Tonight I definitely had one of the most fun intercultural experiences since my arrival in Jordan as I attended a wedding party.  Now I did not have any amazing intercultural discussion with any of the people at the wedding.  Instead, I simply saw that a wedding party is an amazingly fun setting regardless of the culture.  Invited by my Arabic teacher, who was very good friends with both the bride and groom, I attended the wedding with about seven of my other program mates.

Within seconds of arriving at the social hall in which the party was taking place I found myself in a bit of an awkward position by committing a bit of a minor cultural faux pas. First of all, I did not recognize that the building was able to host multiple wedding parties; therefore, I assumed that the party on the first floor was the one that I was invited to.  I was wrong though of course.

However, this was not even my biggest mistake, for not only did I go into the wrong party, but I also went into the room that was reserved especially for women.  I figured this out by the combination of getting weird looks from the little children that lined the walls of the entrance hall and an old women who came up to my chest screaming “mish rijl houn” (no men here).

After this, my friend and I, who were the first of our group to arrive, called our teacher and figured out that our party was upstairs.  As I entered the party I could instantly feel the energy of the celebration.  Interestingly, I also did not feel out of place when walking into the party room as the amount of people filling it was enough for me to blend in.

More or less, the party was quite similar to any American wedding party as there was cheesy music, much dancing, and a lot of food being served.  The dress of the women and girls varied greatly as the older women dressed more conservatively and the younger women and girls dressed in a much more Western fashion.

My favorite part of the night definitely had to be a dance that the men of the family performed.  Resembling a sort of Irish step dance routine, it went on for a good 15 minutes and completely re-energized the party after the bride and groom had done their slow dance together.  I feel quite privileged that I was able to have had such an experience tonight.