It's been a while since my last post because I've been in Jerusalem since wednesday and I'm just now able to start posting about everything that has happened this week. I'll start by talking about Monday, before my trip to Jerusalem, and then my next couple of posts will be about my trip. On Monday night, one of our conversations partners (Yussef) invited Jim and I over his house to eat Mensaf - the traditional Jordanian dish composed of rice, chicken, nuts, what I think was parsley, and topped with cooked yogurt. The cooked yogurt sounded a little iffy at first but it was actually really delicious! In fact, the whole meal was by far the best meal that I've had here in Jordan.
Yussef's village is about 45 minutes away from Irbid by bus. At about 5:00 pm, Jim and I, together with our 3 language partners (Yussef, Majd, and Khaled), headed out to Yussef's village. When we arrived, we were invited to take off our shoes and enter their sitting room. As far as I know, most traditional houses in Jordan have a carpeted sitting room right at the front of their house where they receive their guests. This is the "public space" within the home, and thus it was the only room (besides the bathroom) that we saw of the house. When we walked into the sitting room, we saw that it was lined on three sides with small mattresses and pillows on which we could sit and recline. There was also a tv, stereo, and a computer on the 4th wall. We then met Yussef's father, brother, and cousin who generously welcomed us into their home.
We sat and talked for about 20 minutes until the Mensaf arrived. It was all on one big plate which we all ate off of. The cooked yogurt was in a separate pot, and Yussef periodically poured some of it over the plate to ensure that the correct proportion of rice to chicken to yogurt was maintained. As I said before, the meal was absolutely delicious. We quickly devoured most of the plate. After the meal, we returned back to our seats and drank water, and then soda. The custom after the meal is for the host to fill up a cup of water and give it to one guest at a time. The guests are supposed to drink half of the water and then return the glass to the host, who in turn fills it again and gives it to the next person. This is repeated until everyone has drank from the glass. Jim and I, being the guests of honor, were the first and second people to be offered this cup, but we did not know the tradition. First, Jim held on to his cup (without drinking it because he was skeptical of the water quality). Seeing this, Yussef left the room to get another cup, which he then filled and gave to me. I had a feeling that we would all drink from the same cup, mostly based on Yussef's body language, so I proceeded to drink the whole glass and by the time I was about 2/3 done, Yussef got another cup. He filled this cup and gave it to Majd, Khaled, and everyone else who all drank half and gave it back. They then explained that this was the custom. Feeling slightly embarrassed, we apologized, but they took no offense. They were very gracious. I made sure to get it right the second time around.
Following the after dinner drinks, Khaled, Majd, and Yussef said there evening prayers, allowing us to watch because we were curious. Muslims are obligated to pray 5 times a day - before the sunrise, in the early afternoon, right before sunset, shortly after sunset, and then later at night. If there are multiple Muslims together, often one will take the lead in reciting the verses from the Quran outloud as they go through their ceremonial motions. Since it was Yussef's house, Yussef led the prayers. (If they are alone, it's normal for Muslims to just pray by themselves.)
When the prayers were finished, we left Yussef's house and went to his cousin Ibrahim's farm. At the farm, we sat on the roof of one of the buildings and talked for a long time. There was a cool breeze blowing across the fields of lemon and pomegranate trees. To our left, we could see Palestine because Yussef's village is right on the border. As we sat and talked, we were joined by several of Yussef and Ibrahim's friends, including the imam from one of the local mosques. We drank coffee and tea, and talked late into the night about many different topics. Mostly, we discussed Christianity and Islam because all of us enjoy talking about these subjects. Jim and I explained some differences between Islam and Christianity, the main one being that we believe Jesus was the Son of God, and simultaneously God himself.
This was a difficult concept for them to grasp for a number of reasons. The first reason is that Muslims believe that Jesus was a prophet, not the Son of God/God himself. They hold Jesus in very high regard, but don't believe in His divinity. Secondly, once we threw the Holy Spirit into the mix, it was difficult them to understand how we only believed in 1 God when we were talking about Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We just had to admit that the doctrine of the Trinity was difficult even for us to wrap our heads around. We could understand why they kept asking us if there were 3 Gods or 1, or if one of the members of the Trinity was in charge of the other 2. By the end of the conversation, I think that they understood that we only believe in 1 God, even if there are 3 parts.
Then we asked them some questions about Islam and Arab culture. When we talked about women in Islam, they made sure to emphasize that in the Quran, men and women are equal. This, in fact, was a revolutionary movement in Arab culture at the time, which previously had treated women as below men. Another (unrelated) thing that we took away from the conversation was that since feet are seen as dirty, it's impolite to cross your legs in a way that points the bottom of your foot at another person. I actually knew this prior to coming to Jordan. What I didn't know about was that if you are among friends, it's actually not a problem. When you are friends, everybody knows that you mean no offense, so it is acceptable. This, incidentally, was a great relief to me because I am particularly fond of sitting with one leg propped up on the other and had previously been at pains to break myself of this habit when I was sitting with them.
At about 2:30 am, we decided we were tired, and should go to bed, so we headed downstairs to sleep. Unfortunately, I did not sleep well, and we had to wake up at 6:00 am to catch the bus back to Irbid so that we could get to class on time. It was worth the tiredness though. I thoroughly enjoyed that night! I'm sure it will remain one of my fondest memories of Jordan.
Here are some pictures:
Yussef's village is about 45 minutes away from Irbid by bus. At about 5:00 pm, Jim and I, together with our 3 language partners (Yussef, Majd, and Khaled), headed out to Yussef's village. When we arrived, we were invited to take off our shoes and enter their sitting room. As far as I know, most traditional houses in Jordan have a carpeted sitting room right at the front of their house where they receive their guests. This is the "public space" within the home, and thus it was the only room (besides the bathroom) that we saw of the house. When we walked into the sitting room, we saw that it was lined on three sides with small mattresses and pillows on which we could sit and recline. There was also a tv, stereo, and a computer on the 4th wall. We then met Yussef's father, brother, and cousin who generously welcomed us into their home.
We sat and talked for about 20 minutes until the Mensaf arrived. It was all on one big plate which we all ate off of. The cooked yogurt was in a separate pot, and Yussef periodically poured some of it over the plate to ensure that the correct proportion of rice to chicken to yogurt was maintained. As I said before, the meal was absolutely delicious. We quickly devoured most of the plate. After the meal, we returned back to our seats and drank water, and then soda. The custom after the meal is for the host to fill up a cup of water and give it to one guest at a time. The guests are supposed to drink half of the water and then return the glass to the host, who in turn fills it again and gives it to the next person. This is repeated until everyone has drank from the glass. Jim and I, being the guests of honor, were the first and second people to be offered this cup, but we did not know the tradition. First, Jim held on to his cup (without drinking it because he was skeptical of the water quality). Seeing this, Yussef left the room to get another cup, which he then filled and gave to me. I had a feeling that we would all drink from the same cup, mostly based on Yussef's body language, so I proceeded to drink the whole glass and by the time I was about 2/3 done, Yussef got another cup. He filled this cup and gave it to Majd, Khaled, and everyone else who all drank half and gave it back. They then explained that this was the custom. Feeling slightly embarrassed, we apologized, but they took no offense. They were very gracious. I made sure to get it right the second time around.
Following the after dinner drinks, Khaled, Majd, and Yussef said there evening prayers, allowing us to watch because we were curious. Muslims are obligated to pray 5 times a day - before the sunrise, in the early afternoon, right before sunset, shortly after sunset, and then later at night. If there are multiple Muslims together, often one will take the lead in reciting the verses from the Quran outloud as they go through their ceremonial motions. Since it was Yussef's house, Yussef led the prayers. (If they are alone, it's normal for Muslims to just pray by themselves.)
When the prayers were finished, we left Yussef's house and went to his cousin Ibrahim's farm. At the farm, we sat on the roof of one of the buildings and talked for a long time. There was a cool breeze blowing across the fields of lemon and pomegranate trees. To our left, we could see Palestine because Yussef's village is right on the border. As we sat and talked, we were joined by several of Yussef and Ibrahim's friends, including the imam from one of the local mosques. We drank coffee and tea, and talked late into the night about many different topics. Mostly, we discussed Christianity and Islam because all of us enjoy talking about these subjects. Jim and I explained some differences between Islam and Christianity, the main one being that we believe Jesus was the Son of God, and simultaneously God himself.
This was a difficult concept for them to grasp for a number of reasons. The first reason is that Muslims believe that Jesus was a prophet, not the Son of God/God himself. They hold Jesus in very high regard, but don't believe in His divinity. Secondly, once we threw the Holy Spirit into the mix, it was difficult them to understand how we only believed in 1 God when we were talking about Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We just had to admit that the doctrine of the Trinity was difficult even for us to wrap our heads around. We could understand why they kept asking us if there were 3 Gods or 1, or if one of the members of the Trinity was in charge of the other 2. By the end of the conversation, I think that they understood that we only believe in 1 God, even if there are 3 parts.
Then we asked them some questions about Islam and Arab culture. When we talked about women in Islam, they made sure to emphasize that in the Quran, men and women are equal. This, in fact, was a revolutionary movement in Arab culture at the time, which previously had treated women as below men. Another (unrelated) thing that we took away from the conversation was that since feet are seen as dirty, it's impolite to cross your legs in a way that points the bottom of your foot at another person. I actually knew this prior to coming to Jordan. What I didn't know about was that if you are among friends, it's actually not a problem. When you are friends, everybody knows that you mean no offense, so it is acceptable. This, incidentally, was a great relief to me because I am particularly fond of sitting with one leg propped up on the other and had previously been at pains to break myself of this habit when I was sitting with them.
At about 2:30 am, we decided we were tired, and should go to bed, so we headed downstairs to sleep. Unfortunately, I did not sleep well, and we had to wake up at 6:00 am to catch the bus back to Irbid so that we could get to class on time. It was worth the tiredness though. I thoroughly enjoyed that night! I'm sure it will remain one of my fondest memories of Jordan.
Here are some pictures:
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| Mensaf! |
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| Yussef, Majd, and I getting ready to chow down. You can see the bowl of cooked yogurt to the left of the plate. |
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| From left: Khaled, Majd, Me, Jim, Yussef |
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| Ibrahim's farm |
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