Jordan and Syria: The First of Many

So, I'm back from the Middle East. My team and I made it back whole, lost luggage and digestive problems notwithstanding. We went with no objectives in mind, just open minds to learn about the people and culture in these countries, and see the truth for ourselves instead of letting the media tell us what to believe. It was a truly incredible experience. As just a bit of an overview to start of what's sure to be the first of many posts about my time there, I'd just like to say that the people over there are wonderful. True, they have different cultural values than we do, but they value family and hospitality above almost anything.

We heard before we went on the trip that the people over there wanted us to come. We found this pretty difficult to believe. I mean come on, with everything going on in that particular area of the world, they have every right to be pretty pissed at America. (In Jordan and Syria specificly, the refugee overflow is putting a very difficult strain on their economy.) But, we found that even though they didn't look favorably on the American government, they really liked the American people. They were able to distinguish between the two in a way that Americans can't always do. In America, we don't always remember that all Arabs aren't the same, all Muslims aren't the same, or that all Middle Eastern countries aren't the same. Everyone we encountered was curious about why we were there, but also genuinly excited that we had come.

In fact, the only opposition we ran into was at a restraunt on one of the last nights we were in Amman. Some guy came up to us all upset over the war. But wait - this wasn't the war on terror. He was upset over the COLD WAR. He loudly voiced his frustrations over why the USA and the "USSR" couldn't work it out. His theory was that if 15 American families and 15 "Soviet" families were to trade places for a year, it would be a huge bennifit for our two nations. I guess that after many, many drinks, he thought it his duty to inform the Americans of his point of view. Security came and escorted him from the restaraunt. Other than that, we got absolutely no fall out from America's involvement in world affairs.

More to come.