Nicholas Gyongyosi – Page 2 – GW Blogs from Abroad

New states of mind

AdminOctober 1, 2013December 14, 2018

In the absence of any great adventures, I'd like to describe a useful “skill” I'm acquiring that I think will continue to make my life easier when I return. As a student, you're forced to have decent time management skills. Ensuring that I finish my homework, internalize class material, go to work, maintain my social life and organizational responsibilities, and remember to feed myself takes a bit of foresight. But I slumped into a routine of having a plan in my head of exactly how my day will go. And it usually went that way; when it didn't, I was bothered.

But since I've been in Amman I've learned to let that go a little bit. There are so many more variables here I don't have control over. For example, there are some times on some days you can't count on getting a cab to certain parts of the city. Living outside of a well-organized grid with everything labeled on Google Maps turns finding simple goods and services into adventures, filled with attempts to communicate my needs to locals, and struggling to understand their directions. Without Whole Foods and a billion other restaurants right around the corner to cater to any cuisine my palette desires at mealtime, meals have become less like social events, and generally don't take up much time. It's such an effort to take a taxi to the store for weekly groceries and load up as much as my arms can carry, or walk a mile to the nearest restaurant, I'm happy just to still have something edible in the refrigerator. Even in the realm of leisure, I realize I slid into a routine. Here I have been busy exploring everything this country has to offer. These are just a few examples.

I think practicing this on-the-fly style of time management will be healthy for me when I get back. It has forced me to keep my eyes open and my mind on what opportunities are open to me considering my circumstances.

Adventure and Existentialism in Petra

AdminSeptember 24, 2013

My friend Stephen feels the freedom of an open desert at night.

A view of the deserts and mountains of Ma'an

The Nabataean monastery sits atop one of the highest hills in Petra

While I did a lot of cool things this weekend—camel riding in Wadi Rum, sleeping in a Bedouin camp, romping around the desert, exploring the ancient city of Petra—I really only brought one significant thought from it, one experience for which “cool” is an inaccurate understatement of its reality. It was a weird convergence of realizations that led to a state of mind I've never really been in before.

After walking through an expansive, once-thriving, long-dead city, wealthy enough to support a population of 20,000 people in the middle of the desert, with complex architecture and intricate water conduit system, I climbed to one of its highest points, where the monastery is located. I stared at the building's huge facade, in awe at its sheer size, but more so at the people it stood to commemorate. Then I hiked over the peak of the mountain to overlook the sublime scene of the surrounding rift valley, and for the first time in a long time felt completely insignificant. Like the strong breeze that had just kicked up could blow me away like a grain of sand without remorse.

But at the same time I looked at the people around me--American, Jordanian, British, Italian, and others—and felt a sense of connectedness to them and the world around me. But standing with them in the face of the universe we looked out upon, I felt very at home in this pile of insignificant grains of sand, who, despite wildly contrasting lifestyles and cultures, really have a lot in common. I felt free and happy to be even the smallest part of something so sublime.

A Sleepy Week

AdminSeptember 18, 2013

After walking through a small garden of insignificant ruins, we stood in a group of about 20 others, who had just made their way from the nearby mosque to the entrance ot the cave that stood before us. The guard opened the door, and we crowded in to a small, hot room filled with small pieces of ancient pottery, and also body odor. A man started reciting a memorized script and gesturing to the 7 sarcophagus-shaped holes in the stone floors around the room. I think he was saying something like this:

The Seven Sleepers, commonly called the "Seven Sleepers of Ephesus", refers to a group of Christian youths who hid inside a cave outside the city of Ephesus* around 250 AD, to escape a persecution of Christians being conducted during the reign of the Romanemperor Decius. Another version is that Decius ordered them imprisoned in a closed cave to die there as punishment for being Christians. Having fallen asleep inside the cave, they purportedly awoke approximately 180 years later during the reign of Theodosius II, following which they were reportedly seen by the people of the now-Christian city before dying.

Muslims firmly believe in the story as it is mentioned in the Qur'an; however, some aspects of the story are not covered in its account, including the exact location of the cave. Some allege that it is in Ephesus, Turkey; others cite a place near Amman, Jordan. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Sleepers)

So I went to the place near Amman on Saturday with a couple friends from my program and a new friend—the manager of a restaurant we frequent called Talielet Baladna (between 2^nd and 3^rd circles if you ever go). Yeah, we frequent a cafe. I've been wanted to find a bar to frequent for over a year now, but I never found one in DC cheap or cool enough to turn into my own personal set of Cheers. But I digress. The cave was pretty neat, but I really enjoyed touring the accompanying mosque more. I've actually never witnessed an Islamic worship service. It wasn't so different from other services I've been to. There was kneeling, listening to a dude up front, standing up, praying, kneeling, dude says more stuff. It was kind of meditative to chill in the green (a rare color here) of the garden and the singing of Koran verses.

Admittedly, this week was not packed with cultural insights, but I'm going to attribute that to the fact the I mostly stayed indoors to study for a final (one of our classes is super intense for like a week and then there's a final), and two quizzes. This weekend is our program-wide trip to Petra/Wadi Rum. Hopefully I'll have something a little more exciting than a Wikipedia article upon my return. You can at least count on some camel pics, for sure.

Unqualified for the Qualifier

AdminSeptember 9, 2013December 14, 2018

By nlgyon

I went to a Columbus Crew game once when I was a kid, and that is the only exposure to live soccer I've ever had. From what I recall, there were plenty of seats around us (who would've thought?), stakes were low and the crowd's enthusiasm was mild.

Local Jordanians ham it up for the foreigner with a camera.

On September 6, the Jordanian national soccer team played Uzbekistan in the fifth round of the Asian Football Confederation's 2014 World Cup Qualifiers at the King Abdullah International Stadium in Amman. The winner would go on to challenge the fifth place South African Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) team to attain a berth in the 2014 World Cup Finals in Rio next summer, which I've heard is kind of one of the more important tournaments or something. I, in a moment of pure genius, realized that this game would be more popular than other soccer games, so I should probably head down to the stadium early. Nothing gets past you, Nick. ...continue reading "Unqualified for the Qualifier"

أهلاً و سهلاً–Welcome to Amman.

AdminSeptember 7, 2013December 14, 2018

By nlgyon

Before I left for my new home in Amman, a good friend and mentor told me:

Navigating the streets of your host country is something you'll not soon forget, accumulating tales of frustration punctuated by small victories--leading to the discovery of some sort of internal cultural horizon by which to navigate. You will be forced to live in the present, and your mind will be unburdened by other considerations.

A view of Amman from the Citadel, ancient ruins atop the city's highest hill.

See, hear, and taste all you can. Return with stories worthy of being told.

This is by far the best advice I received while preparing for life in a foreign country, and these are the same words I would use to describe my experience in Amman so far. There is a daily struggle to avoid paying the “American price” for cabs and goods, to find the best stores and cafes, to discover typical Jordanian night and weekend activities, and to make friends with a limited knowledge of the colloquial dialect. These have all accumulated in short moments saturated with triumph—walking away with an extra dinar or two after a haggling match, biting into a delicious and cheap falafel sandwich, or laughing with locals after a well-placed joke.

While most of my stories so far revolve around the sweetness of small victories and are relatively boring, something about the wild west atmosphere here, perhaps imparted by the desert sand and lawless traffic, promises a semester filled with more than enough stories worthy of sharing with the world.