Rice Dinner Redux

Now that we've been in Jordan 18 months, we 've also experienced a number of things twice - we've been up to Umm Qais twice, we've had two Jordanian Christmases and now we have been to the U.S. Rice Federation's Rice Cooking Competition twice. This is like the Pillsbury Bake-off here without the million dollar prize (the winners did get kitchen appliances). The most noticeable difference between last year and this year's event was they hired a new magician to entertain the audience while the contestants cooked.

One act involved turning those ubiquitous scarves that are in magic shows into flags.

Here Dan was selected as an assistant as he pulled out many-colored record albums - Jordan's population is 50% under the age of 20 - I do not know how many people recognize albums.

Here scarf plus record album....

Here is our friend Ali with the Rice mascot Ricky Rice.

The most amazing part of the magic show was the large number of live animals involved in a 15 minute show - I didn't get the photos but there were 3 rabbits, a duckling, two doves, a mouse and in an amazing audience participation part a fake snake was turned into a real snake which the audience member pulled out of the dark bag. I think if I had been the guest which pulled out a live (albeit small) snake which then slithered around the floor I would still be traumatized and would have been unable to eat the delicious rice dinner which followed.

Great Weather is Bad News

The weather is beautiful today. Bright blue sky and probably 65 degrees. I have visitors in town who came from DC and had packed heavy coats and gloves. Tonight I have suggested that they walk to dinner because it is so nice out. This beautiful weather is really bad news. I don't know why (I am sure there is a meterological reason) but it only rains in Jordan when it is cold out (cold naturally being 40s or 50s). If you go outside and think "wow - it's really cold and kind of unpleasant" - very often it will rain the next day. Jordan really really needs the rain. Their dams are at about 10% capacity and the government will likely have to ration water more than they already do.

I traveled to some dairy farms with some American farmers a few weeks ago and they asked if Jordan had a rainy season - since we were at that time traveling through a very dry-looking desert. I answered, "yes, now" and they could see that if this is what Jordan's rainy season looked like - that this is not a good place for farming.

Inauguration Day in Jordan

Dan watched the inauguration in the Embassy's cafeteria while playing darts. Duffy and a colleague gave a talk at the American Language Center on what happens on Inauguration Day. The most interesting comment from the audience was one guy who asked "this is the first time there has been a big event for the inauguration right?" I said "No" and that every four years it is the same ceremony and party and parade, etc. He and the guys sitting next to him said "really - it never made the news here before." Just as Jordan was fascinated by the election - they were also interested in the inauguration. I gave a short talk (see photos of me and the audience) and then we watched the inauguration together. Jordanians love poetry but I think they too struggled to understand the point of the poet who inenviably followed President Obama.

Today's headline in Jordan: President Obama Calls King.

Book Recommendation

I loved "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" which arrived with other Christmas goodies. It is an American re-telling of Hamlet (like West Side Story and Romeo and Juliet) - with the main character a mute boy living in northern Wisconsin with his family who raises dogs. Just like Hamlet there is an evil uncle who insuates himself into the family and a lot of people die at the end. It is a great, beautifully written book. Caution: it is a slow read.

Protests in Amman

Since the start of the attacks in Gaza there have been 600 protests in Jordan - outside the Prime Ministry, outside the Israeli Embassy, and anywhere where it is easy to fit a lot of people. Friends live on the outskirts of town next to a yet undeveloped valley that was the site of one protest probably because it could fit a lot of people.

Protestors have called for the boycott of Israeli and American products (the U.S.'s long-term support of Israeli is seen as complicity). There aren't many Israeli products actually available here but I have heard that American restaurants like McDonalds have taken a sales hit. One of the protests was actually against Starbucks and multiple Starbucks sit-ins occured simultaneously. Several coffeeshops in our posh neighborhood now have their Canadian flags (their parent companies are Canadian) prominently displayed.

Pictures from Dubai

I feel a little bad writing about Dubai when there are attacks going on in Gaza - but we did go there for Christmas and I know you want to see us skiing in the weirdness that is Dubai.

Dubai struck as a lot like Las Vegas without the gambling but with the same sense of everything is new and everything is on a big scale - big offices, big hotels, and lots of fancy cars at the mall. There are a lot of malls but some of that is because it is so hot there in the summer you couldn't possibly spend anytime outside so all entertainment needs to be inside.

Our photos:

#1 - Dan at Ski Dubai. We also have some movies but I can't figure out how to get them into here. The movies are all of Duffy skiing a. because she spent more time going downhill than Dan did and b. because he hogged the camera. The place was really big (we stayed on the small hills) and was as cold as a meat freezer - you really needed a hat and gloves. It was also the only place where we have heard piped in christmas music all season.
















#2 Dubai Museum - a lot of Middle Eastern museums are old houses with mannequins in local costumes. Dubai's museum was much better than average since their mannequins seem to have been built to be in a museum rather than being a department store mannequin wearing a kefiyeh (tangent: the newspaper reports that kefiyeh (checked head scarf) sales are skyrocketing in fashion support of the Palestinians)
















#3 Bastikiyah - Dubai has one historic neighborhood of homes from the 1890s (newer than our house) that were owned by Iranian pearl merchants (Emiratis were the poor pearl divers who lived in Palm frond houses that didn't survive). No one today lives in the historic neighborhood so it is eerily quiet. Here Duffy is in the doorway to an art gallery.




















#4 Fulla - Fulla is the Arabic Barbie. She has "indoor fashions" aka regular clothes and "outdoor fashions" which are very modest abayas. Here is Duffy in a mall toy store wearing an indoor fashion with Fulla in an outdoor fashion.




















#5 Dubai is a port city with a "creek" dividing it. Here is the public transportation which crosses the creek for $.25. We had lunch at a resort where rooms cost $800 a night that had romanticized these boats and used them as transportation to the rooms.















#6 Here is Dan with Dubai's iconic Burj Dubai hotel. We didn't go in because you have to pay $20 for a tour or have a $75 lunch.

Gaza is in bad shape - we are fine

We first want to assure people that we are fine here in Jordan. The Gaza situation has impacted us in only very small ways. A large percentage (somewhere between 40% to 80% depending on whom you ask) of Jordanians are of Palestinian descent and so this is a country paying close attention to the attacks in Gaza.

This weekend, Dan helped evacuate some Americans who had been in Gaza. Across Amman there have been a large number of peaceful demonstrations that we have stayed clear of. Most New Years Eve celebrations were cancelled in Amman as they were in many Arab cities.