Weekend in Aqaba

This weekend I went back to the port city of Aqaba, on the Red Sea, with 7 of my friends. It was madness. I ate meat (!!!) and we made so many interesting decisions.

There was singing of the national anthem (not by me) on the porch of a Jordanian hotel, getting lost in closets, Jordanian stalkers that had to be physically prevented from following some of us (me) ever again by the guys, too much Mcdonalds, fresh fish cooked on the boat (pictured above), a British  CIA agent (James Bond), lots of falafel, some shey (tea), snorkeling in the red sea, naps (in the picture too), a missed bus on the last day, and a 4-hour impromptu taxi ride home to Amman.

We're alive and well, and the weekend was successful, and now I'm doubling up on going to the gym and doing my Arabic homework for the rest of my life. I made myself stir fry because I really am sick of all this Jordanian nonsense food. I think I have bed bugs. We're hiring a maid.

Self preservation

I'd just like to announce that my sense of self-preservation has officially been destroyed. Sorry mom and dad. I'm starting to act like a Jordanian, and that seems to mean walking in front of moving traffic as though it will stop, when in fact Jordan has one of the highest death rates by car accident in the world. So, I'm announcing this to show how silly the Middle East has made me. At home, I will use crosswalks and I won't j-walk because I'm too nervous. At home, cars will probably stop for me. Here, I walk in front of moving vehicles, don't use sidewalks, come so close to being hit that I actually brush the car with my purse as I walk by, get honked at maliciously, and find myself stuck in center dividers on the daily. It's not that I have a death wish, it's just that this is how things are done here, and if you live here for a month, you tend to do as the Romans do (when in Rome... right? did I mess that one up?).

Another thing, which my dad would like, is my totally distorted sense of lines. I will push in front of everyone to get to the front of the invisible lines in this country, and it makes everything faster. I walk directly in front of people who have been standing there for 10 minutes and use my American-ness to order first, because that is another thing that is done here. There are no lines. I even blatantly cut in front of old-people tourists at Petra because clearly, they don't know how Jordanians do things, but since I do I'm allowed to be a total jackass to strangers.
BUT, on the other hand, if someone at a restaurant doesn't want to serve you because they are on the phone with their girlfriend, I have become accustomed to be completely chill about the fact that my coffee is taking 20 minutes to get. I overheard this dumb old man who was clearly Western yelling at the hotel manager in Cairo for the water being cold, and all I could think about was how absurd it was that he would expect that he'd get warm water, let alone water at all, in a hotel even though he was paying for it. Another example: my professors answer their cell phones in the middle of class, in lecture, or if I'm mid-sentence. They just have to see who is calling them, because who knows, it could be someone important. It never is, but I shouldn't expect that they wouldn't stop class for a personal call. My sense of entitlement has left me, as has my sense of waiting in line and my desire to cross streets safely.

Just saying. I'll try not to die with the street thing, but I find it really interesting to see how different my actions are becoming (or how Arab they're becoming). Things don't get done in this part of the world because of their mentality of not expecting anything to get done. "Enshaalah" (God willing, they say it after every sentence) I will show up at the meeting that has been scheduled for a month, but if Allah wills it, I will be at a cafe with an old friend instead. Enshaalah my coffee will be served to me when I order it, but most of the time Allah wants my cashier to call home 5 times before giving me coffee and for my professor to interrupt class for a personal phone call every few minutes.

But really, I get why nothing gets done in Middle Eastern politics, because how could they when there are hundreds of distractions waiting to get in your way, enshaalah? 

Cairo, Egypt!!

Last weekend I went to Cairo. There's a lot to say, so I'll try to be brief.

We arrived very tired and frazzled (6 girls, 2 boys) and checked into our sketchy little hotel. As college students living in the Middle East, we were ecstatic just to have hot water and clean floors, but my father would have had a heart attack if we tried to make him stay there. My standards have become sub par.

Then, we headed off to the Khan el-Khalili bazaar to buy some cheap Egyptian goods. This was when I discovered some interesting things:
1. For an hour of my "time", I am worth an average of 1.000 camels
2. Marriage proposals are not as romantic as they're cut out to be
3. Egyptian men are shameless pigs (in a non-stereotyping-while-still-definitely-stereotyping kind of way)
My friend Zan received the best pick up line, however: "I will kill my wife for you."
If that isn't the most convincing line you've ever heard, I don't know what is.

 I recognize that I look dumb in this picture, but that isn't the point. This is my conservatively dressed, lovely friend group at the bazaar. We were hot, sweaty, and sick of being proposed to. I bought 2 scarves for the equivalent of $4 each.
Next, we drove back to our hotel's neighborhood.

 This is the Nile river! And a woman, dressed to impress.

The next day, we went to the pyramids. They were large and cool, but it was hot and dusty, and the locals were acting weird.

 This awkward photo is of me trying to look like I'm kissing the sphynx, but actually I'm just poking it with my nose (like always), and blocking it from view of the camera, as a woman also ruins the photo. I kept wondering if she was hot. Good question.

 Then, due to my shockingly white and unusual physical appearance, or maybe my haram dress (sarcasm) this random chick came up to me and forced me to hold her child as they took a photo of me. They'll probably tell their friends they spoke to me and I'm their friend. It was really awkward, and I didn't want to hold the baby, although she was cute. Does the child know that this might be her last time showing her knees in public?

 Pyramids!! They were beautiful, large, imposing, etc.etc. Each block was a lot bigger than they look now, I don't really know how they did it.

 The girls at the pyramids! My dress was the most scandalous thing I've worn in a month, but the other tourists from Europe were dressed like prostitutes, so I felt OK. I covered up when we went back to the city.
We went to the museum with the mummies but weren't allowed to have cameras. King Tut's hat/gold face plate that he was buried with was INCREDIBLE. Gold everywhere. I don't understand how they made all of these things in his 19 years of life, or how long it must have taken after he died to create the tomb and everything. It was stunning. That night we went to the best meal of my life, with really bad Middle Eastern wine. Then we went to a dance club on the Nile, like cool locals.

 Our last day, we went to Salah al-Din's unbelievably beautiful mosque/palace/house. It was even more beautiful in real life, and it has made me want to go into as many mosques as possible before they leave. I know churches are beautiful too, but maybe its the strangeness of the mosque that makes it more interesting to me?

 View of the city. Cairo!

And, a parting note. The official Egyptian military museum is proud that they managed to cUpture a tank from Israel in 1973. I'm not making fun of them, really, its just a little tiring to have all official English translations in the Middle East be this bad.

I had a great weekend. I'm going to Aqaba (the sea port of Amman, on the Red Sea) next weekend with my friends for a little bit of sun and relaxation. More places on my list for the rest of the year are Turkey, Lebanon, and Israel (Palestine).

Not very interesting, but.

I had an ordinary and much needed weekend at home to catch up on work I missed (or just didn't do ) while I was sick and to clean this dirty, dirty apartment.
My friends and I went out semi-unsuccessfully, because there wasn't much exciting to do. When that happens, we normally end up just eating disgusting food late at night, which is a habit I really, really need to avoid.

  

This week is going to be hectic and semi-painful. We need to get blood tests and finger prints taken to get our visa extensions, so we're doing that this week. In my internship, I have to write a project proposal for a research project on gender issues in Jordan. So far I've found a good amount to work with, but I'm going to have to become more knowledgeable on the subject before I can write a proposal. I also need to contact and compile a list of potential partners on the project and donors, which will be educational-- I'll need to learn about all of the NGOs and such in Jordan who work with women's issues. There might not be that many. I'll update with fun facts once I discover them. For now, I have one:

Men who kill a female family member out of emotional rage or fear of losing the family's honor get a reduced sentence in court (honor killings, yay). Example: If Brian were to kill me because he found out I secretly took a job without my family's permission, and he was upset, his sentence would be around 2 years or less. If he killed me on accident, his sentence would be more like 3+ years in prison.

Another one!

If a man rapes a woman, he can walk free with no sentence or criminal proceedings if he promises to marry the woman he raped. Lucky girl.

Fun stuff!

Arabic is really hard but I'm learning a lot. Taxi drivers are beginning to understand me. 

I'm going to Egypt on Thursday (Cairo)! My first big out-of-the-country adventure begins.

Wadi Rum, Aqaba, and Petra!

This weekend I went on an adventure.

First, we went to Wadi Rum and rode camels through the desert for three hours. It was one of the coolest looking places I've ever seen, and camels are funny creatures.

My friend Alex on a camel, while the baby camel stayed close by (it was cute).

Me, Zan, Emma, and McCahey on camels. We were attached to each other. I was the caboose.

Me next to Hashan, my camel.

Wadi Rum! The sun was setting as we headed towards our camp.

Again, my friends and I.

THEN, we got off the camels and walked to a Bedouin touristy camp where we slept over night. Those are the sleeping tents.

The next morning we got into four wheeler trucks, sitting on seats in the truck bed, and had a very bumpy and semi-painful 3 hour ride through the desert (over sand, rocks, etc.).

Then, we went to Aqaba, the only port city of Amman, located in the south on the Red Sea. We got a boat.

Boat.

The sun setting over Israel (which was also touching the Red Sea, as were Saudi Arabia and Egypt)

Casual camel walking down the street in Aqaba, taken from the bus.

We stayed the night at another Bedouin camp, then went to PETRA (one of the 7 wonders of the world). This is the treasury.

Camel drinking water.

More Petra, it was very very beautiful and cool (and hot).

The Monastery, which required a climb up a mountain with 850 ancient-man-made steps.

That's all! I had an amazing weekend, except I felt sick during it and I got destroyed by bugs and dust and sweat. It was all worth it, though. Last night I was sleeping in the tent when I started to feel all tingly, like bugs were nibbling on my legs, but I brushed it off as those weird tickly things that sometimes make you feel like bugs are on you, and then tonight when I showered I discovered hundreds of mini red spots on my legs that hurt (nibbles). The food was also difficult, and I definitely got a mild case of food poisoning on the second day, thus the sick feeling. That's okay though! It was crazy. A young Bedouin man asked me as I walked by "you want a cat, baby?" which was the dumbest/weirdest pickup line I've ever heard (stray cats are all over Petra, too, so he was definitely referring to a cat).