Life in the village is fairly predictable so far. wake up and have breakfast and tea. breakfast is usually flat bread withy olive oil and zatar (a powdery mix of sesame seeds and thyme and some other spices), lebana (a thick sour yogurt the consistency of cream cheese) and maybe jam or something. then it is down to the school for language class. we take arabic from our lcf at a girls school. on the wall of our classroom is a map of jordan. it is interesting because the map includes the west bank as part of jordan. i will post a picture later. there are a good deal of jordanians who believe the west bank is part of jordan because of some unenforced un resolutions. above the map os a picture of king abdullah. his picture, as well as king husseins picture is everywhere: schools, street signs, peoples cars. everywhere. that and the jordanian flag. even more than small town usa has american flags. there are even tapestries of king abdullah everywhere that remind me somewhat of a velvet elvis. i think that this is all from an attempt to unify the people of jordan under a state. there was a campaign some years back called jordan first. jordan has many people that define themselves as part of some other group. bedouins identify as bedouins and palestinians as palestinians. above that is also the strong identification with religion. it has made a strong state hard to achieve here.
it is strange to think that i have been here so short a time. every day feels like a week because everything is so new and so much work. i never imagined that sitting and drinking tea could be so exhausting, but everything is something to be learned. in the middle of the day i usually get a bit worn out and grumpy, but after a nap i am excited again. the closest i can relate it to is being a baby all over again. by the time i get to irbid on sundays i am fatigued. it is fairly comforting to be around a group of americans, in a way i never would have predicted. the intensity level drops and everything gets easier. we spend our time in our villages building an identity that fits with the culture here. it is not necessarily who we have been in the states. but when we are with the rest of the group we are allowed to be who we are. we can have the conversations we are used to without judgements.
speaking of judgements. people here are very blunt. i cannot count how many times i have been told that i am fat. i was prepared for a lot, but i cannot say that i was ready for people to be so blatant about my rather reubenesque look. it gets hard to sit through lunch with someone saying how fat you really are, so eat more because you must eat a ton. thankfully my family doesnt talk about my weight. i was at the house of the principle of the girls center in my town and her husband kept talking about how skinny my friend was, and how much did i weigh - must be more than 200 pounds... i was shocked, to say the least. but i think i handled myself well. perhaps they dont realize just how insulting that is. but i suppose if people are going to be saying things like that to my face i will just have to grow a thicker hide about it. but, like i said, my homestay is a respite from this sort of commentary.
my family goes on picnics fairly often on friday (our day off) or on a weeknight. they are a blast. we (and by we i mean at least 15 people from the extended family) sit around under the scraggly oak trees and make tea over a campfire. then when it gets dark, the family turns on the emergency flashers and the radios in the cars. everyone dances and sings. it is a good time. yesterday, my family turned on 50 cent - in the club and wanted me and my friend to dance. then came sean paul. for those of you not familiar, these are hip hop songs with content that is not culture friendly here. then came some raver music. they wanted us to dance like americans, but 1) it is akward to dance with an audience and 2) i honestly dont know how to dance to these songs in a way that is appropriate here. one of the uncles told me a bit about islam and told me that he was going to get me an english copy of the koran to read. i dont think it can hurt. i have read the bible, so why not the koran. besides, i think it may give me a good point of reference for a lot of the culture here, since it is so laden with religion. the aunts told me that if i converted i could marry a "nice arab boy". i told them this wasnt on my agenda. they didnt believe it when i said i was too young, but when i said i hadnt met my destined partner they seemed to understand and left me alone. then everyone kind of stood up, packed up the cars and went home. when people are done hanging out, they just stand up and leave. there really is no goodbye hubub, because most likely they will see each other later that day or the next day. back at home we visited some more. i made my first batch of tea, to everyone's amusement. it is really really sweet here. anyway, i have to make it back to the hotel.