Orientation

We spent the morning receiving an orienation and introduction to Jordan. We traveled to the AMIDEAST offices for our class. The people have been very nice. Jordan is country of 5.5 million people plus 1.5 million Iraqis who now reside in Jordan since the war. One third of the people live in Amman. There is rapid building and change, but they hold on to much traditional Arab culture and conservatism. Many of the social traditions predate Islam and are more Arab and Bedouin and therefore tribal. We are in West Amman which is more westernized. Dress is conservative western for the most part. A few women wear hijab. Learned about Wasta. Wasta means mediation, intervention, intercession, networking, and connections. It is used everyday for everything. People ask you personal questions and give advice without being asked. People watching is a national pastime. Shame (abe) is a big part of the culture and behavior which is part of the system of social control.

Efraim, Lil, Mark, Jayne show intense attention.

Mike and Sally our AMIDEAST directors.

1st day – The two day trip

About 10:30 on the night before I left I looked at my ticket and compared to the itinerary that I had been emailed. The email that I had been sent in early May had me to go to a website for the designated travel agency. It had a download feature that I was able to download to my computer and palm which contained all of the flight information. The paper ticket and itinerary that I was sent by FedEx was different on flight number and departure time by four hours. After a frantic call to Delta, I discovered that I was leaving at 12:50 not 4:55. This only added to my general anxiety about forgetting something important like my passport. The good news is I made it okay to Atlanta at around 4:30, so that I could wait five hours until 9:30 for my flight to Paris.
The flight to Paris was late. I got to sit in the back of the plane with 20 French high school students 17 of them were girls who giggled in French throughout the night. The airport in Paris is crazy it took a 20 minute bus ride to get to the terminal. One gets to all planes via bus and stairs. I barely made connection. My knees are rubbed raw from the seat in front of me. Jet lag is starting to hit me, so I am going to close. I did get a picture of the other five that came in through Paris.

Cindy and Lil

Paul, Rana, and Matt
There are four more that were delayed from NYC. They are due in at 3:00 a.m. Our first meeting this morning is at 9:30. Security around the hotel is very tight with barricades and soldiers carrying automatic weapons. We went through metal detectors and bag search before we could get in the hotel.

Will, Paul, and Lil

Craig Campbell

This is a picture from 2003.

Journal of Jordan Summer 2006

My name is Craig Campbell. I have been selected to learn about the culture of Jordan by the Fulbright-Hays seminar folks. My intention is to keep an online journal of my thoughts and observations. I will leave Austin Texas on June 28th and return August 5th. I am an Assistant Professor in Public Safety Management at St. Edward's University. Information about that program can be found at http://www.stedwards.edu/newc/pacepsm.htm