As I was making tajine tonight, I decided it was time to upload some entries I had been sitting on to edit....So, without further ado, I give you the Fulbright trip to Jordan.
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As the title suggests, I have journeyed once again. At the end of February I attended the Regional Fulbright Enrichment Seminar in Amman, Jordan. Ironically enough, Amman is incredibly hard to pronounce. It is really 'Amman with the first sound being a glottal stop. In Arabic, there are three words that sound quite similar: 'Amman, Aman, Oman. Gong through airports in Morocco and Egypt in order to get here, we have been misdirected a hundred times because of the similarity of city names.
Although I am extremely well traveled in North Africa (been everywhere except Libya) this was my first trip to another region of the Middle East. Our flights back and forth were harrowing, filled with layovers without wifi, and general pandemonium of course ensued. Once we got to Jordan, got out of the airport - which is named after the first wife of the last king who tragically died in a plane crash, no irony there - it was roughly 3 am!
We arrived at a super zween (read: swanky) Landmark Hotel in Amman, Jordan's capital. I roomed with other Sarah, my name twin. The next day we had time to visit some sights around Amman. Fulbrighters from other parts of the NEA region arrived. It was kool to see everyone and hear about their experiences as an ETA and just their lives in general. We had the evening to catch up with each other as well as ask the Jordan Fulbrighters all kinds of oddball questions. We learned very quickly that our darjia skills were no match for our shami brethren. I quickly became friends with Matt and Christina, two of the Jordanian ETAs. Instead of being placed all over Jordan, which is much smaller than Morocco, all the ETAs are located in Amman. It makes for a close knit group that is used to being in and out of each others' lives. We, the Morocco ETAs, are a gregarious group and never really see each other as a group. So, what happens when you put a bunch of Fulbrighters into a conference setting? Tons of silliness, giggles, bad jokes, interesting conversations, drama, and everything else wrapped up into one. The Enrichment seminar was three days long. Each ETA from the region (including Israel, Oman, the Emirates, Jordan, and Morocco) gave a presentation on 3 to four person panels followed by a discussion section. I led off our ETA team and did a general introduction of the seminar. It was great to hear about what the researchers were doing, too.
After the conference, I ended up going on a road trip with Evan, Matt & Tyson. We went to Jerash, a huge Roman ruin, and to the north of Jordan at Umm Qays, where you can see into Syria, Lebanon, and Israel on a clear day.
Because of the internet, I am not posting more pictures. They are mostly on my facebook :)
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As the title suggests, I have journeyed once again. At the end of February I attended the Regional Fulbright Enrichment Seminar in Amman, Jordan. Ironically enough, Amman is incredibly hard to pronounce. It is really 'Amman with the first sound being a glottal stop. In Arabic, there are three words that sound quite similar: 'Amman, Aman, Oman. Gong through airports in Morocco and Egypt in order to get here, we have been misdirected a hundred times because of the similarity of city names.
Although I am extremely well traveled in North Africa (been everywhere except Libya) this was my first trip to another region of the Middle East. Our flights back and forth were harrowing, filled with layovers without wifi, and general pandemonium of course ensued. Once we got to Jordan, got out of the airport - which is named after the first wife of the last king who tragically died in a plane crash, no irony there - it was roughly 3 am!
We arrived at a super zween (read: swanky) Landmark Hotel in Amman, Jordan's capital. I roomed with other Sarah, my name twin. The next day we had time to visit some sights around Amman. Fulbrighters from other parts of the NEA region arrived. It was kool to see everyone and hear about their experiences as an ETA and just their lives in general. We had the evening to catch up with each other as well as ask the Jordan Fulbrighters all kinds of oddball questions. We learned very quickly that our darjia skills were no match for our shami brethren. I quickly became friends with Matt and Christina, two of the Jordanian ETAs. Instead of being placed all over Jordan, which is much smaller than Morocco, all the ETAs are located in Amman. It makes for a close knit group that is used to being in and out of each others' lives. We, the Morocco ETAs, are a gregarious group and never really see each other as a group. So, what happens when you put a bunch of Fulbrighters into a conference setting? Tons of silliness, giggles, bad jokes, interesting conversations, drama, and everything else wrapped up into one. The Enrichment seminar was three days long. Each ETA from the region (including Israel, Oman, the Emirates, Jordan, and Morocco) gave a presentation on 3 to four person panels followed by a discussion section. I led off our ETA team and did a general introduction of the seminar. It was great to hear about what the researchers were doing, too.
After the conference, I ended up going on a road trip with Evan, Matt & Tyson. We went to Jerash, a huge Roman ruin, and to the north of Jordan at Umm Qays, where you can see into Syria, Lebanon, and Israel on a clear day.
Because of the internet, I am not posting more pictures. They are mostly on my facebook :)
