Author: dgaleo

Posted on

My Teacher’s Views on Maturing in America

The purpose of this post is to explore the stereotypes that people from our host country have about Americans and American culture. Being in Jordan, this provides a very unique and different perspective than other nationalities and cultures that experience much more contact with Americans. As an American here in Amman, Jordan, I have found that at times our cultures can be quite different from each other and several differences are extremely noticeable in our daily lives. But none of these differences are truly surprising.

In exploring this purpose, I asked one of my teachers her opinions on American culture and the American people at large. Her response was generally focused on the family dynamic that occurs in America and the differences that occur out of this. From my own observations, I have seen that Jordanian families are incredibly close and do everything together. She has also made this observation and believes that American culture breeds families that are not close nor have the interests of the family unit as their number one priority. She continued to explain her belief that American families are not close because, more often than not, we do not live in multigenerational homes. She found it odd that parents insist on sending their children out of the house once they reach adulthood and explains that Jordanians do not share this in common with Americans. She thinks that this action signals that American individuals do not care about the members within their family and instead are selfish, only caring about themselves.

Although I understand completely where my teacher is coming from and understand that this behavior is not common in most cultures, I also understand the American perspective of seeking out to be on your own once you reach adulthood. I believe that many of the underlying reasons for this behavior are ingrained in American society as we wish to create our own success.From a non-American perspective, I can see that from the outside this can appear selfish towards your family members, but I also know that families wish for their children and their family members to be successful. I have seen that the approach to higher education at times is very different here where children wish to stay with family during the educational process, whereas Americans tend to seek opportunities that can be far away from their families. But again, this is only because families wish for their children to seek out the best opportunities that are available.

I enjoyed hearing my teacher’s perspective on this matter because she is a very educated woman who cares deeply about her family and about family values. From this conversation I have learned that, for most Jordanian families, the concept of a strong family is  important and central to a ‘good’ family.

Posted on

Amman at Night

After staying in Amman for a few weeks, I have had several critical incidents during this time studying. In a way, Amman is exactly what I expected while also shattering all of my expectations and presumptions. I have found the people to be extremely kind and open with everyone. My classmates from across the world have been interesting and have many of the same interests as myself while also being some of the kindest and gracious people I have met that are my age. My teachers and those who are put in place to help us have been very helpful and have been willing to offer advice on what to visit and what to see in their city and region. Overall, I believe that the people have been my most favorite part so far in this experience.

One interesting experience I had quite early was the difference between a day in the United States versus a day in the city of Amman. I already knew that Americans typically eat and sleep early when compared to other cultures, but I was shocked at the difference nonetheless. When my friends and I walk to school, usually around eight in the morning, not many people are out nor is the city lively. But when we would stay up late or eat late, we found that the city began picking up and became lively past nine at night. The day did not begin for most Jordanians until late at night. I would encounter people receiving haircuts, eating, elderly women gossiping, and an entirely different city at night rather than midday. I began to question why the city was so much more alive at night versus the day and presumed it to be a question that could be answered culturally. As the summer began to continue, I realized just how warm the city remained until nighttime. People have lived continuously in Amman for a long time far before the invention and mass production of air conditioning and their days adjusted to respond to this heat. This was in stark contrast to America which relative to Amman is quite young and structured their days around when it was warm.

I found that the day was structured to allow people to be people and interact with each other more than they could following a model that I was familiar with. Watching the families of grandparents and small toddlers all spending time with each other at hours of the night that I would be asleep if I were home was oddly such an interesting site that I never gave much thought to. In all honesty, I would do the same thing in order to spend more time with my loved ones and I found that to be the most interesting part of Jordanian culture so far. It is odd that it is extremely culturally acceptable to be out with your mother at three in the morning on a weekday, but I have found it to be one of my most favorite parts of Jordanian culture so far.

Posted on

Pre-Departure Expectations to Amman! -June 2nd, 2023

As I begin to pack and create a check-list for my luggage for this upcoming summer abroad in one week, I also am trying to finalize my expectations for the city of Amman. I am eternally grateful for this opportunity, but as for any other trip that I take alone I am extremely nervous of what to expect. I have heard many great things about the nation of Jordan and the Jordanian people as a whole from family friends and from others who have made the trip in the past. I have begun to check often the weather and the news in Jordan in order to prepare myself for the ultimate culture shock that will occur once I arrive there. I have reached out to both a colleague of my father’s and a friend of mine from school that lives in Amman. Both have told me that I have nothing to worry about and that I am sure to love my journey. 

Through this summer, I hope to truly learn and broaden my perspective of Arab culture. I wish to be exposed to all that Jordan has to offer and to let it impact myself in order to allow me to develop my own beliefs further. Learning about languages and cultures has always been something that I find very important in my life and I wish to pursue Arabic to my full potential. Coming from America, “the melting pot of cultures,” it becomes difficult to truly develop a rounded perspective about any one particular culture. Of the cultures we are exposed to, we only get to experience bits and pieces of many different parts of the world, but never truly are able to understand fully what it is like to be a Jordanian for example. I hope to be able to come closer to answering this question in the future. 

I am glad that I am coming from a climate akin to that of Jordan which in all honesty is less hospitable than the hills that Amman is located in because I believe that my own upbringing allows me to understand that extremes are not reality. Some of the preconceived notions that I have of Jordan or the city of Amman are obviously not going to be true and I am grateful that I will get to destroy these notions. I hope that this trip to Amman will allow me to become more comfortable traveling to new places and enhance my Arabic skills to propel me to more opportunities like this in my academic journey and in my future career.