A FLAS Fellow's Semester Abroad in Amman, Jordan

Wadi Rum Desert

by Audrey Dombro, an agricultural & consumer economics student and 2019-20 FLAS fellow

My name is Audrey and I studied as a European Union Foreign Language and Area Studies Scholar in Amman, Jordan for the fall semester. Amman is a sprawling city built across hills and valleys that resembles a small town; people will roll down their car window on the street to chat if they notice you’re foreign, and invitations to come to dinner or tea are free-flowing. On the bus, everyone sits close, and sometimes a baby ends up on a lap of a random passenger. 

Although Jordan is a 98% Muslim country, Christmas time of year the mall is packed with people viewing the elaborate 30-foot tall Christmas tree and other decorations, some wearing hijabs and others in Santa hats. During a long dry period, the churches and mosques of Amman offer “istasqa”, an Arabic word that means prayer to God for rain. Culture and conditions are embedded into the language, so my intensive language focus provided to me a depth of understanding in addition to a connection with others.

My courses included Modern Standard Arabic, Arabic Writing, Colloquial Conversational Arabic, and Intro to Islam. All of my classes were taught in Arabic and I took a language pledge to speak in Arabic, even among my peers. I lived with a host family in Jordan, which was composed of my warm, wise host mother who always asked if I was hungry whenever I walked through the doorway and my grown-up, married host siblings that resided all over the city and paid frequent visits to their beloved mama. 

I treasured the opportunity to explore faith in a geographic area that is riddled with sites of great importance to the Abrahamic religions. I visited a mixed religion school, where under the guidance of a priest and an imam who loved Christmas cookies, high school students were nurtured in an interfaith environment. In Islam class, I delved into a world religion that is largely misunderstood in America, learning through resources directly from Muslim Arabic-speakers that I felt would not otherwise be available to me without my Arabic study. I learned the true impact of this one day on the bus. 

Church of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple

King Hussein Mosque

 When I boarded the bus, the passengers were busy, tired, on their phones or eyeing the traffic. I was startled when a man began shouting at me in English. He stared directly at me and told me to be quiet and to listen to Islam, to learn about it, to study it. I originally gauged his outburst as an act of proselytization, so I turned away. Anguished, he then explained in English and in Arabic to the man sitting beside him that his daughter and wife were hijabis and had been mistreated in the United States. I finally understood that he had expressed a plea to me, to learn about Islam instead of fearing it, and to bring that attitude to my country. I wish I had told him that I understand the reality of harassment of Muslims in America, and I wish I had said that there are people working towards a more tolerant future. I still carry his message with me and recognize my responsibility to be a part of that work. 

The religions and cultures that predominate the Middle East permeate through all aspects of society. For instance, Islamic law creates a unique economic situation for banking in countries with Muslim populations. A class guest speaker from the Islamic banking industry shared details of Islamic investment portfolios and strategies that allow for investing without “ribah” (interest) because it is not permitted in Islam. The bank might buy a product and then sell that product to a business at a higher cost, rather than providing a loan with interest, or perhaps might take a share of the businesses’ gains. Additionally, Islam at times intersects with politics; another speaker discussed the Muslim Brotherhood, and his perception as a supporter varied greatly from what I’ve heard in other venues. He strongly believed the ultimate goals of the Brotherhood are democracy and social service provision.

"Distinguished Italian shoes" for sale in Jerash

The weeklong bus trip across Jordan, the program’s “rural retreat,” was a highlight because of the strides that I made in Arabic as well as the adventure that I encountered. We traveled the historic King’s Highway, a route traversed by peoples like the Nabateans and the Romans, and stopped in rural towns along the way. We visited the ancient city of Petra with its magnificent architecture built into rock, stayed in Bedouin camps at the Wadi Rum Desert, dipped in the Dead Sea, and explored the rural town of Shoback. According to several locals, Shoback in the past was a luscious landscape of trees, but it was stripped to gather wood for the Ottoman Railroad project. We drank tea at the home of a woman nearing 100 years old who reminded me distinctly of my deceased great aunt, the kind and sharp Italian matriarch. Both were witty, strong in their respective faiths and loving to the other inhabitants of earth, and although one spoke Arabic, I felt nonetheless enveloped in a strong sense of familiarity. 

Shoback Castle

The Treasury at the Petra

One day, I was informed that a farm visit was happening shortly and then five of us squeezed into a truck. As we pulled up to the farm, a hexagonal pen stood out against the field, and a multicolored whirlpool of black, brown, and white sheep swept through it. After the farmer weighed the first sheep, I came to understand that we were to choose one. We settled on a nervous brown, blue-eyed creature who proceeded to soil the carpet of the truck. Tied up outside our camp, for days he treated me to vocal greetings every time I walked from the outhouse to the kitchen. Then the day arrived. 

The majority of our group chose to be absent during the slaughter. I felt that if I was going to eat meat, I couldn’t ignore the process that brought it to the table. I watched my friend hold the sheep down while our guide said bismillah and slit the throat, letting the blood drip across the ground. I got queasy and took a break. When I returned my stomach was upside down but my mind was open as our guide hoisted the body and hung it, asking for us to pass him different buckets and knives as he skinned it and began removing the organs. He taught us the Arabic words for every body part he held in front of us that afternoon. Hours later, we ate the meat with rice. I came to respect the intimacy of local slaughter, a practice that espouses gratitude and respect. 

I am so thankful for the opportunity to study in Amman, Jordan. My Arabic proficiency has improved which has opened my world to new people, ideas, and perspectives. The classroom cultural, political, and historical knowledge that I gathered in the United States has been expanded and supplemented with examples and experiences. My studies have become three-dimensional because of my experiences in Jordan. 

Abdali Mall Christmas decorations