Good Roommate Karma

Cairo, Egypt

I was met at baggage claim by someone from the program, and handed over to a driver sent by AUC to take me to my apartment. Naturally, he wanted to know about my apartment and my roommate, but I couldn't tell him anything, except that we'd met on the Internet and I'd seen a picture of the room, and we'd agreed that if it didn't work out, I'd help her find a new roommate. The driver was appalled.

I couldn't quite convey to him in Arabic what I've been telling everyone for weeks: People have moved into my apartment in Amman knowing less. Poor Kitty came in completely blind, as did Melanie. And almost every roommate has said they felt lucky to have landed where they did. I figured I had some good roommate karma coming my way, so I took a chance on a complete stranger, just as Kitty, Melanie and Owen all took a chance on me.

I wasn't disappointed. It's not the spacious abode I've become accustomed to in Amman, but it's a cute little place, clean and tidy, with all the necessary amenities in good working order. I can't complain, even if a little air conditioning would be nice sometimes....

From Moving to Egypt

The apartment is right in the downtown, just 4 blocks from the university campus where I'll be having my classes. This was a high priority for me, as I remember that taxi drivers were what I hated most about my visit to Egypt a year ago, and I want to be able to walk to class.

Quote of the Day
"I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."

-Blanche DuBois
Streetcar Named Desire
by Tennessee Williams

Done, Not Forgotten

Amman, Jordan

This is it. Officially resigned from Bell Amman, beginning to pack for my move to Jordan, already starting the rounds of farewell dinners, brunches, drinks and a party. Only 2 more days to enjoy Jordan before being dropped in the melee of Cairo!

I'm pretty certain that I'll be back. I've got the whole month of August off from the CASA program, and I expect I'll grab the opportunity to teach for part of Bell Amman's Young Learner Program. I wrote the course for the IB / IGCSE Program, fully expecting to teach it and very excited about the idea. Every time it was put off again was a huge disappointment. Now, though, it turns out I might be able to teach a part of it after all. (Also, the money isn't bad!)

Nevertheless, it's odd to think that I'm leaving after all this time! I'm really gonna miss this country and my friends here!

Independence Ride

Happy 64th Birthday, Jordan!

Madaba and Mount Nebo, Jordan

From Birds of Mount Nebo

I celebrated with a Tareef Cycling trip. A lot of people cancelled at the last minute to go to Independence Day events, so it was a small group, giving Nader himself a chance to do a little biking.

From Birds of Mount Nebo

Mostly a flat trip, it had a couple good, long hills, and while I would have gone up them in 3rd gear instead of 1st a year ago, I would've had to walk 2 years ago, so I was feeling pretty good about myself.

From Birds of Mount Nebo

We had our barbecue at this gorgeous new tourist facility built behind the Mount Nebo church. Yet another way that Jordan has changed in the time I've been here. At the same time, as several people commented, it seems a waste of money to have built this beautiful facility and then to have it stand empty but for the nesting birds....

Speaking of birds, I went a little overboard trying to catch a couple decent bird photos, after Ghadeer told me on my last visit to the village that the funny looking bird I'd photographed on Amman's Citadel Hill was the hoopoe bird that I've always wondered about.

From Birds of Mount Nebo

Village Voice, Au Revoir Edition

Mshairfeh, Jerash, Jordan

Sihil's Wedding
The first thing on everyone's mind wherever I went was Wijdan's nephew Sihil's wedding, which starts Wednesday. Village weddings are a 3-day affair, with the henna night on Wednesday, party at the bride and groom's houses on Thursday, and the faarida and a combined party at the groom's house on Friday. I was unofficial photographer and videographer at their engagement, and everyone kept asking if I'd be at the wedding with my camera. Well, everyone but Ghadeer, who has named herself the official photographer. However, only is this my last week of work, but on Friday night, the most important night of the wedding, I'm hosting my going away party. I think only the mother of the groom didn't believe me when I said I wished I could go....

I also got a tour of the newlyweds' house. Every room is a different color, and beautifully decorated. The bedspread was just exquisite. As Wijdan said, "It's as if Sihil's maiden aunts are getting married, and not the boy himself!" They went all-out!

Safa's Engagement
I missed it by just a week! The headmistress's eldest daughter, 2 years out of university, has just gotten engaged to a very handsome young man. They attended the same university, and he's the brother of one of the teachers at the headmistress's school. She showed me their engagement photos. He picked out the engagement gown, which was a gorgeous maroon with a drop waist. She also showed me all the gold he'd provided for her engagement. JD5,000 worth, at the present price of gold. No wonder Jordanian men can't afford to marry!

She'll be married in late July, or after Ramadan in September, depending when their house is ready.

"Mimi"
Taqwa, who will be 2 on my birthday this July, is starting to talk. There's the usual: mama, baba, la! [no!]. She can say "mai" [water], and calls her baba "Habibi" [darling]. "Du?" means "Shu?" [What?] and is one of her favorite words. In retrospect, I suppose I should have been paying more attention, seeing as I've resolved to study Arabic language acquisition as a PhD.... And in the 24 hours I was there, she learned a new word: "Mimi." It's how she referred to me. It reminded me of Claire and Calen's godmother Mimi.

"Take her with you?"
Wijdan confessed to me months back that it was her goal to put as many babies as possible in my arms, so that I would finally decided to settle down, get married and have some of my own. Accordingly, almost as soon as I had arrived at the house, she had Rana deposit baby Milak in my arms. I was glad for the distraction from Wijdan's mother-in-law, who's about as subtle as a razor blade, and doesn't like me much ... probably because I'm friends with Wijdan, and she doesn't like Wijdan at all. So there I was, giggling and "chatting" with Milak, who is playing around with her own vocal repertoire. ("At this rate, she'll be talking before Taqwa!" said Wijdan.) The old woman looked up, incredulous and disdainful as usual. "Do you like girls? Why don't you take her with you. We don't need more girls." It's a common sentiment in Jordan, but it makes me cringe every time!

Quote of the Day
"I'm not going to say goodbye, Maryah. I know you'll be back."
I was expecting a very tearful farewell ... dreading it, actually. Wijdan called me the other night in tears about how she hated her life, and now I was leaving.... But she was surprisingly sanguine about the whole thing, assured that I would return sooner or later.

Hot Stuff!

Aqaba, Jordan

There's a warm wind that brings spring over the mountains into northern Switzerland called the "Föhn," which is also the word they use for 'hair-dryer.' It's phonetically almost identical to the Arabic word for 'oven.' Wikipedia says they're not related, but either word - hair-dryer or oven - would have described the weather when I stepped out of the Central Bank of Jordan after my classes this evening.

Similar winds have swept over from the Negev before in the weeks I've been in Aqaba. They usually come in the evening, often carrying a dusty haze, and generally presage a miserable next day. Tonight's wind, however, was the most intense of this past month. In addition to being heavy with dust, and smotheringly hot, it also smelled exactly like the super-heated air that comes out of a hair-dryer!

Free Lunch!

Aqaba, Jordan

No, I can't debunk the old truism, "No such thing as a free lunch." I worked hard for these last three lunches ... but in the end I didn't shell out the cash for them.

Peter and Rebecca came to visit me this weekend, and to have a well-deserved mini 48 hour semi-vacation. I say "semi" because Peter was constantly on the phone with the company, having recently become the director of Bell Amman. He is in the middle of a serious culture change in the company, an opening up of dialogue between departments and with the CEO that I think will eliminate many of the most frustrating aspects of the business culture there that I was beginning to despise. It almost makes me sad to be leaving Bell Amman for this fellowship in Cairo. (In addition to already being very sad about losing my very nice salary, just when I was getting used to having money to save, and even a little money to throw around. So much for lasering away my leg hair...!)

Anyway, Peter was mostly writing a paper for his PhD on his "vacation," but Rebecca spent most of it on the beach with me, and we had 3 fabulous lunches in the various restaurants of the Intercontinental Hotel. It was so nice to have someone else to spend the weekend with. While I generally enjoy the company of me, myself and I, we do occasionally tire of each other and need to see other people....

The March of Time

Aqaba, Jordan

I've lived in Jordan for 4 of the past 6 years. I've reached an odd point in my life where I can't decide whether that's a long time or a short time. I do know that almost my only "real" jobs, in which I worked full time and wasn't also a full-time student, have been here in Jordan (with the exception of working full time as a substitute teacher while I waited for my Peace Corps assignment, which didn't feel like a "real" job). My whole adult, non-student life is here. Put in that perspective, it's no wonder I've got such mixed feelings about leaving Jordan. So much of the adult I've become was molded here.

In other ways, though, I'm ready for a new adventure. One of the things I noticed on my trip with Wade was how much many of my favorite places had changed, improved in ways that make me oddly nostalgic for their former "rustic" appeal. I've seen a lot of changes in Jordan's tourist industry in my time here.

The many times I visited King Herod's Castle at Macchareus, it was an entirely self-guided tour. Park your car and climb at your own risk. Now the parking lot has been fenced in and charges a fee, and is watched over by the Tourist Police. I appreciate the desire to earn money from this attraction, as well as the philosophy that when local people benefit economically from an archaeological site, they are more likely to be concerned about saving it. At the same time, the nearby Byzantine church ruins were locked up, it being Friday, and I wasn't able to show them to Wade.

About a month before my brother's rock-climbing tour of Jordan, they banned rock-climbing in Petra, at least in the easily accessible parts. The last time I went to Petra, you could walk on the portico of the Treasury, but not inside the dining chambers. When I took Wade to Petra, you couldn't even walk on the portico, but had to admire it from the sand down in front. When I took my parents to Petra, we climbed to the top of the Roman Theater and took pictures looking back across the wadi. Now they've cordoned off an area some distance in front of the theater, and you can only admire it from afar.

From A Rainy Day In Petra

I understand why, of course. I've heard my archaeologist friend Chris rail often enough about how the tourists are destroying the archaeological integrity of Petra and other sites around the kingdom. I've seen the appalling graffiti on the Treasury and other monuments. It's easy to see how just the rain has degraded the seats of the Roman Theater, and that human feet could only hurt it more. From a preservation perspective, it's absolutely essential that these steps be taken, and almost incomprehensible that they weren't taken much sooner. The dramatic increase in the number of tourists in the past 6 years only exacerbated the need for these changes.

From an Ammani evening

Most dramatic was the complete re-invention of Castle Hill in Amman, with a visitor's center, clearly marked pathways, scenic vistas and many more informative plaques. Equally dramatic was the new visitor's center in Wadi Rum, complete with entrance fees to the park and a big sign indicating standardized prices for all kinds of services for which tourists formerly either bargained or were fleeced. It's all far more informative and tourist-friendly, much more like the park at Bet She'an across the Valley. At the same time, I remember quite vividly how fun it was with Auntie Viv or my parents to imagine what each little building and chamber used to be used for. All that clear information sort of takes the fun out of it for me. I miss those days when Wesley could climb everything and photograph it from the top!

Inside the Middle East

Aqaba, Jordan

Aside from rather dubious statement that "Amman, Jordan, is one of the oldest cities in the Fertile Crescent," considering that it was a negligibly tiny village for most of history, this week's Inside the Middle East on CNN told the story of the West Amman that I'm really going to miss. Featuring Duinde Gallery and a fairly candid discussion with Jordan University students, I found it quite enjoyable.

I also liked the stories about the Muslim comic book series "The 99" and the Tuareg Saharan blues band Tinariwen.

The Colors of Rum

Wadi Rum, Jordan

From Wadi Rum with New Friends

Overcast as it was, it's hard to see in my photographs the brilliant bands of color in the stones and the sand for which Wadi Rum is so famous. Even still, it was a beautiful day, and nice to just sit in the back of the 4X4 for most of the day, in contrast to all the walking and climbing we've been doing on this trip.

From Wadi Rum with New Friends

In each of the 3 jeep tours I've done in Wadi Rum, I've seen completely different parts of the park. It's easy to do. The preserve is enormous, and every part of it has its own wonders. I hope that the increasing control over tourist services and rates in the park (a very good thing, don't get me wrong!) doesn't restrict the jeep tours too much to just a few limited vistas.

From Wadi Rum with New Friends

I've also never been to Wadi Rum at this time of year, either. It's always been a pretty bleak desert when I've visited, at least as far as vegetation goes, but this time the park was teeming with flowers. One more reason that Wade's visit was perfectly timed!

From Wadi Rum with New Friends