This morning I found myself in the company of 12 Jordanian students, their two translators and their group leader. The experience was astounding — nothing went right. The directions I gave the coordinator were not relayed to their shuttle driver correctly and the group ended up near the back entrance to Porter’s Pub instead of the Faculty Club parking lot. After tracking down the shuttle, I boarded it to become their temporary guide. Thinking of my own trips to unknown campuses for Mock Trial, I was shocked to hear the students singing; my groups usually just slept. We stepped out in front of Mandeville Auditorium in the pouring rain.
The profiles of these students are impressive. Brought as guests of the U.S. government, each participant in the Leadership Development and Civic Responsibility program sponsored by the U.S. Embassy, Amman has already achieved impressively noble things in their respective communities.
Seif Al Madanat is a junior at Petra University. He is studying pharmacy, has won gold and silver medals for his school’s gymnastics team and teaches French as a volunteer to first-, second- and third-grade students. Eman Arabyat is studying computer engineering at the Al-Balqaa’ Applied University and wants to be the official spokesperson for Jordan. She won second place in a national competition for writing an article about the “”Jordan First”” national development initiative. Each of the other 10 candidates has a resume just as prestigious. Having attempted to memorize their profiles before meeting with them, I was daunted.
It was my responsibility, as editor of a college newspaper, to welcome the delegation and answer their questions regarding journalism, life at UCSD or any combination of the two. As any good reporter should, I had my pen and pad of paper ready and my tape recorder was on. We began with a discussion about the obvious cultural differences they had seen in the past two days of their visit. Because of the fact they had only seen tourist traps, the students were wise to qualify their answers. Many of them said they had not seen enough culture to make a comparison.
“”The biggest difference I see, is in Jordan, citizens are [physcially] much closer to each other,”” Al Madanat said.
Mohammad Al Omari, a senior at Yarmouk University who is studying graphic design and is involved in his school newspaper and radio, described his observations on the heterogeneity of American culture.
“”What I think, in order for us to identify issues [to discuss], I do believe the mix in American society is much greater than the mix in our society,”” he said.
It was sometime before Al Omari’s comments that I realized my tape recorder wasn’t working, and it would not work for the rest of the event. Several students jumped up and, with the help of the interpreters, composed a list of themselves in the numerical order in which they were sitting: it happened in minutes. Again, I thought back to my own writing workshop’s paltry attempt at self-organization, a twenty minute ordeal, and was amazed at the polite efficiency with which this group worked.
The initial conversations were strained, unaided by infrequent technical difficulties. We began with a technical analysis of their education system, as compared with my own experiences. The grades are similar, except at the end of their 12th year, they take an exit exam that not only determines which college they can attend, but the majors from which they can choose. They were shocked when I told them the outlying community of La Jolla didn’t welcome the students and had tried to put obstacles in the way of the university’s formation.
“”The local community requests a university, the city wants the university,”” said Noor Al Tarawneh, who is studying chemical engineering at Mu’tah University and wants to work in criminal investigation, specializing in DNA analysis.
The dialogue became more relaxed, or I just became more relaxed. Our discussion of journalism had extrapolated to a discourse on education and the value of earning a college degree. I learned that the students’ families were just as demanding in their expectations; we bonded over the limitations of our parents.
“”Our parents believe that education is the most important thing,”” Arabyat said. “”Jordan is a developing country, our youth are our resource. We are following our parents’ dream. If they have a lot of money, they risk it and put us in [medical programs].””
When the conversation ended and discussion about available places for lunch began, each student made sure to come and thank me for talking. It was a humbling experience, being thanked by these students, some of whom had been in the presence of the King of Jordan, despite an uncooperative tape recorder and difficulties in translation. Before they had all filed out of the Guardian office, Muna Abdi, one of the interpreters, leaned forward with a smile and pointed at my tape recorder. It had been on hold the entire time. “”That’s happened to me before,”” she said. “”Those things are great for lecture.””
