Cultural Confrontation in Irbid

I have been in Jordan for a little over a month now. Throughout this month, I have been surprised at the LACK of culture shock I have experienced here. Life in Jordan is extremely different from life in the U.S., but my excitement and curiosity have kept me from feeling frustrated by cultural differences. I think this is also due to the fact that I am in an SIT program with 15 other American students, and because I am staying with a host family. The program staff gave us an extensive orientation on Jordanian culture and ways of life, and my host family is very willing to help me navigate my life in Amman. Whenever I have questions about the culture (how to sit/order at restaurants, common phrases in the local Arabic dialect, how to use taxis and cross the road), my program staff and host family have been extremely helpful.

The two largest cities in Jordan are Amman (where I live) and Irbid, a town about 20km from the Syrian border. In Amman, most people are very used to seeing foreigners around town since it is such a major city. You hear a lot of “ahlan wa sahlan (welcome)” and “welcome to Jordan”. There are a lot of ex-pats here from the US and Europe, and many migrant workers from Asia and Africa, so I do not feel too out of place as a non-Jordanian.

We recently had an excursion to Irbid. I was expecting my experience in Irbid to be similar to Amman, but I could not have been more wrong. This was the first time in my trip that I experienced major cultural confrontation. Driving through the city in our huge bus, I could already tell that we were drawing major attention as I watched people’s jaws drop in confusion when they saw our bus full of Americans. There were very few women spotted walking alone, and I did not see a single woman with her hair uncovered. Middle school students were getting out of class when we got off the bus near the hotel, and all of them stared and grouped around us. We heard lots of “why are you here?, are you American?, you are all so beautiful!”. I felt like a celebrity surrounded by fans. I overheard a little girl shouting to her mom “Abyad!” which means white. My teacher said people in Irbid don’t get to see white people very often.

The next day we volunteered at an all-girls primary school where we helped teach classes and painted desks. Since my Arabic is not great, I helped teach the English class, assuming that since it was English class most students would speak some English, but most did not. After my classmates and I introduced ourselves, the students surrounded us in a huge circle, and I felt like a celebrity again. They pounded us with questions. “Can you swim in America? Are you Muslim? Are you rich? Are you married?”. Again and again, the girls would tell me how beautiful I am and said that they wished their hair/skin/clothes were like mine, which was very eye-opening and sad. Afterwards, I talked to my classmates about how unfortunate it is that Americans are idolized in this way. I was certainly not expecting that those young girls would feel like that.

Now that I am back in Amman, I feel more at home and comfortable walking around town. I appreciate the extra layer of safety and comfort that this city offers compared to other Jordanian towns even more. I am still very glad I had that experience in Irbid; I have a better understanding of my place in Jordan as a privileged American that is here to learn and observe without judgement and am more prepared for future excursions to even more rural towns.

I cannot recommend this program enough to anyone considering it. Here are some photos from my trip so far: