Spring Break: Jordan Pt. 1

Over Spring Break, I travelled with four other friends to Jordan and Lebanon. It was a wonderful time, but both countries and experiences were very different so I am going to talk about each of them in separate posts. Going chronologically, I’ll start with Jordan, but since so much happened to us there; I’m also going to break up our stay in Jordan.

Arriving: March 31-2

When we bought our plane tickets for Spring Break, we bought different round trip tickets for Istanbul and Beirut and Beirut to Jordan. We flew Pegasus Airlines (great bargains if you’re flying around the Middle East or Europe) to Beirut and then Royal Jordanian to Amman, Jordan. The problem was, the cheapest flights to Beirut were Thursday night, while the cheapest flights to Amman were Friday morning. We ended up staying the night in the Beirut airport. We definitely got stared from other people as we tried to fall asleep on metal benches. I’m pretty sure some thought we were homeless. Nobody got much sleep.

We were very relieved when our flight finally took off and then landed after only fifty minutes in the air. When we stepped onto the tarmac, it was a wonderful feeling getting hit by the 85 degree dry heat that is Jordanian weather in April! Our hostel sent a van to pick us up and we took the 30-40 minute drive to Amman.

Amman is the capital of Jordan and its largest city. It is a fascinating place. You know you’re in an Arab, Middle Eastern country when you’re in Amman. The eastern part of the city, where the old downtown is and where we stayed, is largely residential, with sand colored houses and the largest buildings are mostly minarets. West Amman is the much more modern, Western part of the city, where the government, expats, and most of the finer hotels and restaurants can be found.



Amman


We stayed at the Bdeiwi Hostel. It is hard to describe this place. In many ways, it was what we expected for a hostel that charged $7 a night for a 4 bed dorm. But it was the people that worked at this place that gave it its character. This place had too much character. The owner was a tricky guy, who, as soon as we arrived, greeted us and gave us Jordanian tea, calling it “his present” to us. We later found out he added it to our final bill. There was also a white, blonde woman from Alabama, who had married a Muslim, converted, started an Islamic school in Alabama, and then moved to Jordan a few years ago. Supposedly she was an Arabic to English teacher, the problem being, she couldn’t speak that much Arabic, which is probably why she was working at this hostel. One night, we overheard her begging the owner for some food because she “hadn’t eaten all day.” His response, “No food for you!” Eventually he caved in and gave her some money to go buy food.

On our first full day our hostel took us (at an inflated price) to Mount Nebo and the Dead Sea. Mount Nebo is the site where Moses is said to have died and where Pope John Paul II came in the year 2000. Most of the tourist sites in Jordan have some sort of religious significance so if you’re not at all interested in that kind of stuff then you might not want to go to Jordan. Most of the area that we drove through was barren desert and savannah. It was striking and beautiful in its own way.

The Jordanian Countryside

After about a two hour total drive, we arrived at the Dead Sea. There is a section of it where it is free to enter, but our drivers refused to take us there, saying that it “wasn’t safe.” Instead they took us to a beach resort where we had to pay 15 dinar to get in and then 2 dinar to rent a locker. It was annoying, however our displeasure soon floated away, literally. When you first walk in, you see other people floating, but you’re nervous because your not sure if there's some sort of position or steps your supposed to take in order to float. But once you swallow that fear and let yourself lay back in the water you realize that all that stuff about floating really IS true. It is a feeling that’s hard to describe, it’s like being weightless and wet at the same time. We must have spent at least an hour, maybe two floating on the water and lying in the sun. Ironically, as soon as we got out of the water, this crazy wind storm came and created these huge waves that were knocking over all the people who were still in the water. We watched with a slightly sadistic amusement. On a side note, we earlier saw a man try to make a big scene and swim really far out. Problem was, he splashed a lot of water when he swam and got some of the water in his eyes and had to rush back to shore and wash it out. Please remember, the Dead Sea is for floating, not swimming, you don't wanna get this salt in your eyes because it WILL burn.

The Dead Sea

After getting out of the water, you NEED to shower, because your skin is literally coated with a layer of salt. Of course, the one time the resort lost all water pressure in their showers was when I got out of the Dead Sea. I had to put my clothes over my salt covered body, which wasn’t a pleasant experience, trust me.

When we left the Dead Sea, our drivers told us they were taking us to this spot higher up where we could see the sunset. Trouble was, it was around 4 p.m., so no sunset was happening any time soon. Instead we stopped at a tea vendor literally in the middle of nowhere besides the highway. There, one of our drivers, a guy named Yahya who was only happy when Arab music was playing, suddenly turned up the speakers in his car and started making us all, but especially the two girls in our group, dance to traditional Arab music with him. At first we thought it was really funny, but after a group of Jordanian truck drivers stopped by, joined in, and made the girls pose on their trucks, we all got a little creeped out.

Salt and sand at the Dead Sea

After the forced dancing, our drivers took us back to Amman, but before they would take us back to the hostel, they told us they needed to stop at the duty free shop in Amman. The duty free shop is in the middle of the city, but is only open to foreigners, which is why our drivers needed us to get in. I have to admit, I never thought that I would be asked to buy alcohol and cigarettes for two 45 years old men, but I guess there’s a first time for everything.

If you ever see the guy on the left, run!

It's the Last Week of School!

Hi everyone!

I know I promised blog updates about two weeks ago, but I've been so busy travelling around and now it is the last week of school, meaning that every single one of my classes has something due this week. In the next seven days, I have two final tests, two essays and two presentations to work on, so as much as I would love to procrastinate and update y'all about everything that has happened to me since April, I really just don't have the time.

However, after May 31, I will be completely done with school, and I will not be returning to America until June 13, meaning I will have plenty of time in between to fully write about all the travels and experiences that I have had in the four months that I have been away.

In the meantime, keep you fingers crossed for me to pass all of my classes andif anyone wants to start of collection for me for once I get back to Mass, I would be most grateful!

How I feel at the moment, and probably will for the next week

I Can See Light at the End of the Tunnel!

So if you have been following this blog at any point in the past month or so you'll know that I haven't posted much due to the fact that my computer charger broke, meaning my laptop and all the pictures I like to add to my blog have been off limits for awhile. I did search for a new charger here in Istanbul, but believe it or not, no place seems to have HP chargers!

Fortunately, both for myself and all my loyal reader(s), this hellish period of being laptopless is nearly over. On Thursday, I will fly out to Rome for a nice Italian vacation with my family and then on Sunday, take them back to Istanbul for 2 days to show them around. Among the other things that they are brining with them from America just happens to be a new charger! Hip hip hooray!!!!!!!!

Once I can use my laptop again, I'll have a ton of things to update to my blog! Here's a short list of a few of the things that I should post about in the next week:

-My incredible/crazy spring break in Jordan and Lebanon
-My trip to the Black Sea region of Turkey
-My trip to the Turkish capital city of Ankara
-My trip to Rome of course
-A few other observations about culture, food, etc.

So if you have grown bored of this blog because it never seems to change, have no fear, because it will be up and running again!

Technical Difficulties

A few days ago my laptop charger started making this weird beeping noise whenever I plugged it in. Eventually, it stopped charging my laptop altogether. I googled this and what I found out basically is that my charger is dead. Sadly, not many people here in Turkey seem to have HP`s, meaning my laptop didn`t last that long.

Obviously I can still blog but since all my pictures are on my laptop, it may be awhile before I post much. Once I`ve gotten everything straıghtened out, I promise to share my Spring Break adventures in Jordan and Lebanon and my attempt to go to a gay club here in İstanbul. Electronics are pretty expensive here in Turkey, so if any of you kind souls reading this want to donate either a spare charger or give me a few dollars, I would really apprecıate it.

Just kidding...sorta

Keep Your Fingers Crossed

Tomorrow (Thursday) I will be heading out for my Spring Break in Beirut, Lebanon and Jordan. If you have the followed the news at all for the last two months at least, you will know that these countries are in the Middle East and this region is being especially unstable these days. Neither Lebanon and Jordan have not been immune to this instability, but as of this minute (it could change at any time) they are both peaceful and (relatively) stable.

Some people may think that I'm crazy to be visiting the Middle East at this time or at all, but when I thought about how close and accessible it was from Turkey, I figured that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity that shouldn't be passed up.

I'll be traveling with 4 other friends, so hopefully there will be safety in numbers. Whatever happens, I promise I will blog about it when I get back from Istanbul, and I'm sure it will be interesting ;)

Libya and the Use of Force

As a gay uber-liberal, I must admit that there are times when I do not understand my own country. However, recent events in Libya and the American public’s reaction to them have downright perplexed me. Poll after poll seems to suggest that Americans are closely divided, possibly even slightly against, the current use of force against Moammar Gadhafi. I understand that many Americans don’t want to see us bogged down in a third ground war, but I do not understand why Americans overwhelming supported a massive, ill-advised and internationally condemned war in Iraq in the beginning while having reservations about a targeted and internationally backed mission to protect civilians from being massacred.

Maybe it’s because I’m a young idealist, maybe it’s because I have a more international worldview than most Americans. The war-weariness is understandable, especially in this time of “austerity” and budget cutting. But I will never agree with those people who think that we should only worry about American problems, because we live in a global world that does not respect borders.

I have often wished I could be a pacifist, but I have never been able to make that leap of faith. I supported the War in Afghanistan (and still do with some reservations) because there was no other way to respond to such a barbarous attack on our soil. I opposed the Invasion of Iraq because it was bound to create more terrorists than ever where in Iraq before the invasion and there was no way to guarantee that more lives would be saved by America invading rather than if we had just let Saddam Hussein be. I support the current action in Libya because under the current strategy of using air power to weaken a murderous regime and allow organic opposition forces to do the actual fighting, there is a very good chance that more lives will be saved by our actions as opposed to just sitting back and letting events unfold as they will.

One way that American public opinion may be swayed is if more stories like that of Iman al-Obeidi are broadcast and published. She is the woman who barged into a hotel to tell foreign journalists about how she had been brutally imprisoned and gang raped by Gadhafi’s henchmen. In front of reporters from around the world, Gadhafi loyalists then proceeded to attack her and drag her into a waiting car. They then claimed that she was drunk and mentally ill. I highly doubt this is true. Even if al-Obeidi is lying, I have no doubt that her story is true for dozens, probably hundreds of other Libyan women. It will never be possible to rid the world of all dictators, but when we are given a chance to remove one, with international support, and a good case that these actions will save lives, I say do it!

Iman al-Obeidi being attacked by Libyan government minders

Travels Through Turkey: Eskişehir

March 24-26

I’m doing my exchange in Turkey through CIEE, which stands for the Council on International Educational Exchange. CIEE organizes exchanges all over the world, and the advantage of using them over a traditional school-to-school exchange is that they keep in contact with you throughout your time abroad and they organize periodic trips and events for you to attend. This weekend was one of the trips.

We travelled to the city of Eskişehir, in Central Turkey. For all you history buffs out there, you may know the city better by its medieval name, Dorylaeum. If you read the travel books about Turkey, they’ll say Eskişehir is an old industrial city not worth visiting. If you ask the people at CIEE, they’ll tell you it is a vibrant college town that it going through a rapid urban transformation. The truth is somewhere in between. I keep comparing Eskişehir to the city where I go to college, Worcester, Massachusetts. Most people in Massachusetts would tell you that Worcester sucks, and if an untrained tourist were to ever take a weekend trip to the city, they’d probably turn around and race back to Boston as fast as the Mass State Troopers would allow. In truth, both Worcester and Eskişehir are former industrial cities with a large college student population with many hidden gems that can only be found and appreciated if you spend a significant (as in months or years) amount of time there. Unfortunately for us, we only had a weekend.

Eskişehir is definitely more aesthetically pleasing than Worcester. For the past decade, the mayor of the city has overseen a complete overhaul of the city, building new, colorful bridges and buildings, as well as a public tramway and many new museums, parks and sights. One of our tour guides said that Eskişehir is going to become the “Venice of Turkey.” Although I’ve never been to Venice, I think they’ve still got about 5-10 years to go before that happens.

There are a good number of smaller museums in Eskişehir, including a glassworks museum and a cartoon museum, which I both enjoyed. We also visited a “Museum of the Republic,” which was nothing more than a building with LOTS of pictures of the founder of the Turkish Republic, Kemal Ataturk. Our tour guide also insisted on showing us one of the only 2 cars ever built by a Turkish car company. The story behind these 2 cars is that the President of Turkey in the 1960’s had wanted to create a car that was entirely designed and built in Turkey. The first 2 models were built and the president planned on riding in one on Republic Day. Unfortunately, the fuel gage didn’t work and the engine failed, thus ending the only Turkish car company. It was a little strange for the tour guide to call this failed car a “great symbol for Turkey,” especially since Turkey has accomplished plenty of other things to be proud of.

Example of the art from the glassworks
museum

We also visited Anadolu University, which enrolls nearly a million students through its seven campuses, high schools, and online courses. It has a very nice campus and also the students seemed a bit friendlier and down to earth than the ones at Koç. As part of our tour, the Turkish folk dancing student group taught us some Turkish folk dancing. It was kinda awkward since their way of showing us how to dance was having us all get up and dance and just follow their lead, but it was still fun.

Eskişehir has an ok nightlife, though we didn’t run into many students when we went out surprisingly. We ended up at a place called “Tequila Bar” which served us beer and shots at a reasonable price and where we got to dance to techno music. When a bunch of us left to go back to our hotel, we knew we had to follow the tram lines back to the hotel and had a 50/50 chance of picking the right direction. Of course, we picked the wrong one, and our 15 minute walk turned into something more like an hour and a half journey where we first followed the tram way, then a random drunk Turkish guy who took us down every sidestreet in the city until we finally gave up and took taxis back to the hotel.

One of the cartoons in the museum we visited, basically predicting my future career path

On the last day, we visited the most random place I’ve seen in all of Turkey. Along with his urban renewal plan, the mayor of Eskişehir has also built this large children’s’ park right behind an abandoned cement factory, complete with a duck pond, slides, a pirate ship, and a huge story castle that literally pops up in the middle of nowhere. I guess it might seem strange to the average Turk why Walt Disney built story castles in the middle of California and Florida.

Most random sight in Turkey, ever!

All in all, I would NOT recommend visiting Eskişehir unless you are in a large, guided group. The city may one day be a hip college town, but at this point, it is still just getting there. What made the trip worth were the other CIEE students and Tola, our CIEE director Kathryn’s son.

May all of your journeys have as cute a kid as this on them.