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REFLECTING ON THE
AMERICAN PSYCHE
FROM THE MIDDLE EAST
Editors Note: The ‘cTcv.;ng account was written by UO journalism major Cory Eldnage,
who studied m the Amman, Jordan ptogram m the 2004*2005 academic year.
in hts account, tki'ndge toils about his experiences white traveling with friends in Lebanon
At Soldo we turned left and entered Shta (Shiitte} territory. The number of yellow and
green Hezbollah flags increased, and images of martyrs and the Ayatollah replaced the
risque Jaguar ads that fill the country. We came to a checkpoint stopped and were
waved through, ^
I turned around because I thought it was interesting that one
Lebanese Army soldier had an M~J6 and the other had an AK-47.
That $ when they stopped us. %
I don't know if they stopped us because they realized that three % *
_
white kids were in the car or because one of us
looked at them, but they made us get out and
see their commanding officer. Sofia and I got
our passports out, and Tyler realized he didn't
have his.
We presented our IDs to the officer, Tyler
using his Jordan Residency Card. The officer,
who spoke no English, asked why Tyler didn't
have his passport, then made a call, hung up,
and told us we couldn't go in.
Tyler has the best Arabic of the three of us,
but he's only in level three, so he protested as
best he could, but to no avail. He then had to
argue with our cabbie about taking us back to
SaTda, where the officer said we needed to go
to get permission to enter the south.
That didn't work either and, in ten minutes, we
found ourselves standing in a village with no taxi
and no idea what to do. We started walking
back to Beirut, a 50k walk.
We passed two men who were working in a
garden, where two little girls were playing
among the eggplants. They said hello, we said
the same, and they invited us to have coffee
with them.
We went down to their porch and quickly
realized that we were going to practice our
Arabic a little more. I think the home belonged
to Ibrahim, along with the two girls, but Mohtis
was probably a relative or good friend because
he helped with the beverages.
They asked us where we were from, tried their
English with Tyler and me and their German with
Sofia, which was a little useless, since she's
Swedishl
It was amazing. I hadn't seen this kind of
hospitality yet - the hospitality that Arabs are
known for - and receiving it at that stressful
moment gave us such ease.
We stayed about an hour, long enough for
Ibrahim to wave down a taxi for us and give the
driver directions to where he thought we needed
to go. Saying goodbye to them was a
disappointment.
The area we went to that day belongs to the
scary places in the American psyche: the place
of terrorists and lawlessness. But the people I
met there were among the best I have met in the
last ten weeks.
That's why Tyler and I want to base ourselves
out of Tyre, not Beirut, when we go back.
Nightclubs are fun, but they don't make a
difference in my life. I changed a lot in the past
few days. I don't know how yet, but I have, and
it's exciting and challenging.
Kind of like Lebanon. ■
Left: rart$ of Jordan % soccer
team, in traditional honor guard
regalia, t hem on their team
be lore they played lor a spot
in the World Cup
Above: Bagpipes originated
in the Middle East, though they
am riot commonly used-.
These performers play in the
ancient theatre in the ruined
Roman city Jerash, in northern
Jordan,
Choose a non-traditional
study site!
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95 percent of the world's population
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You could be well-positioned to work
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You can do it!
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Don't assume you can't go. Check out the literature and talk to a coordinator or the scholarshi
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ps
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