The Students Return to School

On Sunday afternoon (September 14) I taught my first class with Dr Inaam.  There are 9 second year doctoral students – six women and three men in the class.  Dr Inaam and I have very similar teaching styles and she consistently includes me in decisions about the conduct of the class.  In many ways I could have been in the qualitative research methods class that I took many years  ago at UMass Lowell with Barbara Mawn (yes, Barbara, I remember that class well).  Most of the students had good questions and all had some basic knowledge about qualitative research.  The classroom is equipped with a projector for power point and the students are seated at tables arranged in a semi-circle to facilitate discussion.  Our class starts at 3 PM and one of the five times that Muslims have a call to prayer is about 4:30 PM.  When discussing how we should have breaks in the three hour class, Dr Inaam suggested a 10 minute break at 4:30 and then finishing at 5:40. (They use the 50 minute academic hour, the same as we do in the US.)  This met with the class approval.  In contrast to my experience with the chatter that occurs during a class break, everyone left the room.  I did not follow to see where they went, but Dr Inaam did say that she too would pray.  In general, woman pray at home or in private, while men go to the mosque (primarily on Friday), and also pray on the street or in their shops.

The nursing faculty have been very welcoming.  Amani invited me to participate in a planning meeting and conference call related to the organization of the first Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society chapter in Jordan.  (There is a chapter in Beirut at the American University; it is the only one in the Middle East.)  Several faculty members have come to my office just to get to know me.  One of them, Ferial, and I had a lot to talk about.  She is the author of one of the research studies that I am including in a paper that I am writing on family presence during CPR.  The former Dean (they rotate every few years) invited me to his office for a cup of tea (with sage…delicious) to just get acquainted.  Ruqayyah offered me a ride to Mecca Mall and on the way treated me to a sweet and a cup of tea.  Lubna teaches in the undergraduate program and she and I compared notes on student behaviors.  How similar are the issues that we face.  The students at University of Jordan must take a course that introduces them to professional writing, including using APA format.  They complain that they want to be nurses, not writers and don’t see the value.  Of course, they have the added burden of having to write in English which must be difficult.  Even though they study English in school, going from Arabic script to English has to be a challenge.  She also tells me that they ask, as do our students, “is that going to be on the test?”  I have been invited to come to several classes to observe and hope to get an opportunity to make a few hospital visits.

One never forgets that one is in a Muslim country.  At least 92% of the population is Sunni Muslim.  In the former Dean’s office, his prayer rug was folded and ready for use.  Other reminders:

• ·The newspaper lists the times for prayers which are influenced by sunrise and sunset

• The usual response when you plan to meet a person is Insha’Allah (God willing)

•  On Friday you see groups of men and boys returning from the mosque

•  Also on Friday the sermon from the mosque is broadcast over the loud speakers so even if you fail to attend, you have the benefit of the imam’s wisdom

• ·Your margarita at Chili’s Restaurant is alcohol free (and has sugar rather than salt on the rim)

•   There is no pork in the supermarket

• ·And if you forget, there is the muezzin calling five times a day.

Some things that I am missing: 

• ·my dear colleagues at Curry (not just nursing colleagues!)

• ·autumn in Maine

• ·a glass of wine with dinner (wine, beer, and spirits are available, but imported wine is very expensive.  They do make wine in Jordan; I tasted it on the flight and it was really pretty awful.  And as Ed pointed out, the wine store that we were in was about 80 degrees – hardly ideal storage for wine.)

•   the Boston Globe (on line is okay, but internet can be a bit slow and I am old fashioned enough to like holding a paper copy).  Ed has ordered a subscription to the English language Jordan Times; unfortunately for the first two days they brought an Arabic version.  However, it is being delivered regularly now.

Some trivia for you:  The Minister of Agriculture reports that there are approximately 14,000 camels in Jordan.

If you have any specific questions that you would like me to address, send an email and I will try to answer them in a later posting.