To the many of you who have now been urging me to update my blog, your cries have been answered. I am sorry for not updating my blog frequently, but I have to take a bus an hour to use the internet, and I am normally only able to do this once a week for an hour or so, in which time e-mail and news take priority.

But enough of that, you all want to know how things have been going in Jafer. Well, Ramadan was slow and I am glad it's over because no one worked and the Youth Center was almost always closed. Though it is unlikely I would have done much had I arrived in another month, as I was consistantly busy making my house comfortable and introducing myself to others. I really can't complain at all about my villiage; the people are very friendly, and my first two week I believe I only cooked for myself once.

About to weeks ago I visited my friend Curtis, who works in the Youth Center in Querria, about an hour and a half away on bus (atleast). One day we went to Aqaba, which is the small strip of land Jordan has on the Gulf of Aqaba. At first we tried to sneak into the five-star hotels and use there beach facilities, but to no avail, security is quite tight. In one of the hotels I was lucky enough to have my first drink in three months, a $9 Pinta Colata, but it was very much worth it. After leaving the hotel we saw two guys run off the street and hop a fence, towards the beach, and decided to follow in suite, and found a place on the beach that lied in a sort of no-mans-land between two hotels and was walled in. After swimming for two hours or so we went to the Pizza Gut there for a Ramadan fast-ending buffet, which was quite delicious, quickly stoped at safeway to purchase some foodstuffs not available at the corner store in Jaffer, and went back to Curtis' for another night. It was quite a day.

I have been promised to go to the desert with my landlord soon, and will keep you all updated as that develops. Also, next week I am hitting up the big city, Amman, to pick up my absentee ballot, see some Americans, and on Saturday attend an "International Peace Corps Sports Day." Evidently Japan and Australia have organizations like Peace Corps in Jordan, and one volunteer put this event together as a sort of 'meet and greet;' should be fun.

I promise to keep the blog updated more regularly in the future, buses run more frequently now that Ramadan and Eid are over.

Yesterday I was sworn in as a Peace Corps volunteer in a relatively formal (by Peace Corps standards) but relaxed ceremony. I listened to a speech by the ambassador, interestingly sympathetic, if not eccentric fellow. He told us some advise and stated how he dropped out of school to do volunteer work in Venezuela (I assume he went back) and coincidently studied in Jordan a few decades ago, even prior to his State Department career. We also heard speeches from the Minister of Social Development and the Governor of the Governorate of Irbid, where I have been living for the past two months. The 35 remaining trainings cum volunteers were sworn-in with the US government oath, so now yours truly is vested with the responsibility of protesting the U.S. from all enemies, both foreign and domestic.

I am still sick, but tomorrow I am moving to al-Jafer into my home sweet home. Today I went to Safeway and bought some cleaning supplies, hot sauce, mustard and oregano, the essentials, which I will either need immediately or be hard pressed to find near my site (Safeway has yet to open a branch in al-Jafer). Anyway, that is all for now. Next post I will be living in my house and workin'!

Hello all,

I have now completed PST and am spending three nights at a hotel in Irbid. Tomorrow I will be sworn-in at a ceremony with the US Ambassador and other notable notables. I am anxious to move to my site, but all this is hampered by a cold I seem to have developed. Since Monday I have felt somewhat weak, but today it really became noticeable. But my sick state is further exacerbated by the fact that it is Ramadan now - so all the stores are closed during the day and it is difficult for me to find places to eat. But do not fear, tomorrow I will have a normal breakfast in the morning, so I should be fine if I can get enough sleep.

Hello all,

I returned from my site visit yesterday excited and with a new name. From now on, you can call me Abu Isa al-Gasim Abu Tayya. Abu Isa will be the equivalent on my first name, which literally means father of Jesus. It isn't meant to be sacraligous, but men (and women) are commonly called by the name of their first born son. They had told me they wanted to give me an Arab name when I first got to al-Jafer, and I was more than willing, bt wanted it to be good, and after rejecting a few, went with Abu Isa. Despite not having any children, or any intention of naming a future son of mine Jesus, I deceided upon it since I think it might deflect attempts by people to proseletize to me (which occurs to every volunteer) thus avoiding innumerable awkward conversations. It was suggested by a man named Abu Isa, his first born son of some 27 children by one of his four wives.

To some extent, I feel as though I will be a walking cliche, as if everything was contrived - a Lawrence of Arabia of today... First of all, all men wear a thob, which is the traditional bedouin dress (it is the strerotypical image of clothes you have in your head right now). I too am planning on wearing it since it is very comfortable in the heat of the desert. Further, my landlord, Abu Thaher, who is the brother of the Director of the Youth Center, said when I return in two weeks, we will go hunting wild rabbit in the desert on camels for three days and nights. On top of this, the ancesteor, like gret great grandfather of my director and landlord fought along side T.E. Lawrence oner hundred years ago, and evidently there are people still alive and were children then that remember the army coming through the villiage. Further, half the villiage evidently participated to some degree in the making of the movie when it was being made in 1960 some 50 miles away.

But I will also be well looked after, my landlord and Director have promised to give me a bed, rug, table and chairs, and some kitchen ware when I move in. As for my house, it is currently being renovated, being brought up to Peace Corps standards, but I will have a walled in court yard (complete with a date tree), two rooms, a kitchen, and a bath. Plenty Big. All the rooms are off the courtyard, so I will have to go outside to go between my bedroom and the kitchen, but this is no big deal as it wont ever rain.

It seems I will have ample opportunity to socialize since every evening men just chill on their porches and talk. More than that my director seems very energetic and is a "mover and shaker" in the villiage, meaning I'll have access to most anything and anyone I might need for my projects. I was able to meet in two days virtually anyone who is anyone in the villiage, all the principles of the school, the mayor, the head of the development agency in the villiage, the district (like a county) director, along with countless other people whose names I forget with the exception of Abu and the occational Umm (mother).

I'm sure there are other worthwile things I am forgetting, but will add those later.

Today I had the fortunate opportunity to be the Director of my center, Abu Sugar (pronounced Sougir, I think it means falcon, but it is defiantly some sort of bird), a five-foot flat, skinny, chain-smoking, but enthusiastic former colonial in the Jordanian Army. He has a decent grasp of English, but thankfully insisted on speaking Arabic to me, and seems to be, in a word, amusing, but in a good and congenial way. He looks a bit uncomed, but I am very happy with what I have seen so far. Additionally, I learned that for my living arrangements I will have my own house, which is currently under renovation. Additionally, I will be a short three and a half hours from the capital Amman, which, due to the roads, is shorter than some of my colleagues to the north of me who live in the mountains. But I am very excited and looking forward to seeing my site on Saturday.

So I learned my posting today! I shall be working at the Youth Center in al-Jafar, a small town of around 8,000 in the extreme south of the country (which still only puts me 3 to 4 hours from the capital, Amman). It is in the middle of a mountainous desert, though it would be a misleading prevarication if I did not admit I am not exactly sure of the geography. The Youth Center in which I will be working is brand new, and the population consists of settled Bedouin. Evidently the people are known to be very friendly and it is supposed to be a nice place; all of the Language Coordinators and Jordanian staff told me I would be very much welcomed as Bedouins are supposedly known by their hospitality vis-a-vis sedentary folk . Also, my LCF, Ahmed, told me I will be like Lawrence of Arabia where I am going (which I link had the unintended effect of feeding my ego). On a side note, he told me Lawrence of Arabia is highly revered in Jordan for his - real or imagined- assistance to Arabs in the Great Arab Revolt of WWI, with Lawrence being a name of endearment of children by their parents. But I believe his statement to be correct of my living situation insofar as in a picture of the staff and related persons, aside from two members of the Jordanian military, all men were dressed in disdashes, which are the long flowing robes worn traditionally - and soon to be worn by yours truly. In a week and a half or so I will take a brief sojourn to visit the site, meet the Director of the center and my landlord, an event which is both causes me both trepidation and excitement.

I'm sorry for not updating my blog in a while. There isn't much new to report aside from the usual. This past week I had my mid-Language Proficientcy Exam (LPI). I scored Intermediate-Mid, whichmeans I pased the minimum I would need to attain in 5 weeks when the last exam is given. It is kind of friustrating, because I still feel this grading is low, but the highest person, who has had more Arabic than me only scored Intermediate-Mid. Since the colloloqial is much differen than the formal Arabic, I shouldn't be too disapointed.

In other news, yesterday and the daybefore I went on two nice long walks with my host brothers. I was able to see few shepards bring in their flock. One thing, dogs here are not nice pets, but animals to be feared, since thir jobs is to mind the sheep andward off preditors. anyway, i'll try to post later, the space bar on my computer isquite annoying.

So I ghandwashed my clothes today for the second time. I am really not convinced I am cleaning the clothes so much as making them smell alright. Were it not for the mucky water left over from cleaning, providing visual confirmation that at least some dirt is being expunged from the fabric, I would have concluded it is worthless. Mostly, I fear ripping some of the theads out and ruining shirts as a result of rubbing the articles together with too much force. I am pretty committed now to the idea of buying a washing machine....most Volunteers have them, and they say they run around $80, so not that bad.

On Wednesday I am leaving my villiage to shadow a current volunteer, which should be fun and informative - and also relaxing. Foremost, it will be nice to have access to a toilet I can be fairly certain is fairly clean. Anywho, that is all for now.

I feel that living in a small community in a country at the lower end of the economic spectrum (it is ranked 103rd in per capita income, though significantly higher in HDI rankings) allows a person a unique opportunity to guage the far-reaching effects of globalization. In the villiage, everyone has a Nokia cellphone, and my host brothers love to watch such dated cartoons as Tom and Jerry and Looney Toons (I even caught the tail end of a Woodey the Woodpecker episode). The teenagers listen to American pop and rap music despite not understanding the lyrics, which is probably for the best, since the lyrics would emit a rather unfavorable impression of American society (as I speak Shakira is blaring rather loudly in the Internet Cafe). At the same time, there continued presence of traditional practices and notions of space. Tonight, for example, I am to attend the equivalent of a bachelor party - which severely contrasts with the image of the American version is that all attendees will be male and sober. What is unique and intensly localized is that as far as I can tell, only the immediate region practices this event. In the rest of the country, only the bride has what is called a Henna Night (Layla al-Henna). 20 kilometers away, in Irbid, this practice is entirely foreign. The uniquness is further attenbsted by my laguage instructor, Ahmed, who, when hearing me tell him of my invitation laughed, assuming I had misunderstood. He then spoke with my host mother and my translation was verified. There then seems to be a very tenuous balance between extreme locality and identification with one's region and a monolythical globalized (or even national) culture.

So a fun fact about my villiage - I am about two kilometers from the Syrian border. Yesterday I waked within 100 meters of the border, about 20 minutes walking. We have to stay on the road as the border is lined with an electric fence and land mines, a vestigial, I am told, from the interneceine disagreements of the 1950s and 60s, when Syria, being a revolutionary regime in the Egyptian and Soviet camp were not BFF the Hashemite monarchy, who was (and remains) staunchly pro-western; apparently a few get set off each year for various reasons.

Hello all,

I am sorry, but this post will fail to be as elaborate as the last one. I am settling into my host family nicely - into a routine. I am sorry if my grammer does not reflect that ofa college graduate, but many of the keys on my computer stick (perhaps I should always use this excuse to hide me from criticism for my usually poor spelling abilities?). Anyway, I thought it would summarize my typical day - it really isn't all that exciting though. after waking around seven in the morning and having abreakfast of oil and herbs and yougurt with pita bread (kobz) I have my colloquial Arabic lesson from eight to noon. After a quick falafel sandwitch break, I go to the Youth Center (murkaz as-Shabab) for some sort of training. I usually return to the home of my host family around 3:30 and have a proper lunch (the mid-day meal is the largest). The rest of the day will vary from studying spendin g time with the host family to a plethora of other possibilities.

Today at the youth center we had our most informative session yet. Two current Youth Development Volunteers spoke and answered our questions and abated many of our concerns. Apparently, training is the most stressful time with the the most regimented schedule.  Once we receive our posts, there will be much more time for R&R.

They did, however, warn us of the challenges that remain ahead. By its nature, the youth development program is extremely unstructured, at first glance to a fault, but I suppose time will tell (current volunteers do not think the lack of firm direction is a disadvantage). They did however say it will seem as though I am not being productive for the first few months- which should wisely be spent developing a favorable repore with the community.  Dan and Bill also informed us of a Youth Olympics they put together, which will bring children from all Youth Centers volunteers work at to Amman in late August. They recieved a grant from the Peace Corps and from the Jordanian Higher Council on Youth, under whose mandate all Youth Centers operate. This is all for now.

I have been in Jordan for narly a week now and I just arrived at the house of my host family - the Abu Mahers - with whom I wll live for nine weeks while I study Arabic and do training. I am in the village of Tura, which, with a population of 30,000 is hardly a village by American standards. It is interesting, it seems any settlement of peple that is not a major city is called a village. Ramtha, where the female Youth Development (YD) trainees are for their homestay has an estimated population of 100 thousand, and was also described as a village (goreea).

The family I am wifth are very nice. In addition to Abu and Umm Maher (father and mother of Maher there are three sons - Ahmed, 15; Khaled, 12; and Abdullah, 9 - and a baby girl, Noor, who is 16 months, who enjoys running around the house, but then often looses her balance and plopping on the ground. There are also evidently three older girls, all of whom are married and live outside the household.

The house itself is very quaint, and is lined with Olive Trees, with grape vines in the rear . My bedroom itself seems to be a later addition, as it is only accessable outside the house, having a door on the porch. It is probably normally used primarily as a secondary sitting room for celebrations, perhaps where te men congregate, leaving women the normal living room inside the house proper, which is easily accesible to the kitchen and the bedrooms, though this has not been cooroberated. My room is very large, perhaps ten feet by twenty, lined with floor cushons to sit on, and a fan in the center.

My house is right next door where two other YD male volunteers - Erik and Randy - are staying and is of similar size. The fourth volunteer, along with our Language and Cultural Facilitator, Ahmed, are living in a house which can only be described as tricked out, and could possibly be on the Jordanian version of MTV "Cribs," complete with a proper toilet (most homes use a Turkish toilet, which will be intimnatly described in a latter entry), a Play Station 2, around 6 sitting rooms, a big screen TV - this all being only on the first floor - there are three. It is funy, because who would have thought one's living stanbdards would actually improve in the Peace Corps.

That is it for now, will add more later.

Tonight is my last night stateside. Tomorrow at 3:55 I am flying Delta directly to Amman, arriving on July 1 at 10:35 local time. Yesterday, I took a Chinatown bus up from DC, arriving in Philadelphia at 12:30. After hailing a cab I easily found the University Sheraton Hotel, located directly across from the UPenn campus. I quickly changed into "business attire" in a restroom not having worn dress clothes on the bus since in all likelihood the bus would smell (which it did) and my room not yet being available. After submitting all required documents staging began.

I will not bore you with a recitation of every specific event, but suffice to say, the material covered was extremely general, operation from a macro Peace Corps perspective. Specific information on Jordan, and idiosyncratic policies and practices of the Post will be covered in three days of in country orientation. Staging also served to allow a familiar cultural setting where all volunteers could be themselves and get to know one another without fear of crossing a taboo. On Friday I will begin an intensive, 10 week Pre-Service Training (PST) where I will be instructed on my specific tasks and be submitted to 24 hours a week of intensive Arabic study, which I am looking forward to experiencing.

The group as of now consists of 39 Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs), though at number is expected to shrink to 30 within six months. Though I have only known them for a little over 24 hours, andhaven't yet engaged every person, everyone seems very energetic and I fully expect to get along well with everyone. I am not entirely sure when I will have internet access next in order to author another post, but I hope to remain in your thoughts until that time. If you would like my address in Jordan (to send me stuff) please e-mail me and I will be glad to e-mail it to you. Chao.

Well, as reticent as the Peace Corps seems to be on divulging information, I have finally gleamed some information on my Training schedule while in Jordan. After arriving in the capital on Sunday (or Monday morning early) my Peace Corps class will be bused to Irbid, the second largest city, and located in the fertile north of the country, where we will spend three days in a hotel. Following this, each Volunteer will be assigned to his or her host family, residing in a village outside of the city, but near-by nevertheless. Five of my days every week will be spent in the village, learning the tasks and specifications of my assignment - I imagine this will also involve shadowing someone in my position - with the remaining two days elapsing in the city of Irbid itself. The training period consists of six days a week of training, so I am really unsure exactly where the one day of rest per week is spent, but I suppose I will know soon enough. I am getting quite excited and rather restive in Florida.

Just in case you couldn't get enough of me, I will be spending a few days in DC on my sojourn to Philadelphia for staging. From Tuesday, June 24 until Friday, June 27 I will be gracing the District with my presence one last time. So if you would like to buy me a beer before embarking on two years of altruism and a lack of self indulgence, please let me know.

I know that many people label the Peace Corps a bastion of liberal do-gooders who place an conception of the ideal above pecuniary benefits. To those people I say no! I was recently informed that the Peace Corps was nothing more than part of America's "neo-liberal, imperialist agenda" for spreading, what is at essence, capitalist and Western values. So for all those who might role their eyes or cannot relate, just consider the Peace Corps as a PR spin doctor for the US government and volunteers as civil missionaries bent on "saving" the pockets of otherwise egalitarian natives.

Hello all,

So this will be my first blog posting on the site intended to keep you all informed of the latest developments in my life. Past blogs of mine have ended abysmally, with very few postings, a result, I believe, stemming from a personal indifference to cataloging my experiences and thoughts on a public medium, and a general feeling that most people with blogs have little to tell other than inconsequential and disjointed ramblings. Well, now I intend to add my voice to this unintelligible choir and recount, as a way to keep in touch while minimizing e-mails as a result of what I imagine will be irregular internet access.

To get started, I suppose I can inform you of approaching dates. On June 27 I will fly to Philadelphia for what is called "Staging," where I imagine I will be told similar lectures to what I was told while in Cairo about representing America and being safe. While I will of course take all information told to me with complete seriousness, I cannot but contemplate the composition of the group, and there subsequent reactions to these lectures. No doubt most of them will be well traveled, and not the type to generalize or sensationalize the region. And judging by the names on the current list of volunteers, and e-mail correspondences, it seems to be a balanced group of people with lots of knowledge on the region, and others with little interaction. I can't wait to inquire into some of the other volunteer's motivations for desiring a posting in the region (if they requested it at all, or perhaps initially loathed the idea).

Anyway, for about two days, I will have a series of lectures, followed by, on July 1 or so, actually traveling to Jordan to begin three months of training, the specific activities of which remain ambiguous at this time. However, in a few weeks I will receive a welcome packet with my flight information, in addition to what I hope is further explanation of details. I know I will be a Youth Development Volunteer, and I have already come across the acronym YD, so I shall assume it carries some level of formalism, and will use it for abbreviation purposes. In these three months though, I am not at all sure where I will be or what I will be doing. I believe some traveling is involved, and know I will be staying with a host family, which should be exciting. But the position itself accords much personal leeway, with one responsibility being teaching English, though I will also be afforded opportunities to develop other activities of the Youth Center I will be working from.

In any event, that is all I have now. Thanks for reading this introductory post.

~Alex