Middle Eastern Myth Buster

Hi everyone!

As expected, internet is a rare and elusive commodity in Jordan. My roommate and I are paying an arm and a leg to get a shotty connection from a dial up drive that we have to share in our apartment. But, not being able to post for the last couple of days has given me time to do enough first hand research to shut down a few of the middle eastern stereotypes we are fed in the U.S. Here are some of the facts on the big myths.

1. Myth: All Middle Eastern countries are dangerous.

Fact: Okay, this is only part myth. There are lots of ways to die in Jordan. You can get hit by a car or develop a degenerative disease. You can fall down the stairs, die in childbirth or drown. Actually, I take that last one back. You can't drown in Jordan. There isn't enough water. The point is that the Middle East isn't dangerous, the world is dangerous. Jordan is actually pretty safe. In fact, the life expectancy rate in Jordan is actually higher than it is in the U.S. No joke. Check the CIA world factbook.

On our second day of orientation we were taken to the U.S. embassy for a security briefing. They expained that if we do drugs or insult the king and get caught that they can't get us out of jail and that if we die while we are here, statistics say it will be at the hands of a cab driver and his weapong of choice: his cab. So don't jaywalk. Then they let us go. Never did they mention a single word like political unrest, terrorism, car bombs, jihadists, al-Queda or any of the other vocab words we associate with the Middle East. I know many of you have been worrying about my safety, so I wanted to put this myth to rest first. I'm very safe in Jordan. And you would be too, if you came to visit me. Which I would love. You could have my bed, I would take the couch... just an idea. : )

2. Myth: It is very difficult being a woman in the Middle East.

Fact: It is very hot being a woman in the Middle East. Muslim women, especially during the holy month of Ramadan, which we are in the thick of right now, cover their hair, legs and arms. I imagine they are very hot, because as a member of the other group - non-muslim women (which includes men both inside and outside the Islamic faith and women of all other faiths) I am expected to cover my legs, shoulders, midriff and chest and I am hot. However, covering ones extremities is a requirement of Islam, not Jordanian law and non-conservative Muslim women may not choose to follow it. Beyond that, Jordanian (and I suspect many Arab women) are not more oppressed than women are in the U.S. They drive cars, hold jobs, go to college... It isn't safe for women to walk alone at night and we do have to be more aware of our surroundings than men. Annoying? Obviously. An exlusively Middle Eastern problem? Definitely not. Actually, in my experience that's pretty much true for women anywhere in the world.

That said, it actually seems to be harder for men in Jordan. There is a lot of distrust of men. In some restaurants men have to be accompanied by a woman or they will not be seated. This is becasue if too many men begin to hang out in an establishment, families and women will begin to feel uncomfortable and will stop going there. It was also much harder for my program to place men with homestay families than women, because many Jordanians don't feel comfortable inviting a strange single man to live in their homes.

3. Myth: Arabs are angry, crazy, evil, or just simply hate Americans.

Fact: Knowing that my dad is reading this, I do have a disclaimer on this myth bust. I absolutely can't generalize every person in the Arab world. There are 22 Arab countries (I'll bring home a special present for the first person that can name them all in a comment on this post. Hint: Afghanistan is not one of them) and over 300 million Arabs. There is certainly no way to accurately describe them all. I'm sure there are angry, crazy, evil American haters living in the Arab world. But, if there are, I haven't met them yet.

The first person that I met in Jordan was the man working at the money exchange counter at the immigration lobby in the Amman airport. It was three a.m. I had never even seen a Jordanian dinar in my whole life and there wasn't an ATM in sight. Immigration was not going to let me through customs into the main airport where there were ATMs without a visa, which cost $10 dinar and they only took cash. I was freaking out. The money exchange guy was calm, sweet, patient and in his best broken English directed me to an ATM through a side door where I could get cash. Then there was the guy at the tiny shop where I bought my phone cards who patiently explained to me three times, again in broken English, how the cards worked and to program them. When I still couldn't figure it out, he programed them for me. Ahmed, my apartment building guard spent his entire afternoon yesterday trying different remotes to find one that worked for my TV. This was after he hung my shower curtain and helped me learn to work the stove. None of this is in his job description. The cab drivers are hilarious and the Jordanian student interns in the CIEE program are sweet and excited to meet American students. To a Jordanian, I have learned, being a guest in their country isn't any different than being a guest in their house. Which means that they don't give you a hard time about being lost, or American or unable to speak Arabic beyond a few pathetic, mispronounced sentances. They are kind, patient, respectful and welcoming. They say "Ahlan wa Salan" over and over, which means, "You are so so welcome here." They want to know where you are from, whether you like their country, and always, if there is anything they can do to help you.

And this isn't just Jordanians. The Saudi Arabian English teacher I sat next to on the plane wrote down all his favorite restaurants in Amman for me. Ala, one of our student interns is Palestinian and reminds me of my little sister because she is like sunshine in human form.

The point is Arabs are not evil people. They have evil people. They have their Timothy McVeys and their Senator McCarthys and their Travis Clebolts. Who doesn't? Who among us can claim to belong to a society that has not produced a few psychotic sociopaths? The Arabs that I have met so far are a lot friendlier than some of the people I met in India, a lot less stuck up than many of the people I met in Europe and a lot less scary than the people I met in New York. It honestly hurts me now to think of the way that so many Americans percieve them. Its not our fault. September 11th was nearly 8 years ago now and when my program director mentioned it in her welcoming speech to a room of American students the excited whispering died and the room went silent. It still hurts. And all we've seen on TV and in the news for the last 8 years have been images of angry Arabs, crazy leaders promising to, "wipe Israel off the map," and insurgents attacking our soldiers. I get it. But, I'm here, living, working and interacting with "them" and I'm telling you, we're wrong. Most Arabs don't walk around all day hating us, or plotting ways to attack us. There are good people in the Middle East. A lot of them. And if nothing else, they are taking very good care of me right now while I am a long way from home. So if you can't give them anything else on my word alone, give them that.

I'll write again soon! Love you all.

Caddie