How my left handedness and undiagnosed dyslexia are a good thing after all.

Above I've tried to give the English equivalent of each Arabic letter

Note the striking similarities between the Arabic above, and this picture I drew when I was little. 

       Since today wasn't particularly interesting I thought I'd take this opportunity to show you guys a bit of Arabic and explain how it works.  Arabic reads right to left. There are three long vowels. An eeee sound an uuuu sound and an aaaa sound. The other vowels or short vowels are not actually written out- meaning you have to guess what they are. There are no capital letters in Arabic, however each letter looks different depending on whether it starts the word, is in the middle of the word, or ends the word.  You can see in the Burger King example that the جlooks different in the middle/end of the word. Imagine only hvng vwls somtms? That is what reading in Arabic looks like. After a bit, it gets easier to remember where the vowels should be however the only text that is fully voweled (properly) is the Qur'an.
      

       Today was a pretty difficult day school wise. We have two local women who are studying to become Arabic teachers working with us as TAs. Today, one of them lead the discussion part of the class. SHE TALKS SO FAST. But unfortunately, this is the norm. When listening to people other than my professor I am lucky to make out 20% of what they say.  We arrived back at Ziyara Inn around 1:30. I made myself a pb sandwich and started the wejib (homework) for the night. Tonight's wejib took me like at least 6 hours all together.  Today's activities were particularly hard as we had to watch a real PBS like program in Arabic about Ibn Battuta. Sure, he was a cool dude and all and traveled basically everywhere in the middle east a long time ago but by hour 2 of trying to figure out what was going on in this video I had had enough.  I took a break and decided to go back to the lady gym for an exercise class. They were offering step today. The teacher was the same as last time (Guys! It's like I found a new Omar! Even though she is a lot less buff, hot, manly and not Colombian, their English levels are comparable). The participants were a lot of the same women too.   Once again we jjumpng jjjjaaked and sweat to outrageously loud American music as she screamed in English. The class was actually like, really really hard.  Not too hard as in exhausting but rather the combinations were like 10 minutes long each! She was having us like spin jumping on the step and run around it and crazy moves that I still donnnn't really worked to the music. It seemed like everyone in the room already knew the combinations so hopefully I will get better as I go to the class more (Insha allah ((God willing-what you say in arabic instead of hopefully)))
         After class I got falafel from the 30 cent guy, some more fruit from the fruit guy, (I really have to start learning these guys names!) and went back to work on the homework for the night. 4 hours later I was finished and now I am here, sitting in bed.  :)
!أحبكم
(Ahumbkum- I love you all!) 

First day(s) of class!

               

Goofin' off in the jalabiyah (traditional Arab dress)

Saturday we went to the center for the first time and had a ‘crash course’ in Jordanian Arabic… It was here that I finally realized how I could have studied a language for two semester yet still not be able to communicate, like, at all with the people.  As it turns out, (and I suppose I knew this but now it’s for real for real) Jordanian dialect (known as a’amia in Arabic) is COMPLETELY different from the modern standard Arabic we learn in class (known as foos-ha). MSA is the language of the Qur’an.  It is used by regional news reporters, in newspapers, on airplanes, in the mosque and that’s about it.  We speak it in class however it is rarely ever spoken in the real world.  Imagine someone coming up to you speaking Shakespeareian English. Pretty weird, right? Well that is exactly what MSA sounds like to a native Arabic speaker.  Later that night we had a lovely dinner at the center of traditional Arabic food. I couldn’t tell you what any dish was called but I ate it. That is something I am getting used to (see, 5a and mom! I can change my pick eating habits!). Even though I can read the Arabic, I don’t know what anything means so I have been pointing to pictures of food and rollin’ with it. So far so good! At the end of the dinner we made a pledge to speak only in Arabic while  in the center.  Needless to say it got much quieter after that.

Yesterday we had the first day of classes. I think it went pretty well! My professor here is the same professor I had for the last two semesters at Columbia.  She is really great and I am used to her teaching style so that’s a plus.  We have class at the Columbia University Middle East Research Center which is a building donated to Columbia by Queen Rania. The center is about a 15 minute drive from where we live.  Once we get inside the building's gates we are only allowed to speak in Arabic. Classes are from 9am-1pm so we do about one week worth of material each day. After classes we get dropped off at our hotel.  I think I mentioned this before but everything is pretty hard to get to. Our hotel is at the top of a hill and it takes about 20 minutes to walk down to the main road where all the food/shops are.  So far, my most frequented restaurant has been the 30 cent falafel place. Although then downhill part isn't too bad walking back up that hill is quite strenuous. I walked up and down it twice yesterday. I'm sore today!

One of my trips down the hill was to an all women's gym. We had the option to take classes or use the machines. I opted for the classes. As it turned out, they were offering kickboxing that night! It was quite a strange experience.  Although Amman has proven to be quite a conservative country, this gym was not. The women were dressed in shorts and tank tops. The class was definitely not as intense as Omar's classes at Equinox but I still had a lot of fun! I was definitely the only un-local there but strangely enough, the class was taught in English. I doubt anyone else besides me in the room spoke english! Very odd. We punched, jumping-jacked, and lifted weights to extremely loud American music.  The facility is actually really nice! They have showers and lots of air conditioning and very friendly staff.  After class I shlepped back up the hill. We ordered in shawarma for dinner and did homework for the rest of the night.  I bought a class pass for the gym so I will hopefully be back regularly.

Today was nothing too special.  After class, we went to the fruit stand and bought fresh fruits and veggies.  I did my hw and now I am writing to you guys! Happy Memorial Day!

!!السلام عليكم
(goodbye, or literally peace be upon you)

That one time when the cab driver tried to sell me...

Although I didn't take this picture, I might as well have. I believe this taken at the exact mosque we were by...

Today, our first full day in Amman, we woke up and were told to be in the lobby by 10am. (Ellen, I used my be-on-time-to-call-time skills I learned from you for this one however they were not so needed.) By 10:30 everyone was downstairs and we were off for what we thought was an orientation that turned out to be a 20 minute bus ride and an hour at a cafe chatting. After a lovely morning at a coffee shop on the famous Rainbow Street getting to know my peers and professors, we walked around a traditional market and then made our way downhill to the 'old city.' Today is Friday which is the Holy day for Muslims. The call to prayer is projected over the loudspeaker from the mosques five times a day.  During times of prayer, most shops are closed and the city basically comes to a halt. People come outside with cardboard or rugs and line up in the middle of the typically busy street to pray.  It is quite a sight.
We visited the Roman ruins, walked around giant outdoor markets and settled down for a lunch of hummus, pita, and various meats. Today I walked around with about 10 peers so I was never then one having to communicate directly with anyone, which was good for now as I am very nervous when talking to locals in Arabic.  Imagine knowing basic French, and going to Spain and trying to communicate. That is about how different modern standard arabic (what I am learning) is from dialect (what is spoken.) Hopefully, tomorrow's crash course in Jordanian Arabic will serve me well for interactions to come :)
We walked around a bit more after lunch and around 4pm hailed taxis back to our inn on the west side of town.  In Jordan, there are no addresses so you describe everything based on what roundabout you are located closest to. When we get in the cab we have to tell the driver (in arabic) "Please go to the 7th roundabout by the University and the McDonalds" (seriously!)  and that is our "address." Four of us squeezed into a typical yellow cab and spoke in Arabinglish for the 4 dinar (like 7 dollar) 25 minute cab ride.  Between his English and our Arabic we were able to hold pretty good conversation. His name was Omar,  42, Palestinian, he loves America and hopes to die there, asked us if we could get him a visa, and and if we would have dinner with his family. Oh yeah, and that he wanted to sell me for marriage.  Well, I'm not really sure about how the transaction would have taken place but he offered to keep me to find me an Arab husband. After I politely rejected his offer he asked what I was afraid of.  I told him that I was just surprised and that I hope to let fate decided my future husband, rather than him. Luckily we arrived a few seconds later and that was that. The kids in my cab joked that they should have offered to trade me for camels.  Hopefully it won't ever come to that.
I have lots more to tell you all but I doubt anyone is still reading after three paragraphs anyways...
ليلة سعيدة, Sarah
(Good night)

I made it!

                              Mom and I in front of the Royal Jordanian kiosk at O'hare.

I'm here! Yesterday around 5:30pm (Jordan time) I arrived to the Amman airport on AIR JORDAN (just kidding, that's a shoe) and besides the 100 screaming babies on the flight, it was pretty uneventful. Upon arrival I scrambled to get a visa and exchange money and claim my bags.  Etiquette rules such as single file lines, and personal space don't seem to apply here- something I'll have to get used to.  I easily found all my luggage (few!) and walked through the mass of people waiting outside to pick up their families and friends. Hoping to recognize a face or see someone holding a sign I scanned the area for about an hour.  Gathering many curious looks, and offers for taxis, I awkwardly stood in the middle of the airport plan-less about how to get wherever I was going.  A man from the CIEE program even came and tried to take me away.  After a while I saw that there was a flight from Barcelona coming in about an hour so and I knew one of the other students from the trip would be coming from there. My plan was to wait until that plane landed, and see if he got off it.  Luckily, I found Youseff, one the program directors just a few minutes later (and it turns out the kid wasn't even on that flight!).   Youseff, the bus driver (name TBD), and I sat in a convenience store sort of shop and waited for more students to arrive.  By 9:30pm, we were loaded up and ready to go to our new home- Ziyara Inn.

After dropping our stuff, I took a walk towards the University of Jordan with two of my new peers. We stopped to buy fruit by a man who definitely lived in his stand (just oranges! They have rinds!) and unsuccessfully tried to get falafel sandwiches.  After our walk (which somehow felt 80% uphill both ways) all the students that had arrived gathered in the common area on our floor and played cards until bedtime.
Today we are going to have a brief orientation about the center and basic living in Amman, then we have the rest of the day free. More to come!

First post, woohoo!

Hi all! I am hoping to keep this blog throughout the summer to let you all stay updated on how I am doing in the Middle East.   This Wednesday night (May 25) I am off to Amman, Jordan to do a ten week intensive Arabic program through Columbia.  Stay tuned for more info as I figure out what the hell I'm getting myself into!