I've spent the last three days in school learning about how to poop properly and talk about my bowels in Arabic. I shit you not. Before I tell you everything I learned about poop, let me explain why: I will be spending my next week with a bedouin family in the rural South of Jordan.
Tribal/bedouin culture is a huge part of Jordanian's cultural heritage. In a desert society, hospitality is a huge deal. Caravans of traders with goods would come through the desert, and bedouins would open their homes to them, giving water to the camels and travelers and gathering news about the world. Today, travelers don't pass through in the same way, but much of bedouin culture apparently remains. Here's some examples of both how culture is similar and different to the stereotypical Bedouin culture. Note, when I check in after I stay there for a week, I may take back much of this stuff:
The Hospitality is still there. Seriously, if you go to a bedouin's house, they will feed you, give you so much coffee/tea you will explode, and give you a place to stay. SIT arranges for us to go to particular families, but apparently in the past, a girl showed up to the wrong house and a random family took her in without asking any questions. When the program/the family she was supposed to go to figured out what happened, it took a lot of arguing for the family that took her in to give up their guest to the family she was supposed to go to.
They do not still live in tents and sleep on the floor on sand dunes; they now have electricity. Bedouins live in houses, but many have tents next door. They have computers with internet access, cell phones, and electricity. Having said that, there are huge discrepancies in wealth, so I have no idea how much of these things my family will actually have. I'll let you know more next week.
They are still all about the animals, especially camels. We learned a lot about how camel's milk is super healthy, but rough on the bowels (see the next section). Legitimately, bedouins don't get cancer, and many studies suggest that camel's milk has something to do with this. It isn't boiled, though, so that explains the shitting problems I guess. They told us to only try it if we are strong in the stomach. I'm trying it. End of story.
Gender differences are still very big. I purchased a traditional Tob (Arab dress), and I am planning on wearing a Hijab for the whole week. I learned how to tie one today, and looking in the mirror was an interesting experience. I may not meet my host brothers because men and women are so separated. Based on past participants, men go out a lot, go hunting, and do crazy desert stuff; women cook. Having said that, I have no idea what I'll actually experience.
They still have very little water. Seriously, less than 2 mm per year. I don't know if I will be able to take a shower for the week. Legitimately, I have no idea. Inshallah I will be. On that note, I have to get to the point about running water/bathrooms. Seriously, half of our orientation had to do with poop.
The Poop Section
Let me explain why I started off this post talking about poop. This video was sent to us to teach us how we will be shitting for the next week. http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Secondly, I spent a day of arabic class learning about how to talk about stomach problems. Like everything else in the Arabic language, the words were filled with meaning. The root of the word diharrea is the word "easy"; the root of the word constipation is roughly translatable as "to snatch" or "hold up." I'm not shitting you. Thirdly, today, in our final orientation, our teacher walked us through the process of using a Turkish toilet by both drawing a model on the board and showing us exactly what the little cup that goes in the toilet hole looks like. We talked about centering ourselves over the hole as to not miss--the more you miss, the more you have to clean the hole when you're done.
Few people get the chance to actually experience bedouin culture, so I'm really excited to get the chance. It's going to (literally and figuratively) be a shit show, but that's OK. I think it's all just part of the experience.
Wish me luck, and if you need me for the next week or so, too bad...
B
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