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Archive for June, 2005

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At the club…

Saturday, June 11th, 2005

Thursday night (the start of the Islamic weekend) we went to a super elite club, nicer than any that I’ve been to in the US. The entry age was 22 but apparently that doesn’t apply if you’re a foreigner and can afford to get in. We went with Hilary’s friend (that she met here) and a bunch of her guy friends. These guys (the Jordanians) were amazingly rich, one had a Mercedes and another had a BMW X5. I’ve been really shocked to discover just how many elite there are in Amman. It was really amazing to see a completely different side of Jordan than we have seen before (UF is mostly lower and middle class.) It turns out that some Muslims have no problem drinking or dancing with girls, and that girls dress pretty much just the same in clubs in Jordan as in clubs in the US. We were told, however, that this is one of the only true clubs in Jordan. The club played a mix of European techno and American hip-hop, definitely an interesting mix to dance to.

I will write more tomorrow, inshallah, after we get back from the Umayyad dessert castles. I miss you all a lot but Jordan is wonderful.

Posted in Amman, Jordan | 2 Comments »

Tour of the University of Jordan

Monday, June 6th, 2005

Today we had a tour of the University of Jordan and a brief oreintation. The University is very large with a student body of 25,000, but the campus is much smaller than UNC’s. The greenery on campus is very beautiful after the lack of plants or color in Amman, which has been called the White City, because everything is either made of limestone or the color of limestone. There are palm trees and fir-like trees to provide shade from the always bright sun.
We ate lunch in the faculty’s cafeteria where we ate a typical 3-course Jordanian meal. The first course is composed of pita bread dipped in various dips and salads, such as hummus, cucumber salad, fuul, and dill salad. The second course rice and shwarma (like a gyro) with vegetables. Dessert was a palestinian pastry made of sour cheese, honey, and sugar. I bravely drank 2 glasses of tap water at lunch and so I’ll soon find out just how much bacteria is in the water. Eating vegetarian has proven to be far from difficult, as the appetizers are very filling and are always vegetarian.
We were proudly shown the dated and rather shabby library and then shown the computer lab, apparently the largest at any universtiy in the world. Later, we met our Jordanian language partners in the new Language Center, by far the nicest building on campus (we will have our classes there.) My partner is named Yasmeen and she is majoring in the English and German, but has also studied Spanish and Italian. She has 8 brothers and sisters and lives with her family in Amman, who left Palestine in 1948. Yasmeen was very friendly and we will meet again after UJ’s exams finish in a few weeks. Here is a picture of Yasmin and I during our reception.

student

Posted in Amman, Jordan | 3 Comments »

Tour of Amman

Monday, June 6th, 2005
I woke up Sunday morning to the call of the muezzin at 3:30am. It was still pitch black outside and the street was quiet but the pre-recording call to prayer still blasted from the mosque’s ... [Continue reading this entry]

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The Big Day

Thursday, June 2nd, 2005
The flight from Raleigh to New York last night was bumpy because of the wet weather and because of our tiny plane. Shortly before takeoff the flight attendant announced that the plane was overweight and ... [Continue reading this entry]

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