This Past Week: 9/7-9/14, and Weekend in Aqaba

This past week has been an eventful one for me. I continue to celebrate Ramadan-the feasting part, not yet the fasting part with my family. Last weekend a friend of my biological father got me in touch with his friend Mohammed in Amman. I was invited to attend Iftar at Mohammed's house last Monday and I had a great time. He picked me up Monday and took me to meet his family in their brand new large and gorgeous home across the street from the royal palaces in a wealthy section of Amman. After meeting his family and several friends they had over that night, I enjoyed a great Iftar meal with Mohammed's daughter and some of her friends. After the meal we had some delicious dessert and Turkish and coffee, and then I headed up to their balcony where I enjoyed some arghele and tea with Mohammed, his wife, and a family friend for about an hour. We agreed to stay in touch at the end of the night, as Mohammed would like to introduce me to a friend of his and mentioned the possibility of traveling to one of the Palestinian refugee camps in East Amman. They also opened up their home to me and mentioned I am welcome to come over anytime. I'll be sure to give them a call soon.

On Tuesday night I enjoyed Iftar with my classmates at the villa where our classes are held. The food was prepared by several of the students and their homestay families. In addition to our teachers and academic advisors attending, some students from a local cultural group also attended. This gave us all the chance to get to know each other a little better, and meet some new people.

I spent this past weekend with five other group members in Aqaba, a resort town, and Jordan's only port city located four hours south of Amman on the Red Sea. We stayed in a hostel in a quiet area just off the main highway, about 10 kilometers south of the main city. We were just about four miles from the Saudi Arabian border, and across the street was a public beach on the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea. The mountains of Israel and the Israeli city of Elat were very close, just on the opposite side of the bay. Egypt's Sinai Peninsula was also visible in the distance. We spent Thursday night at the hostel, smoking arghele and enjoying fruit cocktails by the pool. We spent Friday at the beach, snorkeling in the Red Sea and checking out all the coral and sea life below the water. Unfortunately, I was ruthlessly attacked by a sea urchin, and I am now enjoying the roughly ten or so sea urchin spikes embedded in the bottom of my right foot (they dissolve after a few days). That night we went into the city of Aqaba and enjoyed a great dinner at a restaurant in downtown, followed by drinks and more arghele at another restaurant by the water. Here are a few pictures from this weekend.












Today we visited the University of Jordan for a lecture on economic development in Jordan. As the flagship institution of Jordan's 23 universities, it is also the largest. The large campus atmosphere reminded me of UConn a little bit. I forgot how much I enjoy campus life, and being back in that environment was somewhat refreshing for me. After the lecture I walked around campus for a little while, checking out the library and observing the campus life in Amman before taking a taxi back to our classroom villa in Abdoun.

This week I will also be visiting the American Embassy to meet with some foreign service officers and talk about life as an FSO, since this is the career path I intend to pursue when I graduate. I will also be visiting a mosque on Tuesday night to witness the prayer that takes place after Iftar. I also may decide to get up early and fast with my family on Tuesday. This, followed by a mosque visit will make Tuesday a complete Ramadan experience for me.

Things are really starting to pick up now. In two weeks I will be living with Bedouins for a few days followed by a week in Cairo and another week traveling around Jordan. This has been a great experience so far, and it has only been getting better. I'll try to update after my mosque visit later in the week if I have time, so check back then.

Salaam