Swaffy - waffy!

Today was more orientation minus the touring old ruins. Following breakfast, we were bussed to the University of Jordan campus where we went to the CIEE office just outside one of the main gates. It is in the Khalifeh Plaza building: on the lower levels, there is a sort of store complex, with a Gloria Jean’s coffee place, another sort of food place, and a store that sells some sort of electronics, I think. Possibly haircuts. Between a poor memory, no observation, and a substantial lack of Arabic skills, I am not entirely sure what services were proferred.

Up five floors (which we walked because the elevators are eternally slow and because they had a weight limit and there were many of us) and we arrived at the CIEE offices. The indoor walls are painted a lovely bright blue, which is unlike any of the painting I have seen here. We then had a lesson in “Survival Amiyya,” with “Amiyya” being the name of the Jordanian dialect. It was called “Survival” because either if you made it out alive of the hour you could go on with the rest of your semester or because it contained some useful Amiyya phrases necessary for getting around the city and to the UJ campus.

Unfortunately, I remember very little of the phrases. This is compounded by the fact that I do not really read Arabic and that I had no paper on which to take transliterated notes. The professor, however, was wonderful. He was very animated and lively, and made the class very fun yet intense. He came in speaking Arabic loudly, expecting us to return his phrases. A few of the kids knew what to say; but of course, since it was Amiyya and not MSA, they did not all know all the correct phrases. I know how to say “I want”, “to go”, various words for yes, and “At last/It’s about time.” "What's up" is pronounced, approximately, "Shu fee ma fee?" to which one responds "Safweih wafeih!" (or something rather like it. Swaffy waffy, I have decided, will be close enough.)This made my day.

One note of interest: the Amiyya word for “To go” sounds something like “Aruah.” Now, one of the reasons I was interested in studying Arabic stems from the conlangs I made years ago. (Conlang means “constructed language” and there are many people that enjoy playing with them; yes, it did stem from reading LOTR perhaps a little too much. No, I never learned Quenya or Sindarin. And no, no Klingon. I promise.) At any rate, the word I decided to use for “to go” was “Arunah,” pronounced very nearly exactly like “Aruah” (however it actually is transliterated). Cool!

From the CIEE office, we went to the Talal Abu Ghazeleh Organization: it’s a section in the building created by, you guessed it, Talal Abu Ghazeleh. He is one of the wealthiest Jordanian businessmen (he works in accounting/business-y things) and has a strong sense of corporate social responsibility; of course, it only makes sense for him. He needs a Jordanian workforce that not only has the education, but also the “soft skills” of English, communication, technology, etc. to lead in an increasingly globalized and competitive market. Right. You didn’t actually need to know that. The thing is: it has a lot of computers and some classrooms. It is also where we had the nitty-gritty details of orientation. I’ll save you the minutiae.

Then – lunch! Seriously, the meals here are the highlights of my day. True, we are at a hotel and even at the UJ campus we were eating in the room available for rent so the food was better than normal – but still, it’s like a party in my tummy. If we are what we eat, I might very well turn into a tall glass of mango juice. (I also experienced the UJ restrooms, but again, I will spare you the details. If I am not careful, this will turn exclusively into a report of my gastronomic and water closet-ic adventures, neither of which make for very satisfying reading or remembering. Suffice it to say, I will be remembering to pack my own TP and hand sanitizer. Maybe rain boots.)

A walking tour of the UJ campus in the cold and wind followed. It is a lovely campus, although my attention was arrested by the paint on the trees halfway up to prevent the ants from eating the bark. I was also distracted by all the musilmehs in their hijab. Hijab (and the occasional niqab) is not unusual in Jordan – perhaps 50-70% of the population covers, I would estimate, depending on the area. No, it was the contrast: they were all dressed far more stylishly than any of us bedraggled Americans. Their jeans were painted on tight, beneath which were shining black knee-boots. Their black wool pequod jackets provided the perfect foil for designer handbags. To top it all off, their elaborately wrapped hijab flowed off a towering-style of hair (although I have heard rumours that a bottle or can of some kind is actually used). The nearly cone-style rises from the back of the head up, reminiscent of a poke bonnet or a costume of Princess Leia’s.

Then, we returned to the CIEE center over the handbook information. There were two rounds of multiple choice questions. The third round was fill in the blank. The final tie-breaking round was drawing a map of Jordan and surrounding countries. I ended up with second place, which was a nice phone credit card.

Finally, we returned to the hotel the dorm where I skyped with Mary for a lovely time and then with my parents. Another absolutely delicious dinner: babaghanouj and hummus with pita and cheese with roast tomatoes. There was also this pale white, flaky square that was on a tray with baked cauliflower. I’m not sure if the square thing was cauliflower or potato or something else. It was good, though. (I really do need to stop detailing every single meal here. Who do I think I am, Julia Childs?)

And now, to write and deal with slow internet. I am thankful I have internet at all, but at the moment I can’t access email and it takes at least 10 minutes for any given page to load. However, listening to dear old Dietrich makes the wait nearly enjoyable.