Converting my blog to Wordpress

From now on you will find my blog at www.ananaddoush.wordpress.com instead of here.
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Speed Control Bikini Bandits :-)

I just learned about an interesting video which is floating around cyberspace. It's from 2006 and you can check it out here. It's very funny :-)

It tells the story of a new strategy in Denmark to get people to stop speeding!

“Make way for the speed control Bikini Bandits. A specially trained
team of enthusiastic young women not afraid to do whatever it takes so that motorists pay more attention to the speed limit."

Basically the solution is to have topless hot blond girls standing at the side of the streets with speed limit signs! Brilliant solution :-) As you can see in the movie it works...maybe even a bit too well...

[BY THE WAY - this film is totally fictional - it was made by the Danish Council for Road Safety to drag attention to the problem of speeding in a creative way. So don't rush over and buy your planetickets just yet (unless you want to come and see all the other beautiful things in Denmark of course)]

Ahlan Ahlan - Goddag Goddag

I was born in a small city north of Copenhagen - on an island called Zealand. In this part of Denmark we speak very fast, loud and a lot, we use words like "irriterende" (annoying) and we cut the endings of many words.

I lived there for 22 years before I moved to another part of the country, to Aarhus, Denmark's second biggest city. Aarhus is located in Jutland - and here people speak very slow, draaaaaaaaaaaaaaging every word, thinking before they talk and use words like "træls" (which also means annoying - but it is TOTALLY different from "irriterende" :-)).

People from one part of the country will make fun of how people from other parts speak and the other way around. So I was the center of many jokes when I first moved to Aarhus. I swore to myself that I would never use the word "træls"...
But after a year I was integrated and also used "træls" in almost every sentence - and the jokes stopped.

The bad thing was when I would go home to visit my family in Zealand...because I didn't speak like them anymore. So then I was the centre of the jokes there instead. Sigh.

And now I have been in Jordan for over a year - speaking a wide variety of Danish, English and Arabic on a daily basis - sometimes mixed together. And next week I'm going home to visit my family and friends in Denmark... And I wonder how much of a joke I will be this time?

I know at least 10 words that I will be using mixed in to Danish sentences:
1) Walla
2) Yalla
3) Majnoon
4) Sho?
5) Bi-llah alek
6) Akeed
7) Shukran
8) Ahlan Ahlan
9) Keefek?
10) Yay yaaaaaaaa (not Arabic but a very internal joke that will cause me a lot of strange looks)

So - it should be an interesting visit :-)

Why is decision making so hard?

They want to be in charge of their own lives and make their own decisions - but if you give them the opportunity - they rarely take it...

I am talking about the youth in Jordan and this one fact that I have been repeatedly reminded of during my time in Jordan and by working with Jordanians on different projects.


Young Jordanians don't like to take charge, take responsibility or make decisions...!

(of course - again - this is a generalization - but bare with me. I just came home from yet another project meeting where this problem showed up).

It's really weird actually.

I am working on this volontary youth project trying to engage the youth in public life. A project by and for youth. And all the people that hear about the project gets all excited and most of them instinctly wants to join and be part of it. Young people in this region are used to having their decisions made for them - on various different levels and issues - and they truly want to take charge of their own lives. But when you give them the chance - most of them don't take it.


Strange

The situation that I have encountered so many times that I have stopped counting is, that if you leave the initiative to them, or expect them to decide on something - usually nothing happens. Some of them don't say anything - just slowly dissapears from the project - and others show their confusion. They ask me: "What do you want me to do?"

And that is the point - I don't want to tell you what to do - you have a brain and logical sense - why don't you decide or figure out what to do?

The youth want change and they want development - but they don't want to be the ones to make it happen...?

So maybe this is one of the reasons why democracy is still lacking in this part of the world? When it all comes down to it - if the people don't want to make decisions for them selves but wants other people to tell them what to do - then democracy will never be developped.

Jordanian guys with hips...

There is (among many others) one interesting difference between Danish guys and Jordanian guys.

The difference is their hips.
They both have them - but Jordanian guys also know how to use them.

Of course this is an exaggeration - but in general you have to search very intensely to find a Danish guy who can dance - or who is willing to dance.
For some reason most Danish guys prefer to stand at the bar with a beer and stare, while the girls dance with themselves. Really a waste of many good opportunities ;-)

But in Jordan almost every guy dances (not all equally well – but they all love to :-)).
As soon as you turn on the music – Arabic or western – they will start moving around like someone instantly pushed their ‘on-button’. Arms everywhere and their hips moving more flexible and sexy than most girls. I wonder where they learn it? Do they take the boys aside in school when they are young and teach them how to move?

And don’t even get me started on talking about what happens if you put on Dabka music…
A big group of guys will join hands and start jumping around the room like the floor was on fire.

And if I sound sarcastic let me clear something up – I love it. I love that they dance. I can’t stop smiling whenever I am witnessing a dabka moment – and to me (and to many other girls I’m sure) there is nothing more attracting than a guy who can show a woman around the dance floor. So – well done. Give me a number for whoever it is I need to call and thank for teaching the guys ;-)

Rice and chicken

Yesterday I was having a talk with my roommate about Mexican food.
She is from Texas and she seems to have a Ph.D in Mexican food (or Tex-Mex cuisine).
Well - to me - all mexican food is basically the same.

Burritos
Enchiladas
Tortillas
Fajita
And there are many more but I forget the names...

In my world - these dishes are all basically pancakes with stuff inside!

My roommate thoroughly explaned to me the difference between each - but I'm sure that I'm not the only one who still feels like it's more or less the same.

And she told me that she perfectly understand how I feel - cuz she feels the same way about food here in Jordan.

Mansaf
Magluba
and a lot of other dishes - with specific names or without - are in her eyes the same.
It's all rice and chicken :-) (or meat of course ;-))

Interesting perspective...

Honk Honk

Arabic is a strange language. I can mention many reasons why, but one of them is that everything - every word - can have a wide variety of meanings. It all depends on the context. You look up an Arabic word in the dictionary and you will find the first 10 translations for it in English. And sometimes the different translations are not even remotely related.

And my thought is - that Arabs might have transfered this phenomenon to other areas of life.
One of these areas could be honking...

In Denmark - the use of your car's horn would usually mean: watch out/look out/we're almost crashing here!!! HONK HONK (it would be used in an emergency situation in other words).

But in Jordan - that is only one of the many possible meanings. It could also mean:

HONK HONK - "You are blocking the entire street with your car because you are parked in the middle of it talking to your cousin"

HONK HONK - "I came first - I wanna drive first into the roundabout"

HONK HONK - "Are you looking for a taxi?"

HONK HONK - "I'm not a taxi but I will give you a ride!!!!!" (If you are confused the answer here is always no!)

HONK HONK - "I'm here to pick you up - come down to the street.

HONK HONK - "Hot girl, hot girl - kiddah abuyah - I just have to get your attention! I'm not exactly sure what my aim with honking is - but "hey - look at me"".