Language Exchange and American Influence

It can be daunting and intimidating to actually try to put your language learning to use and speak with people, but I know it is one of the best ways to actually improve. Now that I have been here more than two months and gotten used to things, I felt it was time to really try to put myself out there and work on speaking. There is a local coffee shop/community center here with a language exchange meet up, called Bla Bla, that meets twice a week. I have gone twice now, and the owner had asked me after the first session if I would moderate the portion for people learning English. In addition to English, there are other languages. I know they do Spanish, and people are interested in German, but they have been having trouble finding native speakers. Last night was interesting because I started talking to a brother and sister wanting to practice their English. The brother was only 15, so the sister was probably a little older, but they brought up the topic of the US elections and asked what our opinions were on the candidate. After only two sessions, these meetups have already provided interesting insight into the culture. The previous section we talked about clothing and personal style which brought up conversations about whether men and women should dress according to the gender roles, with most seemingly feeling that the gendered clothing should be upheld, which wasn't really surprising. Although there were a few women who disagreed slightly. But back to the brother and sister. They were of Armenian descent and Christian, and they were very enthusaistic about wanting Trump to win. Some of their reasons were that a. he's a businessman, and they like businessmen, b. they thought he would be the only one to stop Isreal's violence against Gaza and c. that basically he would be against LGBTQ and trans people. All of these points I disagree with strongly, but I had to calmly explain why I didn't believe these reasons were true. I don't know that I changed their thoughts at all, but it was interesting to hear how foreigners think about American politics. And as Americans, I think we are clueless as to how much our politics, our elections effect the rest of the world. The two brought up their concerns about the Jordanian economy; the Jordanian Dinar is tied to the dollar, so our economies are linked. Within the bigger group discussion and from talking to other people from here, it seems that finding a job is difficult, even if you are educated. One of the young men at our table studied electrical engineering, specializing in like computer chips, I believe. He has only been able to find a part time job in his field. Another young man had been working at McDonald's for seven years even though he had a degree, in what I can't remember. And I have heard that many people do Uber, even if they have an education, because it pays more. We had brought up the homeless population in the US, and they asked how can their be so many without houses. I gave them examples of rent prices in Washington DC, and then explained how much a person making minimum wage would make per month. They were shocked when they realized that the wages would barely cover rent. In addition to Bla Bla, I also found a website where people can post looking for language partners. You can do searches by what language they speak, what they want to learn, and where they are located. So I have contacted a handful of people now. So far I have only met with two. On the way to meet with the second one, I actually gathered my courage and spoke with the Uber drive in Arabic. We talked for most of the ride, and then when I met with Hesham we actually spoke in Arabic for most of the several hours we met. He is a professor in sociology here and is working to apply for a grant to go to the US for a few months as an exchange. He explained that his six year old son is learning English but he doesn't like to practice with him, because the son gives him shit for not knowing enough!

Quick Trip to Wadi Rum, Petra, and the Dead Sea

Last week was a busy week! We had a midterm holiday for the whole week, and I was traveling for most of it. Haider has been in Iraq for about a month for his brother's wedding, so he had brought some things from home for me. So he came to Jordan for a few days. Since it was his first time here, we took a short trip. We hired a driver and first went to Petra. Even though I had been already, and it was still pretty hot, it was nice to go again. We didn't have a tour guide this time, so when we got to the treasury, we had a drink and sat at the little cafe to take some time there looking at the rock carving.

After that, we went on to Wadi Rum. We got there a bit late, so they rushed us in a truck to see the sunset over the desert. The bedouin camp we stayed at was really nice this time. Our room not only had electricty, but also a private bathroom and air conditioning. The camp had a nice outdoor area, and the rock behind the camp had lights on it at night. There was a guy playing live music in the evening, and the groups of people there in the evening were really fun. There was a group of maybe twenty women in their 20s/30s, and they all were up and dancing and singing. And then there was a family next to us who had brought a cooler with food, and they were all dancing and having a good time. The grandpa was up and dancing and singing and having fun. Haider and I got up and tried to dance the dabke with them very briefly.

There was a cute cat sitting on the roof of a little booth that we kept trying to pet, but he was not at all interested. Haider even saved him some food for dinner, but he didn't want it. Finally, I guess the cat's owner came and got him down and put him on a bench and Haider swooped in and picked him and held him for a while. The next morning we left and drove to the dead sea. We went to a resort hotel on the Dead Sea (البحر الميت - eh -ba-Hr el-mayit) and ate lunch at the buffet. We hadn't originally planned to go there, so I hadn't brought a swim suit, but I would be going back later in the week. So I will talk more about that experience later. But since Haider was leaving, he wanted the opportunity to see it. He went out in the water for a little while, while I waited on the beach.

After that, we headed back to Amman, and we spent the next day seeing Amman. First, we visited the Cave of the Seven Sleepers. There is a story, a early Christian myth, that is also in the Qaran about seven Christian soldiers who were being by the Romans for their religion, so they fled and hid in a cave where they fell asleep. Some stories said they were sealed in the cave, but God preserved them so that they fell sleep for around 300 years. When they woke, Christianity was accepted, and people saw how God had protected them. (They died shortly after though). Some stories include a dog that guarded them. But anyway, they claim the cave is here in Amman. There is a mosque complex at the site now, so they gave me a robe to wear that had a hood to cover my head. I thought the cave was pretty cool actually; we had to sit outside it for a few minutes because it was closed during the call to prayer. Sitting in the rocky area outside the entrance under an olive tree really felt like you were back in Biblical times. When the cave was opened, we went it. There are seven tombs carved in the rock, and one has a little window where you can look in and see the bones.

After that we went to the roman amphiteater which is in the middle of the downtown/older part of the city called waSt el-beled, and we walked around the shops there, looking for gifts for Haider's family. There is a famous shop called Habiba that sells a famous sweet here, called kunafa. It has a sweet cheese on the bottom,and a crispy, crunchy buttery top. They have multiple shops around the city, but I like the one in the middle of wasat el-belled because it's a tiny shop and you have to wait in a line outside and pay at a little booth outside the shop. I think they only sell a few things at this shop, so you go in, get it, and go out the same door, so it's very crowded. There's a little plaza outside, and I like seeing all the people sitting around eating huge plates of kunafa. It was a nice way to end the short trip.

About Learning Arabic

So I want to talk a little about what it is actually like, day-to-day trying to learn and use Arabic here. Yesterday, I felt like I knew absolutely nothing. Honestly, I felt like a real dummy! We watched a short video in class, and I understood very little of it. Then I went to a store, and despite what I have learned, I couldn't communicate. Being in a place where you can't speak the language is really difficult, so the next time you see an immigrant struggling to communicate in English, keep this in mind! I have learned some of a handful of languages now, and without a doubt, Arabic is the hardest. So I'll talk about some reasons why this is. The US State Dept. categorizes languages by their difficulty for English speakers to learn and the number of hours to learn them. There are four levels - Spanish, French, and Italian are Level I, German is a level 2, Hindi is a level 3, and Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean are the level four languages. You probably already know that Arabic is written from right to left, which means that books in Arabic start from the "end" - back of the book per English and finish at the "beginning" - or the cover of English books, but that's not really a difficulty, just a difference. One thing that makes it difficult is the sounds. There are several sounds that exist in Arabic that don't exist in English. Additionally, there are sounds that in English that are different but are represented by the same letter/s. For example, the "th" in theater is a different sound than the "th" in that. Arabic has these sounds, but the are represented by different letters which could actually be considered something that makes Arabic easier. There are many times this happens in English, but native speakers never think about it, but this can be difficult for English learners. How do you know which "th" sound to use? For each Arabic letter, there are four forms, depending on where in a word the letter is. A stand-alone letter can look different when it is at the beginning, middle, or end of a word, and there are no capital letters.

Arabic doesn't typiclly write out short vowel sounds, unless it's the Quran or something like that. If you ever see fancy Arabic calligraphy with lots of little lines over the top, these usually represent short vowel sounds, or the lack of a short vowel after a consonant, or the doubling of a consonant sound. In most written Arabic - news articles, street signs, books, these aren't written. For native speakers, this isn't a problem, much like if you tk ot vwls n nglsh, u cld stl ndrstnd. However, if you are learning, that makes it more difficult to sound out and recognize words.

Here's a fun thing about Arabic - each noun has a singular and plural form like English, but it also has a dual to represent 2 things. So for 1 thing, you use the singular. For two, you use the dual, and then here's the fun part. From 3-10 things, you use the plural form, BUT for 11 to infinity things, you go back to using the singular form of a noun. So you probably know that Arabic is spoken across the Middle East. It is the official or co-official language in Saudi Arabia, Chad, Algeria, Comoros, Eritrea, Djibouti, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Kuwait, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Bahrain, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. It is also spoken in parts of Turkey, Niger, Iran, Senegal, and Mali. HOWEVER, the Arabic spoken in Morocco, for example, is very different than the Arabic spoken in Iraq. Even native speakers might have some difficultly understanding if they aren't from the area. Most Arabic schools teach Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), also called foos-ha. Then you can also study classical Arabic like the Quran is written in, and then all the dialects spoken are called "ammiya." MSA is really not a spoken language, but it is often used in written things and the news and radio. This means that if you learn MSA, because it is taught in schools like our English classes, almost anyone in an Arabic speaking country will be able to understand you, BUT you may not be able to understand them because some words are completely different. Sometimes the grammar is different. There will probably be more differences as I continue learning. Some other interesting things: The Arabic language doesn't have the sound for the letter "P" so they usually substitue "B". There is also no letter "V", so they usually use "F". There is no present tense linking verb "to be" in Arabic. So if you want to say "My house is big" you say "My house big". Below is some of my writing for my homework.

Trip to Wadi Rum and Petra 9/13 - 14

Qasid, (like Q-aah -sid) planned a trip for the weekend to Wadi Rum and Petra. Wadi Rum is a protected desert natural area with amazing rock formations. The bus ride was about 5 hours to the very south of Jordan, not far from the Saudi border. Several of the Qasid staff went along, but there was one new face - a former professor at the school, Amer who came back for the trip. This guy was a real character - I'm sure in school he was constantly getting in trouble for talking in class and being the class clown. There was a microphone on the bus, and he was constantly using it to relay some fact, play a game, or harass one of the other staff members, Ayman. Every time Ayman would try to respond, Amer would hush him. Amer made everyone come to the front of the bus and introduce themselves in Arabic. Later on, he gave everyone a slip of paper and told half of us to write a question in Arabic, and the other half to write an answer in Arabic. Then he would draw a question and then a random answer and read it aloud. We got to Wadi Rum around 4:30 and then took a ride in the back of pickup trucks to different rock formations in the area. We took our shoes off and climbed the rocks and sand dune to the top of one formation, and then went to another spot where we watched the sun set over the desert. After that, the Bedouins took us back to their campsite. I was expecting to really be roughing it, but there were tents with electricity and beds, and a nice bathroom area. They showed us how they buried food under the sand on a special tiered container in the morning to cook it, and in the evening they would come back to have their dinner ready. One of the men played music on an electric Oud (guitar-like instrument) while we ate the chicken and (I think?) lamb cooked in that method along with different salads and hummus. At around 10:30 we went on a desert walk. Along the way, we gathered brush to make a fire. The plan was to look at the stars away from the lights, but the moon was over half full and was so bright that you couldn't see as many stars, but it was still really cool! There had been a scorpion earlier at the camp site, and everyone was a bit wary to sit down in the sand in the dark. Again Amer was the star of the show as we sat under the stars. They asked for everyone to be quiet for ten minutes, and amazingly, he (mostly) complied. But after that he was telling jokes and stories and trying to get others in the group to do the same. Walking back to the campsite through the sand, even at a small incline, was a workout. I couldn't imagine living in the desert and always having to walk through the sand. The next morning there was breakfast and a camel ride, and then we headed back north to go to Petra. We had a tour guide for the walk through Petra. A bit of the history of Petra: It was from Petra that the Nabataeans, a community of master builders whose skills included hydraulic engineering, iron production and copper refining, commanded the trade routes from Damascus to Arabia, profiting by the taxes paid on the caravans that passed through Nabataean territory. An earthquake in AD 555 is the most likely cause of the city's demise, but thankfully many of Petra's most impressive structures remain intact, making it a treasure trove of architectural surprises, hidden along hiking trails of various lengths and difficulties. The Ancient City is approached through the 1.2km-long, high-walled Siq – a crack in the rock, torn apart by tectonic forces. Just as you start to think there’s no end to the Siq, you catch breathtaking glimpses ahead of the most impressive of Petra’s sights, the Treasury, known locally as Al Khazneh. Carved out of iron-laden sandstone to serve as a tomb, the Treasury gets its name from the misguided local belief that an Egyptian pharaoh hid his treasure in the top urn. The Greek-style pillars, alcoves and plinths are truly masterpieces of masonry work. From the Treasury, the way broadens into the Outer Siq, riddled by more than 40 tombs known collectively as the Street of Facades. Just before you reach the weather-worn 7000-seat Theatre, notice a set of steps on the left. https://www.lonelyplanet.com/jordan/petra/attractions/petra/a/poi-sig/1457302/1001785 We walked through the bottom of a narrow canyon between high stone walls. Along the way we saw the remains of the channels built to bring water to Petra. We also saw carvings for their ancient gods and goddesses. Finally, there is a narrow crack, and you can just see the top of the Treasury, the best-known part of Petra. You've seen in in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. As you continue walking, the canyon opens up, and you are surprised by facade of the Treasury, cut out of the rock face. The guide told us that although it is called the Treasury, it was actually built as a tomb. And because of this, the room is very shallow, and you cannot go inside. As we left the treasury, we could see the paved roads that the Romans built after they took over Petra from the Nabateans. Our guide told us that anything carved into the rock was Nabatean, while anything built into or out of the rock was Roman. As we left, we passed through ruins of ancient temples and an amphitheater. And there was still more to Petra; Ayman told us it takes three days to fully see everything there. We left Petra and Ayman was concerned that we wouldn't make it to the restaurant for lunch before it closed at 4! Thankfully, we made it there around 3:30, and we were all very hungry after walking in the sun. There was a big buffet with many different salads - a cauliflower salad was especially good. Then there was pasta with caramelized onions, a stew with meatballs, and a big spread with desserts. There were several types of small cookies, squares of gelatin-y/pudding-y dessert colored pink and yellow. My favorite was in a big, fancy gold dish with a lid. It tasted better than it looked as it was a runny pudding of milk, sugar, and bread. On the trip home, we could here Ayman and Amer in front of us singing songs for Mawlid, the Prophet's birthday which was the next day. Later on, Amer passed out a balloon to everyone on the bus and asked trivia questions about Petra and Wadi Rum. In the beginning, you had to pop your balloon, but later on, he began to ask other questions in Arabic, and then if you got them wrong you had to pop the balloon. I'm sure the bus driver wasn't happy with this game! Finally, we arrived home around 9:30. We were exhausted after the weekend, and we still had to go to class the next day!

late,