Classes!

Haven't posted in a while, so I thought I'd update folks on what I'm doing. I've now had just over a week of classes, so that's been keeping me occupied. Why I am writing this now, when I should be in class, you ask? Well, I had the good (or bad?) fortune to get 1-5 classes, guaranteeing me plenty of sleep every night and a lazy morning. The other bizarre thing is that our off days are Friday and Monday, meaning that we don't have a two-day weekend, but we never have class more than three days in a ow. The Qasid folks explained that this would reduce both the Friday fatigue of sitting through the fifth consecutive class day, as well as the forgetfulness of Mondays, in which you're struggling to remember what you slept through on Friday. So far I tend to agree with them. It's great to not have to go more than 3 days before a day off. And the only problem--how to take weekend excursions--is hopefully solved by them rearranging a couple of the weekends to make them consecutive. That way, we can go to Syria or Petra or something like that.

Other fun things:

• Went to Madaba this past Monday. It's a Christian town just 45 minutes south of Amman, whose ancient churches boast beautiful mosaics, including the oldest known map of the Middle East. We visited it as a day trip, though we spent about 5 times as much money trying to find the right bus station in Amman--getting scammed by taxi and serveece drivers all the way--as we spent on the actual bus fare (maybe $1.50 roundtrip).

Modern church building, but the right mosaic has a great picture of Pope John Paul II preaching at Mt. Nebo (where Moses saw the Holy Land and then died) a few years ago:














Part of the big, old map, showing the Holy Land:

Fragments of mosaics at the Archaelogical Museum in Madaba:

• Went to a Sufi zawiya (convent) a few nights ago for their twice-weekly hadra. You may have heard of the Whirling Dervishes, famous for their spinning, twisting rituals. Also known as the Mevlevis, they represent one particular tariqa (order) in Sufism, which is generally described as the mystical side of Islam. Well, the Sufis in Kharabsheh--which is filled with them--are adherents of a different order, the Shadhili tariqa. Their hadra, in which they practice dhikr, or remembrance of God, is characterized by men standing in a circle, following a rhythmic pattern of alternately bowing and leaning back. Now, as you know, believing in God and following a rhythm are two things I'm not especially good at. But I went along gamely, and as it was the first time as well for my roommate, Mohammed, who'd invited me to the hadra, I felt less out of place. It helped that I was, like everyone else, wearing a kufi, which I'd bought downtown for just a dinar. Besides, the Kharabsheh zawiya is an interesting, not exactly traditional place. For one thing, many of the dervishes are Americans or Westerners who've converted to Islam and have come to study and worship under the master of the zawiya, one Shaykh Nuh. For another thing, this Shaykh Nuh is also a convert. Known as Shakyh Nuh Hah Mim Keller (the last name of which is not exactly Arab or Muslim), he was born Roman Catholic but, after a lot of philosophical soul searching, gravitated toward Islam. His fascinating account of this conversion (long, and not a bit convincing, is here: http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/nuh/bmuslim.htm). In any case, I was amazed to travel so far from the United States and find a mix of Jordanian locals and expat Americans practicing dhikr!
• Oh, I suppose I'm taking classes as well. Those are actually quite good, although in the first few days, when the workload was light and the going slow, I wondered how much I'd benefit. Luckily, the pace has picked up, and we're on track, as far as I can tell, to finish the book. That would enable me to skip Harvard 3rd year Arabic and start 4th year or do colloquial language. I could go more in detail as to what exactly we're doing in class (passive conjugations of hollow verbs! discussions of Islamic revivalism in the context of antidemocratic Arab politics!) but I fear a lot of it would be lost on the audience. Suffice it to say that I'm ata'llum al-luga al-arabiya bi-shaklin jayiddin, wa sawfa atakalam bisur'a wa wadihan heena arja'a ila al-wilayat al-mutahada.
• I'm going to see WALL-E tonight! It's at the Mecca Mall. Don't judge.
• Food still good. Keep posted for updates.
• Went to Wild Jordan (modernist, organic food, US-funded cafe with great view of downtown Amman) couple of nights ago. Here's roommate Mohammed on the balcony, with the Temple of Hercules in the background:

That's all, folks!