"Moments to Keep" by Betül Aydın
Due to all that is happening now, I had to come back home sooner than I thought. Although it was abrupt and very upsetting, I have been thinking and reflecting about all of the good memories I collected in Jordan. Here are some things I am grateful for and miss the most:
I don’t think I can overemphasize how great the Arabic professors are. Class started at 8:30 in the morning, which is rather early for me, but I found myself looking forward to it everyday because of our professors. They are so encouraging, helpful, and the biggest reason why I improved in Arabic as much as I did.
In general, I am a big fan of ice cream but Arab ice cream is truly something else and easily my favorite. There was a Bakdash ice cream parlor near our house and my roommate and I would go every chance we got.
Even though I was really excited about going to Jordan, part of me was worried about adjusting to a completely new environment. Yet contrary to my concerns, the transition was easy, and the reason behind this was my host family. I immediately felt comfortable and at home - I had three sisters I could always talk to and a host mom who checked in with us every day. She would cook some of the same meals my mom does and we would watch a Turkish drama called Diriliş Ertuğrul some evenings, so in some ways, things remained the same. We made many discoveries of overlapping words between Turkish and Arabic over dinner and learned more about each other’s culture in different ways. Leaving Jordan was the hardest because of this and I will definitely miss them the most.
The call to prayer, or Adhan, is a sound I will never get tired of hearing. It echoes throughout the streets five times a day and draws attention to all the beautiful mosques that can be found in every neighborhood in the city.
