Dongle is hands down my new favorite word. Phonetically it is a union of syllables stronger than the relationship of Brangelina, not to mention the fact that it sounds like a word a junior high school boy would have created. A Dongle is more than just a word carved out of the best sounds known to man,; it is also the key to me accessing internet in Jordan. A dongle is slightly bigger than your typical flash drive, and it plugs into the USB port on your computer. Once plugged in, the Dongle grants access to the 3G signal it receives and the miracle of the internet is granted to the computer.
The wonders of the internet are available to me without the Dongle. I get WiFi at the University, and of course I can go to Starbucks, which has appeared in Jordan like a plethora of dandelions sprouting out of cracked pavement. The reason I use a Dongle is because internet can be complicated when abroad. The internet has been a powerful tool in the Middle East. Many people have done research on its impact on the "Arab Spring" and many people also question its use by insurgent groups. Not only that, but internet is often a taxed commodity in the Middle East. I was talking to a Computer Science student at the University, who made it clear that the internet in Jordan is taxed. Because the internet is such a valuable commodity, it can often cost a pretty penny. More affluent people who live in Jordan have internet in their homes, but often they buy limited plans because unlimited plans can cost so much. It's because of this that the CIEE provides the students in Jordan with a Dongle upon arrival. The CIEE preloads the Dongle with five Jordanian Dinars, which is approximately seven US dollars. This gets you around three gigabytes of data, and once you use that up, it's up to you to go out to the provider and buy a scratch card which gives you a code that you enter to refill your Dongle. It's a fun system, and it's one of the many ways that you can go about getting internet access in Jordan, but it's one of the fun constant reminders that I'm in an area much different from where I grew up.
Another reminder that I'm not in America anymore is the excursion I had yesterday to the city of مادبا (Madaba). Madaba is an ancient city that's well known in Jordan for its large Christian population. It's home to a lot of famous biblical locations, such as Mt. Nebo, and we went to a church that is the alleged site of the beheading of St. John the Baptist. Other than the obvious draw of going to the site of a historical beheading, at this church they also put on a mock wedding for the CIEE students. Despite the disappointment of no accidental legalization of marriage, the mock wedding was an absolute treat. We spent a good four hours at this church, playing games, eating food, and most importantly, doing the دبكه (Dabke). The Dabke is a traditional dance in the Middle East. That sentence just about exhausts my knowledge of the Dabke, but incredibly enough, yesterday I got a chance to do it. Here's a video of what the Dabke looks like.
When we arrived at the church there was a group of people playing bagpipes and drums, and after a short trip inside the church we were herded back outside when the bagpipes started wailing and the drummers started banging. Now I want you to picture a bunch of Americans being pulled into a line by a bunch of Jordanians and trying to follow what they do, which is a form of what is happening in the video. The majority of us struggle to simply not trip over our own feet, and we oscillated between the awkward junior high dance stake out and over commitment to a dance we didn't know how to do. Hands down the best part of the entire experience was seeing the absolute joy on the face of the Jordanians. Arabs are incredibly hospitable people, and the group yesterday spent the entire night ensuring that we were engaged and welcome in this show of culture. Between the dancing, games, and mounds of food bigger than Mt. Nebo, I was exhausted, and I slept like a baby when I got home.
Other than sleeping, one of my favorite activities while at my homestayis to watch soap operas with my host family. From talking to other CIEE students, it seems like we end up watching a lot of the same programs, and one of the most infamous ones is a soap opera that is originally in Turkish but has been dubbed in Arabic. Watching it is like a blend of Godzilla in English, Godzilla in Japanese, and The Days of Our Lives. Usually, just as I hear the word for “hello” in Arabic, and convince myself that I'm capable of making sense of what's happening on the screen, somebody gets shot and my hopes of enlightenment slip away from me like a wet bar of soap. Despite my perpetual confusion, there is something utterly addicting about watching these shows. Sure, it took me a whole week to figure out the main character’s name was Omar (which is apparently also the name of the show), but I'm really invested in what happens with this guy’s life. Will he end up with Elaine, or are the doomed since his brother is a criminal who killed her parents? Who is the character who just appeared on the screen? Why is that person so angry? What type of food are they eating? Despite the fact that I don't think my parents paid for me to go abroad just so I could watch the soap operas here, there is something strangely educational from my experiences watching them. I may not always understand what is happening on the TV, or even anywhere else in Jordan, but the process of slowly recognizing more words and gradually becoming more invested in what is happening is definitely worth the cost of admission.
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