The other day I was sitting at work and we were watching a morning show. I wasn’t paying much attention to what was going on around me. I have developed an amazing ability to tune out everything that is happening. I get to the point where I don’t even hear what people are saying. And every once in a while I check back in to nod or agree. Although I don’t think I developed that skill only here. I can think of some instances at home where that was the case as well. but, that isn’t what I was going to tell you guys. There was a chef on this morning show. Chef Ramzi. He was making turkey sandwiches. Listen carefully. It is a complicated recipe. Two pieces of sliced white bread with a more than generous application of mayonnaise. One piece of turkey. More mayonnaise. Swiss cheese. And top it off with your second slice of white bread. Then, and this is the tricky part, cut off the crust. Seriously it took him at least fifteen minutes to make this delicacy. I think I could have a cooking show here.
In other news, my counterpart wants to have an Arabic dancing class at the center. I think it is mostly to teach me how. Honestly, I don’t know how, but everyone here can belly dance. Except me. They can shimmy every part of their bodies. And two different parts at once. Their hips and their shoulders can be doing totally different things at the same time and somehow look totally coordinated. I know that I will never ever be able to move like that. But inevitably at every female function I attend they ask me to dance. And by female function I actually mean any time there is music playing and men aren’t around. This means that even my exercise class isn’t exempt. And it isn’t uncommon for one girl to dance and everybody else to watch. So, when it is my turn to dance they all stop and watch me. And when other girls dance, they tend to dance at me. They look me straight in the eyes and wont look away and start shimmying. I usually end up at a loss for words, or any other reaction. I am not exactly sure what I should do when they dance for me. Do I look them in the eyes? Do I look away? Do I say something? So I sit and worry about just how interested my face looks and if I am blushing or what. I don’t know if you have had the experience of being expressly danced for, but it is actually kinda unsettling. Especially when you have no idea what should be done in just such a circumstance and people are watching you watch. But I think they think that if they have my full attention I may somehow learn it passively. Also, the women here love to make me ululate. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it is when the women make that high pitched noise with their tongues. Like la la la la la loooo!! Apparently I am ok at it, especially for a foreigner. On field trips they usually want me to do it first thing in the morning. But as a general rule, 7 am is too early for me to start screaming. So, when ten rolls around they all look at me rather conspiratorily and say “andi…. Do you know what time it is? Its TEN!!!” that is my cue. I guess ten am is the perfect time for wailing to start, and what better way to kick it off than with me? But since I spend so much of my time here silent, my throat takes a while to warm up, so the first few generally sound all cracked like a pubescent boy. I can assure you it is really an attractive noise. But as I may have already said, summer is wedding season, so I can be assured to be doing it on a weekly basis now. Good practice.
Speaking of weddings, that is my big news for the week. I went to my friends wedding here (you know, the volunteer who married a Jordanian girl?). it was great! By far the best wedding I have attended in Jordan (I know I said that in my last blog about a different wedding, but this one was truly the best. Maybe part of it had to do with knowing the couple?). It was held in a church in amman. But first, there was something called a jaha. The male volunteers attended. It is the tradition in which the man and his family go to ask for permission to marry the bride (although, by the time the jaha rolls around, this is pretty much decided on. But it is all part of the tradition). From what I hear the jaha was awesome. And the us embassador showed up on the groom’s behalf to vouch for him. Then came the church ceremony. It was a roman catholic ceremony (although the service was held in Arabic and a little English – no latin). The groom’s family had come from the states to attend – parents, siblings, even grandparents. Having just flown in from the states the day before the wedding, they were understandably fatigued. So much so that the grooms brother passed out during the wedding. But he stepped out and caught a breath of fresh air, and everything continued fine. Then we had a couple hours after the ceremony for a break. We used it to prepare for the reception. The reception was held at the Sheraton hotel. In amman you can generally wear anything to a wedding reception (some went sleeveless, some had short dresses). The reception was full of dancing and the groom had specifically said that if you came, you had to dance, so the dance floor was always full. there was no toasting and no speeches. But it was a great night. The reception went till after one am. The best part about it was that both the bride and groom looked so happy and calm. There was no stress about them at all. Usually the brides here look very serious and somewhat terrified. But both of them were just glowing and obviously very happy and excited. I think that is what specifically made the wedding so great. And we all left very happy for the newlyweds. Two days later was the village party. Because the groom had spent two years living in a small village, he wanted to celebrate the wedding there as well. this village is about five miles from my own. So, a bunch of volunteers came all the way down from the north for it. We all wore our Jordanian clothes. The men wore thobes (the long white robes that you are used to seeing) and schmags (the red and white checked head coverings). The women wore habayas (the long black womens robes) or women’s thobes (long black embroidered dresses) but none of us covered our hair. Even the groom’s family wore Jordanian clothing. We all looked pretty good, I think. And the bride wore a woman’s thobe with white and yellow embroidery. She was from amman, and I heard that this is the first time she had bought a thobe or worn one. And it was the first time she had been to an event like this in a village as well. amman is like a whole different world from the villages here. the village wedding was a standard village wedding, except in the sense that it was coed. That was pretty amazing. But the women sat and watched while the men danced and sang. So, the village wedding was a whole bunch of sitting. But still it was better than your average village wedding. At least there were Americans that I could talk to about something other than how pretty the wedding was. Also, there was a couple from texas there. I didn’t talk to the husband at all, but I talked a bit to the wife. She was born in Denver and had moved to Nashville. But now she and her husband live in Jordan eight months of the year. She was a fascinating woman. So it was pretty interesting to get to meet her and hear her story as well. I don’t exactly know what her connection was that she was in the village for the wedding. In the village weddings go pretty late, one or two am. But I opted to go home around midnight. Now the bride and groom are off to their honeymoon and then it is back to the states for grad school.
So that was my week. Hope that you all are well.