School is in Session

I have finished my first week of school! It has been a hectic week of running around campus, trying to find the right room, good food, and learning Arabic. I have Arabic class everyday. Three times a week I have Fousha, which is modern standard Arabic, for three hours. Fousha is what the news is written in but no one actually speaks it. Two times a week I have Amia, the Jordanian dialect, for an hour and a half. However, since I am in beginner one, we have been doing Amia all week so we can communicate. Many students here who have studied Fousha for four semesters or more have the same vacant “I have no idea what you just said” look that I have when we talk to people because Fousha is apparently useless when it comes to conversation. I am learning a ton though and my family is beyond helpful.

Everyday at home we have Arabic hour and I have a quiz. It is so nice. I can already tell that I am learning a lot more, a lot faster than some of the people in my class. Maher, my host brother (but he is in his thirties, married, kids) threatens to kill me when I don’t study. Additionally, my Arabic teacher, Muna, threatens to eat any students who don’t do their homework. Two days ago though Muna said she would never eat me because I knew a lot of the vocabulary the class could not remember.

I am still learning the alphabet but it is really exciting. I leave class everyday feeling very accomplished because I am able to read that much more. However on our second day of class we had not learned enough letters to read the word “women.” My friend Ashley and I were looking for a bathroom around the university and could only find a women’s room that was completely blockaded on our floor. We went to the next floor and found some bathrooms missing the woman and man pictures. Since on the floor below the women’s room was on the right we assumed it would be on the right on this floor too (which I maintain is legitimate). While Ashley was in a stall (there were no urinals) a boy walked in and just stared at me for a second. He walked out, checked the sign, walked back in and started talking to me in Arabic. I gave him my vacant-i-have-no-idea-what-you-are-saying look but I guess I hadn’t perfected it by then and he just kept on talking. I started talking in English, he went out to check the sign again and then said “for men.” Luckily we had a sense of humor and could not stop laughing, even for the rest of the day. Needless to say, we immediately learned the word for woman and check twice every time I walk into a bathroom.

I am also taking a class titled America and the Arabs. My professor seems like a great guy with a sense of humor. We hopefully will be meeting many important people in the Jordanian government, such as the minister of foreign affairs, the ambassador to Israel, and also go on field trips, like to refugee camps. Additionally, I am supposedly going to be in an internship but it seems some of the paperwork is holding me back because someone from CIEE quit over the summer and lost resumes and what not. Hopefully CIEE can get its act together so I can work for some non-governmental organization as my fourth class.

It can be overwhelming being here but overall I am having such a great time. I am meeting some awesome people, both from the US and from Jordan. Sometimes my head hurts from Arabic overload/ having such a different life but I find that taking a nap is a wonderful remedy. Going to the gym is also a great way for me to just let my brain relax. It is a lot of work to learn Arabic but I can’t wait till I get to the point where I can forget how to make the vacant face.