Hello everyone!!!!
There is so much for me to tell about and so many
fascinating things. Please if you have any comments or questions please post
them as I often feel like I write about things that someone would not write
about if it were their first time visiting Jordan. I am no in that “enchanted”
mode although I do love the people here and am trying hard to develop that appreciation
and care for them each day. I am merely trying to say that I may not mention
obvious culture differences all the time as these are subconsciously “normal”
for someone like me who is in Jordan for their second time and treating more
complex issues or simply different ones from a tourist who is in “Arabia” for
the first time. So if you feel that anything rather intriguing is omitted please
post as I write off of some basic assumptions sometimes.
(I will now explain my work and explain the culture here
concerning dialogue at work and BIRTHDAYS!!)
Anyway, I am TRANSLATING into ARABIC for Jordan’s Ministry
of Social Development (MoSD). I work also in the National Aid Fund and
translate documents into English. The latter is preferred for me and others as
English is my native language (albeit some might say that Spanish is my native
language, but that’s a topic for another day). Anyway, my understanding of
Arabic grammar is allowing me to translate some important international
documents sent to Jordan’s MoSD and are thereby, needed in Arabic as not all
employees speak/read English at such a high register as the EU documents are
often written in. (yes, that’s right I referred to translating things produced
by the European Union!)
(A selfie on my first day of work!! [thanks fam for the chic work shirts!])
Anyway, I will normally go running or go to the gym
after I get up at 6:30am or 7am or around then. I bring lunch or I just buy
Humus and bread or a Falafel sandwich from a nearby place. I walk to work and
am there (depending on the workload) from 9:30am until 2pm or 3:30pm. I love
working with Arabs in general and they often speak loud to each other. You would
think that they were mad at each other (coming from an American background
where yelling at a white-collar desk-based job just isn’t appropriate and
unorthodox). I look around to see if they actually are mad at each other but
they’re just very animated in expressing their opinions at work. I love
conversing with Arabs too. They like to practice a little English to when I’m
taking my break. So, after work I head home and will either go to my institute
for my formal Arabic class or I will go to my speaking partner’s pharmacy to
talk with him about my research. In the night time I sometimes go out with my
friends from BYU who are also working as interns for the MoSD. It’s so much
fun. I am basically working, fulfilling work for an Arabic class,
preparing/conducting research, going and preparing to go to church and hanging
out with my Arab or American friends.
I guess I explained the Culture part of my blog in
the last paragraph so I will now talk about a STORY.
Oh yeah!! My birthday in the MIDDLE EAST!!! My birthday was
last Sunday June 9th and it was PHENOMENAL (thanks to all my Arab
and American friends and family [both Peruvian and American].
So pretty much I had the LONGEST BIRTHDAY EVERRRRRRRRR!!! It
started with my physical location in Amman, Jordan and then proceed to the West
from Chile, Peru, and North America. Friends from three different continents
celebrating my birthday and wishing me a wonderful birthday!! It was the
longest birthday as it lasted over several time zones and it was such a joy to
see messages in Spanish, English, and Arabic. I tried to respond to each one
personally.
For my birthday I went with my two roommates to renew our
residency/visa and then I went to work. The Arabs there wished me happy
birthday but Birthdays are not that celebrated here and it was also the work
place so I didn’t really do anything that exciting at work. Also the night
before (Saturday) I went to a place called Sahab and it was like an hour away
to eat with a local and his family. We got back from Sahab on my birthday and
it was very fun!! A great preview/entry into my birthday. It included singing
an American song “hurricane” in the taxi we were riding in back home. Anyway,
back to Sunday, after work I went and took a nap and we went to Waffle House
for Dinner. It’s a pretty American restaurant near the first circle on Rainbow
Street. (a very western, popular, little more expensive street). There were
about 12/13 of us there and my local friend Johnny came along too. We mostly
got American breakfast food like Waffles, Pancakes, and French Toast. We did
karaoke while we waited. The management heard it was my birthday and that I
didn’t have a birthday cake so they brought one out on the house after we were
eating. It had a big tall sparking candle and it was a cake made out of
chocolate waffles I believe. Pretty delicious.
(Logan beautifully singing Cry from "A Walk to Remember")
(My wonderful friend Johnny who lives in Amman)
(Matthew Bird singing "Fly me to the moon" by Frank Sinatra because a lot of Arabs like older/classic American music like that)
Then we went back to my
apartment and they had me be last/distracted so that all my friends could be inside
my apartment to surprise me with a cake that THEY had actually gotten for me,
covered with strawberries and two candles in the shapes of the numbers “24.”
They sang to me and we all enjoyed each other’s company. After that I was
pretty wiped but I had to see my friend Muhammad at the supermarket near our
house because he said he wanted to see me on my birthday. So by myself and a
little late, I slowly walked up to his store and I greeted him and he said he
had had something ready to give me at the store since 11am that day! I looked
as he grabbed something from behind the cash register/counter and it was a
pretty gift bag with 2 nicely wrapped presents inside!!! I only talk to this
young man about every other day and not very long at that but he still got me 2
gifts in a nice bag!! I didn’t think I deserved them!! I wasn’t expecting a
gift. He works so much and he’s not from Jordan but working and leaving outside
of his home country Egypt. I greatly appreciated his gift and told him if he
needed anything that I was there to help him. I said goodbye, thanked him and
started to walk home astounded. At home I showed my two roommates that Muhammad
had given me presents!!! Keep in mind that here in the Middle East,
birthdays are not that widely celebrated or if they are they are very simple.
Here I was, not even a part of this guy’s immediate family and he had given me
not just one but TWO presents! I opened them in front of my roommates and I
became even more amazed and almost emotional as I unwrapped a silver
pen/calculator set and a nice shiny big black wrist watch. They were too nice.
I went back and thanked him (the usual one kiss on the right cheek and 3-5 air
kisses on his left cheek) and expressed my profound gratitude. I in turn gave
him some of my birthday cake with strawberries on it. I brought some for him
and all his co-workers. They are very friendly. Muhammad said that the gifts
were simply/little but they were not at all!! He was just trying to show how
our friendship was not a burden on him at all. They were small and not a
trouble for him to get but a pleasure. He is one of the friendliest, kindest,
and most charitable people I know (and not just here in Jordan or the Middle East
for that matter but that’s where he lives).
Longest birthday EVER!! And surely unforgettable. J
(Muhammad Sayyid-one of the most kind Arabs I have ever met with a special light in his countenance at the store he works at near my apartment)
(Pre-birthday FEAST in Sahaab)
(Me enjoying delicious chicken and onions! I would later enjoy/obliging stuff two more hunks of chicken-Gotta love Arab hospitality!)
