Hey folks,
Sorry I haven’t posted a blog in a while, my studies have been isolating me to smoky café corners in which I struggle to write papers and study for midterms while gazing at the beautiful spring sun. Last week I finally finished my two 12 page research papers for my political classes. In one paper I wrote about the possibility of military intervention in Libya. My thesis was: “A no fly-zone implemented at this time by the US military would be a terrible decision”. Three days later I gave my presentation as US missiles barraged Benghazi. Such is the life of an “academic.” My second paper was about the Battle at Karameh, one of the few battles considered a “victory” for Arab forces fighting the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces). I won’t bore you with my political jargon, instead let’s jump ahead to the amazing weekend I just had.
Wadi Rum: one of the most beautiful desert landscapes is located in the south of Jordan, close to Aqaba. Friday morning two buses of 85 CIEE students along with staff and tour guides took off for the desert from Jordan University’s main gates. The weather outside was shitay (rainy) so I was nervous about what we would find on arrival. Of course, it was naïve of me to think that it might be raining in a desert, but then again it’s me, so who are we kidding. We stopped for lunch along the way and perused a gift show holding just about every cliché travel gift you could want from Jordan at the price that only rich people could afford. We all marveled at the beautiful mosaics, daggers, and scarves and then hopped on the bus to our destination.
Finally after a 6 hour drive? I’m not sure because I was sleeping…we arrived. By this I mean we pulled off of the road in the middle of nowhere to be greeted by 15 Mitsubishi and Toyota pick up trucks with seats in the back. Loading into these by groups of 6 they speed off into the desert. The next 4 hours were spent drifting through dunes. Every now and then we would stop by lark sand-rock hills/mountains and scramble up them for aerial views of our surroundings. It is amazing to see these barren desert landscapes scattered with built up hills of clotted stone. It’s even more amazing to be able to climb them and lay at their peaks looking over Wadi Rum.
Although we were having a blast we all started to get cold. Our last stop was to watch the sun set behind distant mountains as our guides built a camp fire, sang songs and served us tea. Finally we arrived at our camp, and it was really a camp. It was a large complex of tents all connecting together with a huge generator system powering the lights that sat behind the camps on a little hill. We walked in to be greeted by a group of (German?) tourists sitting around campfires, listening to traditional music and eating delicious kebab, hummus, hobs, etc. The boys and girls were divided into two groups and sent to sets of simple tents. Each students stayed with one friend in a tent that had a light a chair and two beds; very simple.
That night after our feast of all feasts, we made friends with one of the workers at the camp who offered to give us argileh. We sat in a small group talking in Arabic with him and his friends. Most of the night he just continued to call us again and again niswangee (womanizer) and muskalgee (trouble-maker) because he thought it was funny and we got a kick out of it. Once we’d had our fair share of the name calling David, Leah, Becca, Brie, Joe, Ziek, and grabbed our blankets and wandered away from the campsite to lie down in the desert and watch the stars. Unfortunately, Wadi Rum was freezing that night. We stayed as long as we could, catching shooting stars and counting constellations, and then we turned in for the night.
The next morning we woke up with butterflies in our stomachs: it was the moment that all of us (my dorky friends and I) had been waiting for (and I’m pretty sure Becca might have peed her pants in anticipation). We gobbled down our breakfast and ran outside to meet our furry friends: the camels! There tons of them walking around being led in groups of 3 or 4 by Sudanese men. As I walked over one man ran up to me and pulled me over to a camel. Within seconds I was seated on his back rising up into the air. Now, riding camels is not the same as riding a horse. I’d say, it’s a lot more uncomfortable. So the 4 hours that proceeded were sublime and painful all at the same time. The best way to bear the pain (as a man) is to wrap your legs around the beast’s neck and try to cushion your seating as you go. It is bearable to ride if the camel is walking but as soon as its guide would start yelling “yella, yella!” and whipping it in the flanks it would take off bouncing you painfully up and down right on your crotch.
We spent about 4 hours doing this, stopping at one point to see the rock carving of Lawrence of Arabia and another time to play in sand dunes. Taking your shoes off and running up and down dunes is probably one of the most liberating experiences out there, I highly suggest it. Finally we made it to our lunch stop and got off our camels. I saw many long faces as we departed our new friends, (especially Becca’s) but I for one was glad to be on my own two feet again. Once again we had a beautiful lunch feast and afterwards we met to watch a movie.
Okay, now I have to get to the serious part of this blog. The meeting for the movie was also a meeting for Dr. Allison, our resident director to tell us about what had happened in Amman the night before. Luckily we were out of the city on March 24th so that our program directors did not have to worry. What happened that night is unclear, I have read many different interpretations and some seem accurate, others seem to be government propaganda, and others outrageous conspiracies. I will tell you the bare facts: there was a protest for reform. Loyalists bused in from the North and the South to show support for the King but ended up harassing and attacking the pro-reform protestors. At first police officers attepted to protect the pro-reform protestors but when riot police were called in something went terribly wrong. In the aftermath one protestor was dead and 100 were injured. I wont give my opinion because I don’t have one yet, but here is a blog which I think sums everything up nicely. It’s long, so skim it, but if you are worried about my situation it may make you feel better and better informed: http://www.black-iris.com/
In our meeting Dr. Allison went over what would happen in the event that our program had to be shut down. It was a very somber meeting but what seemed to be clear was that no one really thought Jordan would fall to revolution. There are many reasons for this, for one, most people love the King, and Jordan unlike Egypt and Tunisia is a Kingdom with not nearly as much widespread corruption (though believe me it exists). The King in the past month has done a very politically savvy job of pleasing the people. He has admitted that corruption in his government exists and has promised to make changes, one being sacking the Prime Minister (which honestly happens all the time here and isn’t a big deal). The greatest fear is that civil war will erupt between Palestinian refugees and Jordanians. Some believe that the King and his government are stressing these differences to keep the people unorganized from forming an organized protest against the kingdom. This could be true, who knows. All I know is, every single person I’ve met here has expressed a desire for there to be union between Palestinians and Jordanians. They say that it doesn’t matter where you are from, but that you are a Jordanian now. In most cases the kids I’ve met come from families where one parent is Jordanian and one is Palestinian and this seems to be a widespread phenomenon. I don’t think Jordan will erupt into Civil War, people are all too aware of what happened in Black September and they don’t wish to see this repeated.
Those are my brief thoughts, unorganized and ADD as they are. I’m trying to type fast because this is midterms week and I am swamped. Actually, I’m at the tail end. Yesterday I had 3 exams, one this morning, and my last is on Tursday. After which I will be flying out on Friday morning with the lovely Becca and Sinclaire to Turkey for the week. I can’t wait!!! Gah! I’m so lucky! Okay I’m going to run, I’ll post more later insh’allah. Wish me a safe travels! Don’t worry about me, I’m smart, I’m safe, and my family has told me I’m on house arrest if any protests happen.
Love,
Wylie of Arabia
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