With all the commotion and disruption in my life upon hearing about my mom’s sudden illness, I’ve neglected several interesting stories I had intended to share… so in the next few days I will attempt to play the proverbial “catch up.”….

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About one week ago I had been exiting my Arab Media class, the last of the day, when two friends and I were met with a reporter for a Jordanian newspaper. He was curious about how we felt about our time in his country – was it a welcoming place, and had it been a positive experience?

As we walked we discussed the best, and worst stories we’d each had so far. All three of us agreed that we loved Jordan and that the hospitality to foreigners is quite impressive. Within a few minutes we were nearing the main street of campus which runs from the entrance to the clock tower. Hearing a commotion, we realized as we exited onto the main thoroughfare that we quite literally in the middle of a protest.

I’ve heard of several demonstrations occuring on campus, generally about once a month unless there is particularly brutal death of Palestinian children in the West Bank or of civilians in Iraq, in which case spontaneous demonstrations may arise as the news travels across the university. But this was the first one I’d ever witnessed.

The reporter attempted to ignore the masked-men holding fake rocket-launchers who preached to the crowd, as men and women in the crowd burned the American flag.

I quickly realized that from my vantage point on the side, nearly everyone except the main speakers could see us very well. Growing increasingly uncomfortable as my male friends dispersed into the crowd to get a better look, I stayed next to the reporter as he put his pen and paper away.

Nearly everyone was wearing black. Several men, and most of the women were wearing facial coverings. Although there were probably no more than 200 demonstraters, I spotted only three girls, including myself, without hijab (head scarf). I was the only one who was blond, and was definitely the only one wearing a bright orange “Oregon State” sweatshirt. I guess you could say I stood out a bit.

I decided not to attempt to get around the crowd to exit because I would have had to go through the men’s section to do so. I hoped that my friends would come back any minute – so I just stood and strained to understand the quickly spoken and fuzzy Arabic coming out of the loudspeaker.

The women stood a good fifty feet behind the men, and seemed much more militant and hostile than the men. When it came time to shout out, “Allahu Akbar!” (God is the greatest) many would contort their face in anger as they screamed it, and I sensed that they were quite literally releasing all frustrations they had inside.

It wasn’t simply an impromptu demonstration, it was a well-planned and executed show of solidarity for a famous Palestinian who was killed two years ago by the IDF (Israeli Defense Force). It was less political and much more religious in terms of rhetoric. In fact, right after the sermon was finished, he led the group in prayer, and then had everyone repeat a promise never to forget Palestine, and to continue fighting for her freedom.

Coming from the Northwest where it seems so many demonstrations turn into riots, I was impressed how peaceful the crowd was when discussing such an infuriating topic – particularly since most students on campus, and nearly all in the crowd were Palestinians currently living in exile. It was led by Hamas leaders, who are clearly labeled as a terrorist organization, yet they seemed quite uninterested in provoking the crowd.

I heard later from my friend Ben, one of the masked men came up to him and got in his face a little as he shouted, “America!” and gave a big thumbs down. However, before turning to walk away, in English he said, “But I really do like the Miami Heat.”

 After relocating all of my friends, we walked away in awe at what we’d just witnessed – a scene straight from CNN, except without the editing.

Jokingly we laughed that the protesters were probably now headed to Starbucks for a nice Frappaccino after being able to vent. There truly is such a dichotomy – wanting to hate America for it’s enormous role in funding and supporting their enemy Israel… and wanting to embrace America for exporting Eminem, Pepsi and drive-thrus. It continues to grow in complication as globalization increases. Nearly every month an American company plants a new establishment in Amman.

This is the paradox young Jordanians and Palestinians are born into, and the reason they’ve become so well adapted at separating Americans from America.

All in all, it was yet another crazy, ironic, and amazingly interesting set of circumstances I found myself thrown into.