Host Family

ةرحبا

Marhaba

Hello,

            So the first couple of days we were in a hotel for orientation but we did know who our host family was thanks to a sheet that was in our packet.  For my family this is what it said:

• Religion: Christian
• Does anyone smoke?    No
• Do you have any pets?  No
• Time of commute to university from home?  30 minutes
• Do you have a maid?  No

Than it had a description which said there names (Issam Qussous [Dad] and Ibitsam Qussous [Mom]).  He is a retired cab driver and she is a homemaker, so basically it is an older couple with grown up kids.  On the back there was another description that went like this: "Host dad is loud and spends most of the time on the porch, watching cars.  He loves to go grocery shopping and inviting people over for food.  Host Mom is very friendlly and loves cooking.  The food is plenty and you will be overfed.  They have children who are married and they come over with the Grandchildren almost on a daily basis.  They have a son that's studying medicine in Russia." 

It turns out that the son is now home and is training at one of the local hospitals.  He knows English but does not talk to me in English anymore, which is fine with me.  Its true that the children do come over with grandkids a lot and all of them also speak English because the fact that they are English teachers.  In Arabic culture when people come over they just come unannounced without any previous planning and come at any time of the day.  A proper hostess will typically serve them drinks and if its close to a meal time than some small snack.  To come over unannounced is really common and that is how it has happened the whole time that I have been here so far.  My host family is in the lower class when it comes to money, but that is how most of the Jordanians live.  I do have a private room and it is true that they do feed me a lot.  I will talk about food another time when I have been here longer to describe what I like so far.  The housing director for the program told me even though they are lower class economically it is a close family without any problems that some of the other more wealthy families might have, which are the families the majority of the other students are living with.

During orientation they said that during the evening the family typically sits in front of the television.  This is not true for my family and the part about sitting on the porch watching the cars go by is what everyone does every evening.  Basically I get home, eat, and than sit on the porch watching cars go by and speaking with as much vocabulary as posssible.  One of the first days there I showed them pictures of my car and my sisters truck and that started a pretty good conversation.  With the cooking and cleaning it is only the Mom that does it and I actually was yelled at one of the first days for starting to wash my plate.  Another bonus is that she has invited me to cook since she found out that is my job back in the United States.  They really want me to cook lasagna because she does not know how and that is one of the son's favorite meals.  So not the easiest meal to cook but to be invited to cook in her kitchen means that she really enjoys having me there.  They are very curious of what it is like in Arizona.  The first day I gave them a photography book of Arizona that was bought at a Barnes and Nobles.  They flipped through the pages and saw some pictures that reminded them of Jordan.  For example Sedona they said looked like the Wadi Rum along with an old Indian house also reminded them of Wadi Rum area.  Than they saw a picture of snow covered mountains from the Northern region somewhere and they said they have never seen that.  Plus they did not realise that it snowed in Arizona.  One thing about Jordan is that it is a smaller country and to drive from the Northern tip all the way to the Southern tip can easily be done in one day, and I was trying to explain Arizona and the United States in general is a lot bigger than that. 

Well the weekend starts today after classes.  This weekend on Saturday I get to meet my peer tutor and we have an activity all day with them that will take us around the city.  Need to get to my Arabic class will write and post pictures later.