Grace: Argeelah and landscapes

I’ve found somewhat of a solution to the problem of not speaking enough Arabic. Today, after a late breakfast, I went to Mecca Mall with some of the SIT students. It’s a very expensive place, not where I’d want to go for all of my clothes. Dillon’s host brother went with us – he definitely made the day the experience that it was! Once we finished our shopping, he drove us all around Amman. We saw the grandeur of the American Embassy, where the brother was nervous about me taking pictures. Then we went around Abdoun Circle near our school, which by that time we knew by the back of our hands…sort of. After that was downtown, where we learned that most of the stores close on the holy day (Friday). Our last stop before home was Rainbow Street, where many of us had gone our first night here together. I got a snack of french fries, named after potatoes, “batata,” and garlic sauce, “thoum.”

As an aside, the landscape in this city is beyond incredible. I so hope that I don’t forget just how breathtaking it is. No photo can show its depth.

From Dillon’s apartment – they have a patio on an upper story overlooking Amman.

When we were done, we went to Dillon’s home. His family speaks much more Arabic than mine. Well, they both speak Arabic, but my family is only among themselves. Dillon came here without a word of Arabic, so his host mother has taken it upon herself to drill him night and day with vocabulary. That’s where this post comes in. I’m discovering that the more Arabic I know, the more my host family uses it with me. As long as I keep a journal of all the Arabic I’m learning, from Dillon’s family, my classmates, my teachers, and my own family, they will practice what I know with me and correct my pronunciation. That, along with the always available Arab TV channels that we watch constantly here, should give me a solid basis for my colloquial Arabic – al-’amiyya.

Dillon and his host brother. Holding argeelah, a tobacco like hooka that Jordanians get at bars or have at home.

Related Posts

Grace: Big, happy family

On Wednesday we finally got to learn who our host family is, and yesterday we met them and spent our first day in their homes! My host family has a mother and a father, Reem and Ali, two sons, Aymad and Bashar, with a third son working in the US, and a daughter who will be in town soon, Tamara. My host family speaks English well. That has made the transition to their home so much easier. Nonetheless, it also means I have to be very assertive about speaking only [...]

Read More

Grace: Orientation and tourism

June 14, 2012 10:30pm (outdated post again) It’s really hard to remember the day of the week while I’m here. I keep thinking it’s at least one day earlier. I definitely consider that a good thing, though. Better to have time fly than to have it drag on from boredom, or unhappiness. It has been way too easy in Amman so far. I was expecting culture shock, a great disparity in understanding between myself and Jordanians. I’m (almost) disappointed that I haven’t been made uncomfortable so far. This trip is [...]

Read More

Grace: From sweat to swank

Ahlan bikum! I have done so much in the past 5 days, but internet access has been so slow or nonexistent that I haven’t been able to share them with you! Now that I’m finally settled, I can catch up with all of my posts.  I am writing this post at 10 at night – waaaay too late. I should have been in bed a long time ago. SIT keeps us going all day long, so I need every minute of sleep I can get! But I figured I couldn’t [...]

Read More

Grace: Arrival in Amman

I wanted to make a post yesterday, during my layover in Amsterdam. But I had no time! My trip over here went amazingly fast. I’ve never had a better flight than the two I just experienced, if you’ll believe it. I rode for 9 hours overnight from Minneapolis to Amsterdam, and slept just the right amount. Then I booked it to my next flight at 11am in the Amsterdam airport (4am Mpls) for a 5 hour flight. After getting bamboozled by the randomness of Jordanian streets, my taxi driver finally [...]

Read More

Thomas: a land of many landscapes

I’ve written a lot about Argentina’s Capital city of Buenos Aires, I do after all spend 95% of my time there. I haven’t, however, written very much about the rest of Argentina. While doing research on the country last Summer I quickly realized how diverse the Argentinian landscape is. I thought I would dedicate this post to the many beautiful and precious landscapes that make up the 8th largest country in the world (by land area). If only one had enough time and money to visit each of these landscapes. [...]

Read More

Leave a Reply