Jordan - Post #4

Amman is a never-ending source of surprises. Today I got in the cab to come to class and ended up discussing politics with him. He is a Palestinian who isn't angry at American policies but is horribly sad that his father's house and livelihood disappeared when Israel was created in 1948, pushing them off their land. He talked about how, back then, there was no separate Palestine and Jordan, everybody considered everyone else a countryman, and people easily moved back and forth.

That is, of course, all gone.

We've had some interesting discussions with the students about politics. All of them feel that Bush's policies are making things work, but they're not as angry at him as we are in the States. One of them, Ahmad (see the picture on the right), feels that if the US had never come in, the Iraqis would be killing each other. If they pull out now, the Iraqis will be killing each other. And if we stay, they'll still be killing each other. He still feels that the oil politics are terrible and that innocent people die because of them, but that there are some things that are intractable.

As for the rest of my stay, it is sad to realize that it will all come to an end here at the end of the week -- in a mere four days. The students started editing today and we watched clips from a number of movies that were all about how re-editing works. They all began the day upset about what they didn't do in their films. By the end of the day, they were feeling more encouraged.

It's exciting and sad all at the same time, to be coming to an end of this. I'd love to come back again. I hope I can.