Aug

15

Saying Good-bye, and Hello Again

August 15, 2007 | 4 Comments

I thought this summer in Jordan would be different than the last. I thought I could blog more and write about everything that I saw and did and hated and liked. But it wasn’t. The Internet is still slow, and I have no control over my time. I have one week left here, and as usual, I’m swamped with last minute things to do. Family comes before everything, and privacy and personal space comes last. It’s really that simple.

With every passing year, I become more “homesick” at the end of my stay in Jordan. I love Jordan and I love my family here. The last day here, I always cry and think about how much I will miss my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. It’s sad to think that I live so far away from them, and that I won’t come again for another year. It’s hard to imagine that oceans and continents separate us for months, but in the summer, it’s as if we were never apart. I love the drives from Irbid to Amman to Jerash to Ajloun to Petra. I love the hills and mountains of this country, the old houses, the elderly men sitting outside their shops sipping tea, my grandmother’s cooking, and the cold breeze that makes me sleepy on summer nights as we sit outside chatting until the wee hours of the morning.

But I miss my home in the suburbs of Washington D.C. and the normalcy that comes with it. I miss having my car and being able to drive anywhere I want. I miss my friends and community who are really my extended family over there. And I miss the superficial things like wireless Internet, Starbucks Tazo Chai, Wal-Mart, highways, central A/C, green grass, and quiet neighborhoods. I miss my privacy and my space and my room and my laptop.

Every country has its own flavor and I’m lucky enough to be able to enjoy both in different ways every year.

I love you Jordan…and I can’t wait to get back to Viriginia!

Aug

1

“Free and Fair” Elections in Jordan…Or So They Say

August 1, 2007 | 3 Comments

I wanted to avoid speaking about the politics of the municipal elections in Jordan because I don’t know much about the process, the laws, or the candidates, but what happened yesterday leaves me with a lot to say.

I heard over the past few weeks that one of the nominees for the head of the municipality of Irbid will be supported by the government and that everyone knows he will win. Rumors were rife about the involvement of the military in the voting the process and the way they will vote openly and not with secret ballots.

By mid-morning, everyone was talking about the bus loads of military men who were taken to polling stations where they were instructed to vote for a certain candidate orally because the government claims that they are illiterate. Let me say that Jordan has one of the highest literacy rates in the Arab world, and that the military no longer even accepts anyone who has not passed the general high school examination.

By 2 pm, the Islamic Action Front (IAF) had withdrew from the elections because they saw the grave violations at the polls. While they stated that they had expected this, they went ahead and decided to participate in the elections process and hope for the best. Unforunately, the reality of the situation forced them and others to withdrwa. In Irbid, even the non-IAF candidates withdrew from the elections because they felt that they could not compete with the government’s support. In some areas, the residents stood in front of the polling stations and prevented the army buses from entering because they said those individuals were not from their precincts and therefore should not be allowed to vote there. Anyone who attempted to photograph these scenes was swiftly taken into police custody. I managed to snap a picture from afar as we were driving in Al-Husn of two buses which were carrying military personnel to vote.

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Worst of all, almost everyone who voted did so because the candidate was related to them or someone in their family told them to vote this way or that way. Nobody knows the candidates’ platforms or bothers to look for them. The national television station regurgitates official statements without even a touch of authenticity. And the best part is, they keep referring to this as the “Democratic Wedding”. Indeed, it is!

And the icing on the cake is to have the winner of the elections as your next door neighbor. Not only will you not sleep for a couple days, but your neighborhood will be taken over and transformed into a 24 hour party hall with police escorts standing by “guarding” and ensuring that the family makes enough noise to keep all of Irbid wide awake for the rest of the week. What a civilized way to celebrate!

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