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Published: September 24th 2007
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My First Iftar
Here is the spread that was laid out before me. Hey all, I have just completed week 2 in Jordan and things are still going great hear with much less confusion. I started classes the day after the my excursion to Ajloun Castle and love them so far. I have class for 3 hours in two sections starting at 8:00 am. My first teacher is Muhammad (common name over here as you may know) and is apparently the best in the school. He speaks the entire time in Arabic and is constantly joking around which is great just on the fact that we can finally joke in Arabic a new level of language competency! Our second teacher is Ra'id and not quite as good. He makes forced jokes that are not as funny (although he laughs) and speaks in English when he really doesn't have to because the words he uses are easily within our range, I find my self translating in my head back to Arabic. It is starting out easy but I am sure that later we will have much more work. I should also be able to start my supplementary classes in Jordanian colloquial and Media/Newspaper reading which will be great and add some more activity to my
Breaking Fast
The Haven for the non-Muslim day.
Speaking of which, living alone is hard. I don't think that I have spent this much time with myself alone for a long time and it is kinda disconcerting. I am not used to having so much time that I feel restless. I am also type AA or something because I have to be doing something productive with my time all the time making hours alone in my apartment after my homework is done seem hard to bear. I am also cooking all my own meals here which means that I am living on about 2-3$ a day for food which is pretty good and I know I wont be able to accomplish the same feat in New York next semester. I have been able to get out a bit, which leads me to my first cultural experience here.
I was walking along down town after buying a spiffy new belt (he resized it for me) and a towel when I walked past a really big mosque with people congregating out in front. Out of the blue a man who was sitting with a group of friends calls me over in English and says that recognizes me from someone who he chats with online. After assuring him that my name was not in fact Peter he asks me if I have time to sit with him and his friends and I in fact to do I sit down in the shade of one of the minarets and begin talking with them. This conversation is is a mix of Arabic and English and spans numerous topics staying more or less around the topic of religion. As we move into the mosque to get better shade and lie down Yaser (the man who called me over in the first place) asks me if I am a Christian. Because I don't know how to explain the concept of my agnosticism in Arabic and Arab Muslims do not understand the concept in not believing in God, I reply that I am and he calls me brother and we enter the mosque. I talk to these men for about two hours in mostly Arabic at one point even attempting to explain the concept of the holy trinity which I don't truly understand and would be hard in English. After a while Yaser takes me on a walk up to an old castle that overlooks most of the city and is a fairly famous tourist site. The whole time that we are walking around I am speaking to him in Arabic and he is speaking to me in English because we both want to practice and so correct each other (he is 35 in case you were wondering). While we are at the castle the afternoon call to prayer sounds and Yaser says to me "I know this might sound crazy and you can tell me no, but do you want to come and pray with me at the mosque?" I agree because although I am "Christian" I am really interested and have no real problem with it. We catch a cab back to the mosque and after washing up the prescribed way, much to the amusement of the Muslims around me, we enter the mosque and pray. We fit into a line at and for about five minutes go through the motions of standing, leaning over, and finally placing our head to the floor. The whole time everyone around me is murmuring verses from the Quran. After the session Yaser asks me if I felt anything special in my when I was praying (he and his friends had been making subtle efforts to bring me to the light side throughout our conversations), I replied that I had not but really appreciated the experience. After that we talked for another two hours and then had Iftar at the mosque. Iftar is the meal that Muslims eat to break the fast every day during Ramadan. We ordered in food, took some that they were giving out for free at the mosque, and assembled a good sized meal and ate inside the mosque with many other people there. Mosques during Ramadan seem to be as much of a social gathering spot as a prayer area. Many people come to talk, lie down, nap, or pray throughout all times of the say and gather out front to advertise their skills or sale wares. Altogether it was an amazing experience and I am really happy to have had that opportunity jump out at me from seemingly nowhere. It was a great learning experience. Arab hospitality here has been amazing so far, there are so many little events of people looking out for me, inviting me to Iftar, buying me a glass of tea or any simple gesture that makes me feel welcomed and cared for here. I really love this aspect of the culture.
The only other event of note since was that I found a great cafe that is quite an oddity here in Amman durring Ramadan. It is an oddity for two reasons: first, it is open during the day, and second it is serving food and drink! I almost couldn't believe my eyes when I walked into what I thought was a small bookshop only to travel up a long flight of steps that opened up into an expansive sitting area where people (mostly white and mostly speaking English) were sitting an eating midday! After feeling guilty even drinking water in public for the last 12 days this place seemed like a haven for non-fasters. That was probably why I quickly found most of my friends and many other students from the same program sitting together sharing some French toast. You would never know the place exists unless someone told you, but I am glad to have found it, as it is the easiest way to find a friend if you have no idea where to start looking.
I think that I will spare you any more description of my time here and just relax with my 4 liters of date juice that I bought here for 1 Dinar on the street. I hope that everyone is doing well out there. My pictures detailing this section of my trip are up at http://picasaweb.google.com/luke.bolton514/WeekTwoIftar02 Until next time, Ma Salama.
Al-Sarih
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Crystal The Grammar Nazi
non-member comment
GAH!
Yeah, everything sounds great "hear" except for your spelling! Shame on you! Shaaaaame! I must hear more about you being a "Christian". I'm sure that's an interesting experience. Jordan sounds like a really welcoming place. I'd love to expand on this idea, but I've stayed up too late again. Yay me. Good night, "Christian" friend.