A Tale of Two Cities

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Okay, it might not be fair to dub this week “the worst of times,” unless you consider being so inundated with homework that it dribbles out your ears “the worst of times.” On Tuesday we nearly gave up all bodily functions in order to finish (which we did, after working nearly straight through since 5:30p, at around 11:30p).

And it might not be quite fair to call it the best of times either (see above homework situation, combined with a lack of tofu and distance to Denver and its residents). We did, however, get to experience the “Souk” (codename for the “Shook,” or outdoor market) and downtown Irbid for the first time. As we walked amongst the plentiful veggies and fruits, awash in cries of “Farowala! Farowala! (Strawberry! Strawberry!)” and “Maoz! Maoz! (Bananas, not Communists, though they were for sale, too. Really),” we picked out enough produce to feed an army of Bens and Daphnas (onions, oranges, grapefruit, zucchini-like squash, lemon, banana, spinach, eggplant, cauliflower, dried beans. . . .). All for about $10.

We also made our way to Jerash, a town known for its incredible, primarily Roman, ruins. Nestled among green hills and sprouting yellow and purple and white wildflowers, old rocks and columns and theaters sticking up out of the ground. . . it was enough to make you think, “Hey, those Romans really did have something going for ‘em.” It was beautiful. It was also the most touristy place that we’ve been to, complete with a souvenir bazaar. We ran into a man selling souvenirs inside the grounds who was so excited to hear that we also attend Yarmouk University that he took us on a small guided tour and showed us how the columns rock (ever so gently) in the wind. You could feel the movement on your fingers.

Jordan continues to confound as well as amaze. Most people here are incredibly polite and, at times, shockingly honest. When we bought the dried beans, Daph and I misinterpreted the Amia (the Jordanian dialect of Arabic, considerably different from Foos-ha, or “Modern Standard Arabic”, which is what we are learning but is actually spoken. . . nowhere. . . except on television), and gave the storekeeper exact change plus a bit more. He shook his head, “tut-tutted” in an Arabic fashion, and put the extra money back in my hand. Now, of course, there are less pleasant encounters, and for us, here, they have been restrained primarily to transportation (taxis love their foreigner tax everywhere, it appears). Today, leaving Jerash, multiple men tried to convince us that all public transport back to Irbid had stopped and that their private car was the only route back, for a mere 10x bus fare. We caught a mini-bus on the road for the same price as the one that brought us. . . .

And, there are always the surprises. Trying to find the souk, we asked a policeman for directions. He seemed to be at a total loss, but a student came over who spoke good English and gave us directions. Before he would let us walk, though, he said, “But tell me, what do you think of Islam? I know that over in America, it’s like everyone in Islam has big beards and is a terrorist. But it’s not like that. What do you think?” I thought that, if we thought that, we probably wouldn’t be in Jordan, but. . . . we chatted for a bit (I wasn’t that snarky), and we found out that he was a Hebrew language major. “Why?” Daph asked. “Because,” he said, “they’re our neighbors, and it felt like my destiny.” Daph coaxed a “Ma Shlomcha?” out of him, and when she responded in turn, he said, “Wow, you’re good,” and then seemed to fade back into how important it was that we feel welcome in Jordan. He sent us off after taking a picture with each of us on his cell phone.

Your Arabic phrase of the day: Lam a’akul al-shokoladah al-letti kanat fee beytna, liannahu akula jami-oo alshokolada awalan. I didn’t eat the chocolate which was in our house, because he ate all the chocolate first.*

Or, Sah-phara Ben wah Daphna ila Jerash alyom. Ben and Daphna traveled to Jerash today.

*That’s right, folks. . . necessity is the mother of invention, and we are making our own vegan chocolate candy and halva from scratch. . . . We’ll keep you posted. We love you! See the posts below that have had pictures added!!!!!