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Yes, we've made it to Amman! It looked a bit iffy when we were stuck in Burlington waiting out the storm in New York. At one point Betsy and I both had flights on JetBlue and Delta, but in the end Delta won out and we made it to JFK in plenty of time to catch the connector to Amman. The flight to Amman was reasonably uneventful - or at least as uneventful as an eleven hour flight can be. For me the big thing is sitting next to someone who doesn't talk, and the gentleman on this flight said excuse me twice - which is just about at my limit (I want quiet). The driver was waiting for me and we cajoled him into taking Betsy and Lee along as well for a few JD more. We dropped them off at the Amman International Hotel and then I made my way to ACOR. This time is staying in a room that I didn't even know existed. This is my fifth stay at ACOR and I never managed to see this room squirreled away the end of a hall (the bathroom is outside in the hallway) in the basement. That said, it's safe, it's centrally located, and it's room and board for $30 a night. Later I made it back to the Amman International (actually, it's very close to ACOR and I just walked across a field to get there) and met up with Betsy, Lee and Al Capone (who made it in yesterday). We walked down the hill and had Lebanese fast food and then some ice cream at a Dunkin Donuts knock-off. We have meetings tomorrow at the University of Jordan for Global Module business, etc. and a tour for the other folks and then lunch at the cafeteria. We're still working on our plans for the rest of the day. Wednesday is going to be taken up by an all-day trip to Petra and Al and I are flying out on Thursday so this leg of the trip is going to fly by.
OK, so we were supposed to be taking off at 4:30 and it is now 5:30 and it is anybody's guess when we'll be getting out of Burlington. Apparently a monster storm has settled over New York - or maybe just a monster (who knew that Cloverfield was a documentary? - I mean, I thought it was a mockumentary, but apparently something is happening in New York). The talk now is that the flight here might not take off until 7:40 or 8:00. Right now Betsy and I have reservations on both Delta and JetBlue flights and we're just going to jump on whichever one goes off first. The big question mark relates to my suitcase which is checked in to Delta, so we'l have to figure out that one - I'm suggesting some sort of death-match between the two airlines, but no one else seems to find this a good suggestion. Betsy is officially flipping out, and justifiaby so because this delay puts the connector to Amman in danger - and once you miss the first international flight it can be a mess getting on the next one (ask poor Mike Lange, who had his flight out of Burlington cancelled and didn't get to Morocco for a week). The funny thing (or the sad thing) is that I was going to schedule the 11:00 flight down to NY but with the 4:30 I was already looking at a close to five hour layover in JFK and figured that was enough. I usually try and reserve my 10 or 11 hour layovers for places like Entebbe, Uganda. Unfortunately, the Burlington Airport will never qualify for consideration as a Six Flags Over Vermont site - you run out of things to do here pretty quickly. I had to con the woman running the food stand into staying open thirty more seconds so that I could grab a quick seven dollar wrap. I'm sure it was a wise investment because there's nothing about this situation which would be improved by low blood sugar. We're keeping positive thoughts and, insh'allah, we'll catch the connector in JFK and be on our merry way to Amman very soon.
While I'm taking the opportunity on this FII-inspired trip to continue studying Islam and the different ways that it is practiced throughout the Middle East, I will also be working on expanding Champlain's Global Modules network by bringing in new partners and reaffirming existing partnerships. Arguably the most important international school in our growing network is the University of Jordan, and one of my main tasks in Amman is to continue a dialogue I started a couple years ago with the UJ (although I'm talking to other Jordanian universities as well). UJ is huge. It has around 40,000 students and has almost a large midwestern university feel to it. The picture is of the clocktower in the center of campus, which is where you always agree to meet people before going on to another location for a meeting. Someone over there told me that something like 60% of all Jordanian university students attend the University of Jordan. I think there are a couple small dorms for women across the street from the campus, but beyond that itis completely commuter (which is really much more common around the world than the US residential college model). The diversity of the student body is fascinating, especially in regards to the dress of the female students. You will see many women dressed in a very conservative style with only the eyes showing (even down to wearing gloves), others dressed in a completely western style, and many somewhere in between.
The size of the place provides unique challenges and opportunities. With a university this big Champlain would only need a tiny sliver of their courses to more than take care of all of our Global Module pairings, although, obviously we want far more variety than that. However, it's also a greater challenge to find a way to tackle a school that big, as compared to the simplicity of talking to a small university. In the case of UJ it was partially a case of simply showing up again and again until they realized that I wouldn't take no for an answer (I'm like the devil from that horrible mini-series Storm of the Century - "give me want I want and I'll go away"). Sometimes I think we forget in the US what an email, faceless society we are. In most of the rest of the world it is almost an insult to simply email back and forth, especially when starting a partnership - instead, it is more customary and preferred for you to show up and do the ceremonial dance of sharing tea or coffee (I don't know how my bladder is going to survive, I have to have another cup at every meeting, hour after hour). One of the reasons why I've suddenly made such great strides is that 1) there is no suddenly about it, these are relationships I've been forged for years, and 2) Champlain has given me the resources to visit these places and talk to folks face to face and thus I can build trust. The other key to the recent success at the University of Jordan is finding the "right" department and the "right" individuals. We've found a home in the Division of Arts, and especially in the English Department. Dr. Ahmad Majdoubeh, the Dean of Arts, is a very big supporter. Inside of English we have great supporters such as Rula Quawas, Inas Ababneh and Lazaward Sughayer. Rula has run multiple GMs, and Inas and Lazaward are catching up fast. In addition, they are very active in bringing in other faculty members. To be successful with every new university you always need a Rula. She is a ball of fire and just walks up and down the hall stopping by every office to talk to everyone administrator, professor and student. She is like a force of nature and she's been essential for the progress we've made here and I look for a new Rula at every institution. I think we could almost fill half of our COR 120 sections with GM links just from the Arts division here at UJ, although, again, I'll almost certainly try and bring in more universities to create even greater diversity in the discussion. We also have to keep in mind that we'll be expanding the GMs into second year courses like Capitalism & Democracy, which would also be great fits for Global Modules, so I'm also laying the groundwork for future classes as well. We have meetings set up at UJ on Tuesday 1 July, which will be a few hours after we touch down in Amman (insh'allah) - hopefully, and unlike my last trip to UJ, my luggage will make the trip with me.
This is my fifth trip to Jordan, and the fifth time that I'll be staying at ACOR, the American Center of Oriental Research. ACOR is a big white stone building (like every other building in Amman) on a hill across the street from the University of Jordan (it's about a ten minute walk downhill to UJ, although a steep climb back up the hill). It's run with US government money and with private donations and it's established to give travelling American professors and students an inexpensive, safe place to stay when they're in the region doing research. It's $30 a night, room and board. Well, the board is really only a big lunch, which is almost always "comfort food" and not some exotic Middle Eastern delicacy. For instance, it's very common to have fried chicken or meat loaf. You cook your own breakfast (or pour a bowl from these seemingly self-perpetuating boxes of cereal that look suspiciously like the ones that were here on my first visit in late December 04, although they never run out). Supper is leftovers from lunch. It has a great library and some real archaeological treasures squirreled away down in the basement. You meet the most amazing people just sitting around chatting over lunch - folks that are out digging at Petra or finishing their tenth book or even lunatic Vermont professors pedalling an international online network. It's like the big nerd dorm on campus. Everyone is extraordinarily friendly and there is a real collegial atmosphere here. I remember on my first visit here I cajoled a bunch of professors to get up at 3:00 in the morning so that we could watch the college football national championship game broadcast live. People are always around if you want to go out to a restaurant or grab some ice cream or just sit around and talk about just about anything. They also have a great collection of DVDs that visiting professors have burned over the years and left as parting gifts so there is always something to watch on TV. It's in a nice neighborhood where you can walk up the hill and see some nice houses and a mosque or down the hill to find shops and restaurants. There is always a guard with a machine gun in front of the place, but I suspect that is simply because of the US connection. I've always felt completely safe both in ACOR and in Amman. I walk all over the place or jump in taxis and go all over the city and have always been treated warmly by everyone I've ever met here in Amman. ACOR itself has sort of become my home away from home. I'll be staying here on both Amman visits on this trip.
Per usual, I'm running around like a lunatic trying to get everything in place for the upcoming trip. You would think that after a few trips overseas I would have the routine down, but, no, not even close. This time I'm heading to Amman, Jordan (which will be my fifth visit there, which sounds like somebody else's life). I'll be spending three days there, meeting up with Betsy Beaulieu, her friend Lee, and Alfonso Capone. After that I'm off to Egypt (I think Capone and I are leaving the same day, although he's heading home after his trip to Turkey) - first to Alexandria for two days and then onto Cairo for five. This will be my first trip to Egypt and I'm really excited. Then I have a brief, illogical, two day stop in Amman again, before moving on to the United Arab Emirates. This will be my fifth swing through the UAE, but this will be interesting because I'm heading off to Al Ain in the eastern part along the border with Oman. On previous trips I've only visited either Dubai or Abu Dhabi. After a couple days in Al Ain I'm heading back to Dubai to catch a flight to Muscat, Oman. This will be my first stop in Oman as well. I was tinkering with the idea of taking a couple days out of the middle of my week in Oman to fly over to San'a, Yemen, but it was an expensive flight - and for some reason there was no direct flight from Muscat to San'a, which makes no sense because Yemen and Oman border each other (or it might just be that I torture poor Rochelle, my travel agent, with all my crazy flights that she just told me there was no direct flight - or maybe she's just looking out for me because of that whole State Department directive against flying to Yemen [wimps]). With the exception of Muscat, where I'm still trying to decide on a hotel, all my sleeping reservations are finalized. Now, if my flight out of Burlington takes off on time everything will be cool.
Gary
scudder@champlain.edu
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