Fuchfakina

Fuchfakina- really, that's the name of the drink that I am drinking as I write this. Yes, it is pronounced as it sounds, but it is amazingly good. It is strawberry juice with banana slices, apple chunks and frozen mangoes. A drink and a fruit salad together, the perfect way to spend a summer evening in Amman.

Fuchfakina- The way the name sounds to the American ear is the way that I feel though.The last few days have been long; very long, and very emotional. It's not that I'm not glad that I saw and heard the things that I have, but hearing person after person bash Jewish people over and over has been hard. Especially since I know that we aren't going to get the Israeli side of the conflict in this seminar. I told the director that in order for this to be a true seminar on the Middle East that we needed to hear the Israeli point of view and all he said was, "You get that every day in the news." I have to disagree. True, it is there, but not everyone hears it. There are people on this trip who do not know the other side, and they are going to go home and teach all the information we receive here as the gospel truth. It bugs me.

Yes, yes I know. I knew I was going to be inundated with the Palestinian viewpoint and as I have said to many of you, I wanted to hear it. As most everyone reading this blog knows, a good part of my childhood was spent in Mamaroneck, NY. Up until last year New York had more Jews then Israel, so therefor it was inevitable that many of my friends growing up were Jewish. Here in California, many of my closest friends are Jewish also, and not too long ago, I spent two summers in Israel. So over the years I had heard many opinions about Israel. It would have been impossible for me not to, in fact that was one of the reasons for coming on this trip. I wanted to "hear" the other side. Not the rhetoric spouted by Berkeley liberals, but the true Palestinian opinion.

Well, I have heard it.


On Wednesday we went to the the Wadi Seer Vocational Training Center run by the UNWARA. (United Nations Works and Relief Agency) Here we met with two men. One was the Principal of the center and the other was the head of ANWARA.

First the principle spoke. He showed us a movie about a man who was a child in 1948 in the West Bank. The man's whole family was killed, neighbors thought that he was dead also, but as they were burying the family in a mass unmarked grave, the child whined in pain. He was nursed back to health and ended up being adopted by a neighbor's family which fled the West Bank to Jordan. The movie showed horrible living conditions and untold violence. At the end it showed the man with all of his grand children. "Two for every one of his brothers and sisters who were killed by the Israeli Zionists in 1948".

Then the principal spoke about the center. It is 50 years old and has an excellent record of offering OFFJT (off the job training). For the past 50 years it has offered vocational education to 1000's of Palestinian refugees. They have two main schools, one two year high school program for 10th and 11th grade with 700 male students and one two year post secondary education technical program with 150 male students and 150 female students.

The HS program offers such things as auto maintenance, welding, electrical, office and computer trainings. The Post Secondary program offers electronics, civil engineering, surveying, computer technology...

The program has the highest level of accreditation by the Jordanian Ministry of Higher Education and 93 % of its students pass the state finial exams as compared to 63% from the government schools. It had 8 our of the 10 highest ranked vocational students this year and has increased its enrollment 15%. In addition it is adding auto electronics and computer technology this year. It has a 100% employability rate with many of its graduates being employed in the gulf states of The United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia.

The institute attributes its success to:

• The high loyalty of its instructors - many were students.


• It is always updating its curriculum.


• It recognizes successful instructors with incentive pay.

Although students at government schools pay tuition to attend, Wadi Seer's education is free to all its students.

Next the man from ANWARA spoke.

ANWARA was established in 1949 and its first day of operation was May 2, 1950. It was established by the United Nations as a relief, social services , and education program for Palestinian Refugees (A refugee is a person not living in their homeland because of war AND their decedents.) There were many refugees who fled Palestine in 1948 including Greeks and Turks ANWARA helps all of these people, but not the people who live in Gaza or those that left Gaza after 1967 .(At this point the man from the vocational center forcibly interrupted and say,"NO! You've got it wrong, they didn't just 'flee' they were violently removed! Their homes were burned, their children killed! They were systematically destroyed by the ISRAELI ZIONISTS who now live in THEIR homes and farm THEIR land.)

The man from ANWARA took the microphone back, thanked the principal, and continued.

ANWARA does not offer services of any kind to the Palestinians in Gaza or who fled Gaza since it they are considered Egyptian. (Egypt disagrees.)

1/3 of the world's Palestinians live in refugee camps. ANWARA gives complete housing, food, medical and educational care to the refugees. They have 177 schools which educate 130,000 students. Since there are so many students each school building houses two separate schools; one that runs from 7 -12 and another that runs from 12-4. Children go to school 6 days a week and the camp follows both the curriculum of the host country and the Palestinian curriculum. (Palestinian curriculum includes ongoing units on the Palestinian perspective of the history of Palestine. Israel is not recognized as a country, but instead spoken about as a "Zionist destructive force that needs to be eradicated".)

There is no object poverty for any Palestinian, but there is underemployment and many people live below the Jordanian Poverty line.

ANWARA is closely monitored by the Jordanian Government and is the only recognized organization to help Palestinian refugees. Other Palestinian organizations like the PLO, (Palestine Liberation Army, which has now morphed into the Fawta Party which runs the West Bank), and Hamas, (which now runs Gaza), are not officially recognized and CANNOT under any circumstances, run any camp inside of Jordan.

To make sure that ANWARA is being accountable in the area of education, the children educated in ANWARA camps are required to take the standardized nationwide Jordanian tests. They are given in the 4th, 8th, and 10th grades in Arabic, English, math, and science. ANWARA schools always rank 1st or 2nd in the tests.

Thanks to ANWARA, the Palestinian population has the highest educational levels in the whole Middle East. This includes Israel. The literacy rate in Palestinian refugee camps higher than that of their host countries. It is believed that this high level of education is due to the fact that upward economic and social mobility is completely related to education. Palestinians see Education as a way out of poverty.

Funding for ANWARA comes from donations from NGOs (Non Government Organizations) as well as assisted contrubutions from national governments. The United Nations does not fund them directly. 99% comes from Western Nations, 1% comes from the Arab Nations. When asked why this was, the man stated that the Arab nations' stance was that they supply the jobs so they didn't need to supply the education.

Lastly, the man wanted us to know that a good part of the curriculum was integrated with lessons on conflict resolution and tolerance. He wanted to make it clear that violence of any kind was strongly condemned, and acknowledgement of the equality of all cultures was taught.

Above him was a poster of all the flags of the world, except one.

Time to Be a Professonal

After two days of sleeping, eating, and soccer games, my clothes arrived from Oslo just in time to go to the Jordanian Center for Strategic Studies. http://www.jcss.org/ at the University of Jordan where we met Dr. Mohammed Al Masri. For two hours we discussed Jordanian politics, economy and the impact the war in Iraq has had on the country.

Here is some of the info we received.

Amman has been inhabited since the Iron Age. Then it was called Rabat Amman and was inhabited by the Ammonites.

When the Greeks inhabited Amman it was called Philadelphia (The City of Brotherly Love) after Ptolemy Philadelphia.

Amman is called the "White City" since it is made predominately out of limestone.

Amman started on 7 hills, now it covers 21.

The only oil Jordan has is olive oil.

Jordan has 5.7 million people, today 2.2 million live in Amman. 94% are Islamic and 6% are Christian (Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic) As one of the most stable countries in the Middle East it receives many refugees from its neighbors in times of trouble.

In 1948, 700,000 people left the land that became Israel and moved to the western
side of the Jordan River. This area is known today as the "West Bank"was a part of
Jordan at the time. (Israelis say the Arabs left so that the Arab Nations could attack Israel without worrying about hurting fellow Arabs, Israelis believed the the Arabs in these villages were planning on moving back if they won the war. Arabs say they were violently expelled and forced to leave.)

Soon after, also in 1948, Jordan annexed the West Bank and people who had been living in these towns were given Jordanian citizenship. The ones who had recently moved there were given refugee status and placed in camps in the West Bank.

In 1967, due to the 6 Day War, Israel annexed the West Bank and the Golan
Heights. 120,000 Palestinian refugees left the West Bank, and 16,000
left the Golan Heights and entered Jordan. These people were also given
"refugee" status. (refugee- a person who is not in their place of residence
due to a war, AND their descendants.)

Today people of Palestinian decent can make a choice. They may keep their refugee status or give it up. Giving it up means that they are now full Jordanian citizens and are considered to be of higher social status then the refugees. This makes them more socially mobile and more "employable in the Jordanian labor force. Or, they may keep their refugee status and be eligible for the benefits the Palestinian humanitarian organizations offer them, and the right of return, if Israeli ever offers it or ceases to exist as a country.

1/3 of all Palestinian refugees live in refugee camps around the world.

Palestinian refugees had one of the highest live births per female rate of any nation on the face of the earth so by the year 2007 their numbers now are over4.1 million

In 91 1/2 million Palestinian refugees from Kuwait came to Jordan.

In the years following the latest Iraqi war 700,000 to 1,500,000 Iraqi
refugees have entered Jordan. The correct number is impossible to tell because unlike the Palestinian immigration, the Iraqi immigration is largely undocumented.

Wealthy Iraqis have raised the cost of living by bringing their money to Jordan and buying houses; raising the land value. As of this year, the average Jordanian cannot afford their own house. Poor Iraqis have taken the blue collar jobs from the lower socio-economic Jordanians. As will every new immigrant group in any country, Iraqis are willing to work harder for less pay.

Since the latest war in Iraq the cost of living has gone up 300% and taxes 5%.

America, who at this moment is in control of the oil rigs in Iraq charges 80% more for a barrel of oil than Saddam Hussein did.

Higher oil prices have made Jordanians turn to other "lesser" forms of fuel. The burning of these lower level fuels has created more air pollution as well as more home and industrial fires. Environmentalists who were protesting the use of these "lessor" fuels were put in jail

This means that although a burden, the Palestinian refugees have not affected the political, and economic make-up of Jordan as much as the Iraqis.

All of this has forced many people in Jordan to feel "marginalized". "When people feel that they are marginalized, they are the most apt to betray their society and to be swayed by the whims and desires of others." Dr. Mohammed Al Masri

Security issues due to Iraqi refugees have become a great burden for the Jordanian society. The November 2005 hotel bombings and the September 2006 tourist shootings are two such examples. All were masterminded and implemented by Iraqi refugees. Because of this, Jordan has implemented strict new immigration laws. Iraqis are now no longer allowed to enter the country without the correct papers and info.

Before 2005 only 12% of the Jordanian population considered al Qaida a terrorist organization, and considered terrorism a threat. After the 2005 hotel bombings 85% believed that al Qaida was a terrorist organization and national security rose on the nation's priority list from number 10 to number 1.

What does this all mean? How is Jordan dealing with all of her social ills?

That is what the next few days is all about.

Wednesday -we are going to Baqaa Camp- http://baqaacamp.blogspot.com/-the largest Palestinian refugee camp in the world, and to the Wadi Seer Palestinian Vocational Training Center

Thursday - we are going to meet with public and private school teachers after a two hour briefing in at the University of Jordan's Teacher Training Center on the Jordanian Education system.

I'll keep you posted.

Salaam ‘Alaikum

Three's a charm.

Every time I come to the Middle East, they lose my luggage. This time was no exception. Third trip; third time losing my luggage. It turns out that the woman "who knew what to do" didn't do what she was supposed to do. None of my clothes have yet to see Jordanian soil. The worrisome thing is that no one seems to know who's soil they have seen. It's a good thing I know how to hand wash.

We arrived at the the hotel about 2 am, and all I wanted to do was to shower and sleep. I must have been even more tired then I thought since each time I bent down to pick up the soap, I banged my head on the toilet! Needless to say, I didn't need the Advil PM that night to help me sleep.

Later that day, (today?), We went to breakfast at a pastry shop. We had traditional Jordanian food and then I went shopping for some of the things that, thanks to the woman who knew what to do, I'm missing, like shampoo and toothpaste. For dinner we went to a Lebanese restaurant.It was beautiful we sat under goat hair tents, on large overstuffed pillows eating hummus and baba ganouish, pickles and hot peppers. You know, I forgot how much I LOVE the Middle East, sitting under the tent, looking at the stars peaking in, eating mezze, then watermelon and drinking Turkish coffee a great feeling came over me. I like the Middle East, the slowness, the stark beauty, the conversation, the cool breezy nights....

Then, in the middle of our conversation, our tour guide's brother called. He had tickets to the soccer game. Anyone who wanted to go could go. Now I would never considered going to a soccer game at home, I find sports in general, boring. As a friend once said, "There's no plot development." Yet when traveling, everything is an adventure for me, so I went.

Who was playing?

Iraq vs Iran.

I would be lying if I said the first view of all the Iraqi flags flying everywhere didn't make my stomach queasy, but before you know it I was waving the little paper Iraqi flag that a young boy gave to me. Smiling he said,"California, California- My uncle lives in California- San Diego. I wanted to go to California to visit him, but some people there don't like Arabs. They hate our way of life and want to destroy our country." Interesting, isn't it? His words seemed eerily familiar. Propaganda is propaganda. I wonder if both sides have the same spin doctor.

I walked in and wondered if they knew that I was an American. How would they feel if they saw an American woman holding an Iraqi flag? My trepidations were for nothing though. Before I knew it I was chanting, "Iraq! Iraq!" and clapping to the drums beating. It was surrealistic to say the least, and yet even more familiar. All around me energy pulsated throughout the air as if charged by an electric current. Children, faces painted with Iraqi flags, and excited by being together, yelled and screamed while jumping up and down. Men watched each play intently, showing great joy with each goal and appearing mortally wounded by each upset.

People are people, no mater what.

When I said long, I didn't actually mean LOOOOONG.....

Wow! What a trip traveling.

First the bus left late, then we got stuck in traffic. By the time we got to the airport there was less than an hour to check our bags, go through security, and then run to the farthest gate in the farthest terminal! The airport was crowded and everyone was was nasty beyond belief. The woman checking our bags kept on yelling at us and made sure that Garay, the director of the trip knew that next time we had to get there earlier. She threw my bags on the carrier and snapped," Who knows what they are doing, you or me? when I asked for my bag check tickets.

The trip to Chicago and the layover was fine. The trip to Frankfurt was fine too. Advil PM is amazing stuff, I actually slept most of the way. It was after we landed in Frankfurt that the drama began.

First one guy left the group. After waiting around for about half an hour, a mysterious man came over to us with a note stating that the guy went to visit an old friend and would meet us at the gate for the departure.

Then a woman on the trip said that she was going to meet a professor of hers and left.

The rest of us met up with two German Middle Eastern Studies majors and went to a HUGE breakfast and walking tour of Frankfurt. We went to an enormous cathedral, and then to some Roman ruins. Afterwards we had 2 hours free. Most people went shopping, a couple went to a pub, I went to a street fair. It turns out that it was, "Keep the Nazis out of Frankfurt Day" There was a parade with singers in native dress from around the world dancing, singing, and holding hands. Signs and banners proclaimed peace between the races. I couldn't have chosen a better day to be in Frankfurt.

Later we went to a Mosque. It was the first time I was ever in one, and was intrigued with the Arabic script and the tile floor. Yet I was exhausted was we sat and listened to the man explain its history and symbols. I kept nodding off, and was horribly embarrassed. Yet as I looked around, everyone else in our group was falling asleep also. It was at that time that I realised that it was about 4 in the morning by my internal clock and that we had been up for 30 hours! No wonder I was having problems keeping my eyes open!

By the time we got back to the airport, hardly anyone could stand. No matter how unbelievable it is, I was actually looking forward to the airplane trip. I figured that at least I would be able to sit and sleep. Yet, exhausted beyond belief, once we hit the airport we learned that we had lost a one woman on the subway and the one who went to meet her professor had not returned. I ended up going back through the subway to look for the lost woman. (I was the only one with any German since the students had left by then.) As I was looking for her,I found her on a train going back to the airport, she had fallen asleep and gone 10 stops too far! Naaaa, we weren't tired, were we?

Yet back in the airport there was less luck. The woman who went to meet her professor never showed up, they held the plane for her for a while but eventually we had to leave without her.

Although I felt badly, I was excited to be able to sit down. My seat mates were a Muslim woman and her little girl. I just naturally assumed that they were Jordanian. So you know me, I couldn't just sit there. I had to play and interact with the child. After many games of lines and boxes, as well as impromptu Arabic/English lessons, we all fell asleep. The little girl with her head in my lap. We awoke as we were starting to land in Amman. As the plane's wheels touched the ground, she smiled and gently kissed me on the cheek.

As we left the airport she came over to say good bye and gave me a hug. Then she said something in Arabic. Her mother translated for me. "I thought all Americans were evil, like the soldiers who killed my father." It turns out that they were Iraqi refugees.

Both her mother and I stood there in tears.

Orentation and the Long Flight Over

Well, the trip has begun! Today I spent the day in classes on Jordan, Middle Eastern History (A much more balanced view than I was expecting), and logistics. One long day, but an important one. People had so many questions about the simplest things! I forget how much experience I have traveling.

At the moment we have an hour free and then they have made a large Jordanian dinner for us to teach us Jordanian table manners. Jordanian dinners, (actually Middle Eastern dinners in general), start off with a feast of appetizers and breads, known as mezze or muqabalat. On most occasions, the mezze layout is such a grand presentation that it could be considered a feast in itself. (Especially for me since it in mainly vegetable dips and salads prepared in a wide variety of spices and ways. The most famous of these is hummus. Hummus is a puree of chick peas blended with Tania (pulped sesame seeds), lemon, and garlic. Fuul is similar, but is made with large white beans instead of chick peas. There is also koubba maqliya- a deep fried oval-shaped ball with a meat and bulgar wheat paste as its crust and a filling of minced meat and pine nuts in the middle. (Ok, I'm not eating that one, but it does sound tempting.) There will also be baba ganoush- an eggplant and tania dip, and lots of tomato, and cucumber, and pepper salads.


The main dish is going to be Mansaf- the "official" Jordanian dish.It's a Bedouin dish that consists of Arabic rice, a rich broth made from dry sour milk called jameed, and either lamb or chicken. Utensils are not used when eating Mansaf, instead people eat from a communal dish using their hands because it symbolizes social community gathering. There is going to be a vegetarian version for the few of us who are veggis.

After dinner we are supposed to go to bed. This is partially because we have A LOT of traveling to do in the next 48 hours, and partially to start to get us on Middle Eastern time. Amman is 10 hours ahead of us in California.

Tomorrow we leave for the airport at 3am. We fly from LA to Chicago (four hours) and then have a two hour layover. (That is if all goes well, there have been lots of storms in the Chicago area and great delays.) Then we have a nine hour flight to Frankfurt, Germany where we have a 15 hour layover. Students from the Middle Eastern Cultural Center there will bring us to breakfast, then on a tour of Frankfurt, and then to a Mosque for a tour and discussion on being Middle Eastern in Europe. Afterwards we are going to dinner and then back to the airport in time for a 4 hour trip to Amman. We land in Amman at 2:30. They expect us to be at the hotel at around 4. (An hour to get our things and get out of customs and then a half an hour to our hotel.)

Sunday, (or will it be Monday?) We will have a late brunch and then a walking tour of Amman, a short nap and another large dinner! I will try to get to the Internet cafe after that, but obviously I can't make any promises.

Until my next trip to a computer!
Salaam ‘Alaikum

Before I Go

Wow!

I'm sitting here at my home computer getting this blog ready so that I can easily update it and send it out to all of you, when I realize that in less than 48 hours I am going to be sitting with all the other people from our group getting ready to go to Jordan. I am excited and nervous at the same time!

I love the Middle East, well, what I know of it from my two summers in Israel. The culture, the environment, the history are all fascinating to me. Some people ask me, “Why Jordan? You’ve already gone to Israel.” To that question I must state that Yes, I love Israel, and the time I have spent there is unforgettable. I hope to return sometime soon. Yet, I want to see things there from a different perspective. When this amazing opportunity arose, I couldn’t say, “No.” Not only will I be able to travel and explore historical and modern day places and cultures, but I will be learning about it with the guidance of experts and professionals. I couldn’t have asked for a better situation.

Is it safe? Should you be going now? Aren’t you scared?

Thank you, thank you to all my friends who have expressed concern for my safety. I am very touched.

Is any place safe? I live in an area with a lot of gang violence. The other day, a friend of my boyfriend’s family was killed in a car accident. Things happen. As far as Middle Eastern countries go, Jordan is one of the safest. That doesn’t mean some crazy person won’t do something horrible, but sadly, staying at home doesn’t assure that I am safe from such people. Besides, I think about a character from Edward Abbey’s book Desert Solitaire. Throughout the book he continuously tells Abby, “You’re crazy! I would never do that! I could die!” At the end of the book he has a heart attack and dies while screwing in a light bulb.

Besides, just as Islam, Muslims, and the Middle East have gotten a lot of bad press in the US, American has gotten the same around the world. Sorry to all my friends and family who support this war, but I hate the idea that we are seen as self centered, ignorant, arrogant, money hungry, gas guzzling, war mongers. I’m only one person, but I am going to do my best to show people that stereotypes are never universal.

Until my next entry,
Salaam