I finally started my internship this afternoon. The scholar that I'll be supporting, Dr. Fares Braizat, is conducting research related to how public opinion impacts policy decisions made by Arab governments. Over the next few weeks I'll be doing some statistical analysis which supports one aspect of his research.
Oddly enough, I met another Miami grad in the library at Markuz Ad-Diraasaat As-Strategia (CSS, The Center for Strategic Studies). He graduated back in August 07 and has been working with one of the scholars since September.
This past Monday I went to a nature preserve called Dibbin Forest (about 45 minutes outside Amman) with a couple classmates and some other Qasid students. There were some cool views, but nothing super interesting. We hiked for a couple hours, had a little picnic, and I got into a couple political arguments with this German woman...that's about it. After getting back to Amman, Cody and I took a little tour of the Univ. of Jordan campus, where the CSS is housed.
Looks like I won't be getting my internet through Orange. The whole thing has dragged out for soo long now that my roommate and I have to decided to get our money back and we're gonna go with another service provider. Cross your fingers for us.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Greek Orthodox Christian Epiphany / Dinner @ Fouad's house
So I was mistaken in thinking that I was going to a Greek Orthodox baptism at the Dead Sea this Friday. Turns out we were actually invited to the Greek Orthodox Epiphany celebration at the Jordan River. Unfortunately because of heightened security around the West Bank border, we didn't get to see the actual river. At any rate, the service was pretty interesting albeit long. Oddly enough, because of the significant drop in elevation from Amman to the Jordan River (near where it meets the Dead Sea), the weather was much nicer there than it was in the city. I managed to get a few pictures which I'll post soon.
Later that day, we were out getting good in Jebel Webideh near my friend Cody's place, and we struck up a conversation with a police officer who was posted up at the Falafel stand where we ate.The policeman, Fou'ad, later invited Cody and I to eat dinner with his family on Saturday night. At 6pm on Saturday, Fou'ad and his brother-in-law, Ahmed, picked up Cody and I and we headed out to their father's home in Zarqa (a small city about half an hour outside Amman). There we met Fou'ad's father, Yusuf and his 13 year old brother, Mahmoud. For dinner we had a traditional Jordanian dish called Maghlooba, which is basically just chicken and yellow rice. The meal was incredible, and they kept feeding us, insisting that we continue eating (very common in Arab Muslim culture), until we proclaimed,"Hamdulillah" (literally meaning "Praise be to God", in this case meaning "Praise be to God that my belly is full", also common in the culture). Fou'ad's family was quite friendly, and they've insisted that we come back another time, insha'allah.
Classes are going well. The mid-term exam is coming up on February 5th, but since I've been doing well on the quizzes I'm not really concerned. My street level convo skills are still not where I'd like them to be, but in any case I get complimented a lot on my pronunciation and fluency.
No big plans for this week. My buddy Matthias is coming to visit in a few weeks so I'm sure we'll be trying to coordinate and work out a gameplan for when he visits in mid-February.
Later that day, we were out getting good in Jebel Webideh near my friend Cody's place, and we struck up a conversation with a police officer who was posted up at the Falafel stand where we ate.The policeman, Fou'ad, later invited Cody and I to eat dinner with his family on Saturday night. At 6pm on Saturday, Fou'ad and his brother-in-law, Ahmed, picked up Cody and I and we headed out to their father's home in Zarqa (a small city about half an hour outside Amman). There we met Fou'ad's father, Yusuf and his 13 year old brother, Mahmoud. For dinner we had a traditional Jordanian dish called Maghlooba, which is basically just chicken and yellow rice. The meal was incredible, and they kept feeding us, insisting that we continue eating (very common in Arab Muslim culture), until we proclaimed,"Hamdulillah" (literally meaning "Praise be to God", in this case meaning "Praise be to God that my belly is full", also common in the culture). Fou'ad's family was quite friendly, and they've insisted that we come back another time, insha'allah.
Classes are going well. The mid-term exam is coming up on February 5th, but since I've been doing well on the quizzes I'm not really concerned. My street level convo skills are still not where I'd like them to be, but in any case I get complimented a lot on my pronunciation and fluency.
No big plans for this week. My buddy Matthias is coming to visit in a few weeks so I'm sure we'll be trying to coordinate and work out a gameplan for when he visits in mid-February.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Hazem and my Orthodox Christian baptism invite
So after three weeks, Jon and I are still without internet access. As such I'm getting to know the internet cafes around West Amman pretty well. At the cafe next to Qasid, I've made friends with a number of the employees. Today the Turkish bartender, Hazem, came over to my place with a whole ton of Turkish food that his sister prepared. Over our lunch, Hazem showed me all kinds of maps of Turkey and gave me a little background of the major historic sights in Istanbul. He has assured me that if I'd like to visit, his sister who lives in Istanbul would be more than willing to host me. I don't really have any plans to visit Turkey as of yet, but nice to know I'd have a place to stay.
After class yesterday, I went with my buddy Cody to check out his apartment. Cody lives in a district called Jebel Webideh, about a 15-20 minute walk to Downtown but the area has a neat small town feel. After taking a tour of the area, Cody's landlady, Alice, invited us in to her place for some chocolates and wine. As we were heading out, Alice invited Cody and I to the Orthodox Christian baptism of her friend's child next Friday. First, there will be a service at the church, which is a few blocks from Cody's place, followed by the baptism at the Dead Sea, and a big party. Should be a neat experience, and I'm obviously stoked to visit the Dead Sea!
The workload in class seems to be picking up each week. We've already had a couple quizzes, both of which I've aced! I've also been in contact with Dr. Fares Braizat at the Center for Strategic Studies, looks like I'll be starting my internship a week from today. Dr. Braizat's focus is in analysis of regional public opinion polls which gauge Arab perceptions of the West in the post-9/11 world. I'll be working effectively as his research assistant, beyond that I'm not sure exactly what my work will entail.
After class yesterday, I went with my buddy Cody to check out his apartment. Cody lives in a district called Jebel Webideh, about a 15-20 minute walk to Downtown but the area has a neat small town feel. After taking a tour of the area, Cody's landlady, Alice, invited us in to her place for some chocolates and wine. As we were heading out, Alice invited Cody and I to the Orthodox Christian baptism of her friend's child next Friday. First, there will be a service at the church, which is a few blocks from Cody's place, followed by the baptism at the Dead Sea, and a big party. Should be a neat experience, and I'm obviously stoked to visit the Dead Sea!
The workload in class seems to be picking up each week. We've already had a couple quizzes, both of which I've aced! I've also been in contact with Dr. Fares Braizat at the Center for Strategic Studies, looks like I'll be starting my internship a week from today. Dr. Braizat's focus is in analysis of regional public opinion polls which gauge Arab perceptions of the West in the post-9/11 world. I'll be working effectively as his research assistant, beyond that I'm not sure exactly what my work will entail.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
The Power Hut
Since I've settled into my new place, I decided to join a local gym as an incentive to get back in shape. I toured several places in both Abdoun and Shmeisani, to include Total Fitness, Fitness First, and "The Power Hut". The first two places were ridiculously expensive, with membership costing between 175-200 JD/month, all good and fine for Abdoun's finest, but not me and my roommate. Ultimately, I settled on "The Power Hut" in Shmeisani, which is more or less comparable to a Gold's Gym back home, and is only a five minute cab ride from my place.
Things are going well at the new place. The heating hasn't really been an issue since the weather has been balmy over the last week or so. We also have a space heater which we use in the living room. Unfortunately we think the space heater may be the reason we've blown a couple fuses in our place over the last several days. This has required a couple trips to visit the "Haaris" of the building, Ali, who speaks no english. Luckily I was able to use my Arabic to communicate that we had lost power and he got it back on in minutes.
Living so close to the Abdoun Supermarket has proven to be quite a convenience. It doesn't have everything, but you can pick up most of the essentials there. In fact, prior to last week they didn't carry loaves of bread. After making friends with the Store Manager he has agreed to stock the shelves with a few loaves of bread every couple weeks, just for me and my roommate!
Classes are going pretty well. We have just moved on to the primary Level 1 text which is more dense in terms of the grammatical instruction.
All for now.
Things are going well at the new place. The heating hasn't really been an issue since the weather has been balmy over the last week or so. We also have a space heater which we use in the living room. Unfortunately we think the space heater may be the reason we've blown a couple fuses in our place over the last several days. This has required a couple trips to visit the "Haaris" of the building, Ali, who speaks no english. Luckily I was able to use my Arabic to communicate that we had lost power and he got it back on in minutes.
Living so close to the Abdoun Supermarket has proven to be quite a convenience. It doesn't have everything, but you can pick up most of the essentials there. In fact, prior to last week they didn't carry loaves of bread. After making friends with the Store Manager he has agreed to stock the shelves with a few loaves of bread every couple weeks, just for me and my roommate!
Classes are going pretty well. We have just moved on to the primary Level 1 text which is more dense in terms of the grammatical instruction.
All for now.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
My First Apartment!
Hard to believe that my first apartment out of college is in Jordan of all places! No one could have told me two years ago this would be the case.
So I finally moved out of the hotel yesterday afternoon after my morning class. Fortunately my lowly Arabic skills sufficed so I could navigate for the cab driver. Unfortunately, in less than 24 hours at the new place, John and I are already dealing with several issues:
1) The place is freezing! We have one space heater, but will probably have to buy a couple more.
2) Despite buying a modem, and 3 month cable subscription Tuesday afternoon, our internet connection is all jacked up. Dealing with customer service at Orange has been a nightmare.
3) The power went out last night, and has not come back on since. Hopefully it will come back soon, otherwise we'll have to make a call tomorrow (can't today because of national holiday).
New Year's Eve was pretty uneventful, appartently a number of the bigger parties in Amman were cancelled due to the situation in Gaza. John ended up going to some Jordanian family friend's party, while I opted to stay in. Once the power went out around 9:30pm, I decided to venture over to Abdoun Circle. Most of the clubs and lounges had expensive cover charges, ranging from 50 JD (~$75), to around 200 JD (~$300). Instead, I decided to head over to the Sheraton near my apartment. There I met a guy from Louisiana who works as a helicopter mechanic in Iraq. Closer to midnight, we walked to the nearby Bristol Hotel which was hosting a couple parties. I opted to not pay the expensive cover charge and instead headed home around 11:30pm. Pretty lame New Year, I know, but I have no regrets.
I'm currently hanging out at the swanky Blue Fig Cafe in Abdoun, quite a different scene than what I've experienced at cafes elsewhere in the city. The place is packed with very well-dressed young people. Notably, there are a number of mixed sex groups hanging out and socializing.
The idea of addresses, and street names for that matter, are completely new to Jordanians. Most streets in middle class parts of Amman were given names only about 4-5 years ago. Instead, most people have things delivered to P.O. Boxes. I've opted to distribute my school address for incoming mail/packages (address below).
Qasid Institute for Classical & Modern Standard Arabic
22 Queen Rania St., Suite 300
Amman 11196, Jordan
My e-mail: geoffrey.dietz@gmail.com
That is all for now. More to come in the next couple days.
So I finally moved out of the hotel yesterday afternoon after my morning class. Fortunately my lowly Arabic skills sufficed so I could navigate for the cab driver. Unfortunately, in less than 24 hours at the new place, John and I are already dealing with several issues:
1) The place is freezing! We have one space heater, but will probably have to buy a couple more.
2) Despite buying a modem, and 3 month cable subscription Tuesday afternoon, our internet connection is all jacked up. Dealing with customer service at Orange has been a nightmare.
3) The power went out last night, and has not come back on since. Hopefully it will come back soon, otherwise we'll have to make a call tomorrow (can't today because of national holiday).
New Year's Eve was pretty uneventful, appartently a number of the bigger parties in Amman were cancelled due to the situation in Gaza. John ended up going to some Jordanian family friend's party, while I opted to stay in. Once the power went out around 9:30pm, I decided to venture over to Abdoun Circle. Most of the clubs and lounges had expensive cover charges, ranging from 50 JD (~$75), to around 200 JD (~$300). Instead, I decided to head over to the Sheraton near my apartment. There I met a guy from Louisiana who works as a helicopter mechanic in Iraq. Closer to midnight, we walked to the nearby Bristol Hotel which was hosting a couple parties. I opted to not pay the expensive cover charge and instead headed home around 11:30pm. Pretty lame New Year, I know, but I have no regrets.
I'm currently hanging out at the swanky Blue Fig Cafe in Abdoun, quite a different scene than what I've experienced at cafes elsewhere in the city. The place is packed with very well-dressed young people. Notably, there are a number of mixed sex groups hanging out and socializing.
The idea of addresses, and street names for that matter, are completely new to Jordanians. Most streets in middle class parts of Amman were given names only about 4-5 years ago. Instead, most people have things delivered to P.O. Boxes. I've opted to distribute my school address for incoming mail/packages (address below).
Qasid Institute for Classical & Modern Standard Arabic
22 Queen Rania St., Suite 300
Amman 11196, Jordan
My e-mail: geoffrey.dietz@gmail.com
That is all for now. More to come in the next couple days.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Apartment in Abdoun
So yesterday my buddy John and I signed a three month lease on a two bedroom apartment in Abdoun. As mentioned in my previous post, Abdoun is considered the cleanest, most upscale, and westernized district in Amman. John and I looked at a couple apartments in Sports City (close to Qasid), but ultimately decided that it would be advantageous to live elsewhere in Amman.
The apartment is situated on the top floor of a five story building, and features a nice wrap around balcony which will be great come Spring time (pictures to follow). The complex is about a five minute cab ride to Abdoun Circle, where one can find the upscale Abdoun Mall, as well as some of the nicer restaurants and cafes in the city.
Tonite I plan to pack up all my things, with hopes that we can move tomorrow afternoon. It'll be a shame to say 'goodbye' to the staff at Shuqaq al-Nabhan. The staff has grown pretty fond of me ("Mr. Geoff") in the last week and a half.
The apartment is situated on the top floor of a five story building, and features a nice wrap around balcony which will be great come Spring time (pictures to follow). The complex is about a five minute cab ride to Abdoun Circle, where one can find the upscale Abdoun Mall, as well as some of the nicer restaurants and cafes in the city.
Tonite I plan to pack up all my things, with hopes that we can move tomorrow afternoon. It'll be a shame to say 'goodbye' to the staff at Shuqaq al-Nabhan. The staff has grown pretty fond of me ("Mr. Geoff") in the last week and a half.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Christmas in J-Town
Merry Christmas to all from Amman! If anyone had told me last year this time that I'd be spending my next Christmas in a Muslim country, I'd have said they were crazy...
So I woke up yesterday morning at 5am to sun-up prayer calls, followed a little later by a call from Ahmed at the front desk wishing "Mr. Geoff" a Merry Christmas.
On Christmas Eve, my Jordanian contact, Malia Asfour invited me to Christmas dinner at her parent's house. Malia's family was extremely generous, I don't think I could have eaten much more than I did. Oddly enough, Malia and her two sisters are all married to Americans, naturally we had a nice little discussion about the NFL playoff picture. Dinner was served around 2:30pm, followed by a little dessert, then a trip downtown to pick up pirated DVDs. Malia's husband, Harry, had a list of about 75 DVDs to pick up, comprised of everything from Disney movies to the latest movies in the theaters. For all of 1 JD a piece, you can get pretty much any DVD your heart desires, most of which are good quality.
Following our trip downtown, I went back to the hotel and took a nap before meeting up with my buddy John. After stopping by the liquor store, we went over to our friend Alex's apartment. Alex hosted a little Christmas party of 10-15 people. Shortly after arriving I was introduced to a guy from Detroit who just so happens to be a junior at Miami!
Otherwise, everything else is going well. Classes are pretty much review, at least the first couple weeks will be. John and I are still looking for apartments on the side. We've started looking outside the Sports City area (near Qasid), in a district called Abdoun. This is the most upscale, westernized part of town. We've be dealing with this friendly South African real estate agent who is constantly joking about how Johannesburg is such a craphole. Anyways, hopefully John and I can settle on something this weekend.
So I woke up yesterday morning at 5am to sun-up prayer calls, followed a little later by a call from Ahmed at the front desk wishing "Mr. Geoff" a Merry Christmas.
On Christmas Eve, my Jordanian contact, Malia Asfour invited me to Christmas dinner at her parent's house. Malia's family was extremely generous, I don't think I could have eaten much more than I did. Oddly enough, Malia and her two sisters are all married to Americans, naturally we had a nice little discussion about the NFL playoff picture. Dinner was served around 2:30pm, followed by a little dessert, then a trip downtown to pick up pirated DVDs. Malia's husband, Harry, had a list of about 75 DVDs to pick up, comprised of everything from Disney movies to the latest movies in the theaters. For all of 1 JD a piece, you can get pretty much any DVD your heart desires, most of which are good quality.
Following our trip downtown, I went back to the hotel and took a nap before meeting up with my buddy John. After stopping by the liquor store, we went over to our friend Alex's apartment. Alex hosted a little Christmas party of 10-15 people. Shortly after arriving I was introduced to a guy from Detroit who just so happens to be a junior at Miami!
Otherwise, everything else is going well. Classes are pretty much review, at least the first couple weeks will be. John and I are still looking for apartments on the side. We've started looking outside the Sports City area (near Qasid), in a district called Abdoun. This is the most upscale, westernized part of town. We've be dealing with this friendly South African real estate agent who is constantly joking about how Johannesburg is such a craphole. Anyways, hopefully John and I can settle on something this weekend.
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