tribal spat

'tribal spat' is ciee's euphemism for the reason our classes have been cancelled both last thursday and now today. the concept of families or tribes is still very strong in jordanian society, and thus it's easy for disagreements between individuals to become larger issues of family honor that all members must protect (and sometimes avenge). thus, the stabbing that occurred at a different university in another part of amman last thursday quickly led to fights breaking out on my university's campus between other members of the same extended families. tribal laws of honor dictate that the victim's family must act in response, but in modern times its common that the family leaders officially turn the matter of justice over to the government's legal system rather than the tribal system. however even despite this tensions are high, and thus we get the day off classes :)

istanbul

i spent the second half of our spring break in istanbul and LOVED it. i met up with carrie at the airport and after successfully making a turkish friend to lend us his cell phone, got on a bus to meet adrian, a friend of carrie’s who’s living in istanbul with her turkish boyfriend çaglyan (the g actually has a little hat on it but my computer doesn’t seem to have that letter- the point is it’s pronounced chaah-lee-ahn). these two were so very nice enough to let us stay at their apartment for our trip and were wonderful hosts, suggesting/showing us all the bests spots of the city.
for me istanbul felt like a very european city compared to my other travels, but for carrie it felt like the middle east with all the mosques everywhere. side note: the call to prayer was in turkish! i was so weirded out the first time i heard it and noticed it did not sound the same as in jordan haha. one of my favorite moments of the trip was our first night out to dinner, the waiter asked us if we wanted çay (=tea in turkish). this word happens to be very similar to the arabic word for tea (shai), so adrian and i said that yes all three of us would have çay. moments later we were sipping our tea when carrie announced “guys this is not chai, it’s english breakfast.” after overcoming our fits of giggles adrian and i explained to carrie that in turkey (and in jordan, syria, egypt, everywhere), varieties of tea do not exist and “çay” always implies a cup of standard brown tea. it was a great cultural moment :) and although i do think istanbul is very european it would be interesting to contrast the city with the rest of turkey, because i have a feeling it would not be like that throughout the country. but being in istanbul where not as many people cover their heads and there’s not as much homogeneity of appearance was a nice break from my constant sticking out in amman.
my trip to istanbul was also the first time in my life being in a place where i don’t speak the language and let me tell you i felt like a ridiculous and tongue-tied idiot the first couple days not being able to say even thank you. it was a very strange feeling but definitely an interesting experience for me, despite that it made me want to learn turkish (preferably within the six days we were there, but that didn’t quite happen despite our commandeering adrian’s turkish phrasebook). turkish is apparently related structurally to hungarian and finnish, but it also shares random words with arabic and it was fun to discover those.
istanbul as a city is friendly and beautiful with the bosphorus running right through the middle and the grand ottoman style mosques dotting every skyline. turkish food definitely receives a grade of A+ as we had delicious meals and treats and wine every single day. highlights include simit (bagel-ish things covered in sesame seeds), kebabs, turkish pizza, fresh seafood, turkish delight, roasted chestnuts, and these peanuts covered with sesame seeds and sugar that were quite the addictive snack.




carrie and i wandered all over istanbul and it feels like we saw and did so much that it’s impossible to blog a recap but i’ll make a quick attempt:
the mosques we visited here (the new mosque and the blue mosque) were magnificently grand both inside and out with their bubble-looking domes and thin minarets, and inside covered floor to ceiling in intricate and colorful designs.





we took a cruise along the shores of the bosphorus to see istanbul from the water and then had lunch next to a bridge full of fishermen and it was the only fish sandwich that has ever come close to rivaling the salmon sandwiches of the market grill in its freshness and deliciousness.




the spice bazaar with its myriad of smells and mixed and blended tantalizingly together and its piles of colorful spices and sweets begging to be tasted


one day we took a ferry boat to buyukada island in the sea of marmara south of istanbul, and we were reminded of seattle what with the seagulls, ferry boat, blue water and green islands on all sides. buyukada is a tiny island that boasts that its citizens only use bikes, horses, and their feet to get around, but after seeing a couple motor vehicles driving around (granted they were service vehicles not personal cars), carrie and i are a little skeptical about this. but all the same the island had a quiet and relaxed feel and we enjoyed our carriage ride and walk past cute victorian style houses to reach the monastery at the peak of the island.





the aya sofia truly embodies the phrase ‘the meeting point of two religions’ since it is a church that was at one point converted into a mosque. from the outside you can tell that the original basilica looks older than the four minarets now attached, and inside the walls hold a fascinating mix of christian mosaics and muslim arabic calligraphy all decorating the same sacred space, and this in addition to the simply amazing scope and architecture of the building itself.



the grand bazaar is literally a labyrinth of shop after shop- if they didn’t post signs pointing toward the exits i don’t think anyone would ever find their way out. we had fun getting lost in the shops of scarves, pottery, lamps, leather, jewelry, etc. as the shopkeepers had fun trying to entice us to buy by calling us ‘sunshine,’ ‘angel,’ ‘shakira,’ and many more.



topkapi palace was worth the 20 lira they made us pay to get in (no student prices for anything is my one complaint against istanbul). the grounds stretch on and on overlooking the water, and each and every room is ornately decorated. the highlight of the palace was the treasury, which displays the crown jewels of the ottoman empire, many coming from faraway lands as gifts to the sultans. after seeing pendants of gold, rubies and emeralds we had a hard time being dazzled by anything we saw in the grand bazaar :)



a night out dancing at ritim roof, a place off nightlife hub istiklal caddesi, that was my favorite bar/club i have ever been to- a smallish one-room bar on a rooftop terrace until around 10:30 when it turns into a dance party to a funky international mix of music from all over the world, so much fun.


a sunny afternoon in ortakoy, a small neighborhood outside the city center and right on the water. since it was sunday it was packed with families enjoying the sun, the water, the delicious waffle treats, and the beautiful mosque and bridge rising behind it.


since i stayed a day longer than carrie i got to see çaglyan’s band give a concert at a local bar- they play covers of american songs and did a really fun version of ‘these boots are made for walking’.


and to end, one last random side note: istanbul, similar to Santiago and valpo, has a funicular (füniküler in turkish haha), but istanbul’s version bears zero resemblance to the creaky and ancient wooden funiculars of chile- istanbul has a modern and underground version resembling a metro train, but it still serves the same purpose of getting people easily up and down a very steep hill. interesting contrast though they call it the same thing.

misr

(=egypt, in arabic). i spent part one of ciee's spring break in egypt. this is a place i've been wanting to visit ever since we learned about ancient egypt in mr. swidler's 6th grade class, so nine years later it was kind of surreal for me to finally be here :)
day 1: alexandria
after flying into cairo bright and early, i dropped my pack at the hostel and jumped on a train up to alexandria.


though i'll admit i slept most of the way, the beginning part of the ride i was awake for was beautiful to see- as soon as cairo's sprawl ends, the land northward along the nile becomes verdent green farmland, fed by the lifeblood of the river. even on a friday the farmers were out working in the fields, while it seemed the majority of their oxen were just hanging out under shaded canopies... ironic role reversal there. visiting alexandria involved a lot of imagining about how the city would have been during its peak years, since not much of the ancient-ness survives today. in the place of the city's famous old library now stands a brand new architectural wonder of norwegian design inaugurated just in 2002. with its 8million books and beautiful spaces, the new library pays honorable homage to its ancestor, which in alexander's time was the cultural and academic center of the mediterranean world.


i walked around the small main harbor enjoying the sea breeze and some fresh fruit juice and reached the site of the ancient lighthouse.




unfortunately it is long since destroyed, but i was imagining it :) the best part of the day by far was dinner. following the guidebook's recommendation, i searched out hud gondol seafood "restaurant"- i knew i'd found it when i peered down an alley and saw a crowd of clamoring people. from thirty feet away i could already tell it was madness- the alley was packed and full of the shouting din of waiters and customers alike. a little ways down the alley was lined with stoves and counters with trays heaping full of all varieties of seafood. me and my obviously foreigner self were feeling a little overwhelmed by the hubbub when a kindly waiter escorted me to the platters to select my meal and then squeezed me into a table in the packed, clam-shell-shards-on-the-floor main dining room. for about $6usd i received a huge plate of calamari, fish, clams, and shrimp that were deeeelicious and wonderfully fresh (not to mention the great atmosphere of a truly local eatery).



day 2-4: cairo
cairo is unlike any other place i've been in its constant everywhere teeming motion. people and cars and noise fill the streets and there is nothing new or clean about the entire city. gritty, crumbling, packed, sprawling, its sights/sounds/smells are a sensory overload that never stops. there are palm trees stuck in at random points along the streets, the stray cats are as prevalent here as in amman, and the catcalls and attempts to rip you off are a million times more prevalent here than anywhere i've traveled. needless to say its a bit of an emotionally tiring city, and after four days i am honestly content to be leaving it behind. another thing about cairo is that it is a city with a great deal of poverty, and it's a city that doesn't try and hide it- there's no extra space or time in which to do so. people here like to carry large unwieldy objects (i.e. trays of bread, sacks of clothes, long wooden beams, etc.) through the crowded streets on their heads, sometimes while riding a bike- this is pure craziness. cairo has a reputation for izdiham katir (=tons of traffic), and this is well-deserved. in cairo the modus operandi is not 'cover the horn' as we were taught in the glory days of sears driving school, but rather 'use the horn.' honking has no stigmas of rudeness attached to it here, and is used approximately ever three seconds as a highly effective tool to announce to fellow traffic that you are there and that they need to move. also, pedestrians do NOT have the right of way in cairo. in fact, the only right they do have is to scurry across the lanes at the slightest gap in cars and try not to become roadkill (an extremely difficult task, but i think i'm learning). even in the small lanes of the souq, walking is the art of dodging frantically speeding and honking motorbikes. the metro here is surprisingly efficient and well-run, and several cars per train are reserved for women only, making it the calmest/safest place i went in all of cairo haha.
traveling here as a lone woman has forced me to be less friendly than usual and to walk around generally trying to make an effective "don't mess with me" face on the off chance of warding off potential "friends" (the face has had extremely limited success since i think i've received more unwanted approaches in my four days here than in the entire rest of my life combined). but mish mushkila, no worries, such is cairo. one of the few random encounters i enjoyed was when an egyptian street vendor's second question to me was "how many states are there in america?" me: (taken off guard by randomness of question) "uhhh, 50." egyptian man: "no! 52!" me: "uhhhh..." (wondering to self if i've been out of the country too long and forgotten the actual right answer) egyptian man: "50 in america, plus israel, plus egypt!" (cue his triumphant smile). i had to laugh :)
my first day here was spent wandering around islamic cairo, an area full of old mosques and madrasas. i visited al-azhar mosque, which is part of the world's oldest islamic university.


i climbed one of the towers of the city's old gate, bab zuweila, and had a magnificent view of the entire city and the many minarets that pierce its skyline, and at the old citadel i went in the grandiose mosque of sultan hassan.



the rest of islamic cairo is now overrun by its souq and one of the best parts of the day was finding the more local section of the market with vendors selling anything and everything including rabbits, chicken, garlic, fruit, spices, nuts, bread, cotton candy, fish, tomatoes- all in what seemed to me a highly unsanitary environment of flies. this street especially was quite the sensory overload, especially on the nose haha.




in the evening i saw an amazing sufi dance show, all the more amazing because it was free! sufism is a mystical sect of islam that focuses on the transcendental nature of god. the performance had beautiful music comprised of wooden flutes, an arab string instrument i don't know the name of, hand drums, tin horns, finger cymbals, tambourines, and singing. the dancers were very talented, with the men at the center spinning and spinning endlessly, with their wide and colorful skirts always whirling. the first half of the show had a more spiritual and serious aura, while the second half took the traditional dance and made it modern entertainment, with the spinners performing circus-like tricks with their skirts and their spins. but all in all a really beautiful and incredible show.


my next day in cairo brought a trip to see the pyramids and the sphinx.




seeing them in real life was quite exciting, and clambering around the tiny tunnels inside the second pyramid made me feel like a mummy :)


a really cool side note to the pyramids was the museum there dedicated to the restored funerary boat of one of the pharaohs. basically the egyptians built this humongous and magnificent boat, and then promptly buried it in the sand.


in case you were not a member of mr. swidler's class and don't know the traditions of ancient egypt, let me tell you: the afterlife is pretty darn important. the pyramids, the mummies, the sarcophagi, all these are related to burial of the dead, because the egyptians believed that it was important to bury the dead with everything they would need in the afterlife- this includes their intact bodies (thus mummification), a boat, a bed, lots of jewels, food, etc. when the one who died was royalty, things got even more elaborate (a.k.a. pyramids). it's interesting to think about the egyptians' spiritual beliefs and what kind of faith or fear led them to bury their most valuable goods with their dead.
eventually i left the pyramids (mostly to avoid heatstroke in the desert) and spent the rest of the afternoon exploring old or coptic cairo, the area of the city inhabited by the coptic christians.



on my final day in the city i spent hours in the enormous and extensive egyptian museum.



first of all, never have i seen so many tourists in such ridiculous quantity and concentration in my entire life (not even in dc!) it was madness, i literally had to shove my way through the clumps of guide-following tourers to see some of the exhibits. luckily as the day wore on the numbers subsided, but still, crazy. anyway, the tourists were probly all there because the museum is so incredibly jam-packed with treasures to see. room after room filled with artifacts, 75% of which are not labeled- you'd think the museum would loan half of it out just to give itself some space! sooo many sarcophagi, hieroglyphics, jewels, mummies, statues- really an unparalleled collection. some of the highlights were the actual mummies, shriveled yet preserved after 3000 years, the larger than life statues of the pharaohs towering above me, and the ornate burial acoutrements of king tut, including four gilded sarcophagi that fit one inside the other, a solid gold head mask, and gold gold gold jewelry, belts, chariots, beds, everything gold- i can't imagine the face of the archaeologist who was lucky enough to unearth all of it!
i ended my time in cairo with a peaceful felucca (sailboat) ride along the nile in the late afternoon sun- an escape, if only momentary, from the izdiham katir.

soap, greenery, and paint

today some ciee kids headed to a small town called orjan about an hour north of amman. orjan and the area around it are currently developing a number of sustainable and community-friendly tourism initiatives, and we got to see/experience a number of them. first was the "soap house", a cooperative of local women making organic, handmade soap using herbs grown in their garden. the whole house and gardens smelled heavenly, adding to the already beautiful fresh air that comes with escaping amman.



then we went on a walk along a trail that passes some ruins, some ottoman aqueducts, some streams, and many many fig trees, olive trees, and poppy flowers. again, so nice to get out of the city and back to greenery, and a really gorgeous day for it.




we then were treated to a communal lunch in a local family's house, with everyone gathered on floor pillows around the food. dessert was mounds of bright and juicy strawberries, kiwis, and bananas, since the orjan valley is known for its fruit production.


our afternoon was spent volunteering as painters to give the inside of a local school a new coat of paint.



the day ended with a visit to the ruins of a church and some beautiful views out over the vibrant green of the valley and the hills of israel in the distance.