Marhaba!
Before I want to make my first post about JORDAN, I want to make an announcement. I would like to retract my previous announcement. I am discontinuing the "I'm all about that" series. (Can you cancel something you never started?) I decided that by promising a series of blog posts I was putting myself in a box, and there are already so many people that want to put me in a box, so I decided to mail that box to myself....and yeah.
I actually had a pretty good article prepared about Beyonce, so I still might post it. But until then, the only person who will be all about anything is that white girl who is all about that bass (yes, I was too lazy to look up her name).
Now that I dropped that bomb (because all of you are so bummed), I will proceed to talk about today's topic. If you didn't know that I have been in Amman, Jordan for the past month, this post will bring you up to speed.
So, I haven't been posting a lot of pictures nor have I been making posts on posts about how I love Jordan and Arabs and hummus blah blah blah. Because, the truth is, I don't love it. And this, my friends, is my experience with culture shock.
WAIT, DON'T GO. This isn't going to be one of Upworthy articles where I yell at you about my problems and tell you to stop judging me and to let me be my own person. I am going to add some finessa to your life, so stay put. (Can you use product placement with your own product?)
According to America's most trusted expert on words, Urban Dictionary, culture shock is "the shock of moving from one culture to another often associated with laws, traditions, food, music and general lifestyle choices."
There are several stages of culture shock: there is an initial fascination, "everything is awesome" stage. Look at the building, try this food, take a picture with that dumpster cat (actually, DON'T.)
Then after a while, you find yourself making this face:
You wonder, "Are these people human? No, they have to be aliens. Why am I even here? Someone get me a bacon hamburger and french fries FAST. 'MURKA! "
And then, as my professor described it, it seems like people come out of it a few months later and they have a deeper understanding of the culture and they love it!
Well, my fascination stage ended after the first two days, and its been an unpaved hillbilly driveway ever since. Most of the time, I can't stand this place! I'm sick of creepy guys catcalling. I'm sick of the division between men and women. And I'm SICK of falafel. (Just kidding, I'll never get sick of that.)
I know what some of you are thinking- I should have seen this coming. The Middle East has a reputation for being the Britta of the world, AKA the worst. (If you didn't get that, watch Community.)
But every place has its problems. Hannah Montana was right when she said, "nobody's perfect except for Anessa." Since being here, I've come to realize that Americans can be super uptight, but also kind of lazy at the same time. And French people are still French. Arabs are hospitable and generous and make very good food! They also rock denim on denim (I'm pretty sure they invented it.) So, I'm not experiencing culture shock because this culture sucks (though I sometimes want to go bald Britney on this place), but because culture shock is a normal part of traveling.
Even though I have accepted that I'm going through culture shock...I'm still not over it. Like I said, this culture shock stuff can take months. But I think of me getting back to the States and people asking me, "How was it? Did you love it?" and me making this face:
I don't want to make that face! I want to have an awesome experience, and I'm not entirely sure how to "get over" culture shock, but here are a few things that have helped:
1. See the world as a potato. Every place has its issues. While I can get angry at and annoyed by anything, all-in-all, things aren't really going to change that much in the time that I'm here. I think of Jordan as a potato. Like this one:
It's ugly and dry on the outside, but with the right vegetable peeler (Cutco peeler, obviously), it is actually pretty darn scrumptious. If I can just get past Jordan's ugly, outer layer, I know I will find some really great things.
2. Recharge in Nature. Even though God's children can be a bit disappointing, His landscaping is always spot on. Something that has helped me TREMENDOUSLY on the study abroad is taking trips to places in Jordan away from civilization. Who knew the desert could be so breathtaking? I was standing on the ruins of Herod's Castle (yes, THAT Herod) overlooking the desert when for the first time I thought, "Yeah, I could come back."
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| Taken at some point during my journey to Herod's Castle. |
And when we went to Wadi Mujib and climbed rocks and ropes and ladders to relax by a waterfall, I thought to myself, "Yeah, I'm definitely coming back."
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| A picture not taken by me of WADI FREAKING MUJIB. But I went there. Oh yeah, and the Promised Land wasn't too bad either. |
3. Don't feel bad about being American. Because I have had the incredible opportunity of living in a unique, foreign place, I feel like I would be cheating myself (and my wallet) out of unique, foreign experiences. But living in a foreign place is TOUGH. So, don't feel guilty about yearning for your homeland. So, eat that poptart and peanut butter. Better yet, dip the poptart in the peanut butter! And watch alllll the New Girl and 30 Rock you want.
4. Remember what you love! Even though the heavens haven't revealed to me why exactly I am here, I can still know why I chose to be here. I absolutely love the Arabic language- the sound, the grammar, the fun idioms. And I love Arab babies. And cheap hummus. So, while I am often surrounded by a culture I don't understand, and men I wish to curb stomp, I am also surrounded by things I enjoy.
I've discovered that traveling is sometimes like Christmas morning. But it can also be like Christmas morning when you discover Santa only brought you coal. Either way, having experiences outside your comfort zone will change your life- and for the better.
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