This Month in Amman; Film-mania and some more cultural diversity

It’s been a while since I posted anything about Amman’s cultural events calendar – quite a while! But that’s because I was a) um… busy b) happy for the knowledge that there is in fact a wonderful comprehensive source for what’s buzzing on Amman’s the cultural arena, and that is Jazarah!

I just thought I’d share some of what’s in my inbox these days

The European Film Festival wraps up today, with a re-run of the Swedish Film “Zozo” at 5:00 PM. Word has it; it is very good and worth seeing. I personally enjoyed the French film “Fauteuils D’Orchestre” a lot.

It seems to be high season for film festivals, which probably works well with the change of weather and general mood, as Amman goes into an autumn laid-back atmosphere. For someone like me who’s into European and independent films as opposed to the only thing cinema theatres here understand – the mainstream commercial stuff, the variety and sheer amount of alternative options this month are so refreshing.

Al Kasaba International Film Festival started yesterday at Al-Balad Theatre (click on the poster for details).

The Spanish Film Festival “Cinema under Construction” will take place between the 3rd and 7th of December, also at Al-Balad Theatre. (Click on posters as well).

The Shoman Cinema Forum’s Tuesday films are back after a summer break, with December featuring Japanese, Iranian, Korean, and Afghani Films. Every Tuesday at 6:30 pm. Click here for details.

And, behold, it’s not all films. The Barium Mines Production Company is back after the successful September theatre performance of “Murdering Antigone”. This time it’s “Haunted”; a staged reading of ghost stories, murder mysteries and tales of romance, horror and imagination from Edgar Allan Poe.

Dec 5 and 12 we will be at La Calle Italian Trattoria, in Jabal Amman, across from Batata; shows start at 9pm, there will be music, food and drinks.

On December 19, we will have an early show at Darat Al Funun, at 6pm (good for those who aren’t into late nights, or the cafe/drinking scene).

Cheating your way through college

As of the October issue, JO magazine started a series of articles looking at Education in Jordan. Every month there will be two articles addressing specific issues and challenges related to Education. This month, Kate Washington looks into the lack of a reading culture, and I have a piece on plagiarism and how students can easily cheat their way through college.

Having studied at the University of Jordan, I lived first hand a learning experience almost barren of course-work, essays, and projects. With the exception of majors like architecture or design, and very few professors with sincere individual effort in some other faculties, the assessment of most subjects was very much exam-based. When it happened that a professor required a project or a written paper, I don’t remember that there had been any type of warning against plagiarism, or any sense among the students that it is not acceptable to copy and paste entire paragraphs word for word without proper referencing. When working on any project, most of the effort would be spent looking for a resource with a ready answer or something that is easy to copy and hand in. Professors rarely discuss the submitted project with the students and ask them to present and defend it, thus plagiarism goes unnoticed and with no penalty.

The interesting bit for me in the article is those centers across the street from the university, where you pay and have your entire project or paper done for you. It’s not like they are underground hidden places that keep a low profile, they are places with big signs on the main street stating something like “Center for Study and Research… research, Internet articles, Masters and PhD Dissertations… 12-year experience!”

Yes, believe it or not… Masters and PhD Dissertations!! When I walked in there, I just pretended to be a business undergrad asking for “help” with a paper for some subject. The girl behind the desk told me “sure we do research papers; just tell us the exact topic you need and the number of pages.” I asked her if they’d give me something already done or if they’d do a new one for me. She seemed amused by my question and told me that, of course, they don’t sell the same paper twice, otherwise it would be caught. Silly me.

Supposedly relieved, I asked her, feigning innocent curiosity, about the background of the person who’d do the paper. She told me that they have different people, and that in some cases, they have university professors doing the work. I couldn’t hide my shock, so she was like “we do Masters and PhD theses you know, these require a lot of experience and work”.

She went on to explain that these also cost a lot more than the mere 2.5 JDs per page which they charge for a simple undergrad paper.

“Of course”… I nodded.

In that same building, another center goes under the sign “Information technology Center”, and offers computer and English language courses… officially. Unofficially, they “help” with technical IT projects. I walked in claiming to be a Computer Science student looking for help with a database project. A girl directed me to one of the technical experts, and he started asking me about the details of the project and the deadline. When I said I have less than two weeks, he told me he’ll try to see if they have someone free to finish it within the given time, and get back to me. When I asked him very openly about the chances of professors discovering the deal, he just smiled confidently and said “don’t worry, we’ll make it work for you.”
For a simple database design, he told me they charge 25 JDs. The price goes up with the complexity of the project, and its weight (i.e. is it a graduation project? Or a term project for one class?)

A friend of mine in the IT faculty told me that sometimes, when they actually do a presentation of their project, professors can detect that someone got external help with it, and they don’t let it pass unpunished. But the problem is that in most cases, you hand in your project without being asked a single question about it.

Another friend doing Masters in the UK was telling me how one of the most important things in the introduction they were given upon starting the program was the warning against plagiarism and its dire consequences. They were told that plagiarism is an unforgivable academic crime, and they were shown the plagiarism detector and how it works. Students there don’t copy three consecutive words from a resource without referencing it, and they just learn to develop their own ideas and write their own words based on their readings. How hard could it be to introduce such a thing in our universities? The Ministry of Higher Education talks about emphasizing and encouraging research in universities, but the ABC’s are obviously still missing.

As I’m writing this, I think of one professor I had in my fourth year who was just different. He divided students into teams, and he gave each team a completely different project requirement, so that no one would cheat off someone else. He also had each team present and explain the work they did, and he asked them questions to see that they knew what they were talking about. Naturally, he didn’t achieve any popularity, and the next semester, when students found out it was him teaching one of the elective courses, they all went and withdrew it, leaving only three registered students and thus canceling the subject for that semester. In the first semester he came, he used to give open-book exams and lots of assignments. I really wonder if he’s still the same or if he just gave up on it and started going with the flow.

You can still get a copy of this month’s JO for a bit more on the issue. Sometimes I wonder what it would take to shake up the system, and to start uprooting deeply entrenched problems plaguing our approach to education and learning. A question that comes to mind; Most of our professors have obtained their higher degrees abroad, so why do they come back and give in to the same old way of doing things here?? How can you accept moving backward?

Dreams, Books, and Perfume Imitations – an Injaz Update

I got back to my Injaz class today after an absence of two weeks (I still have a lot to share about the trip to Turkey, very soon, I promise!)

In the last session, we had an exercise about goals, where I got magazines, glue, and scissors, and each girl had to divide a big sheet of paper into two parts; how she sees herself now, and how she sees herself in 15 years, and then fill each section with clippings representing different aspects of it.

It was very interesting to observe them busily cutting and pasting clippings, and writing lines that reflect where they are and where they’d like to be. My initial observations were somewhat disappointing, as many of them just filled the sheet with images of couples, children, a nice home, a fancy car, and a cell phone… stuff like that, along with something along the lines of “I want to have a good job”.

“What type of job? What would you like to be doing? What is it you dream of becoming?” I asked.

Most of them seemed to have no idea. One person said “a job in a company”, and I was like “yes, but doing what?” and she just shrugged her shoulders.

There were even two or three girls who didn’t paste a single thing saying they don’t have any idea.

I just wanted to exclaim; you’re still 13 for goodness’ sake!! Dream! You’re too young to be too realistic!!! What happened to wanting to be a pilot, an astronaut, or a fashion designer? What happened to wanting to travel the world, cure cancer, or work with the Interpol?

I’m not asking those girls to know exactly what they want in life; I’m just saying that it’s extremely dangerous if kids do not dream “unrealistic” dreams. At a certain age later on, they’d be hit by a reality check, and most of them would accept that they won’t become actresses, fire fighters, or nuclear scientists. But then there are a few who actually break the norms and go after what they want.

Today’s session was somewhat more refreshing, because as we resumed the talk about what obstacles stand in the face of their goals and how they can overcome them, they started stepping forward and sharing things like wanting to be an air hostess, a football player, and a business woman running offices in different countries.

What was very interesting is that alongside all the images, you’d find something like an eagle, a bird, a cloud, the sky… and when you ask them about those pictures they say “I want to be free.” I heard it from the majority… about how in 15 years they want to be independent and free in making their choices and decisions and living their life the way they want.

Mostly, I don’t comment on such things. I just try to get them to start thinking more. I was just trying to make one point, which is that they should ponder what obstacles prevent them from realizing their dreams, and what steps they should take to address that. The whole point is for them not to end up studying something they hate, settling for a job they don’t enjoy, and then just dragging along life feeling eternally bored. We really need more people who are passionate about what they do!

So far I haven’t been chased after by their parents or teachers! Although I suspect I might

One of my greatest joys is the fact that most of them are quite into the reading program we started. Over the course of the past month I got them around 40 books, ranging from Agatha Christie to Taha Hussein, from CS Lewis to Naguib Mahfouz, and from Charles Dickens to Ghassan Kanafani and Abdul Rahman Muneef… at first I was pretty cautious with the books I got, but then when I went and sought the recommendations of Abu Ali, he gave me his look of disapproval for my underestimation of 13-year-olds. I ended up trusting him and buying a whole bunch (not only is he an avid reader and a great intellectual, but a very good salesman I must admit )

There’s a group of girls who have been reading one book after the other, and who have completed around 5 books since we started. There are others who are slower, and of course there are those who are just not interested. I was so happy today when I found out that three of the most annoying girls in class have been gathering during their break, and taking turns reading out loud together. They were very enthusiastic about the book they finished together. It just made my day.

To encourage them as promised, I went looking for small presents that I can give to the most active readers. I landed upon one of those places downtown that sell imitations of well-known perfumes, mixed manually from the essence along with God knows what. Now seriously, their stuff smell just like the real thing, and last long enough without the scent changing or anything – “J’Adore”, “Kenzo”, “Davidoff”… you name it. It was quite fun observing the guy working at it with the injection needle and different liquids and chemicals.

I’ll try to be more creative with the motivation gifts next time. This is such a tricky age and they are so hard to please. Again, any suggestions are more than welcome.

I guess I’ll wrap it up for now. I wanted to start venting about some of what I’ve been seeing from their teachers, but I’ll leave that to another post.

On food and other thoughts – from Antalya

The hotel we’re at here in Antalya, Turkey for this conference has the worst coffee I’ve ever had, though it’s supposed to be something like 7 stars!! It’s frustrating… their Turkish coffee sucks (I found out today that they use a machine for it instead of doing it the traditional way), their American coffee is just a horrible-tasting brown liquid, their cappuccino is Nescafe with milk, their Latte is Nescafe with more milk… So it was quite refreshing to get out last Friday and find out that Turkish coffee can actually taste good here, as I got the chance to enjoy it in a beautiful restaurant called Arma overlooking an amazing view of the Marina, the Old Town, and the waterfall that goes into the Mediterranean.

I really don’t know where to start sharing and blogging about this trip. First, I should mention that this conference is the ITU plenipotentiary, where the elections for the position of ITU secretary general took place last Thursday. I’m here as part of a small team of volunteers who were working on the campaign of Ms Muna Nijem’s candidacy for the position. I’ve read Khalaf’s and Natasha’s posts on the issue, and I have so much to share from this first-hand experience, and having had the chance to be deeply involved in the lobbying, campaigning, and research process. I just need to collect my thoughts when I get back to Amman and start documenting it all.

For now, I feel like jotting down a few thoughts on turkey, Antalya, and our stay here.

The area we’re at is called Beldibi, and while it’s surrounded by incredibly beautiful nature, it’s just very dead at this time of year, and it’s away from the city’s pulse of life. It doesn’t matter how nice the hotel is, it could be any undefined spot in the world if it weren’t for the view. I was actually thinking the other day… different countries host receptions every day as part of the conference, especially those with candidates to present for the different positions, and what’s so sad is that, most receptions and lunches include nothing whatsoever that gives you a feel of the country hosting it. The food is all the same, just some international menu and a buffet that can be repeated at the Brazilian, Italian, Egyptian, and Mali evenings with no one being able to tell any difference or leave with any particular memory. Isn’t that sad? I mean, I think of the International youth camps I got to participate in, and I remember all the country presentations… they were so spontaneous, with lots of little thoughtful elements that tell you something about that country. To me, the most fascinating thing was how intricately food is entwined with culture, how every cultural presentation had to include some food. It had even more spirit when the people prepared it themselves. Here at the plenipotentiary, while the dominant trend was faceless receptions, a few countries did actually present something distinct and different, and I’m so glad that Jordan was one of them. No we didn’t have a few Mansaf platters to buy people’s votes, we had a young Jordanian talent, an amazing piano composer– Tareq Younis, give a concert. Over 800 people attended, and with beautiful images from across Jordan playing in the background. Tareq played some of his own compositions, my favorite of which was a song about a walk in Jabal Luweibdeh. People were very impressed, and most of them stayed till the very end even though there were a couple of other receptions and dinners taking place at the same time.

So back to food it was only three days ago that we started going out and enjoying some food in the city outside the hotel. I guess it’s well known that Turks are big on Kebab. It sure is yummy, especially this thing called Adana which we had at a popular restaurant in the city center called Bey Baba – I mean, that was the best Kebab I have ever tasted. But seriously, I cannot imagine living on this type of food for long… it’s just too much meat… meat and bread, meat and bread… with a very plain basic salad of tomatoes and lettuce. I just miss colorful food!! They also drink this type of salted diluted yoghurt called Ayran with every meal, and it’s pretty good too.

I have to also note that Turkish pita bread is absolutely wonderful, especially when they first bring it, so warm and inviting…

Well, I have tons more to share… but I have to catch a morning flight to Istanbul – I just couldn’t leave Turkey without stopping by Istanbul, even if only for two days.

Meanwhile, you can check out the pictures I’ve uploaded so far on Flickr. Most of them have stories behind them that I will be sharing as soon as I get to Amman.

From Antalya

This is the view from the balcony where I’m sitting at this very moment. It’s 5:56 am, and I’m in Antalya, Turkey. I just wish I had some form of wide-lens that could get the majestic Taurus Mountains from one side and the Mediterranean on the other… in one picture.

I got here yesterday to participate in a two-week conference. At this point I can’t share much about it, but hopefully will at a later stage. It’s just been incredibly exhausting, with a 4:00 am flight, topping three days of sleep deprivation.

It’s fascinating to stop and ponder what Turkey was, became, and is heading towards. I’m reading Pamuk’s “Istanbul” these days, and the melancholy and nostalgia with which he describes this historic city is gripping and intriguing. There actually is certain sadness to being a “historic city”… but I’ve never been to Istanbul so I don’t want to get carried away with unjustified descriptive prose. Antalya on the other hand, hmmmm, reminded me of Latakia when we were driving from the airport through the city with the Mediterranean air and the shabby feel of the buildings.

The hotel we’re at is 10 km away from the city center, and as beautiful as it is, being in an ‘official’ conference makes you feel like you’re in some bubble, and I just wish I could explore Antalya from a different angle (and definitely in a different attire!!)

I’ll leave you with some pictures, and hope I’ll be able to keep posting regular updates and snippets of thoughts.

PS. The language barrier is just frustrating. How someone working in a hotel restaurant here cannot understand when you explain a simple thing you want out of the menu beats me!!! And why, in a conference with people from 161 countries, the hotel staff start talking to you in Turkish before stuttering and trying to put together two words in English, also beats me!! Again and again, it makes me appreciate the way it is in Jordan. One of our colleagues was telling me how some of the kids who work in Petra, not only communicate in good English, but can do it with a perfect British accent is they want, without ever having stepped into a school. Brings me to the whole idea of learning versus education, but that’s another story.

Ok, back to the pictures