Priceless

A Shawarma lunch: .55 JD

A taxi ride to the University of Jordan from my home: 1.25 JD

Last first day of school while in Amman, Jordan: Priceless

I'm a senior. Not only that, but a senior in her last semester of college. It's a glorious feeling, if not surreal. I'm so glad that I'm taking this last semester to be abroad. At first, I was a little worried that I'd regret going away from all my friends and what was comfortable for my last semester. However, I'm finding it is really good for me. I was almost too comfortable at good ol' Cedarville. This is giving me the chance to really start being on my own, away from school, before I face the big bad world.

This morning I had my modern standard Arabic class, as well as my colloquial Arabic class (Yes, on a Sunday. Welcome to the Middle East.).  They both took it pretty easy on us as it was just the first day. We went over the syllabus and introduced ourselves. Our colloquial professor decided to give us Arab names that were close to our American names. I tried to talk him into using my normal Arab name (which is the actual word for grace - na'ama), but he didn't go for it. So I ended up with the name Jumana. The letter "g" is not really in the Arabic language, unless you're using Egyptian dialect. Our Advanced I colloquial professor is hilarious, though. He's a tall, thin guy with an angular face. When he first walked into the room, he stood in the doorway and bugged his eyes out, looking at all of us. I thought he looked exactly like some Arab Wallace and Gromit character. In class, we practiced a great deal of new greetings in the Jordanian dialect. While it's discouraging to have to relearn so many new things you thought you already knew, it is good to have a class that is so practical and useful here in Amman.

In my modern standard Arabic class, my professor discussed the word 'jihad'. It was a really fascinating conversation (at least, what I caught of it - he was speaking very quickly and entirely in Arabic). He explained how the term 'jihad' is generally associated with the word 'terrorism' in America and around the Western world. Those who have a basic understanding of Arabic coin the term as meaning 'struggle'. However, our professor pressed that it has a different meaning. The verb means basically 'to do whatever you can to achieve your goals'. The noun means basically 'a good worker, one who uses all his efforts'. If you think about it, that is so much more of a positive word than a negative one like we see it in America. It really changes how you can use that word. Interesting, huh?

After my first class, a few of my friends and I tried to go a different way back to our program's building. It turned out being the long way, and we had to cross the street. Now, when I say we had to cross the street, imagine some video game on expert level. You know that video game where you're standing on the edge of a river and logs are zooming by? You have to hop from one to one in order to reach the other side. And, of course, some of the logs are replaced by alligators on occasion? Now speed up the logs so they are moving at 100 times the normal speed. That is what it is like to cross a street in Jordan. The alligators are the buses and the water is the rest of the cars. Death is imminent. According to a presentation CIEE gave us one of the first days, a Jordanian dies every 8 minutes due to a car hitting them. I used to think I'd die in the Middle East because of some kind of unrest or something crazy. Nope. I'm gonna die far too anti-climatically - being hit by a car. Oh, well.

A few nights ago I went out with some friends and a new Jordanian friend named, Ola. She's really nice and is really open about culture and life here in Amman. Most fascinating, she was talking about how she is Muslim but only really believes that there is a God. She said she is frustrated that Islam here is a culture and not only a religion. She respects what they believe, but wish it wasn't pushed onto her everyday. Very interesting to hear another side of the situation from a young Jordanian.

There have been a lot of misconceptions when it comes to Jordan. Not every woman is as restricted as I was led to believe. I mean, there's just every walk of life. Women who wear the entire burqa, women who only wear the hijab, women who dress like me, and women who wear clubbing outfits I didn't even wear in the States. It all depends on where you're going and what you're doing. I think most areas it is completely unacceptable to let your shoulders and knees show, especially on the University of Jordan's campus. There are a lot of conservative students who attend there. However, when I went out with Ola, she wore a blouse with no sleeves and was fine. You learn something new everyday.

That's my stream of consciousness for the day.

Yalla bye.