Wrapping Up

The end of the summer came quickly, and I didnt get my act together soon enough to put a blog post up. So I am back in comfortable suburban Maryland, my summer in Amman over. A quick recap to my last few days, though:

Wednesday, I had a visitor from west of the Jordan River. My friend Lani, a classmate at Harvard, headed over to Amman after spending her summer doing thesis research in the West Bank. She is camping in my apartment for a few days while she waits for her flight home - and now that I am gone, she gets to upgrade from the sofa to my empty bed.

Thursday was my final exam at Qasid. Though I'm not taking the summer classes for credit, I still wanted to go out on a high note with the test. I wont know my final score for a while, but I felt pretty good about my performance. I didnt know a few isolated words here and there, but no major surprises. I said goodbye to my teachers and a few Qasid administrators, and headed for the last time to the Madina Riyadiyah gym.

Lani and I spent the day Friday in downtown Amman. She was only in town for a few days, so I decided to head into wust al-balad to show her the city's main sights. There's not a whole lot to do in downtown, but I figured it might give her a more authentic  impression of the city than she would get from my apartment in ritzy Abdoun. We swung past the Roman theater, the Citadel, and bought baklava from Habibeh's downtown. All in all, we spent about three hours downtown... and in the process, saw just about everything there is to see. My final day in the city was pretty similar to my first - started at the same place, saw the same sights, and am still getting lost on the downtown's winding streets. Lani and I spent the rest of the evening relaxing at home with the AC cranked up on high, before I was picked up and taken to the airport.

So, twenty-four hours later, I'm back in Maryland unpacking and getting ready to head to the Cape. A couple of tylenol PM's on the plane from Frankfurt seem to have helped my jet-lag considerably; I feel like I could be mostly adjusted by as soon as tomorrow morning. As for now, though, I'm pretty pooped. I'm especially looking forward to, for the first time in nine weeks, sleeping in a bed that is long enough to fit my entire body!

Endorsement/Kiss of Death

I’ve written in support of the so-called Ground Zero Mosque before. The project has since been approved by the local zoning board, and defended by President Obama. Despite this progress, the center’s backers just got what is sure to be an unwelcome surprise today in the form of an endorsement from Mahmoud Al-Zahar, a founder of Hamas.

I can think of very few worse groups to have on your side, and I can think of very few worse ways to phrase one’s support. Particularly damaging:

"Mahmoud Al Zahar said Muslims "have to build everywhere" so that followers can pray"

For pundits and talking heads worrying about an Islamic “takeover” of America, this is a rhetorical godsend. I can hear the talking points now: "Muslims have to build everywhere? Can't you see? They want to take over everywhere, and spread shari'a everywhere!" This is very bad news for the already-embattled project.  

Damaging though this endorsement is, in my view, it doesn’t change the underlying dynamics of the case. The Islamic center is still an issue of religious freedom in a country that is built on this very concept. It is unfortunate that Mr. Zahar chose to speak out on the issue, as support from a terrorist group like his is sure to harm both the center’s prospects as well as those who bucked the tide of public opinion to support the project. Our political leaders have previously condemned or simply ignored other terrorists when they spoke out on American political issues, as they did with Osama bin Laden’s input in our 2004 presidential elections. Perhaps, as Senator Chuck Schumer suggested in the article, we can hope to ignore these comments as well.   

A Taste of Ramadan

We’re now almost a week into Ramadan. Restaurants are closed, but traffic is lighter, the gym is empty (since no one can drink during daytime workouts), and no one is smoking – all in all, it’s a nice experience.

While I’m certainly on the outside looking in on Ramadan traditions, I got my own little taste of Ramadan yesterday. The day began normally, with class until noon. After class, I got an unexpected email from Feryal Hijazi, my Arabic professor at Harvard. She told me that she would be stopping by Qasid later and would love to see me if I were around. I was of course happy to wait, but this plan kept me at school several hours longer than I had planned that morning. Thus, I had brought no lunch with me and, after a trip to the gym, I was starving. The only place open and selling food was a dessert shop across the street from our building; lunch thus consisted of a half-kilogram of baklava, surreptitiously shared with another student in an empty classroom back at Qasid.

Later that evening, we had plans to break the fast with our teacher from Qasid at a restaurant by the University of Jordan. I hopped into a taxi with a few other kids and headed for Bab al-Yemen, a dirt-cheap and delicious place just north of the university. Many kids in my class are fasting, as is my devout teacher, so our wait for our food was particularly tantalizing for them. Waiters piled food on the table as the sun set, and when the minarets sounded the evening call to prayer, the hungry folk dove into their meals at every table in the restaurant.

The evening wasn’t all that different from a typical meal out, I guess. I personally am not fasting; I decided long ago that my twin loves of sleep and food would be destroyed by waking up before sunrise each day to eat in preparation for a long day without any food. So this wasn’t really an iftar, or breaking of the fast, for me. It was just another meal in the evening. But it was the first time I had interacted with my teacher outside of the classroom, and we all got to know each other a little bit better. It was my first trip to a Jordanian restaurant with a fluent Arabic speaker, which made me feel considerably more welcome and less awkward. As we walked back to the bus, our teacher stopped by a mosque to pray. While she only invited the women in our group to join her inside, I spent a few quiet minutes in the middle of the courtyard – a very peaceful little break in the middle of a long day.

As for the meeting with my Feryal, she invited me and another Harvard student to her house for iftar on Tuesday night. Feryal taught us the Arabic unit on Ramadan last fall, complete with vocabulary words for all of the different treats and sweets that accompany Ramadan celebrations. She promised to make them all for us to try – though, after yesterday’s lunch, I will be fine without any baklava for quite some time. 

Christian Hajj

I took another day trip with Susan today, to the nearby town of Madaba. The town itself has a large, healthy Christian minority, but we took two side excursions in addition: to Mount Nebo, the site of Moses's death, and to Bethany-upon-the-Jordan, the site of Christ's baptism. Susan joked that, because of the religious significance of these two places, we were embarking on Christian Hajj.

I'm not particularly religious, so I of course came to the sites with a very different perspective from the many tourists at the sites who were no doubt devout Christians. I mentioned afterwards to Susan that neither place was particularly impressive (especially compared to our trip last week), but both were very interesting to see. 

The view from Mount Nebo

Mount Nebo was the first stop. Mentioned in the Bible, it is reputed to be the place from where Moses glimpsed the Promised Land, and also where he died. There are ruins of a church dating from the 4th century, but they were under restoration and so were off limits. The view of the Promised Land was also a disappointment - haze blocked all but the closest sites, marking my third haze-obscured panoramic view in Jordan. Bethany-Beyond-the-Jordan was also sad. The area has only been open since the late 1990s, after the Jordanian-Israeli peace agreement allowed the land mines to be cleared from the area. We took a guided tour of the area, saw the ruins of a church marking the reputed exact spot of the baptism, and had an opportunity to head down to the river's edge. But decades of environmental degradation and poor management of water resources had taken their toll. The once-mighty Jordan was reduced to a stagnant green trickle of a river, and the baptism site itself was bone dry. I warily stuck a finger into the river, and watched in horror as those in my group washed their hair and faces with the putrid water. 

So while neither site was impressive or awe-inspiring, both were quite thought-provoking. I'm always skeptical of archaeological sites that claim direct ties with biblical history - and the more certain the claimed connection, the greater my suspicion. I simply don't believe that modern archaeology can to discover with any certainty the locations of events that, even if they happened, wouldn't have left any archaeological evidence. Can we pinpoint with certainty the location where Jesus removed his robe before baptism? Our guide certainly thought he could, based on the ruins of the church that post-dated the baptism by centuries. Mount Nebo's claim to be the place where Moses stood, looked, and died rests on the ruins of the 4th century church - itself built hundreds of years after the event would have taken place. I'm not convinced that 4th century Christian clergy did the proper due diligence to make sure they were building on the right mountain. Mount Nebo is surrounded by other peaks, a few of them higher - might they have been wrong?

What I saw at these sites was similar to other biblical/archaeological sites I've seen across the Middle East. These sites are advertised as the "exact spots" of biblical events with great certainty, while the evidence supporting these claims is rarely elaborated. I climbed Mount Sinai in Egypt, which possesses deep religious significance for all Abrahamic faiths. Yet this mountain's claim to be "the" Mount Sinai is tentative at best. The location has moved throughout the centuries, different religious sects disagree on which mountain is the biblical Sinai, and modern scholars dispute the mountain's claim for many reasons.  Yet this didnt stop the Egyptian tourism industry from hyping the peak's religious significance - I even saw a bush that was supposedly descended from the famous Burning Bush of the Bible.  In Israel, there are many sites that claim to be the ruins of biblical places or of the ancient Jewish kingdoms. The certainty with which these claims were made just made me more suspicious of their authenticity. 

The (once) Mighty Jordan River

In both places, archaeology was being exploited for different goals. In Egypt, the government valued the tourist revenue from pilgrims flocking to see "the" place where Moses received the Ten Commandments. In Israel, much archaeology is undertaken with the clearly political goal of emphasizing the ancient Jewish presence in the region, and thus the Israeli claim to the land today. 

I think this is sad. It cheapens archaeology, by requiring that its findings fit into pre-prescribed conclusions, and harms its credibility by forcing archaeologists, like my guide today, to make unsupportable claims about a site's significance. In my view, it also cheapens, rather than strengthens, Israel's right to exist; Israel should exist for many compelling, important, and currently relevant reasons, not simply because there was an ancient Jewish civilization on the same site. And, I believe, this type of biblical archaeology cheapens faith. Religious people don't need their faith buttressed by dubious archaeological evidence - their reasons for belief go far deeper than stones, pillars, and ruins. But when archaeologists come forward with weak claims of direct biblical significance for their finds, it creates the impression that religious belief is resting on these unimpressive foundations. 

Ignoring my skepticism and the lackluster beauty of the two sites, I still had a nice time. We saw some nice countryside, as well as cool mosaics in Madaba, which was a neat little town. I managed to haggle our taxi ride down to 20JD from a start of 50JD, a minor personal triumph. And, to celebrate her last night in Amman, Susan agreed to take me out for margaritas and Mexican food at the Intercontinental Hotel. Hard to argue that any day that ends like that is a bad one. 

Ramadan Begins!

It is official - a new moon was sighted tonight, marking the start of the month of Ramadan. Though science has long possessed the astronomical technology to accurately predict the start of new lunar cycles, traditionalists in the Islamic world rely on a less-sophisticated method: looking at the sky. The UAE's official moon-sighting committee saw the new moon tonight, as did similar organizations across the Middle East. Ramadan will thus start tomorrow, just as it says in my daily planner which was printed over a year ago.

However, were I without internet or sky access, I would still have likely guessed that Ramadan was indeed beginning due to the noise and hoopla that has been going on outside for hours. Noise is nothing new in my neighborhood, of course - even fireworks go off randomly at all hours of the day and night. But tonight seems much more intense. The music has been blasting all night - my neighbors are playing traditional Ramadan songs such as Hey Soul Sister, Viva la Vida, Tik Tok, and Bad Romance. Windows must stay open or it gets too hot to sleep.... it could be a long night.

Jerash Report, and Photos

Yesterday's trip to the ruins at Umm Qais and Jerash was great. Unbelievably hot, but great. Susan and I improvised most of our transportation, with a patchwork of minibuses and taxis, but everything turned out safe and relatively quick. Despite quirky internet, I was able to upload my pics here. Some highlights of the trip:

• Scrapping our plans to travel by fancy motorcoach once they sent us to the wrong station at 7:30 AM, opting instead for the cheaper, more informal minibus network. 
• Arriving at Umm Qais remarkably painlessly, and having the deserted site to ourselves for about half an hour.
• Scrambling through Roman theaters, Byzantine churches, and an Ottoman village built from the stone of the two older civilizations.
• Gazing out at the Golan Heights and Sea of Galilee, wishing that our itinerary included a swim.
• Chatting with an old man at the bus stop who, after living for 15 years in Germany, spoke great Arabic and great German, but no English. I found my German vocabulary from years of voice lessons to be a little bit useful.
• Hitching a ride from Irbid to Jerash with a friendly off-duty Jordanian military officer, saving us an hour's wait while the bus filled up. The air conditioning in his car was most welcome.
• The all-you-can-eat buffet at a restaurant just outside of Jerash, featuring traditional hummus and mansaf, as well as less-traditional pasta with meatballs and marinara sauce.
• A surprisingly empty Jerash - tour groups came and went, but we had plenty of time for pictures at empty monuments.
• Overhearing the Jordanian Bagpipe Ensemble practicing in one of the site's theaters.
• Watching a local guide move a stone pillar with a metal spoon - apparently, an earthquake set the standing pillars off-balance and made them incredibly easy to wobble back and forth.
• Testing the acoustics at the empty North Theater, performing for a crowd of zero.
• Consuming three ice cream cones, as well as water in one day than I went through during all of Petra
• Communicating smoothly for the entire trip. My spoken Arabic isn't great by any stretch of the imagination, don't get me wrong. But I got directions, chatted with drivers, bargained for souvenirs, and even defended myself against an attempted scamming taxi driver, all in Arabic comprehensible enough to be understood. Baby steps... 

I'm now looking at less than two weeks left in Jordan. It's been a great run, but the little annoyances are quickly adding up. Ramadan starts in the middle of the week, so I am looking forward to that new experience - I'll write more once I have exciting news. 

Heading North

Susan and I are taking a road trip tomorrow. It's wicked hot in Amman and, with two weeks left before I head home, I'm running out of time to get out and see the country.

We'll be heading to Jerash and Umm Qais for a day trip. Both were once important Roman cities, and Jerash supposedly has some of the best preserved Roman ruins in the world. We passed Jerash on our way to Ajloun earlier this summer... but I think it deserves more than a drive-by viewing. Umm Qais is smaller and more remote, but this also means that it isnt going to be teeming with tourists like Jerash most likely will be.

Public transport to Umm Qais is a bit iffy, so I will hope that my remedial speaking skills hold up under pressure. I'll also do my best for some nice photos, but with my camera, I wouldn't cross my fingers...

Published!

Now for a bit of self-congratulatory news...

Last December, I wrote a review of Christopher Davidson's Abu Dhabi: Oil and Beyond as a final project for a class at Harvard. A little while later, I submitted it to the Middle East Policy Council, which publishes the Middle East Policy Journal. They liked it and agreed to print it in their next issue (and also sent me an unexpected $100 check).

The print version has been out for some time, I believe, but the Summer issue of the journal was just posted on a brand new MEPC website. The review was written in December, so a little bit of the content has become dated by August. But I am now officially a published author!

Those of you with any interest in the region can read the review here. Everyone else can feel free to ignore, for the moment, the fact that book reviews are at the bottom of the publishing world's totem pole!

License Plate Tag

When my siblings and I were young, my parents devised an interesting way to keep us occupied on long car trips. Each child got a checklist with the names of the fifty US states, as well as DC and a few Canadian provinces. The first child to see and check off license plates from all of the listed locations won - as did my parents, who experienced a more bearable trip.

Yesterday, while walking around the neighborhood, I saw an Omani license plate on a late-model black Mercedes sedan. While I hadn't officially been keeping track, that sighting completed my checklist for all license plates in the Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, and Oman). I'm sure I'm way ahead of my siblings on this scorecard.

I was warned by the woman who owns my apartment that summer in Amman was "Saudi Season" - traffic becomes unbearable as GCC nationals pour into Jordan to escape the oppressive Gulf summers. She was indeed correct. It seems there are just as many foreign cars on the road as Jordanian ones, and what's worse, they are usually large SUV's fueled by cheap (and local) Gulf
petroleum. I've had several taxi drivers complain that the GCC cars are driven by maniacs, who "think they own the road" and "dont understand basic traffic laws." I could probably say the same about Massachusetts drivers, but I certainly agree with these guys. Traffic has multiplied recently and trips have become slower and longer, just as a terrible heat wave has made these waits in cars more uncomfortable. Saudis may be escaping the Gulf heat by coming to Amman, but they are dooming me to experience far more of the Jordanian heat than I would like!

Beyond the GCC, I'm doing quite well with license plates too - I've checked off every Arab country east of Egypt, with the exception of Yemen. I've also gotten three different provinces in Iraq and four different emirates in the UAE. So far, I haven't seen any Gulf license plates on an old or beat-up car, though... I may see an Israeli license plate in Amman before I see a poor-looking car from the GCC!

Swanky Weekend

After two consecutive weekends without any plans at all, I decided to break the mold a little bit last night. My roommate Susan and I burned through some of the cash I had been slowly saving with a swanky night out in Downtown Amman.

The impetus for this came in the middle of last week, when Susan and I took a trip into Abdoun Circle. Technically, I live in Abdoun, which is a very ritzy area. But my apartment is on the fringes, and I had never gone into the commercial heart of the area. So after one too many meals of pesto pasta and PB+J, we decided to splurge on Thai food at a restaurant called NoodAsia (no snickering, please). The food was great, especially considering the price, and we also happened to bump into two Americans I had met earlier in the summer. We had a nice time, and so the four of us promised to meet up again over the weekend for a similar dining experience.

We settled on Cantaloupe, a "Gastro Pub" off of Rainbow Street in Downtown Amman. I'd been to Rainbow Street several times before - it is a nicely maintained, affluent couple of blocks lined with hip restaurants and such. But I'd always been during the day, when it is quiet and empty. When we returned last night (effectively Saturday night, since the Arab weekend is Fri-Sat), it was packed with cars, people, and tables overflowing into the sidewalk. The nightlife was hopping.

Cantaloupe itself was on the fifth floor of a tower with a massive outdoor deck. We ate far removed from the hustle and bustle below, but from the deck we had outstanding views of East Amman and the Citadel. Every few minutes we were treated to an impromptu fireworks show, as people in the neighborhoods set off fireworks to celebrate weddings and the like. The decor and the music was super swanky, and while the service left much to be desired, it was still probably the best I've encountered in an Amman restaurant.

Normally, these types of restaurants intimidate me. They're way too expensive for my budget, they're filled with people who are hipper and cooler than I am, and the food on the menu is far too grown-up for my palate (which tends to prefer a good Kraft mac-and-cheese over filet mignon and a bottle of wine). But on all three counts I was pleasantly surprised. The menu was quite reasonable, with almost all entrees under $12 US (mine was around $10). We ate early enough that we were out before the swanky Jordanians showed up at 9:30 or so. And despite options like the Thai Teriyaki Spinach Salad and Beef Bresaola, the menu still made room for Fish and Chips, Fettucini Alfredo, and Chicken Parmesan (I ended up with the last option). A "Cantaloupe Iced Tea," based closely on its Long Island cousin, topped off the meal.

We finished the evening with ice cream from Gerard's, down the street, and a showing of Quantum of Solace back at a friend's house. While it wasnt exactly a night of immersion in genuine Jordanian culture, it was certainly a nice change of pace (and a considerable step up from my normal dinner options when I am cooking). I'm trying to make a road trip to Jerash next weekend, which might spoil any plans for a repeat evening. But you can bet that if travel plans fall through, I'll be spending my bus fare and hotel money on another evening out...

HGC Venues

Glee Club has decided on several venues in Amman that they would like to use for their performances next year, so they asked me to check them out in person while I am here. Zaid Al-Rifai made some calls and arranged tours of three venues - the Royal Cultural Center, the Hussein Cultural Center, and the King Hussein Club. His driver and I traveled around town last Wednesday to check things out. 

Our first stop was the Royal Cultural Center. I met with the managing director who, I soon found out, did not speak great English. So we switched to Arabic, which was a bit scary, but it turns out that the meeting went a lot more smoothly in that language. I got a tour of the entire facility, including recording studios, conference rooms, the dance studios, and other places, even though I was really only interested in the Main Hall and rehearsal rooms. But since I was in no real rush, I was happy to see the entire place. 

The Main Hall at the RCC is a theater, not a concert hall. It wasnt designed with acoustics in mind - the entire hall is carpeted, so there's no reverb, and the flyspace above the stage will likely eat up lots of sound. And, while there are lots of dressing rooms backstage, there was also no real backstage warmup room large enough for the entire group. We'll probably just hang out next door, in an exhibition hall with a piano. There were also a few problems with communication - I wasnt sure how to ask about "choral risers" or "orchestral shells," so I'm not sure if that equipment will be available. 

Overall, though, I'm sure it will be a fine place for a concert. The hospitality was incredible - I felt very welcome, and I'm sure HGC will get the same treatment next year. It's also one of the most prestigious venues in the city. Finally, the managing director offered the use of the facilities for free, which is a pretty incredible offer. Hard to argue with that. 

We headed next to the Hussein Cultural Center, which seemed more of a community arts facility than the RCC. The director spoke excellent English, so I was out of the woods. We toured the HCC, which I personally liked a lot more than the RCC. The HCC director also gave me two free tickets to the Amman Symphony Orchestra's performance at the HCC that evening. A Jordanian woman played a Chopin piano concerto, and a Lebanese/Armenian tenor sang a selection of arias and art songs. I had performed many of the songs myself during my eight years of voice lessons. The concert gave me a chance to listen to the acoustics of the space. The Main Hall was once again a theater, without much acoustical treatment, rather than a concert hall. There was no reverb at all - even loud blasts from the orchestra disappeared quickly into the carpet. They used microphones during there performance, so we might see if there is a way to create some reverb through amplification or something. 

Finally, we swung by the King Hussein Club (pictured), a swanky club downtown. This will be the site of an Alumni event organized by Mr. Al-Rifai, rather than a big concert. HGC's 12-person sub group, HGC Lite, will sing during the event, but it wont be a formal concert. 

Aside from these venues, I need to get up to Irbid in the north of the country, where we are expecting to have a joint concert with Yarmouk University. I'd also like to get to the King's Academy, an elite prep school in Amman, where Lite may have another performance. Overall, though, it was a very productive afternoon and a great introduction to the performing arts in Amman. 

Halfway!

Today is the exact halfway mark of my time in Jordan. Hard to believe it's been over a month. We've plowed through 4 1/2 chapters our Arabic textbook, so I assume we still have 4 1/2 left in front of us. For comparison, we got through about 7 1/2 chapters during all of last year at Harvard. So, if we knock off another 4 1/2 before leaving, Qasid will have more than surpassed its promise to squeeze an entire academic year of instruction into a summer.

Our midterm is Thursday - and Saturday marks four weeks until my flight home!

Newspaper Arabic

Today was my second session of Newspaper Arabic, the 2hr/week supplementary class that Qasid is providing for free.

It's a nice change of pace from my normal classes, which focus on grammar and vocab for 4 hours a day. The class is bigger and so I get to meet more students than I would otherwise. Also, we're using real Arabic sources in the class, which is a bit of a morale booster. In regular class, we use texts and materials designed for Arabic students, so they have been massaged quite a bit and purged of anything too challenging. In newspaper Arabic, we're attacking actual articles designed for actual Arabic speakers, so making progress in that class is a bit more exciting.

Of course, that progress is quite slow in my case. Two examples hopefully show my current predicament; I'm getting the details just fine, but the overall picture breezes by. Last Wednesday, we read an article reporting that, according to a recent study, Egypt is the #1 country in the world for wife-on-husband domestic violence. I understood that we were reading the results of a sociological study dealing with domestic violence between couples. I understood that Egypt placed first, followed by the U.S. and India. What I couldn't tell was whether the article was describing wife-on-husband violence, or husband-on-wife. This, obviously, is a pretty central aspect of the story, but I couldn't be sure without confirmation from a classmate.

Today, the article was from the BBC Arabic, describing divorce in Japanese society. Something - I didn't know the word - was causing divorce rates to rise. This force was making people stay at home, where they got into fights with spouses, instead of going to the office and spending hours hard at work like they were used to. I assumed we were talking about unemployment, but the article was actually discussing retirement. So again, I was close, but still oh so far. It'll be a long time before I'm reporting for Al-Jazeera or CNN Arabic.

I'm also hoping our next class discusses an article unrelated to marital problems. Not sure why we have such a focus on failing marriages, but something more upbeat might be nice. Maybe our teacher is just having trouble finding good news out of the Middle East?

Rifai and I, Part II

Another day, another meeting with former Jordanian Prime Minister Zaid al-Rifai.

Like last time, we met to discuss planning for the Harvard Glee Club's tour to the Middle East in 2011-2012. Much was the same - I met the same driver, rode in the same swanky car to his home, where we sat on the same beautiful patio and drank the same tea. But I noticed a few changes - the exterior furniture had been newly upgraded, for example. I also noticed he was reading a copy of Robert Lacey's book on Saudi Arabia, Inside the Kingdom, so I got to sound smart for a few brief minutes while we chatted about that.

The content of the meeting was not particularly unusual. We spoke about possible venues for the Glee Club concerts, and he volunteered to put me in touch with people at said venues to arrange to see them myself in person. I'll be making those trips in the next few weeks, I assume.

Towards the end of the meeting, I followed Mr. al-Rifai into an interior room for a few minutes while he looked for a book. The room was filled with amazing mementos. On the wall and the shelves, he had pictures and souvenirs from visits with foreign dignitaries from across the world. I saw signed photos from Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, an engraved clock from Richard Nixon, and photos with Sultan Qaboos of Oman and Hafez al-Asad of Syria. Across the room, I saw a five-shelf case filled with medals and other honors from two separate terms as Prime Minister. I was only in the room for thirty seconds, but was amazed with what I saw. I would have loved the time to examine everything more fully. This guy has been a central figure in the history of the Middle East for decades, and so heaven only knows what kinds of other mementos are lining his walls.

Al-Rifai's grandson will be a freshman at Harvard this fall, and so Mr. al-Rifai mentioned that he would be in Cambridge in late August to see him off. We promised to try to get together then if our schedules meet up. I would invite him over to show him my extensive collection of medals and presidential memorabilia, but I'm afraid it will all be packed for my impending move on September 1st.

Spoke Too Soon?

Immediately on the heels of yesterday's post praising the UAE's urban planning efforts, I turned to GulfNews.com's home page to see this harrowing picture and headline:

For all of my gushing about the UAE's planning advances, clearly there's still work to be done. 

It's not just infrastructural problems, according to the article. Clearly, there aren't enough crosswalks or safe crossing zones in the city, or else this guy wouldn't be diving over a concrete median in the first place. The article also indicates that planners aren't thinking the right way about pedestrian safety. The focus is on bridges to carry peds over traffic, and more walls and barriers to keep pedestrians from jaywalking. All this does is make roads less and less hospitable to pedestrians, since cars can drive faster and be less attentive to their surroundings. 

Amman has tried this strategy. Pedestrians are largely relegated to overhead bridges, which are often inconvenient, and are impossible for the handicapped. Even ordinary roads are divided with medians, encouraging speeding and recklessness. Ordinary intersections have been turned into onramps and offramps, and, as a result, no one bothers to look out for pedestrians - even at marked crosswalks. By relegating peds to bridges and incomplete sidewalks, Amman has effectively told drivers that they don't need to look out for them, and so I see the same types of harrowing close-calls in Amman's streets every day. Because of this outdated pedestrian planning mindset and the danger of walking anywhere, I get stuck shelling out money for a cab to go even a short distance, instead of walking and getting exercise. 

Note to the UAE - look around you and see what has failed in Amman. Don't try the exact same thing in your cities. 

Urbanism in the Gulf

Once upon a time, I planned to go into a career in urban planning and architecture. I read treatises on New Urbanism and Smart Growth like it was my job. I interned at a DC-area planning agency in the summer of 2008. I even wrote my senior thesis at Amherst on architecture and urbanism in Cairo and Dubai. The 2008 recession led me to reevaluate my career goals, but I'm still very interested in this sort of stuff, especially when it overlaps with my current studies in the Middle East. So I've been very happy over the past few days, as I've read a number of articles about urban planning developments in Dubai and the UAE.

I visited Dubai in March of 2008 to do research for my thesis, which focused extensively on how Dubai had imported the car-dependent model of the US.  My trip certainly reinforced that view; Dubai was a pedestrian hell. My grant wasn't large enough to cover car rental or taxi fare, so I got around either on foot or by bus. But sidewalks were incomplete, intersections were not safe, and the average weather made me sweat after just a few minutes of walking. Buses were crowded, slow, and unpredictable; I remember waiting 45 minutes in the sun for a bus to the Burj al-Arab, only to watch it whiz past the station without stopping because it was too full to fit any more passengers. Everyone needed a car, and so traffic was horrible at many hours of the day. The metro was under construction at the time of my visit, but it did nothing to alleviate the pain of traveling yet.

I havent been back since that trip, but the articles I've seen certainly suggest that the situation has changed considerably. The Red Line line of the Dubai Metro is up and running, with a second (Green) line expected to open soon. Total ridership of the system, which opened less than a year ago, recently surpassed 23 million people. Daily ridership has reached as high as 130,000, out of a population of about 2.2 million. This number will almost certainly rise as additional stations and lines are completed.

It's not just about ridership, though. Gulf news sources are reporting on the more subjective aspects of the Metro system as well. GulfNews published an extensive article about the trendiness of the new system, and how it is successfully enticing people to leave their cars behind. Dubai residents, including the affluent, are choosing to ride rather than drive - the Metro is becoming a part of Dubai's urban culture. The stations are gorgeous - and considering the beautiful DC Metro is my home system, my standards are pretty high. I also saw a very interesting report on the rigorous maintenance, cleaning, and inspection that goes on behind the scenes. DC's metro has seen nothing but maintenance problems, service cutbacks, and several tragic fatalities in recent months, but it seems Dubai is seriously trying to turn the tide against auto dependency. There's much left to do - don't get me wrong. There are shortcomings with regard to pedestrian connections, network redundancy, sustainability, and other issues. Dubai is a linear city, so it's much easier to design an effective rail system there. Gulf newspapers are far more hesitant to publish criticism of a government project such as the metro. I don't want to sound like I believe Dubai has vanquished its problems forever - it hasn't. But it is making great progress in the right direction.

There is also good news beyond the Metro. Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital, is implementing a plan to curb speeding, reduce illegal parking, and undertake significant improvements for pedestrian safety. The UAE as a whole recently increased the price of gasoline, in part to reduce the appeal of driving and the negative environmental consequences that accompany it. Cheap oil might seem like a birthright in the world's 3rd largest oil exporter, and one might expect a lot of grumbling to accompany the increase. But this article takes a look at the long-term benefits of the price hike, instead of simply complaining about the additional cost. Conversely, the United States, with a crippling oil addiction and declining domestic sources of fuel, hasn't raised fuel taxes since 1993. With inflation factored in, the gasoline tax is at its lowest level since 1929. The UAE is schooling America in forward-thinking transportation policy.

Finally, though no ground has been broken yet, the GulfRail has been making some noise in the papers as well. This 1,205-mile proposed system would link Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE, and Oman, with a possible link to Yemen. The system would be high-speed, using Europe's rail network as a guide. America refuses to invest enough in its own rail system to do better than the "high-speed" Acela service in the Northeast. Kuwait, Mecca, Medina, and other cities are also planning rail systems.

Despite this flurry of funding and building activity, you wont see US companies winning any contracts. America doesnt have any companies with enough experience in this industry. The multi-billion dollar projects are being completed by Asian and European firms, whose countries have invested significantly in rail domestically and thus given their companies a significant technical edge in the world market. Even the biggest oil exporters in the world are getting behind mass transit, better urban planning, and inter-city rail networks as they realize that gasoline, petroleum, and auto-dependency are unsustainable in the long term. It's immensely frustrating that America can't seem to get its act together.

However, on the bright side, I now know I will have a much easier time getting around during my next trip to Dubai.

NB: All images lovingly stolen from http://dubaimetro.eu/ - I just can't get them to link back to the site. 

Ground Zero Mosque

There has been considerable debate over the plans to build a mosque adjacent to Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan. A recent zoning commission hearing brought the nastiness of this issue to the forefront. Technically, this isn't a Middle Eastern issue, so I'm reluctant to comment. But the connections to Islam, as well as the abhorrent behavior of several of my fellow citizens, convinced me to say a few words. 

The issue is as follows: Muslims in New York want to build a community center on the site of an old building near the World Trade Center site. Conservative activists seek to block this action, viewing it as an "insult" to the lives lost on 9/11. Construction of the mosque would require the demolition of the historic structure, and last night's meeting was intended to determine whether that building deserved landmark status. If the building is not landmarked, construction will begin. 


As I read various articles on this issue, two things became clear to me. The first was the embarrassingly weak grounds upon which the mosque opponents stand. The second was the repulsive prejudice and ignorance that the mosque opponents are unabashedly displaying. Let's address these issues in order. 


Reasons for Opposition


The opposition argument is basically as follows: "The Mosque is Islamic. Muslims attacked America on September 11th, therefore they should not be allowed to worship so close to Ground Zero."


Clearly, this argument is BS. Ostensibly, opponents are blocking the mosque "out of respect for the victims of that attack," but that fig leaf of a justification doesn't do much. This argument does nothing but bait prejudice against Muslims in this country, who had nothing to do with the horrible events on 9/11. Let's apply this reasoning to a few other hypothetical situations and see how they stand up:

• "The NRA is an organization for gun and weapons enthusiasts. Timothy McVeigh, a gun and weapons enthusiast (and former NRA member) blew up the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Therefore, the NRA should not be allowed to operate in Oklahoma City out of respect for the victims of that attack."
• "The Catholic Church is a religious institution. Leaders of this religion repeatedly molested young boys, for decades, and covered up their activities from authorities. Therefore, Catholic churches should not be allowed in neighborhoods with small children out of respect for past victims (and perhaps even for the safety of children today)."

These arguments are ludicrous. NRA members and Catholic worshippers today have nothing to do with these horrible tragedies, and the exercise of their second and first amendment rights should not be abridged based on the actions of a few representatives of their respective ideologies. 

Perhaps most ironically, the fight against the mosque has been headlined by Mark Williams. Mr. Williams left his position of leadership at the Tea Party Express, which fiercely "defends" the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, to work to oppose the freedom of religion for others. It's great to see Democrats and liberals like Andrew Cuomo and Michael Bloomberg standing up to defend religious freedom. From the New York Times:

“Government should never — never — be in the business of telling people how they should pray, or where they can pray,” Mr. Bloomberg said on Monday. “We want to make sure that everybody from around the world feels comfortable coming here, living here and praying the way they want to pray.”

The Displays of Bigotry

The second aspect of this story is the shocking displays of prejudice and hatred spewed by opponents of the mosque. The "respect for the victims" argument sounds nice in theory, but after reading the actual remarks of the Tea Party and other opponents, there's no respect in their positions at all. This is about harassing Muslims, not respecting the victims of 9/11. 

Some choice comments:

• From the aforementioned Mark Williams: "The [project] would consist of a Mosque for the worship of the terrorists' monkey-god." When pressed to apologize, he added:

  "In the course of the article I described the ‘god’ worshiped by terrorists as 'a monkey god.' I was wrong and that was offensive. I owe an apology to millions of Hindus who worship Lord Hanuman, an actual Monkey God.

  "Moreover, Hanuman is worshiped as a symbol of perseverance, strength and devotion. He is known as a destroyer of evil and to inspire and liberate. Those are hardly the traits of whatever the Hell (literally) it is that terrorists worship and worthy of my respect and admiration not ridicule."

• From Pamella Geller, of "Stop the Islamization of America" : We feel it would be more appropriate maybe to build a center dedicated to... the victims of hundreds of millions of years of jihadi wars, land enslavements, cultural annihilations and mass slaughter"
• Ms. Geller again, in comments to The Washington Post: "I am not anti-Muslim. I love Muslims. I am pro-freedom and anti-islamic supremacism." (her comment was followed by a threat to sue the Post, another display of her support for the first amendment)

Mr. Williams' comments are horribly offensive, and display the extent to which this opposition is simply a bigoted anti-Muslim witch hunt. Ms. Geller's remarks, though less inflammatory, display similar ignorance. Why does she blame a 1,400-year-old religion for "hundreds of millions of years" of atrocities? Her suggestion of a memorial displays another glaring double standard. When Catholic churches include memorials to victims of the Inquisition, and when fundamentalist churches in the US display memorials to victims of anti-abortion terrorism, she might have an argument. 

Finally, and most disappointingly, the prevention of this Islamic center would reinforce the views of anti-American firebrands and terrorists across the world. The mosque's obstruction would clearly advertise that this country supports religious freedom for all except Muslims. It would destroy our credibility and moral standing abroad, and would give more ammunition to the terrorist recruiters who claim that "America is waging war on Islam."

If the mosque goes forward, it will stand as a testament to the strength of religious freedom and pluralism in the United States. You are not judged here by your co-religionists. You are not judged here by your religion. By building this mosque, we show the world that America still believes this. By building this mosque, we show the world the depth of America's commitment to religious freedom. Though Muslims flew planes into the twin towers and the Pentagon in 2001, they do not speak for all of Islam and they do not speak for all Muslims. Though Muslims committed this terrible atrocity, we still welcome Muslims to worship freely in America because we believe in religious liberty. They should be allowed to build their mosque free from the harassment of those like Mr. Williams and Ms. Geller. 

And, though the urbanist in me wants to save the historic structure, I feel like this building is a small price to pay to put that statement out there.  

Slow News Week...

Updates have been few and far between recently. I'm not dead, and I havent abandoned this blog. It's just that there are few things going on right now worth writing home about.

Amman certainly turned up the temperature this week. Fans are running on high in my apartment non-stop. Mornings are still pleasant, so I still enjoy the commute to Qasid at 7:30AM or so. But when I leave class at noon, I definitely feel the desert heat.

I also ended my passport odyssey today - my visa was extended so I am done jumping through logistical hoops. I'm now down to one last page in my passport, so I need to keep international travel to a minimum until I can get some extra pages put in.

Qasid finally announced the start of the mini-classes each evening. I am enrolled in newspaper-media Arabic, and classes start at the end of this week. We also recently finished the review units and moved into new content during regular class, so academics are about to get way more demanding.

Other than that, all is well... we'll see if the weekend holds any exciting plans that might make for slightly more interesting entries.

Il Divo - إيل ديفو

I just returned from one of the concerts of this summer's Jordan Festival. I saw Il Divo, a four-man pop/classical vocal group, at a stage atop the Citadel.

Overall, it was a nice evening. I had fun, and it was certainly a change from my daily routine here in Amman. The show itself was... a mix. Numbers ranged from the spectacular - a four-voice arrangement of "Somewhere" - to the hilariously corny - the Spanish version of "Unbreak my Heart," for example. At times, it felt a bit like a boy-band concert for 35 year old women... two of whom were sitting behind me and chatted the entire time. But the great numbers were great, and I was very impressed with the vocal stamina. These guys were wailing into their mics for ninety minutes. I would have died after two arias, but they were at it all night.

All in all, a nice way to break out of my daily routine and get a little bit of live musical performance that has recently been so lacking in my life.  The festival lasts all summer, so I'll see if any future acts grab my attention for another night out.

Petra Photos

For anyone plugged into Facebook, the Petra album is old news. But for everyone else, I just posted my Petra pics online, and you can check them out here. No need for a Facebook account to view them.

Just keep in mind that I had to upload these one by one, with about 2 minutes for each upload... so you'd better enjoy them.

Petra Notes

Finally getting around to writing about my Petra trip. In a word, it was fantastic. Though I tried to arrange a group trip down with some classmates, those plans fell through and I ended up spending most of the time alone. Still, the desert scenery and the ruins were well worth the travel and were truly unforgettable.


Some Highlights:

• The very bearable weather and the surprisingly light crowds. I never felt like I was dying, and had a lot of the most spectacular vistas to myself.
• The walk through the narrow cavern, or Siq, to the city itself. The geological formations in there were fantastic - I could have gone home happy even after seeing just that. 
• Hiking up to the High Place of Sacrifice with some Qasid folks, and then returning down via another path through a bunch of cool tombs. Again, totally empty, except for myself and the other students. 
• Meeting up with some local archeology students after the Qasid people went home. We chatted over dinner and met up in the park again the next day - they do excavation and old things full-time, so they certainly added a new perspective to my trip.

• Watching five wedding processions drive by our restaurant on Friday night, horns blaring.
• Realizing that my ATM card was not working, threatening to put me on starvation rations for the remainder of the trip.
• Having my dad fix said problem with the ATM card, giving me plenty of cash to spend on whatever I wanted.
• Foolishly blazing my own arduous trail up above the Royal Tombs, to the summit of the mountain into which they were carved. From here, I could look down on the High Place of Sacrifice, and also to the Treasury facade. Had this all to myself. I would have been pretty screwed if I'd broken an ankle or something, but I got home just fine. 
• Finding a stone staircase back down from said mountaintop, and realizing that my arduous hike up could have easily been avoided.

• Hiring a Bedouin guide, Abdullah, and his donkey, Michael Jackson, for a ride up to the splendidly isolated Monastery. The ruins were of course nice, but the mountain scenery was the closest this planet will ever come to Avatar's Hallelujah Mountains. Breathtakingly beautiful. 
• Gin & Tonic and Dinner at the ritzy Movenpick Hotel in downtown Wadi Musa. A perfect way to relax, especially with the Swiss ice cream bar afterwards. 
• Being the first person in the park on Sunday morning, and getting the entire place to myself for 15 minutes. Silent, deserted, colored by the sunrise... and I may have even snuck into the Treasury to check it out before the guards arrived. 

The major bummer was realizing that my piece of cr*p camera couldn't begin to capture the beauty of everything I was seeing. I'll post more pictures on Facebook eventually, and link to them here, but you'll just have to trust me when I say that my pictures don't do this place justice. 

Apologies, Apologies

Without wading too deeply into the always-controversial issue of the Armenian genocide, it seems Turkey has erected something of a double standard on official apologies.

Turkey is demanding an apology from Israel in the wake of the assault on a Turkish aid ship on May 31. Ankara also wants a commission of inquiry to look into the incident. These demands are perhaps reasonable, considering that all of those killed in the attack were Turkish citizens. If Israel fails to comply, Turkey is threatening to cut diplomatic relations with the Jewish state. This is quite a harsh punishment; the two nations share a long history of military cooperation, and Turkey has historically been Israel's only Muslim friend. A diplomatic break would be a serious step indeed.

But how might Ankara react to a similar call for an apology? A recent campaign to apologize for the Armenian genocide during WWI was incredibly controversial. I am not claiming here that Turkey is responsible for the countless deaths of Armenians a century ago, nor am I suggesting that the deaths were a campaign of genocide (there are lengthy debates on both sides of the issue - we can have that debate some other day). Rather, let's just look at the ferocity of the official Turkish response to the mere suggestion of an apology. The online petition campaign does not use the word "genocide," nor does it seek to compel the government to apologize officially. It just serves as a way for people to publicly express sorrow over a tragic loss of life. Yet already, it is being met with threats of official action: petition leaders have been criticized by the Turkish military and were investigated by a Turkish prosecutor for possible charges of "insulting Turkishness," a punishable offense.

So - Turkey demands Israel apologize for its actions on May 31. Fine. But how does Ankara react when the topic of apology surfaces surrounding its own historical actions? By prosecuting academics and professors who question the "official version" of history, in a blatant violation of free speech.

Ankara's demand for an Israeli apology doesn't carry a whole lot of weight considering Turkey's long history of obstruction and prosecution surrounding the issue of the Armenian genocide and a possible apology for it. Whether or not the Armenian deaths were indeed a "genocide" is, for the issue at hand, not the point. Rather, the issue is Turkey's refusal to even allow free, open, public discussion about an historical tragedy. Perhaps the deaths were genocide, or perhaps they were not an organized campaign of violence. Perhaps an official apology is due, perhaps not. But until Turkey stops its childish stonewalling on the issue and allows free inquiry, we won't know conclusively.

Perhaps Ankara should refrain from demanding open inquiries and official apologies until it is prepared to accept them at home...

Good Riddance

Had a great time in Petra - more about that soon. But returned to Amman today to hear of two less-than-tragic deaths: Abu Daoud, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre, and Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, Hezbollah's "spiritual leader."

The sad part of this news is certainly not that these men are gone. Rather, I'm disappointed to see that both PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Lebanese PM Saad Hariri are issuing condolences or public statements of sadness. I'm sure this is being done largely to assuage domestic political pressure, especially in Lebanon, but these statements certainly provide ammunition to the crazy right-wingers in the US. I can hear the reasoning already - "Abbas regrets Abu Daoud's death, therefore he's clearly a terrorist sympathizer, therefore all Palestinians are terrorist sympathizers, therefore there's no way we can criticize Israel for its policies towards the Palestinians." Netanyahu is in Washington on Tuesday... let's see if these deaths are brought up either by the leaders or by the media.

Happy Fourth, to everyone reading in the US (and Chile) - for some reason, it's not as big of a holiday here...

Petra Plans

An email from Qasid yesterday notified us of a surprise day off next Sunday, giving us an unplanned 3-day weekend. I threw together plans for a quick trip down to Petra, where I will be until Sunday evening. There's a large contingent of Qasid folks heading down, so while I'm traveling solo on the Jordanian equivalent of the Bolt Bus, I will meet up with some familiar faces once I arrive.

I'll post pictures and news upon my return.

Meeting the PM

The Harvard Glee Club, in which I sing, arranged a series of exciting meetings for me today. HGC is traveling to the Middle East in winter 2011-2012, and one of their stops is Jordan. HGC leadership decided that, as long as I am in Jordan, I should do some of the legwork with regard to meeting alumni, scouting out venues, etc. So I threw on a suit and spent a little over an hour with Zaid Al-Rifai, the former Prime Minister of Jordan, and then had dinner with a US diplomat based in Amman.

The Al-Rifai meeting was quite an experience. I was told that he would be sending a car. What he didn't say is that the driver would be in a military uniform. The driver showed up at Qasid while I was still in class, and said he was looking for Marshall. Qasid administration pointed out the other Marshall, who was understandably terrified when a Jordanian soldier unexpectedly approached him and asked him to "please come with me." Luckily this was all cleared up, and I followed the driver to a very nice late-model Mercedes. Doors were opened for me, traffic cops saluted as we drove past. All in all, a very nice way to spend an afternoon.

The meeting itself was at Al-Rifai's home; we sat out in his marble courtyard, next to a beautiful fountain. I introduced myself, and after a short discussion of my experience in Amman, we dove into Glee Club details. Rifai is a Harvard alum, as is his son, the current Prime Minister. The man has considerable influence, unsurprisingly, and given his connections to Harvard, he is very eager to see the Glee Club travel to Jordan. He promised some very generous help with various aspects of the tour, which I reported back to HGC leadership. I may soon be dispatched to Egypt and the UAE to meet with our contacts there, though I sadly can't expect a similarly posh reception.

In the evening, I met with a Public Diplomacy officer stationed at the embassy here for advice on the logistics of bringing the groups here. He was full of information - venues, seating capacities, publicity issues, possible local groups to include in a joint concert, and the like. He also suggested a few of the restaurants I had to make sure not to miss while here for the summer. We also discussed his path in the US government and my interest in the field after graduation, though I didnt want to turn a Glee Club meeting into an informational job interview and so tried to keep that discussion short. He is beginning classes tomorrow at Qasid, so I may bump into him more often.

So two decently successful meetings in a single day - the luggage space I devoted to a suit and dress shoes is already worth it! The future likely holds a few more meetings as well... too bad I only brought one tie. While I wont be in the Glee Club when the actual tour comes around, I'll see if I can mooch off of leadership enough to get myself a free seat to tag along...

Nuclear Jordan

Interesting op-ed in today's New York Times. Yossi Beilin, a former Israeli official, argues that the US should allow Jordan to enrich its own uranium as part of its push to produce nuclear power.

Israel, despite having warmer relations with Jordan than with any Arab state, fears that in-country enrichment will give its Hashemite neighbor the expertise needed to produce a nuclear weapon. Never mind that Jordan has the right to enrich uranium under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (which Israel has not signed). Never mind that Jordan is closely allied with the US and other western countries. Ignore the fact that "the king has continuously affirmed his willingness for transparency on all matters relating to the production of nuclear power plants." Regardless of context, Arabs + uranium = unacceptable, in Israel's eyes. Mr. Beilin wisely argues against this paranoid view of Israel's security situation. 

On almost every issue, I agree with Mr. Beilin. Jordan has the right to enrich uranium, and given the large reserves recently discovered in the country (11th largest in the world), buying other people's uranium seems a foolish waste of money. More generally, if Israel isn't comfortable with nuclear power in Jordan, of all places, then my hopes are pretty dim for any meaningful Israeli cooperation with its Arab neighbors. Israel should support steps (like reliable electricity) that will stabilize its moderate, peaceful, pro-western neighbor. 

There is one detail Mr. Beilin omits, and this is where America's position becomes complicated. The US recently completed an important nuclear deal with the UAE, giving Abu Dhabi civilian nuclear technology in return for a waiving of its right to enrich uranium domestically. Israel would like to see Jordan also waive this right, which Jordan understandably wants to retain. However, if America signs on a deal that gives Jordan the technology while allowing it to retain the right to enrich, it could sink the UAE deal. From the June 12 Wall Street Journal:

The Obama administration views the U.A.E. deal as a model for its nonproliferation drive. American experts say it would be virtually impossible for the Emirates or any other nation to develop atomic weapons without the ability to produce highly enriched uranium at home. 

The White House has good reason to stick to its guns in its talks with Jordan: the U.A.E., in its agreement with the U.S., won the right to negotiate a new deal if another Mideast country concludes a nuclear pact with the U.S. on more favorable terms (emphasis added).

Here's America's dilemma. If we force Jordan to renounce its right to domestic enrichment, we anger a strong ally and possibly force it to get its technology from other nuclear powers (like Russia, China, or Pakistan). If the US does the right thing and gives Jordan nuclear technology without forcing it to waive its right, the UAE deal gets scrapped. The deal is an important part of the framework we are constructing in the Gulf now to isolate Iran and its rogue nuclear program, and its collapse would be a serious blow to that effort. The deal is also essential to the UAE's energy security. 

America has a good reason to seek Jordanian renunciation of enrichment - but it has nothing to do with Israeli security. If we continue to ask Jordan to waive its treaty-given rights, make sure the request is framed as an essential step to save the important UAE nuclear agreement. If our request for renunciation is seen as "the result of Israeli pressure," as Beilin suggests, we've done something wrong; it's about honoring our agreements elsewhere and continuing to isolate Iran. 

Weekend Adventures

This being my first weekend without early arrivals and a crippling time change, I went back into central Amman to do a bit of exploring.

Amman, though much cleaner and more organized than Cairo, is far less fun to wander around. I'm further from the downtown, so any trip in requires paying for a cab. Amman is a much newer city - it didnt become important until the 20th century - so there's very little historic architecture aside from the few ancient ruins. In Cairo, there was always a chance that I'd wander into an old market, or a 1,000 year old mosque, or the towers of the ancient city walls. I wont find any of this in Amman.

I started at the Souq Jara, which is a weekly open-air crafts market near first circle. It was clean and well-organized: nothing like Khan al-Khalili. I found a cool stand that was selling old Arab coins. I browsed extensively and ended up buying some from Mandatory Palestine and Syria, and also from Lebanon and Hashemite Iraq. The stand also had packs of old Arab-Iranian postage stamps, which I bought, along with some old Saddam dinars from Iraq (I bought the latter as a curiosity, and not out of any respect for the former leader, just so we're clear).

Afterwards, I did head into Downtown - the Balad - and spent a couple hours wandering. The atmosphere is markedly different from the western half of the city. It was crowded and hectic on Friday, and I ran into the fruit and vegetable market as well as a huge street market selling shoes, clothes, jeans, and used furniture. I felt lots of energy, crowds, and hustle and bustle - all of which is absent from the area where I live. It was interesting to see, but there really wasn't anything "cool" - no old sights, or mosques, or monuments, or anything that would bring me back a second time.

I ended my walk by the Roman Theater downtown, which may be a venue for the Harvard Glee Club's tour to the Middle East in a few years. In total, I spent four hours and about fifteen dinars. I also finally saw the truth of my roommate's warning that "there's just nothing there" in Amman's downtown.

Having milked Amman for most of its touristic value, I'm putting together my to-do list for the rest of the summer:

• Day Trip to Salt, the administrative center of the region during Ottoman times. Supposedly, this city has all the old architecture that Amman lacks
• Bus trip to Wadi Rum, a beautiful desert area in the south of the country
• Rent a car and visit the crusader castles of Karak and Shobak, via the King's Highway
• Weekend at Petra, one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. People are already making plans for trips down, so I may just join up and make some new friends. 

So, hopefully the most exciting excursions are still ahead of me. The thrills of downtown Amman certainly set a low bar...

Day 2 of Classes

Classes started Wednesday, so I've now experienced two days worth of instruction. I remain wary of making any premature judgments, but so far I am very happy with what I've encountered.

Each weekday has 4 hours of instruction, from 8AM-noon. We switch teachers at 10, getting exposure to different teaching styles. My class currently has eight people, but enrollment is still fluctuating so that might change too.

As I mentioned, I placed in the lower of the two possible classes. As a result, I'm reviewing material that was already taught during my Arabic class at Harvard last year. This is proving immensely beneficial, since all of the vocab that has slowly slipped away is being quickly reintroduced and reinforced. I get to work on the drills again with the vocab already memorized. Last time around, I was juggling too many balls with memorization and grammar and drills (and three other classes!), and so didn't get the most out of each unit. As an added bonus, I'm using the same textbook, and so some of the homework is already done. We'll eventually move forward into brand-new material, but this review is good.

But regardless of placement, the instruction and academic atmosphere is fantastic. Class is almost entirely in Arabic, with only a few English sentences emerging each day. Our first teacher confided to us that he doesnt speak much English at all, which is another added incentive to stick to Arabic. He speaks in Arabic for two unbroken hours, and both days, I've understood almost everything, both spoken and written. He's of course using easier words and a slower pace than he might use with native speakers, but the fact that I'm holding my own in Arabic for two solid hours is a surprising, and encouraging, development.

I'm doing less well in the second session of class. I've decided that class consists of a good cop/bad cop routine: the first teacher comes, encourages you, and makes you feel great about your progress, while the second kicks your ass and shows you how much work you still have to do. I'm understanding less in the second half and am often in need of more explanation, but again, it's all in Arabic and I'm still holding on. Our teacher is also wonderfully sweet - just because she's the bad cop doesn't mean she's mean about it. The attitude is very encouraging inside and outside of class. Even the Qasid staff and administration - fully bilingual - will patiently humor us while we try to discuss any housing, billing, or other issues in Arabic in the spirit of immersion.

The Jordanian workweek is Sun-Thurs, so I'm ready to enjoy my weekend! Found a decent running path around the American Embassy (which works until I'm arrested for suspiciously stalking out the compound, haha), and maybe even a gym. I'm heading downtown in search of the fabled Friday Markets, so we'll see if I have any luck!