A lot has happened since I've last written. Sunday was a casual school day where we talked about the difference between American and Islamic marriages. Monday was where things got busy and interesting. After class, I ran into an American friend that I met here last year, Mo. He studied here at Yarmouk for about a year and is now living in Amman for about six weeks. He was visiting the language center and was about to go tour the textile factory that is located here in Irbid with some other students from the language center. I, along with my other classmates, was invited to go tour the factory. In the end, only three of us from Ole Miss took the tour. The textile factory is located on the second floor of a building in the middle of the city, and is essentially two huge rooms filled with sewing machines, surgers and different work stations. Upon arrival, we were greeted and taken to the general manager's office, Mohammad Abo Abduh. Water and juice was available for us while we had the opportunity to learn about the factory before we took the actual tour. The factory was established after the peace treaty between Israel and Jordan; they partner up with another factory in Israel. The factory makes different clothing items for various companies, and at this moment they are only making items for one company, Victoria's Secret. Our tour began after we were told that 90% of the workers are female and that regulations such as working hours are followed. The first room that we toured was filled with surgers that had lime green thread on them, and heating machines that put the "PINK" label on the underwear. There was also a station that put stickers on the finished product and finished packaging it all up to be sent to the client. The other room was just like the first, but there were a few machines that had plastic trash bags over them because they must have been broken. After that we went back into the general manager's office and were offered some candy and goody bags. It was very interesting for me to be there and see how textiles are mass produced.
After I got back from the factory, I joined some of the guys from my class to throw a frisbee. We threw it behind some of the soccer courts that are here on campus. I'm not great at throwing frisbees, but I was given a few lessons and have greatly improved! It was a great Monday.
Yesterday, Tuesday, was also exciting and interesting. Everyone one at the language center was invited to a fancy dinner hosted by the University. We all dressed up and went to a place outside on campus that was set up with tables, a few band instruments, and a long buffet table. The president of the University was there and shook everyone's hand that was there with a camera man recording all of it. Speeches were given and then there was a performance from the campus dabke group. Dabke is the national dance of Jordan and some other countries here in the Middle East. It is where men, women, or both stomp there feet in certain rythms to the music all while holding hands. The group performing was very good, they were dressed in traditional folk clothes with the girls wearing all black dresses with some designs on the bottom of the sleeves and the bottom of the dress. The guys wore khaki shirts with keffiyeh's (traditional headdress or scarf) around their necks. I took a short video of the dance so I would not have to take a lot of pictures. Once the first performance of the night was completed, it was time to get food! The beginning of the buffet line was filled with different appetizers such a hummus, some vegetables, and potatoes. There wwere also three main courses offered. One was rice with lamb, the second was something similar to kous kous with chicken and then the third was an onion, pepper, chicken mix that was amazing! Everything tasted amazing. After I was finished eating, my speaking teacher came and got some of us so that we could dabke to the music that was being played. Last year the dance seemed a little difficult, but I caught on really quickly and had fun with it! After I danced the whole song through, it was about 10pm and time for me to head back to my apartment. It was a very fun night, and I'm glad that I was able to dance!
For the past few days my apartment has not had running water. Everytime it was "fixed" there was only water for about an hour and would then go out again. I took showers at my friend's apartments after class when I would find out that the water was out again. The other day I called the maintenance people myself and spoke on the phone for the first time in ALL Arabic. I was very proud of myself. Once again, the problem was fixed for only a short time. It has been a frustrating thing to deal with, but today the water is on, and I'm sure/hoping that it is here to stay!! Tomorrow is my last day of class for the week and I'm still trying to decide what I want to do this weekend. Whatever I decide, I know that it's going to be a lot of fun!
After I got back from the factory, I joined some of the guys from my class to throw a frisbee. We threw it behind some of the soccer courts that are here on campus. I'm not great at throwing frisbees, but I was given a few lessons and have greatly improved! It was a great Monday.
Yesterday, Tuesday, was also exciting and interesting. Everyone one at the language center was invited to a fancy dinner hosted by the University. We all dressed up and went to a place outside on campus that was set up with tables, a few band instruments, and a long buffet table. The president of the University was there and shook everyone's hand that was there with a camera man recording all of it. Speeches were given and then there was a performance from the campus dabke group. Dabke is the national dance of Jordan and some other countries here in the Middle East. It is where men, women, or both stomp there feet in certain rythms to the music all while holding hands. The group performing was very good, they were dressed in traditional folk clothes with the girls wearing all black dresses with some designs on the bottom of the sleeves and the bottom of the dress. The guys wore khaki shirts with keffiyeh's (traditional headdress or scarf) around their necks. I took a short video of the dance so I would not have to take a lot of pictures. Once the first performance of the night was completed, it was time to get food! The beginning of the buffet line was filled with different appetizers such a hummus, some vegetables, and potatoes. There wwere also three main courses offered. One was rice with lamb, the second was something similar to kous kous with chicken and then the third was an onion, pepper, chicken mix that was amazing! Everything tasted amazing. After I was finished eating, my speaking teacher came and got some of us so that we could dabke to the music that was being played. Last year the dance seemed a little difficult, but I caught on really quickly and had fun with it! After I danced the whole song through, it was about 10pm and time for me to head back to my apartment. It was a very fun night, and I'm glad that I was able to dance!
For the past few days my apartment has not had running water. Everytime it was "fixed" there was only water for about an hour and would then go out again. I took showers at my friend's apartments after class when I would find out that the water was out again. The other day I called the maintenance people myself and spoke on the phone for the first time in ALL Arabic. I was very proud of myself. Once again, the problem was fixed for only a short time. It has been a frustrating thing to deal with, but today the water is on, and I'm sure/hoping that it is here to stay!! Tomorrow is my last day of class for the week and I'm still trying to decide what I want to do this weekend. Whatever I decide, I know that it's going to be a lot of fun!
No comments:
Post a Comment