bingo for starbursts!

Mar7abtein. How is everyone? I must say, things here are great. In fact, lately I have been noticing that my life is very nice, perhaps nicer than it has been in recent years. I feel comfortable and at home in my apartment, I enjoy my friends and meet new ones all of the time, I am academically stimulated and motivated, and I am challenged every day in attempting to converse only in Arabic. I really do feel great, and feel as if I have mish mushkila--no problem.

Yom Kippur. It was not so tough. I felt reflective, tired, thirsty, and alone some of the day. I felt kind of short, rude, and cross until I recognized this--thanks to some friends pointing it out--and I forced myself to smile. At one point in the day, Ala' called us and a few of us went to a performance. Now listen carefully. This was a Palestinian and Iraqi nationalist music and poetry event, and it was beautiful. There were two men, one with a black Palestinian kuffiyeh and one with a red Jordanian kuffiyeh, tied together on two corners, waving it, and Rasha explained that "they have them together to show that Jordanians and Palestinians are like brothers." Beautiful. Between performances, massive chants started. Ari and I looked at one another, and I mentioned that I feel that if our identities were exposed, maybe we would not be so welcome or safe... It was intense, and beautiful. Full of love and passion. We had to leave for class, but I am so glad that I was a witness to an event like this because it demonstrated the importance of nationalism in the Middle East that I can only hear about or read about in the states.

Break fast last night was beautiful. We made all kinds of dishes: Ari's broccoli kugel, my spread of bageleh (the supermarket that I went to no longer makes bagels, they told me, and I was pretty sad but it worked out fine) with cream cheese and vegetables, regionally influenced salad (if I call it Israeli, will Lebanon sue me?), bread that looked a lot like challah and had raisins in it, potatoes, spaghetti with garlic and oil (not as ethnic, but quite a hit!), and desserts!! Starring... my Jewish Apple Cake, as well as some local delicacies (so local, they were apple pie, cherry pie, cheese cake, tiramisu, and Nescafe cake). It was great, not going to lie. We all enjoyed the beautiful meal with ethnic influences. Those of us who fasted, all 3, ate quickly and filled up of course. At 3am, however, lunch was eaten. Very nice evening.

Today I was considering going to a football match. Well, it was not just any football match. One team is Palestinian. One team is Jordanian. Both teams are Jordanian, as it is the Jordanian league, but it's more complicated than that. To fill in those who might be a bit behind, a huge portion of the Jordanian population consists of Palestinian refugees. The divisions between the two communities--Palestinian Jordanian and Jordanian Jordanian--exist, though not overtly in most experiences in Amman. However, at football matches? Yeah, apparently it's going to be intense. I wanted to go, but then I heard from a local friend that it wouldn't be a good idea. I remember how I felt at the concert at the University yesterday, and I imagined that with thousands more people with much more to risk and less to lose, riot police everywhere, and me being the Jew in the middle. No, nobody would know I was Jewish, but hey. Let's not play the wildcard this time. Next game, if it's less intense, maybe. But this one? I was advised against it, so I decided to save my adventures for something else. Mom and dad, are you proud of me?

I know I was going to discuss traditional marriage here, but I decided not to. It's different, and I will permit my wife to work. Take care, all, tomorrow another weekly adventure to the Baptism Site.

--Ibrahim