For those of you who didn't know, I chose to stay with a host family instead of an apartment during my stay in Jordan. My reasons for this decision were based off of me wanting to be as immersed in the culture as I could be. I got assigned to a lovely host family of four (an 11 year old daughter and a 17 year old son whom we rarely see). Also in the household is another girl from the program with whom I share a room with. I was so tired the day they picked us up that I fell asleep in the back seat on the way home. Which was a bad idea because the way you get around the city is by landmarks which my host mom pointed out to us on the drive home. This means you can't ask for directions or tell a taxi where you're going by giving them a street name and house number. There are 7 circles around the city and you basically tell them what circle you are near and the most common landmark near the circle/your destination. Thankfully, I was later re-explained the main landmarks for getting from the University to my home stay.
Upon our arrival we were directed to our room so we could unpack and get all settled in. I would say that the house is beginning to feel a bit homey with my belonging all out of the suitcase, but not "cozy" in the literal sense. Houses in Jordan are made out of limestone in order to keep the heat out in the summer and heaters, well... who needs those?
I can't deny that I had a few expectations of what my arrival would be like and as odd as this sounds, I expected to be sat down in the living room with my host parents going through a list of do's and don'ts during my stay in Jordan (I have yet to experience this expectation). Instead, issues have been left to be addressed as they come up. For example, I was never told I needed to order my room in a certain way, but several times my host mom has came in and asked me to reorder this or that. Another example would be my curfew. During orientaion, I received a paper with my host parents information that stated that curfew was at 10:30 p.m. However, after arriving at 10:30 p.m. from a tea bar with my roommate, my host mom said we could've stayed out until 11:30 because it was a Thursday (weekends here are Friday and Saturday, not Saturday and Sunday). Had we been previously told when we double checked our curfew, we would've had another cup of tea.
Getting used to having a curfew again and having to eat for dinner what is served rather then what I chose to cook, are things that have been strange getting in the rhythm of. Having my host family walk into my room without knocking and having my host mom rearrange things in my room to her liking (because this is her house) having invaded my definition of privacy a bit. Being asked to sit in the living room when I'm working on something on my computer while others watch TV so we can spend time together (because sitting in silence is not awkward but social) are new ideas. All of these things have pulled me out of my comfort zone and even though they can be a bit frustrating at times, I get excited every time I realize it's not them trying to make me feel strange, invaded, or awkward but rather part of their Jordanian family. So this is me beginning to experience a bit of the life of someone living in a Jordanian household!
TIPS: If staying in a Jordanian household, bring house slippers, plenty of layers to sleep in, take short showers (Jordan is the 4th poorest country in terms of water so they only get a certain amount of water to use per month, per household) and don't flush your toilet paper down the toilet for that goes in the trash can. Lastly, stay positive and embrace the differences in cultural norms.
Word of the day: Family -> Asrh
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