It's been a while...

It’s been a few weeks since I last posted and I apologize; it’s been busy. I’ve had a typical midterms season. It’s definitely an assumption, and maybe a fair one, that when you study abroad, you’re mostly abroad and hardly studying. It’s quite different here. CIEE takes the study portion of study abroad quite seriously. And although I do appreciate this and feel I’m taking worthwhile classes, I don’t think I anticipated as much or more schoolwork than at home. That being said, I don’t have any complaints about my classes and love (most of the time) all of them.

Things have since settled down, but two weeks ago there were a few incidents on campus that led to changes or cancellations in class. Although it would be better if these disputes had not happened, they have allowed me to learn more about Jordanian culture and some of the shifts Jordan is seeing as a result of the Arab Spring.

The first incident was a shooting on campus. Here are more details (http://en.ammonnews.net/article.aspx?articleNO=15855), but this is what I know: it started as a snowball fight; the man who had the gun was not a University of Jordan student; the disagreement was between different tribes. I was not on campus when the event occurred, but CIEE activated their emergency phone tree and classes were cancelled for all university students for the rest of the day.

Two days later our afternoon classes were cancelled again because there was fighting on campus. Then, early the following week there was more fighting and our classes were moved to a location off campus. There are many layers to this issue and I will do my best to convey the knowledge I have been given in a way that is insightful but also easy to understand.

Imagine a modern day Romeo and Juliet, or Westside Story; that’s what’s going here. The shooting and fighting began because a girl from one tribe and a boy from another tribe are seeing each other; these tribes don’t like each other. Fights like this are not uncommon; in fact, I’ve learned they’re almost frequent and have become more frequent since the Arab Spring (more on this later). One reason they happen on campus is that police do not have jurisdiction and are not allowed onto the University of Jordan campus. They can only take action once the party leaves the campus. Campus security can try to contain the situation but cannot make any arrests.

Something interesting to note is that these fights almost always happen in the same location on campus between the same few people. The location is around the business, education and social sciences buildings. This is because these are considered to be fields on the low end of education here. Fields such as law, medicine or engineering are high. This leads me to the next point. Each year of high school, all Jordanian students are required to take a test called the Tawjihi. Simply put, the scores they earn determine their future. The one they take their senior year of high school is most important. Here’s an example: You take the Tawjihi and place high enough to major in engineering. This means you can study engineering and anything ‘below’ it (education, business), but cannot study anything ‘above’ it (medicine). It also determines what colleges or universities you can apply to; the University of Jordan requires the highest baseline score of all universities and colleges in Jordan. So students here don’t have much of a choice in what or where they study because it is expected of them that they will enter to the ‘highest’ field they can.

That being said, that means the smartest students in the country should be at the University of Jordan, right? Now envision a sort of Jordanian affirmative action. A few tribes are allotted four or five spots in the university each year for students who would not qualify for university based on their Tawjihi scores. Since these students are not are not getting in based on scores they are automatically placed in the lowest fields. Even in these fields they do poorly. They know that even though they are going to school, once they graduate, if they graduate, their career choices are limited and not attractive. If you put it all together, these students are the types of students who hang around these specific buildings on campus and are often from opposing tribes, which leads to the fighting.

Another aspect to this, and I’m not quite sure where it fits in, is the amount of sexual tension in this country. It sounds silly, but you can practically feel it, especially on campus. Since Islam is the dominating religion, everything regarding male and female interactions feels taboo. I’ve also learned that the average age a man in Jordan gets married is rising and is around 29 now. One of my professors said, “I don’t mean to put this in a cheeky way, but I’m going to put it in a cheeky way. These guys just need to get laid.” Their lack of ability to express sexuality adds tension and stress to their lives and when a disagreement, especially over a girl, arises, things tend to escalate quickly.

After my professor made this ‘cheeky comment,’ my class launched into discussion. Many points were addressed and not all had answers but this is the best summarization I can give. Young adults in Jordan today have no ‘reference point.’ They have grown up conflicted by a society that stresses what it means to be Muslim but surrounded by images of ‘freedom of expression’ from the U.S. and the west. What is right? Their surroundings tell them it’s ok to express yourself but at the same time it’s taboo if you do. Example: Women are to remain covered and the less of your figure you show the more ‘Muslim’ you are. But there are clothing stores on every corner with scantily clad female mannequins in their windows. What gives?

Since the Arab Spring Jordan has remained rather peaceful. But there are still demonstrations that happen. However, it’s a joke that Jordanians are willing to protest as long as it doesn’t interfere with prayer times or lunch; aka they’ve never amounted to much. But the King does feel pressure to keep things calm so he and has made a few changes. The fights on campus may be a way of students seeing what they can get away with. They know the rules are a little less strict and that the security officers on campus are now allowed to let students protest (this was not allowed before a year ago, even if it was peaceful). Students are very aware of this and its speculation that they’re seeing just what they can get away with.

I apologize that this is not the clearest piece of writing; however, I hope it gives you a small look into some aspects of Jordanian culture. I don’t have an answer to any of these issues and I’m not going to attempt to give one here. Maybe there isn’t one. But this society is changing and time may be the only way to determine what course it will take.

On quite a different note the last two weekends I have been able to travel to a few places in Jordan. Each day was beautiful so I took lots and lots of pictures!

Beautiful mosaics that used to be the floor of a church. The floor is the only thing which remains and covering it with sand and a tarp is the current way of 'protecting' the ancient mosaics. On all of these trips to ancient sites we find ourselves continually saying, "This would never be allowed at a site like this in the States."

Sheep farmer

Dead Sea! They have 'free mud' (who knew you ever had to pay for mud?!).
Cake it on, let it dry, then jump in!

Floating! This was one of the weirdest feelings I've ever experienced.
You have practically no control over your body. so weird!

Golan Heights

My friend Becca was my travel buddy this day.
Only posted a small number of the pictures we took together. 

Jordanian security: Don't step in the hole!

Do I blend in?

Cows. And I thought I left Wisconsin.

Israel. The next picture, which is the area directly to the right of where this picture ends, is Syria. 

Syria. Don't worry, this is as close as we got .

Is this A Knight's Tale?

A cute Jordanian boy who wanted to talk to us. 

The next couple are from a friend's birthday party.