First Day of Class and Fried Chicken

I consider my first day of class a success. My professor, Doctor Muthanna, seems experienced and enthusiastic. For now, I have a class size of ten, which is perfect. There are four Americans (including myself), a Scotsman, Italian, Aussie, a woman from France and a gentleman from Taiwan. There is also a woman who looks like she has 10 cats at home and I'm uncertain of her nationality.

English is allowed to be spoken, very sparingly, only for the first two weeks. I'm pleased about that because I'm not going to learn this language unless I'm speaking it constantly. Our textbook contains no English. The first class was simply an introduction and we will begin moving through the book tomorrow.

In addition to learning Arabic a major goal of mine this summer is to be immersed in Arab culture. I want to eat what they eat, live where they live, dress how they dress, etc.. This will allow me to make more informed policy decisions in the future. However, its hard to be 100% immersed in Arab culture when in every neighborhood in Amman there is a McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, Subway, and Pizza Hut. I promised myself that I would do all that I could to avoid American influences.

However, today I couldn't help myself, and I slipped. After class I had to return to ACOR where I had been staying before moving into my apartment in order to pay my bill and say thank you and goodbye. On the way back to my apartment I made a quick stop...

Love that chicken. (My roommate assures me that I don't look this red in person)

I was reminded of a bit that a Palestinian-American comedian did during the "Axis of Evil Comedy Tour" when he tells a story about visiting a cousin in Amman and listening to his Jordanian relative rant about America's world dominance. "United States, you think you are so big and strong and powerful!" (mimicking his cousin's thick accent). "You are a paper tiger! You will fold!" Without missing a beat, his cousin asks: "You hungry? We got Burger King, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Appleby's. . . . You look tired. You want coffee? We got Starbuckus! You like Starbuckus?"

I think the view of America from the Arab world can be summed up like this: "America: Hate Your Politics, Love Your Fried Chicken."