Football aka Soccer

Soccer is the biggest sport in many countries in the world including Jordan. I will have to admit that I have never been the biggest soccer fan. I simply was never around it growing up. About the most soccer exposure I ever had was talking to my cousin who is an amazing soccer player and playing soccer in PE, but neither one of those qualify me as an expert by any means. I had never even seen a soccer game live until a few years ago and until now, I had never watched a soccer game on TV. This Sunday, Spain and Italy will face off in the championships of the Euro Cup. Underdog Italy upset Germany yesterday with a final score of 2-1. I didn't actually go watch that game, but the day before, I went to a restaurant called Baboonej and enjoyed the game along with many other interns and even more Jordanians. Jerseys from both the Spain and Portugal team filled the restaurant along with many snide remarks about both teams. Conversation was starting to get pretty heated and then the game started. That is one great thing about watching competitions like this: you can let the players do the talking. I was privileged enough to hear many people talk big games for various players, but to someone who knew next to nothing about the teams, they were virtually meaningless words until I saw the players actually back them up. I was also lucky enough to sit next to people who were experts on the game. Shortly after the game started, the hookah smoke started drifting freely about the room. We had run into a group from the BYU Jerusalem Center, but after a bit, the hookah smoke was getting to them and they left to find some fresh air. We'll give them a break because they didn't have enough time to get used to Jordan. Yelling at the TV also started up about the same time. I didn't do enough of that to lose my voice, but there were many others who did. That's devotion to a team right there. The game was a low-scoring but exciting game. After overtime, the score was still 0-0. Penalty kicks decided the game and Spain came away with the win to the delight and relief of many in our party and to the disgruntlement of others. I was just happy to be there!

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Raindrops

The Castle

It wouldn't be lying to say that Jordan is the driest place that I have ever lived. When we arrived in the middle of May, the vegetation was already dry and brownd. I don't know what this place looks like in the winter, but I imagine that is the time when things are green and beautiful. I was surprised at the amount of dead vegetation I saw. Back home, May is when things turn from brown to green because we have finally reached the end of the winter. The snow melts, usually we get some showers and then things really start to dry out until the end of July to the middle of August when we get thunder storms. However, to my surprise, I didn't have to wait until I go home to see rain. Prior to coming, I had heard that they had received a couple of showers in late May the last year. I also know how big of a shock that was to the people in Amman including my director Annie who had never seen rain that late in the year before. My time in Amman has been a dry experience excluding the time spent in bodies of salt water known as Aqaba and the Dead Sea. However things were shook up a bit last Friday. The day started early on a bus headed to Northern Jordan. The first stop was a place called Um Qais. There, many Roman ruins lay on a hill overlooking the sea of Galilee. When I stepped off the bus, I remarked to my roommate that the air felt a bit more humid than usual. It didn't feel humid, but it didn't feel as dry as it has been either. That day, I also saw some clouds which is also a rare occurrence in Jordan. One of the really neat things about touring Roman ruins in Jordan is that you can walk through them and touch them and walk and stand on them. I have a feeling that if they had been in America, you would only be able to stand on a raised boardwalk and look at but don't touch the ruins.  After Um Qais, we headed south to Ajlun where a castle is still standing that was built about 500 AD. It has a long history that includes several different empires and consequent additions onto the castle. At the castle, we were able to explore nearly every nook and cranny. I did decide that if you were to have a castle, the Middle East would be the place for that. In a dry climate, moving from sunshine to the shade is at least a 10 degree difference, but moving from shade into the castle, we got another 20 degree difference. It was very cool inside that castle in more ways than one. We left the castle and climbed back on the bus to head to Jerash which has another city of Roman ruins. I believe it is actually the most complete city of Roman ruins. However, prior to going to Jerash, we took a pit stop at a game refuge. The main attraction was some deer. They looked very similar to the deer back in the States except that they keep their spots even when they are older. There were also a few people offering horseback rides on half-dead looking horses. I didn't take them up on the offer, but I did notice that the horse's tail were splayed out as if there was a storm coming. I didn't think too much of it until it started raining. It wasn't a downpour, but the rain was definitely heavy enough to get the road wet and slick. After that, our bus was fishtailing around the corners on every switchback down the mountain. We didn't die, but we also weren't able to go see the ruins in Jerash. However, a group that went on the same trip the next day reported that the castle in Ajlun was still wet and damp.  Maybe it rained a bit harder than I thought.

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Happy Endings

A few nights ago, I attended a film festival and watched a Jordanian film called “Habibi.”  It was in Arabic with English subtitles. The story takes place in Gaza and revolves around two people who met at college before they had to leave and go to Gaza because of the Israeli occupation. In the movie, a friend is killed by the Israeli soldiers. Because of that the main character's (Layla's) brother joins the Hamas. Layla loves a man named Qays but he is a poet who didn't finish his degree and is now working in construction. Consequently her family thinks that he is not good enough for her. Through his sorrows, he paints poetry of his love for Layla on the walls around Gaza. The words in the poems are enough to start people to talking about Layla. So her family decides that in order to save her honor, she must be married right away to a man that she doesn't love. Qays and Layla try to run away, but he is caught with a fake visa and the plan simply falls apart. After both returning to their homes, they commit suicide. He goes too close to the border where he is sure to be shot and she goes to the sea and drowns herself.
 That is how the movie ends. The storyline reminds me a bit of Romeo and Juliet, but I never really cared for that story either. I'm definitely an American when it comes to movie preferences. I like happy endings. I have also heard the flip side that many people dislike American films because they all have happy endings and that isn't real life. Maybe it isn't completely true to real life, but when you see that someone got their own happily ever after, it gives you a bit of hope that you can also find a happily ever after. In my mind it's much nicer to go through life hoping for something better than to go through life thinking that there is no way that anything good can come of life, that life is just too hard to be enjoyed.
Another interesting thing about this film is that the director also played the main character of Layla. I don't know how common this is, but she did do a great job with both roles. After showing the film, they had a brief question and answer session with the director. One of the more interesting questions was about the hijab. The character of Layla seemed to be the type of person who wouldn't wear a hijab. However, as the director pointed out, in Gaza, women wear the hijab even if they aren't religious. So to portray someone not wearing the hijab would be unrealistic. Also if I understood what she said correctly, she also mentioned that she wanted to show that there is more to every person under the hijab. Another funny question was how the main character smoking was important to the story. Were they partly funded by a cigarette company? The director hadn't even thought of that. They weren't funded by a cigarette company, but for Layla, it was a way to destress. They were probably a destresser for the director as well. Directing a film is no easy task especially when you are also playing the role of the main character as well. I'm sure she needed some way to destress. However, it just makes you wonder why she didn't choose to bake a chocolate cake or brownies instead. I find that to be a marvelous destresser.

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Connections

If I'm not making Cokeville connections, I'm making BYU connections. Last night, I met a girl who will be attending BYU this coming fall, in sha' allah. The visit was actually a planned event for the purpose of introducing her to some fellow BYU cougars. She just graduated from high school and wants to study accounting at BYU. Basically, she chose the right school seeing as how our accounting program is within the top five in the country. She seemed excited at the prospect of a new adventure, but her father seemed a bit nervous. I can't blame him. It would be hard to send your daughter to the other side of the world in order to go to school. He tried to talk her into going to Turkey, but she wanted to go to America. The reason he tried to get her to consider Turkey is because that is the place where he will be spending a great deal of time over the next several years as the Jordanian ambassador to Turkey. Their house was beautiful! And ginormous. I basically spent the first five minutes at their house trying to scrape my jaw off the floor. First we went through a greeting line that strongly reminded me of going through the line at a wedding reception in the States. Just after the line was the sitting room where we were served lemon and mint juice which is very delicious. We sat and chatted for a while then moved outside to the porch and did a bit more of the same. When the food was ready, we moved back inside to a large room that was perfect for serving a large group in many different ways. The food was delicious! My personal favorite was freekeh which is a dish made from green wheat with chicken piled on top.  I was also glad that I wasn't the only girl that went back for seconds. After dinner, we moved back to the porch for dessert of kanafa and watermelon. After chatting for a bit longer, we then had tea. I took the za'atar tea that was made from fresh leaves picked from their herb garden right next to the porch. We finally arrived back at our apartment at 12:30 this morning. And I almost promptly went to bed. It was a great evening!

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Let's Party!

Weddings are a big deal in most cultures, but in Arab societies weddings are the biggest holidays. The wedding celebration starts the evening before the actual wedding at the home of the groom. A few days ago, I arrived at one of these parties at 7 pm after receiving an invitation from the uncle of the groom. One of the biggest differences between this celebration and parties in America is that the women party in one area and the men party in a separate area. So after arriving, the women in our group left the guys to their own devices and entered the women's tent. Over the next hour, many more women arrived and filled up the tent. Then the dance party really began. Men were not allowed in the tent, so several of the women removed their hijabs and let their hair down. Some girls had long, beautiful hair that hung down to their waist while others had beautiful hair that was about at their shoulders. One thing I learned about Arab dancing is that I'm just as bad at that, almost, as at “American” dancing. I think the Arab women rather enjoyed watching a few American girls try to fit in. It didn't work very well especially for the blonde ones... Eventually, the women and girls lost their reservations about us. The younger girls, around 14 years old, were especially interested in us and kept asking us questions about things from dancing to jewelry to college life to what we thought about Jordan. Some of the girls became like additional arms because they stayed right next to us. During the five hours following our arrival, the women's tent was a big dance party with some henna on the side and the men's area was one explosion after another. Fireworks galore were set off all through the evening. Handguns and shotguns carrying blanks were also shot off at random intervals. Bubbles, foam, and sparklers decorated the area and music pulsed through the air from every corner. Mansuf was the main course. One word: Delicious! The only problem with the food was that we didn't eat until 1 in the morning. We also ate it with our hands so it was a good thing that I had practiced once before so I didn't look like a total idiot... just half of an idiot. I love that Arabs make such a big deal about weddings. What a wonderful thing!
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Breakfast =)

This morning for breakfast I ate chocolate cake and I feel great about that! Last night I realized that I had all of the ingredients that I needed to make a chocolate cake in my cupboard. So I whipped up the batter, poured it in a pan and prayed that I had the oven close to 350 degrees F. Cooking on our stove is very different from the cooking I have done on other stoves. For one, this stove is gas powered. I have cooked on a gas powered stove before, but the other ones I have cooked on had more than two settings for the flame like this one has. I also don't think I have used a gas powered oven to bake anything before. One of the trickiest things is that we can only light the bottom of our oven. This meant the top was the last thing to finish cooking. All I can say is the domestic goddesses must have been with me because my cake didn't burn! Ice cream on the side and strawberries on top finished the plate and made for a well-rounded meal in more ways than one. The first is that cake this delicious is very good for maintaining a well-rounded shape. The second is that every food group was represented. Sugar, of course, made up the fats section. Strawberries contributed for the fruit. The eggs in the cake were the protein. Ice cream is definitely dairy. Flour is a grain. And chocolate is a vegetable considering that it comes from cocoa beans. If that doesn't convince you, just google it and you'll see what I'm talking about. I know you are all jealous about my breakfast, so I won't tell you that it was also the main course last night – with a portion of chicken and rice on the side.

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Playdough!

One of my favorite activities growing up was to help my mom make playdough. I love adding the food coloring so that it turned out as my favorite color, but even more than that I really enjoyed the places you could go with a healthy imagination and some playdough. The possibilities are basically endless. What isn't endless is my list of craft ideas for the kids at the orphanage. So I hoped that if I brought playdough to the orphanage, I could entertain them for at least a week. Making the dough was almost as fun as I remembered and just as messy. My hands were an interesting tie-dye of colors for a couple days until the dyes rubbed off my skin. In one night, I made three batches of playdough and turned the dough twelve different colors. By the end of day one, we were down to eight colors which was better than one color. We also had a major mess on the floor. Some of the younger kids just didn't quite understand that the goal was to play with the dough on the table and not tear off small pieces to throw on the ground. Day two saw slightly better results with the dough staying off of the floor and colors that leaned toward gray at the end of the day. Day three is coming up. I'm rather excited to see how long this playdough will last because the day the kids get bored of playing with it is the day that I will need to come up with another craft...

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