Well, after commencing my voyage to Jordan on Monday night, here I sit on Thursday afternoon, Jordan time, in a language lab at Yarmouk University in Irbid, Jordan. I am studying with the University of Virginia Arabic intensive program here for the next two months with about 33 other students. We arrived just last night so I don't have much to write yet, but I can definitely say that I am excited about getting to know the group I'm with and the professors who will be teaching us- so far they all seem interesting, well-educated, well-travelled, and very friendly.
Last night I had an odd transition into Jordanian society when we went shopping at a supermarket outside Amman: picture Super Target with a smattering of Arabic ads and hijabi women toting carts of dates and fresh bread. Driving out of Amman I was beginning to wonder how much Arabic I would actually learn here given the amount of English I was seeing everywhere, but after seeing Irbid this morning I feel fairly confident that my skills will improve.
I was pleasantly surprised with our apartments- my roommate and I have a bedroom with twin beds, a kitchen with a gas stove, washing machine, and refrigerator, and even a TV set that broadcasta Al-Jazeera and a Syrian channel.
Apparently my director is going to buy phone cards now so I better run!
About Me
- Suzanne
- "I am a frayed and nibbled survivor in a fallen world, and I am getting along. I am aging and eaten and have done my share of eating too. I am not washed and beautiful, in control of a shining world in which everything fits, but instead am wondering awed about on a splintered wreck I've come to care for, whose gnawed trees breathe a delicate air, whose bloodied and scarred creatures are my dearest companions, and whose beauty bats and shines not in its imperfections but overwhelmingly in spite of them..."
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