Ramadan

Three things that I really admire about Ramadan is that everyone takes it seriously, it's done as a community, and it hasn't become a commercial holiday.

The purpose of a whole month of fasting from sunrise to sunset is so that people don't take food and water for granted, and exercise self-control.  Practicing self-control for a month builds character, and doing it every year also helps.   If you want to know more, click here or here.  

If these links aren't good or if you have better ones, let me know.

1.  Anyway, like I said, everyone takes it seriously.  Restaurants close.  Other shops close in the early evening too, and my street is currently 90% dead.  Everything is closed, and there are very few cars.  Before I was worried about everything being closed, but now I just think it's so admirable that they are.  Perhaps one might wonder, "What if someone wants to go shopping at night?"  Oh well.. it's Ramadan, you can put up with it, and I love that.  Everyone working in the stores during the day is sooooooo tired, they can barely stay awake and you can tell they're hungry.  It takes a lot of commitment, and people have the commitment to do it.  

2.  It's done as a community.  It's sooooo nice to see something done by everyone.  You can assume that everyone around you is doing it.  When the 7:30 PM call of prayer sounds, you know that almost everyone in the city is starting their first meal of the day with their families.  

If I were to want to eat during the day, I would have to do it in secret.  DEFINITELY not in front of people.  Even though there are a few who don't fast, to eat in front of people who are fasting is really disrespectful.  You'll get yelled at if someone sees you.  They're trying so hard to refrain from eating and drinking, and to drink a dewy, cold water in the heat of the day in front of someone would be so rude.  Have some courtesy.

3.  It hasn't become a commercial holiday.  Let's take Christmas for example.  

Christmas to most (but not all) people is about presents.  The media takes advantage of this.

Christmas is NOT about presents, and Christmas is NOT about buying things.  It's not even about the lights or trees, though those are nice.  It's about God's gift of salvation and Godly example through the purity of Jesus Christ to mankind.  That's a HUGE gift!  That's what the holiday is meant to be, a reflection of God's gift to us.  

So to reflect that, maybe our gifts should be like:

-Giving clothes and food to the poor

-Cleaning someone else's house 

-Cooking for someone

-Fixing something for someone

THOSE are gifts, and they mean more.  God's gift for us is deep, and we are able to do deep things for other people.  Even a single, simple gift is nice to give - not tons.  Don't let Christmas become a meaningless tradition.   It's about God and other people. 

Just imagine what Christmas could be.

That's what I like about Ramadan, that it still has its meaning.  So in conclusion, I really admire Ramadan because it's a serious thing, everyone does it together, and it's not commercial. 

So the other day my friend took me to a school where students display their art.  Look at some of these pictures.. they're all done by students and they're flawless.

Also, I took a calligraphy class yesterday and have wanted to do Arabic calligraphy for a while :D  He cut the pens himself in front of us, and the ink has a silk string in it.  

There are so many different types of Arabic calligraphy too.  Below, the red ink is the teacher's writing, the blank ink is my practice:

Here is my name in the same script:

I am also starting to feel really sad when I think about leaving.. all of a sudden I have about a week left.  I miss home, but I'm learning so much here.  I want to keep learning.  I want to keep speaking Arabic, and I really love the people I've met.  I love them so much.  How am I supposed to leave them knowing I might never see them again?  That's one of the worst feelings ever.   It took me about a year to feel normal after coming back from Argentina.

I also have NO idea how I'm going to get all my stuff home.. there's no room.   I've bought jeans and books and bulky things, and I already have 4 pieces of luggage to take home before those things.  *sigh*

Oh and one last thing.  I have to give lots of credit to my teapot.

I never knew a teapot could be so good for cooking pasta and straining the water, it's SO convenient, why didn't I do this before?  It is also my heating pad, and it works very well.  Thank you, teapot.  

Ok wait, this is the last thing.  Please pray for Tamara's cousin Motaz because he has a bad fever and is really sick to his stomach.  I don't think he's gotten better in the past week.  

That's all until next time :)  

Everybody's Leaving!

Well, Büşra left and I'm soooooooooo sad :(  Fortunately she made it home okay.

We were leaving our building at 4 AM, and I had some problems with curfew, as usual.

They usually say "If you need to be out later, just ask us before or call us and we'll let you in."  I tried that the next day telling them beforehand that I'd be an hour late.  They said, "NO.  The curfew is at 11."   ...Well obviously... that's why I'm telling you I'm going to be late.  Turns out the curfew on weekends is 12 anyway so they let me leave.

With Büşra, I told one of the ladies, "I'm taking her to the airport, can you let me in at around 5?"  She didn't understand, so I tried to tell her in Arabic, "I'm going with her..."  and she cut me off and said in Arabic "Noooooo"  and started pointing to her watch a bunch of times while saying things.   Ok,  I am not asking you if I can watch my best friend leave the country, I am telling you that I'm going with her now to the airport.  What I am asking is if you will let me back in.  Someone else explained that I need back in and another lady hesitantly agreed.  What will I do during Ramadan?!  I can't be in my building alone for 22 hours of the day.  I also can't sneak in or out my window because it has bars on it :(




My friends and I also took the final today, and it wasn't very appropriate because there was material on it from lessons we never learned.  I know I didn't do well, my friends say they didn't do well, and we all studied for hours.  Another teacher gave us the test so we're going to talk to the teacher who made the test tomorrow if he's there, Inshallah.




Well, three more of my friends are leaving tonight, and another few close ones leave this weekend.  It makes me sad.  But I pray they have a safe flight and make it home okay.




That's all for tonight I guess.. I have to figure out who I'm going to eat with if I decide to eat because there is NO way I am going outside at night alone on this street.  Too many laser stares and comments.  I'd rather be hungry than uncomfortable.

Pictures

Büşra leaves tomorrow :(  I'm going with her to the airport at 3:30 AM.  I hope that won't affect my final the same day...

I will miss her a lot.

Here's some random things for fun.

In Old Amman

Hahahaha... I LOVE the dancing animals.  I couldn't see where the camera was aiming so it's not the best video

Notice the billboard of the king

Leaving Jerusalem

Same

I don't know what this was called but it was soooo good.  Lamb, parsley, tomatoes, and onions.  I might be forgetting something.

Some of my friends at the Dead Sea

I went to a different church today and the whole sermon was in Arabic.  It was soooooooooo beautiful!  Just the sound of a pure native speaker is so perfect.  Afterwards I bought an Arabic-English Bible at the bookstore and some Arabic kids' books.... I'm so excited.  I will read them to my future children.


That's all for today.  I REALLY need to study.. I've been slacking.  Have a good night everyone :)

Thoughts

This post is much longer than I expected.  My apologies.. even I don't like to read very long things.  

Random

Some news

Culture

Feelings

Pictures

I am currently sitting on my windowsill.  I feel kind of scandalous sitting on my windowsill.. like maybe women shouldn't do it, especially at night in case a man might see them or something.  I always imagine myself as an Arab girl, and I don't think an Arab girl would ever sit on her windowsill at night.  

To give you an idea of my surroundings, I have just recently changed the channel from Arabic cartoons to an Arabic comedy.  The weather was hot today, but at night it's perfect and there's always a nice breeze.  (Last week was ridiculous.. it reached for 100 for most of the week.)  

My classes end this Tuesday.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that my building gives us a curfew - 11:00 PM.  They lock the doors then.  It's an all-ladies building so men aren't allowed in the building.  If you want to stay out later, you have to tell them beforehand or call them, and even still they might not say it's okay.  It's better than the 9:00 PM curfew that the university gives. 

I also forgot to mention in my last blog that I switched my ring from my left hand to my right hand.  If it's on the right hand, it means I'm engaged.  If it's on the left hand, that means I'm married.  Being married indicates that I live with a man.  I switched it to the right hand because I don't live with a man.  

And speaking of the ring, ever since I've worn it, I haven't been bothered.  Sometimes I get stares but not like I used to.  

I took it off for one day.  I was sitting at a restaurant waiting for a friend (I'll talk about that in a minute too) and there was a group of guys sitting at a table who could see me through the window.  The one guy nudged the other one and they all stared.  Let me try to find a picture of how people stare here, because you seriously have no idea until you see it.  It's NOT like in the US.  I hate it.. a lot.  I actually get it from Arab girls as well.  

That's the best I could find.  Just imagine these eyes EVERYWHERE around you, ON you.

Anyways, I was really uncomfortable so I motioned to him to stop it.  He didn't understand, so I made the gesture again and mouthed "Khalas"  which means "That's enough."  The guy got up and walked somewhere, but the rest of the table kept glaring :(  

So yes, my friend from Saudi Arabia visited me!  He always helped me with my Arabic :)   It was so nice to see a friend, and we really enjoyed each other's company.  

Let's talk a little more about some cultural things.  

The bottom of your shoe is the dirtiest.  To expose the bottom of your shoe to someone is the worst insult ever.  When you sit, make sure your sole is NOT showing.  Never put your feet up anywhere.  People will be genuinely offended and think that you think they are beneath your feet.  You can imagine how insulting it is to throw your shoe at someone.  

Revenge is also a big part of the mindset here, and I don't want to generalize because there are people who aren't this way.  But let's say if someone is offended or has had something done to them, many must get them back somehow.  They can't let it go until they feel that they're even.  

Age and wisdom are respected here, not so much youth and beauty.  

I've also noticed that people don't do the fake friendly promises, like "I'll call you sometime"  or "Maybe we can get together."  If someone wants to invite you over, they do it right then or don't bring it up at all.  It's perfect.  

A lot of signs have Arabic writing but are English words.. for example, sometimes I read signs that say "Soobr Markt" (Supermarket)  or "Faarmasi" (Pharmacy).  Those are not Arabic words.  

I mean this one has to be the same word, but I just gave a picture to demonstrate.  

The meals go:  Breakfast (in the morning, obviously), lunch (the biggest meal of the day, around 3ish with several different dishes at once), then a later meal (usually late late evening or nighttime).  Oh yeah, and everything is eaten with pita bread.  Everything.  

All the house numbers are the same size and color, like this.  

I'm feeling a bunch of things right now.  

1.  I never thought I would say this after adjusting, but I'm ready to come home.  I miss a lot of things about it.  

- I miss touching people..  like I miss hugs and touching people's shoulders when I have something exciting to say.   Even a handshake!  

- I miss being able to laugh loudly. 

- I miss rain.  

- I miss sarcasm.  

- I miss my friends and my family.  

- I miss being able to walk outside and not have people wonder why I'm alone.  

- I miss being able to walk outside when it's dark and not be seen as a prostitute.  

- I miss the pedestrians having the right of way and friendly customer service.  

- I miss being able to text 500 times a week and not paying for each text.  

- I miss being able to show my forearms and neck and not offend anyone.  

- I miss not always analyzing every move I make to see if I'm doing something offensive.

I'm also pretty disappointed in myself because I haven't been speaking Arabic a lot or getting enough of the culture.  I haven't learned as much as I could have.  I live by myself, and I almost never see Tamara's family.  My friends at school speak English (even the non-American ones), so that's how we communicate.  I need to push myself to find people who are willing to speak just Arabic and be patient with me for not understanding.  

I fear Ramadan.  I fear it.  (If you're unsure of what it is, it's when Muslims fast between sunrise and sunset, in a nutshell.)  At first, I really wanted to experience it and try it to see what it's like.  But if everything's closed during the day and open during the night, that gives me a few predicaments:

     -  I would sleep all day and stay up all night, but if I go outside to eat in the night, it looks bad, right?  Most of my friends will have left at this point, so I can't just grab someone to come with me to eat.  

     -  But if I choose to not sleep during the day, there's still a problem.  Taxis probably won't be running throughout the day, so I can't go see anyone unless it's at night... but my curfew is 11.  I don't want to be alone all day, but if everyone's sleeping, what do I do?  

Though I miss home, I'm also afraid to leave because there are so many things I enjoy here.  

- I like the fact that there are hardly any advertisements here.. like billboards on every corner or posters everywhere.  

- I like that I have a windowsill to sit on.

- I like the fact that clothes are cheap.. my jeans were about $15 USD.  To tailor something costs about $1.50 - $2.00 USD.  

- I will miss all the fruit juices everywhere!  Especially mango juice and lemon-with-mint juice. 

- I will miss everyone's outgoingness.  I don't think that's a word.  

- I will miss hearing Arabic music everywhere.. on phones, on commercials, in supermarkets, in cars, etc.

- I like how people celebrate.  For graduations, weddings, and the big end-of-senior-year test called "Tawjihi,"  people honk down the streets and have fireworks and genuine celebrations. 

- I will miss hearing people speak Arabic and using Arabic and being understood when I speak it.   

- I will miss the traditional clothing.  I LOVE shemaghs. This is a shemagh:

I LOVE it.  I just noticed they're holding hands.  

Here's some pictures for fun. 

I tried to creep some pictures of fashion.  This is a "line."  

It's rude to take pictures of girls because most like to keep a low profile.  I took pictures anyway :/

Some of my friends have offended people by taking their picture or asking to take their picture. 

Cool shopping cart

Notice the Arabic keyboard :D

This is weird.. I'm drawing pictures with English words for my language partner and I drew a bracelet.  Later I get on facebook and see an ad for the same bracelet I drew, ha.

I suppose it's pretty common-looking

The dancing in that video is SO COOL.

This is the prayer call I believe.  I filmed this in Jerusalem.. without skill.  

This is the traditional Jordanian dancing.. I put a picture of this in another blog.  

Arabic cartoons!! :)  

That's all for now :)