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)