Day Three

Day Three:

Today, I was in my first car accident. It was pretty uneventful. Our coach bus decided to back up in the middle of a busy road and hit the taxi behind it, crushing the taxi’s hood. But not to worry, two “Accident Investigation” vans were on the scene in a jiffy! To add to the five children dying each week from automobile accidents in Jordan, apparently a Jordanian dies every nine minutes from an automobile accident. It is hard to tell why exactly this happens, since Arabs aren’t exactly known for their punctuality. Our director hinted at some other reasons involving a certain amount of “frustration”. The lanes are even made widely (where there are marked lanes, of course) so that a few cars can almost squeeze into the lane. Miraculously, it seems that people do stop for red lights, but all other driving rules go out the window.

We also had a fascinating safety lesson for about two hours. We learned that the secret police are our friends, but that stalkers try to pretend to be the secret police, because they are so ubiquitous. I also learned a thing or two about taxi fare negotiation and legitimacy. I got a small chance tonight, but I can’t wait to put that into play!

Later, we saw a wedding reception ceremony in the hotel of our restaurant. The bride was of course covered, but had on a very large white dress. There were musicians and dancers and guests dancing around the happy couple, which didn’t actually look so happy, and looked very serious.

High Point: Registering for a free internet spot right across the street from campus!
Low Point: Oral Arabic interviews

Week 1

Day One:

Got to Jordan alive. It was raining when I left DC and it was raining in Amman when I arrived. Apparently that is a miracle here. It was a short day since I lost about 7 hours, but long enough to be completely overwhelmed by the amount orientation materials reading to do. More tomorrow after the Dead Sea!

High Point: Having an entire row to myself from DC to Paris.
Low Point: Utter lack of internet that functions.

Day Two:

Today we sat through some not-so-exciting presentations about things that we shouldn’t do and life in Jordan. It turns out that the number two cause of death in Jordan is car accidents, and 5 children die nationally each week from car accidents. It was never mentioned what the number one cause is, but my guess is lung cancer. One of the resident assistants rattled off that in his three years living here, he has been in eight or nine car accidents, but he couldn’t remember. I don’t think my parents were worried about the prospect of me dying in a car accident here, but I guess you never know.

The Dead Sea turned out to be pretty awesome. It is shocking that the water level drops by 92 cm each year, which is a pretty significant amount. With Jordan being the 4th most water poor nation in the world, I guess it is no small wonder that they started collecting all the rain water running down the valleys of the mountains to use, instead of letting it drain into the Dead Sea. Our tour guide mentioned a Dead Sea – Red Sea project to create electricity that works as a collaboration of Jordan, Palestine, and Israel. It is an effort to save the Dead Sea, create an energy source, and foster community growth in the surrounding area. If I actually had internet, I could probably find out some more information, but I guess that will be saved for another day. Even though it was a little cool today, I went in the Dead Sea, which is about has about 33% salinity. I guess I didn’t believe that it was actually possible to “walk on water”, but as it turns out you have to do no work to stay afloat and I don’t think it is possible to drown as you can’t go underwater. Definitely an interesting experience trying to swim there.

High Point: Floating in the Dead Sea
Low Point: Technically, the lowest point in the world is the Dead Sea, so I guess that counts for the low and the high point of my day.