Motorcycle Diaries

Yesterday I watched the Motorcycle Diaries, which is based on the diary of Ernesto Che Guevara during an 8-month journey through Latin America.

I do not want to talk about Che the Marxist, and the revolutionary leader… I want to talk about this Argentinean young man, who at the age of 23, and with one semester left at Medical School, chose to put everything in his life on hold and travel with his friend Alberto Granada across the continent on board an old motorcycle “The Mighty One”. The trip may have started as an exciting adventure, but the two young men soon encountered so much poverty and injustice, in Chile, Peru, Columbia, and Venezuela… they came in close contact with illness, exploitation, and the struggles of the indigenous people. Historians agree that this experience had a profound impact on Guevara, who would later become one of the most famous guerilla leaders ever.

When Ernesto returned home 8 months later, he was a changed man…

As my friends and I started discussing the movie today, the conversation soon shifted to a major point…Would we ever be able to do such a thing?! Postpone school and exams and embark on a journey of self-discovery?

Main points we raised:

-As an Arab, you cannot travel from here to anywhere without a visa!!
-What are the chances of any of us telling our parents that we want to take some time off, and just travel across the Middle East on a camel, or bicycle, or Toyota pick-up?
-What are the chances of taking time off one semester before graduation, because you’ve always wanted to travel?
-Many young people here never really ‘find themselves’ because they mostly succumb to fitting in pre-defined molds, whether social, religious, or professional. There’s little space and freedom to just explore oneself and be more exposed (forget TV and the internet, that’s not the exposure I mean)

On a different note, I was riding in a taxi today and – interesting coincidence – he had a sticker of Che Guevara on his windshield! My first assumption was that to him this was just a cool sticker, like those who wear the T-shirts without having a clue about the person on it… I was so tempted to ask him, but I hesitated a lot!! He was silent and my ‘oriental girl’ subconscious told me that I can’t just strike up a conversation with a taxi driver! Thankfully my conscious logic soon awoke and I finally let it out: “Can I ask you a question?”
-Sure
-Do you like Che??

Surprisingly, he looked at the sticker and said: Yes, I know all about him! There are many people who wear his shirts and have him on stickers without knowing what he’s about, but to me, he is a true symbol, I read a lot of his stuff! It’s a shame how they turned him into a commercial trend!!

He went on telling me that having grown up in the Baq3a refugee camp, he was always consumed with the struggle, and he was always fascinated by this man who came from an upper class background but chose to be with the people and fight for the people!

The conversation was just getting interesting when we got to my destination, I thought about letting him drive on so that I can listen to what he had to say, but after some distance I realized that I don’t want to walk back that long!! I guess I should’ve started the conversation earlier… Yalla next time I won’t hesitate so much before initiating a talk with a taxi driver, I mean what’s the worst that could happen?? (Ok let’s not go there… I remember frightening stories my parents used to tell us about what taxi drivers would do to girls!!!)

Anyways, I’d definitely recommend the movie… if anything you’d discover such interesting things about South America and its amazing natural beauty! Plus it’s very refreshing to divert from Hollywood every once in a while

PS. I have to say that the sound track is also amazing!

Passport… Bureaucracy… and the good people of Jordan!

Today I went with dad to renew my passport. In the tiny street close to the official passports unit (or whatever it is they call it), a man pulled his table aside to make space for us to park, and then he greeted us, offered dad a seat, and took out forms to fill from a professional black suitcase next to him! He took my passport, looked at the name, and then asked dad – as if he’d known him since forever: “Keef el Basha?” I figured he was referring to one of dad’s distant cousins who had reached high ranks in the armed forces years and years ago. He went on to ask about the basha’s health and it was obvious he knew him well enough. You could tell this 3ammo was a retired armed forces officer…

He asked for my photos and my ID, and then pointed dad to an old man across the street standing by a photocopying machine underneath a tree “Go to Abu Yahya, he’ll make you copies!” Abu Yahya’s machine was powered by an electric generator since he couldn’t get electricity from the street’s main supply! In order to save energy, he would keep the generator off and only turn it on when a ‘customer’ showed up, meaning you’d have to stand there and enjoy its roaring music while the photocopier warms up!

The ‘3ammo’ asked me where I go to University and what I study… “Mashalla, engineering is good, my daughter studies engineering at Mu’tah University,” he said, “but my careless son, he got 60% in Tawjihi, and is costing me a fortune studying in a private university…” and then he pointed to some paper in his folder, “700 JDs every semester, that careless boy, if only he’d gotten a decent tawjihi result!!”

I just stood there thinking about this man who’s trying to pass his days and make some money filling out people’s forms and licking the stamps they need, and I wondered how he’s living off this and a skimpy retirement, and making sure his children get a decent education no matter the cost!!

Dad came back, and remarked on Abu Yahya’s generator: “why doesn’t he just extend his own cable to take electricity from the street supply?”
The 3ammo was like “Yeah then they’d charge him with theft… this poor man, while millions of JDs are being stolen unaccounted for!” He just reminded me of an interesting and well-written column I had read in yesterday’s al-Ghad about the MPs cars issue…

Right across the building’s main entrance, you’d see about a dozen of those little stands and tables and kiosks set up to help people fill out their forms, get instant personal photos for the passport, and make whatever copies they need, for a small fee depending on your generosity!

Inside, we stood in line for about 30 minutes! I just hate waiting in line… I mean, I can’t think of a worse way to waste your time, and I started wondering when the e-government project will be up and running to save us citizens valuable time in going through basic procedures! But then on second thought, I realized that such a thing would put so many people out of work!! May be theory states that it becomes their responsibility to equip themselves with the necessary skills to be able to do something else… but seriously now, I couldn’t help but look at all those people with their tiny ‘businesses’ outside, and the employees behind the desks, and think what they would do if all of a sudden they were laid off because an e-system could do a better job!! Just wondering…

When we were leaving, we saw two police officers so busy writing parking tickets to all cars parked on the other side of that tiny road… It just didn’t make sense to me; the road only fits one car anyway, it’s one way, and there’s seriously no harm in having cars park on both sides! It’s like they know people park here all the time and so they send TWO officers because it’s such an urgent matter to punish this public offense!!

Good thing was that we were told to come back for the passport in two hours… I guess our parents know better what a blessing this is compared to the bureaucracy of old days!!

Today’s observations raised multiple questions and issues in my head… but I guess I need to ponder them more before I can take a clear stand! It’s probably a good thing to be reminded every once in a while of the realities of our beloved Jordan… even if it’s just food for thought!!

I Hate Penalty Kick Shoot Outs :’(

I was looking for a picture to capture my sadness… and I found it in Baggio’s 94 kick, to me it says it all!!

Tonight’s game was beyond words!!! I still can’t comprehend what happened… I guess the moment Gerrard scored that goal, I saw the next two coming!!!

Well here is what happened!

But no matter what…

OC Feature about Filmmaking in Jordan!

Finally, the May issue of On Campus is out (yes late I know!!), and in it is the feature that I’ve worked on for most of April: Filmmaking in Jordan! I mentioned it here… and it was one of the most exciting things I got to work on, getting me completely absorbed for over a month! When I started I only had a vague idea about what was going on, but then one thing led to another and I soon realized that this is not just a passing fad or a one-man show kind of thing… this is a serious movement taking place in Jordan, with entities like the Amman Filmmakers Cooperative and the Royal Film Commission doing a remarkable job and really getting the ball rolling!

For decades the general idea was that if you do not have great resources and support, you cannot produce movies, but the AFC has proved that this doesn’t have to be the case. This was made possible by the revolution of digital filmmaking in the past five years and the acceptance of video as a film medium. Before that films had to be shot on professional super 16mm cameras and developed on Celluloid, which cost a lot. But now all it takes is a digital camcorder, a computer with the right software, a CD or DVD writer, and there you go… you can make a film accepted by all standards.

Creating a commercially successful Jordanian film industry is not an easy goal and it will be quite some time before that can be realized, because it requires tremendous resources… however, Jordanian short no-budget films are achieving artistic success and getting recognized and accepted in regional and international film festivals, like the Emirates Film competition, the Dubai film festival, Beirut film festival… and most recently the upcoming Festival du Monde Arabe in Montreal! Find out which films got accepted here.

I think it was through Natasha’s blog that I came across LA-based Jordanian filmmaker Amin Matalqa. Amin has recently been accepted in the American Film Institute, one of the best film schools in the world. For the next two years he will be getting his Masters of Fine Arts in the discipline of Directing. You can find out more about Amin’s inspiring experience in this interview done by the AFC. Check out also the profile of Ammar Quttaineh, director of “Overdose”, which came in first place by Audience vote at last month’s First Jordanian Short Film Festival.

The Royal Film Commission also has some very interesting projects going on besides workshops and film screenings, like the film clubs and the DigiShorts and script-writing competitions coming up (I think I will dedicate a future post to talk about some of these in detail)… I just have to say that they are such an amazing team and work with such a wonderful spirit! I’ve wanted to say this ever since the first time I met them last month… it’s when you come across people like these that you feel so optimistic and enthusiastic about what’s happening in Jordan!

Those of you in Amman can get a copy of OC from places like Century, Gerard, Music Box, AmidEast, Aramex Shop the World, University Bookshop…. (those are the ones I remember, and by the way it’s free)

Oh and one last note, the RFC are organizing a couple of film screenings at the end of the week… in Aqaba and Amman, so here are the posters! If you can’t make it to Aqaba (like me!) then don’t miss the one here… the terrace of the Royal Film Commission is so beautiful! It overlooks the most amazing view of old Amman ever, and it’s such a nice spot to watch those shorts

click to enlarge

Everything you wanted to be ;)

Roba passed this on to me, Iyas, and Linda… Anyone reading Jordan Planet must already know what it’s about, but here’s the deal; I’m supposed to pick five occupations (ok not all are ‘occupations’) from this list and say what I would do if I were in it…I can also add to the list

If I could be a TV virus (oh I wish there was such a thing), I would attack and crash music channels like Melody, Nagham, Mazzika, and all those that do nothing but continuously run obnoxious artless tasteless video clips!!

If I could be a librarian, I would be too lost in books to actually do the job and help anyone!!

If I could be a painter, I would paint the sides of Amman’s Tunnels with authentic graffiti instead of the lame designs most of them have now (I particularly hate the ones with orange and blue ceramic that look like WC’s)

If I could be a food reviewer, I would help people realize that there are some very yummy wonderful varieties of healthy food out there and that healthy food isn’t as boring, unappealing, or just for weight-loss, as the widespread culture pictures it!!

If I could be a CEO or someone with a lot of money, I would give scholarships to talented young people to go abroad and study drama, music, journalism, directing, cinematography, and production… and then come back HERE and lift the quality of our media

I will pass this on to Ammar, Farooha (to take a break from studying ;p )… oh and Naseem, if he’s not too busy enjoying Jordan

Click here for the list, and add to it school principal, belly dancer, photographer, Zoologist, and hmmm… Jail guard!

Attention Soccer Lovers!!

Bahraini Rants and a couple of other bloggers have started a new blog called “Qadam” – Footie Talk

We thought of setting up a football forum, so football fans like you and me can discuss any aspect of the beautiful game…
You want to talk about your team and all their glory? Perhaps discuss Berlusconi’s pressure on the Serie A? Perez and his Pepsi Sponsored Galicticos? How about the offsides rule? whatever you damn well please …

We’ve started out small, with a couple of writers, but I’m sure with time we’ll evolve and include more contributors, different ideas and cool little nifty things..So look out for news, opinions, views, and insults regarding the best leagues in Europe, the Americas, Asia and wherever else…

PEACE TO THE FOOTIE NATION

[from Qadam's maiden post]

Me like so far it looks pretty interesting, and can become a whole lot of fun when more people start contributing! I will definitely keep an eye on it, and throw in my 2 cents every now and then ;p

Speaking of which; what are the chances of AC Milan winning and Juventus Losing this week’s Serie A matches?! Oh well, I can live with Milan not winning the Calcio if they beat Liverpool next Wednesday and come home with the Champions League title (that would also win me a bet and get me a nice lunch )

Viva Football!

Sister Sister…

In case anyone’s wondering, I didn’t do well in today’s Power Electronics exam!! I had been procrastinating for over a week, and figured I’d just manage with the usual cramming… but the thing with cramming is that some things can come out of nowhere and completely mess up your last minute plans!! My unfortunate thing was catching a bad cold! Seriously, this is one of the worst colds I’ve gotten in over a year… and while I was counting on the long hours before my 5:00 PM exam, I ended up too worn out, heavy-headed, sneezing continuously and consuming tissues non-stop (the only ones available nearby were scented, which made it even worse!) Not to mention that our professor had chosen an excellent timing for the exam, right when the election results were announced, making it impossible to concentrate with the noise of the celebrations, cheering, singing, dabkeh (although I can’t comprehend what they were cheering since they were four candidates running for four seats!!!!!!)

Ok I had to get that out – it feels good to have something to place the blame on, and now I will just concentrate on studying well for the final

As you can tell from the title of this post, this is not the thing I wanted to blog about… this morning while feeling all crappy and sick, I called my sis to ask her if anyone around her had “Advil Sinus”, the only cold medication I know that doesn’t leave you sleepy… she said she’ll check and call me back, and what she did was go to a pharmacy, get me Advil, vitamin C pills, water, a mug, and orange juice, and bring them all to the engineering library where I was studying Lara has this caring sweet side to her and she made me feel so blessed!

Now for the past God knows how long, we’ve been barely seeing each other… she’s a medical student in her 3rd year, her exam schedule is always different than mine, her sleeping and waking habits are so different too, and seriously, it had been quite a while since we really talked… so we decided that today we want to go out and catch up on everything! It was really great… she picked me up after the exam and we went to Wild Jordan (Yes AGAIN!! 3rd time this week!! But she hadn’t been there before…so you know) it was such a nice coincidence to see Natasha and Jeff there before they leave tomorrow

Hmmm… looks like this is going to be a long post! But my sisters play such an important part in my life I can’t sort of cook it quickly! Being the eldest of six siblings has its ups and downs… but it’s getting really nice as we’re growing up! I mean, there was a time when I was only close to Lara (who’s one year younger than me)! I used to have all these rules posted on my door about entering my room, and I used to be very difficult when it came to sharing my stuff… I have no idea when and how all of that changed; now I’m pretty close to all four of my sisters, I love it when one of them comes in to talk about something, I love feeling helpful when one of them asks me to write her an essay for some class (sometimes I have to ‘a7ammel alf jmeeleh’ but in the end I love it) it’s so great when one of them buys a cute new piece of clothing and it fits me perfectly so I can ‘asalbet 3alaiha’, lunch time is always upbeat and loud and ‘3aj2a’ with everyone sharing stories and interrupting the other, it’s always fun to go out walking with Rasha (my tawjihi sis) or Rania in the evening!

Now the down side is when I’m planning to wear a certain blouse and look all over the place for it, only to find it a month later crumbled in my sister’s drawer (after she’d sworn she hadn’t seen it!), or when I’m looking for my favorite tape and I find out that the tape-recorder ‘ate it’ while my sis was listening to it, or when I’m so busy and mom tells me that there’s no one else to help my little bro with his French test (each one of us would ask ‘why does it have to be me??!)… when I desperately need the phone and Sally keeps it busy for an hour… when I want to watch a movie and Laith won’t let go of space Stoon… when I want to study in the saloon and Rania wants to practice the piano… when we’re fighting over what music to listen to in the car (I like Mood and they like Play!!! when did I become so ancient?!) When I come into the living room and find my 14-year-old sis watching “A Cinderella Story” for the 20th time – literally!!

I remember all the crazy bizarre games we invented when we were kids (I loved having people on whom I could experiment with my ideas), all our rituals and traditions and expressions, our home plays and music performances and art exhibits…

The list can get quite long, but it’s all part of being a big family I guess… I always felt ours would make good material for a soap opera or local comedy series, and it’s one of my long-term goals to write it, so I’m thinking I’ll experiment with it on this blog ;p Jordanian sisters… or diaries of a big family the Jordanian way

In the words of a Kuwaiti woman

I’ve read and shared the news about women in Kuwait finally getting their political rights, but it felt greater reading what an activist Kuwaiti woman had to say about it… she was right there at the Parliament, and it was a big moment of triumph and celebration.

It’s now a little after 730pm, and I’ve just gotten into the office after a full day at Parliament. We arrived at the National Assembly around 830am, and 11 hours later, we walked out of their with our rights.

It was absolutely amazing to behold. A madhouse, a circus, a zoo.. but absolutely amazing.

I’m exhausted, I’m tired, I’m thrilled.

SheWrites, continue reading her post

Get a glimpse of what has been going on before here.

Kuwaiti Women Get their Political Rights at Last!!

Kuwaiti women win right to vote

The Kuwaiti parliament has voted to give women full political rights.

The amendment to the Kuwait’s electoral law means women can for the first time vote and stand in parliamentary and local elections. It was passed by 35 votes for, 23 against, with one abstention. Council elections are due this year.

The result, announced by the speaker of parliament, was greeted with thunderous applause from the public gallery where backers of the amendment were gathered.
“I congratulate the women of Kuwait for having achieved their political rights,” said Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah.

Kuwait’s ruler Sheikh Jabir al-Ahmad al-Sabah issued a decree giving women full political rights in 1999. The change in the law, which was agreed at the end of a 10-hour session, had previously been blocked by a majority of tribal and Islamist members of parliament.

Source: BBC News

However, conservative Muslims included an article in the bill requiring that any female politician or voter abide by Islamic law. Women in the parliament gallery cheered as the bill was passed. It was not clear what limits this may put on women’s rights. But in no way did it dampen the spirits of the supporters of the amendment.
“I am overjoyed. I can’t believe this,” activist Rola Dashti said, adding that she would run in the next parliamentary election in 2007.

“I am starting my campaign as of today,” she said.

Dashti said she was not concerned by the vague reference to Islamic law, saying it probably just meant separate polling stations and not an Islamic dress code.
“They can’t impose veils on voters,” she said.

Source: Al-Jazeera

This means that women can now vote in all Middle Eastern nations where elections are held except Saudi Arabia. The Gulf nations of Bahrain, Qatar and Oman all have held their first elections in recent years and have allowed women to cast ballots.

This is a big step forward and I truly hope and pray it will mark a new era for our Kuwaiti sisters! I am so excited

Welcome to Jordan ;)

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