their bagpipes from the Romans) and the local theater
scene.
After touring the houses we had a fantastic lunch with a large spread of
numerous dishes, I love the food here, as it is based upon olive oil,
hummus, and lamb. The conversations was very lively, even if some of the
members of the squad are by no means my favorite.
After lunch we went to another older house that had the ruins of a 4th
century byzantine church in its front yard. The house proper is now home
to the art museum and we received complimentary art sch etches. After that
we returned back to our hotel.
Of course that is just a brief overview, but it was a fantastic trip, even
if I am getting more excited at the possibility of not traveling in big
groups and getting to spend time in the university.
But in any case I hope all is well back home,
Masalaama!
Whittaker
Well the program itself has finally started, suddenly I am surrounded by
thirty American students and can no longer even attempt to disguise myself
as a student. Yesterday, the first day most students arrived, eight of us
went for lunch, and whereas previously I could attempt to speak Arabic
before I stumbled now, with such a large group, the Jordanian speak to us
almost entirely in English. It is however nice to have some people to
speak today, and a formal schedule. In the evening three of us went out
for coffee, a liberal Republican from Ohio (a dying breed), an Arab-Indian
from Wisconsin who attends college in Colorado, and it was a nice
enjoyable more relaxed and discreet visit with Jordan.
Today we toured the city of Amman, in all its ancient glory. The first
thing to note about Amman is that most of what you see now is really new.
Although Amman is built upon a neolithic settlement, a bronze age
agricultural cluster, a Canaanite town, a Greek city, a roman town, a
umyyad settlement, it all but failed to exist from the 16th century
onward. At the turn of the century it was a small collection of houses,
and now it is a sprawling modern metropolis of about 3 million.
Nevertheless the age of the city is very present in the citadel and the
roman amphitheater.
The citadel (city on a hill) was home to the earliest settlements, and
includes a roman temple to Hercules, a byzantine church, and a large
mosque, market, and royal homes for the leader of the city. [I realize
that I am writing a textbook so I am going to switch tactics and put more
information about the happenings as compared to the past.) Needless to say
I was mesmerized by the baths, the archaeological museum and the shear age
of the site. They are moving the archaeological museum to a much more
modern facility, and that will help as the current setting is a bit dry
and almost unappetizing (at least for non-nerds). The next stop was the
roman theater. The area now know as Jordan was taken over by the Romans to
control trade with the east (diverting it away from the Nabataaens in
Petra). An important city, the theater seats 7,000 and also contains a
much smaller side theater.
After the theater we toured the newest grand mosque in Jordan, King
Al-Abdullah mosque, and it was very impressive. An interesting part of
this tour was that the women on the trip had to put on black coverings
before entering the mosque. During worship the women usually worship
either at home, or in a separate smaller mosque. Women do not usually come
to worship or to pray though out the day, this is probably a reflection of
the traditional role women played in Arabic societies, namely as the
managers of the house and the keepers of the family.
After the mosque we set off for some very grand houses from the 1920's,
which included some smaller museums and very interesting information about
the music (they have a version of the bagpipe, probably Prue-Scottish as
the scotts obtained their bagpipes from the Romans) and the local theater
scene.
After touring the houses we had a fantastic lunch with a large spread of
numerous dishes, I love the food here, as it is based upon olive oil,
hummus, and lamb. The conversations was very lively, even if some of the
members of the squad are by no means my favorite.
After lunch we went to another older house that had the ruins of a 4th
century byzantine church in its front yard. The house proper is now home
to the art museum and we received complimentary art sch etches. After that
we returned back to our hotel.
Of course that is just a brief overview, but it was a fantastic trip, even
if I am getting more excited at the possibility of not traveling in big
groups and getting to spend time in the university.
But in any case I hope all is well back home,
Masalaama!
Whittaker