Week Four

This past week was spent in numerous Jordanian government offices, getting blue stamps and blue signatures. I took a day to go to the University, a few weeks ago, and found that, while I was assured acceptance, in order to formally and fully register, I had to provide a number of certified documents. Foremost among those documents were my high school transcript, high school diploma, university transcript, and university diploma. In talking to another military student studying here in Jordan (an Olmstead scholar from the Air Force), he had run into the same issue, however it had taken him three months to complete the process. Needless to say, I did not have three months, and that was not good news.
The first stage was for all of those documents to be provided to a company called AMIDEAST which essentially contracts with the Jordanian government to verify the authenticity of documents brought by American students. The company has two addresses, one a regular mail, and the other a courier address. In order to avoid mail mix-ups and assure speedy delivery (which had been an issue for my aforementioned colleague) I frantically requested copies of all four documents be sent to both addresses. I have to mention on a side note here how incredible the Oak Ridge High School is, and in particular the registrar, Ms. Sandra Bentley, for dealing with my bizarre requests and for literally writing a letter substituting as a high school diploma. With the help of the Oak Ridge High School and my awesome mother who put the required documents in express mail, my high school documents were squared away and approved by AMIDEAST within about a week and a half.
The next step, I was told, was to get an equivalency for a Jordan-wide standardized test called “Tawjihi.” For this test, think SAT except that it literally defines the rest of your life in what jobs you are able to pursue, and you can only take it once. It tests solely based on memorization, mainly of Arabic grammar rules, some scientific formulas, some mathematical formulas, and the texts of a few major poets. On the other hand, it has no critical response mechanism and does not test critical thinking in any way shape or form: you will not see a graph on this test, nor will you see an excerpt from a story or article. When I arrived at the testing directorate to apply for an equivalency, I was informed that because I had not taken seven SAT II subject tests, I first had to receive an equivalency from the Ministry of Higher Education, proving that I had completed college level studies before they would qualify me for… college level studies.
About a week later, my transcript from West Point had arrived, but my diploma hadn’t and it looked like it might be a while. So I basically did the same as with the High School diploma: an official, signed letter stating that I did indeed graduate from West Point. That brought me up the Ministry of Higher Education, and I almost got through (so close) but then someone objected to the letter and wanted the actual diploma. Having anticipated some problems before coming to Jordan I had taken a picture of my diploma, hoping that I wouldn’t have to resort to using it, however at that juncture, it seemed like it might be worth a shot. So the next day, I returned, was taken to an assistant of the ministry’s general director, showed him my transcript and the picture, and he promptly asked his assistants where the problem was. So I spent the rest of that day wandering from office to office, receiving stamps and signatures, and was able to conclude the work day (which ends at 2:30 for the month of Ramadan) with bringing my Ministry signed and sealed recommendation to the University. At that point, all I had left to do was to return to be qualified as a high school graduate. In a similar process, I was able to receive a high school graduate and tawjihi test equivalency. Ultimate result: I am now officially a student of Jordan University.
Yesterday (Friday) I went and explored the cities of Salt and Fuheis. While there wasn’t way too much to do or see, there were some small, unique places to go. The pictures are from those cities respectively.














I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s entry, and as always, thank you for your interest!

Respectfully,
Brennan Roorda