Dust Storms

This past week has been relatively uneventful. There have been no major expeditions to new place, no fun and exciting outings to do service, no marriages, and no major problems...except for one. The last couple of days we've been experiencing the joys of the Middle East first hand, with our very own dust storm. Let me put it into perspective for you. Think of a normal day in the bay area, or almost anywhere for that matter that is near a large body of water. Now imagine waking up in the morning to a cloud of fog all around you everywhere you look, so thick that buildings furthers then several hundred yards are complete obstructed by the density of the fog. Now imagine to yourself if you will that, as normal you expect that the fog will disappear by around 9 a.m. or 10 a.m. at the very latest, only to your surprise, when 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. roll around there is still to fog. Now, replace the wonderful dewy moist smell associated with walking in fog and replace that with hiking in the mountains on an extremely dry trail for days on end and breathing in all the dust every time you breath because all the people in front and behind you are shuffling their feet and creating a nice thick could of dust that completely envelops you. This is the sensation of living in a dust storm. Granted the sensation differs depending on the severity of the storm, and based on how dry things are, but more or less if you can imagine that you have a pretty good idea of what it is like. The last two to three days has been essentially this.

One of the Campus Gardens

Crossing Traffic going to School

Wednesday morning, I woke up to what I thought was just a foggy day. Granted I thought it was a little weird to be having fog in the middle of Jordan, one of the driest more water deprived countries in the world (number 5 to be exact), but I figured hey, there is a large body of water nearby, its called the dead sea. So I didn't think anything of it. In fact for the walk to school, the entire time I was breathing in dust I was thinking to myself, this is really refreshing to have some moist fog in the air and the have the refreshing moisture in my nostrils compared to all the fumes and dust that I normally breathe in. However, as the day progressed and I sat in my University class listening to a professor speak about international organizations in Arabic, I continuously thought to myself, "Why in the world do I keep smelling dust and dirt? Where is that coming from? Is this room really just that dirty?" I really couldn't wait to get out of that "dirty" room and breath in some fresh air, so much so that when one of the Arab students in the class started smoking I gladly inhaled his second hand smoke as an escape from the dust. It wasn't until I walked outside and noticed that it was still "foggy" that I thought to myself, "My this is truly weird weather we are having here in Jordan. I never knew that in such a hot country the fog would last so long."

Walking down Campus

As I then sat in front of the University Library waiting for my friend to show up to go to breakfast, I continued to breath in the dust and wondered to myself where is all this dust coming from. About an hour later, after I had finished eating my breakfast of hummus and pita bread, I asked my friend about the weather and he proceeded to tell me that the weather was very strange. So, I told him, "Yeah, I never though fog could last this long." To which he told me that this wasn't fog it was dirt. He then indicated that if I ran my finger across just about anything I would see that it was actually covered in a layer of dust. I then realized that I was experiencing a dust storm for the first time in my life.

My way over to my normal classes was much more interesting considering, I now knew I was driving in dust, breathing in dust, walking through dust, and essentially living in dust. I now know what an unused book on a bookshelf at a public library must feel like. Lets just say that it isn't very fun. Even inside of building dust was filling the air, seeing as how doors and entry ways are for the most part just left open allowing all air from outside to freely enter the building. So the last couple of days I have spent eating, breathing, and drinking dust. However, I feel somewhat better seeing as how I didn't do any laundry and then have to dry it out in the dust all day...so many people in the program unfortunately were taken by surprise and had left wet laundry outside in dust all day long. All things said and done, the storm has made this week much more interesting, and has added just one more thing that I get to say I have experienced in the Middle East, and in my life.

All of the dust blocked out the Sun (at noon day) and caused it to look stark white like the Moon

Bedouin Weddings

This last week I was invited by one of my friends Sahim Al-haraizah who is part of one of the tribes here in Jordan. As a result last night I went with my roommate Matt Martin,  and our friends Sahim and Thamer Al-Khalayleh to the wedding. The wedding was located out in the country side about 30 mins away from the University of Jordan campus, however it took us a little bit longer to get there seeing as how we were going by mini bus to the area.

We first met up with our friends at the University since we had no idea where we going for this wedding, and for that matter, no idea how to get there even if we did know where it was. As a result we traveled with our new best friends here in Jordan by mini bus from the University to some other district of the city. While on this first bus, we almost hit a few pedestrians, and then cut off a large truck as the driver was trying to turn onto a small little street. Once we safely arrived at the destination of this bus we walked about 5 minutes, crossed a bridge and then waited for another mini bus to come that would then take us closer to our final destination. After about 5 or 10 minutes of waiting and a quick snack provided by our friends, which was essentially a Mexican sweet bread with a sweet date pudding type filling, we hopped on the next bus and headed out to our next destination.

Here something must be said about the modes of transportation, especially for those people who haven't spent any time outside of the US. In Jordan, there are essentially four ways of public transportation: 1) The taxi which you tell where you want to go and he takes you there for a small fee. 2) A taxi which runs on a circuit and so you essentially get into the taxi and go where the taxi wants to go and then you get out somewhere along his circuit. 3) The mini buses which are essentially the same idea as the 2nd taxi, which is they run on a circuit and you get on at a stop and then get off along the route of the mini bus. Finally 4) The large long distance buses which will take you from city to city and have a designated stop and designated beginning. Now with regards to option 2 and 3 essentially, you have no control over the circuit that they take so even though there may be a direct route by walking down the road 3 blocks to your destination, you may hop on one of these modes of transportation and turn a 10 minute walk into a 30 min vehicle ride. That being said lets go back to the narration of the event.

After hopping on the second mini bus with our friends we then rode it for about an hour or and hour and a half, until we arrived out in the middle of nowhere in the country side, and our friends told us we were getting off here. So following them and following their example we got of the bus and then proceeded to walk about another 30 minutes to our final destination of the Wedding. When we had left, it was still light outside, and I could see everything around me. By the time that we arrived to the wedding it was basically pitch black and you could only see the lights that had been turned on around the area.

The country side where the wedding was held was actually very beautiful and stunning. It reminded  a lot of the olive orchards in California and somewhat of Southern Utah. As we came walking over the hill and down into the valley where the wedding was we saw what looked similar to a small fair set up, there were towers with light strung all over the place. And all around the area was what the beddu call bait isshar, literally the house of hair. Essentially the bait isshar is the traditional beddu tent that the people live in, and they call it that because it is made form the hair of goats, sheep, and camels, from what I understand. Under the tent was set up enough chairs for roughly 1000-2000 people, all of which would be family, relatives, and close friends to the groom and bride.

The event we went to specifically was equivalent to the same thing as white person wedding reception, where everyone sits around and talks and waits for the arrival of the groom in order to congratulate him and then they leave, the only difference is that this was specifically just for the men. The women were in another are the whole time that was set apart for them. So in the aspect that it was like a white reception, the night was a little boring, and my dear friend Sahim was sorely upset. He was in a bad mood the whole night, because when he invited us he was thinking that there would be more of a celebration going on with live music and dancing, etc. However, I found that the night was really very pleasant, and I felt I learned much more about the bedu culture than I would have other wise. For example, traditional bedu weddings last for an entire week, from Friday night until Thursday night. Each night there is a large celebration with music, dancing, food, etc all in celebration of the couple getting married. On the seventh night, Thursday, which was the one I went to, the couple finally are officially married and finally "see each other" for the first time. As a result the name of the night is the night of Idkhala from the root of dakhl which means to enter. I don't think I need to be any more explicit.

When we first arrived to the wedding I asked my friend Thamer if there was anything that I was expected to do or if there was anything that if I didn't do it I would offend the hosts. He promptly told me no, and that I didn't need to worry about anything. Then he said, oh put your camera away while we enter because you need to shake everyones hands as we walk in and tell them Salam Allaykum (Peace be upon you). So I did, then as we passed them I was offered Arab coffee which I had to decline. Then we went and sat down under the tent while we waited for the groom to show up to be congratulated. While we sat there we talked about different things, and met a few different people. It was all very pleasant. All the while being offered Arab coffee. Which as I talked with my friends I learned that it essentially is the way of showing hospitality to the guests, and that the quests are really expected to drink it, but in mine and my roommates situation it was understood that we didn't drink. After many questions about our faith, and many vague answers which went into no detail what so ever a few explanations about why we didn't talk about it the groom and his party showed up.

About an hour and a half after we arrived the groom showed up. He was being carried on top of a chair, and surrounded by close friends and family all singing, and playing drums, and hoisting him up in the air as the proceeded to the tent. The whole procession and event of carrying the groom to the tent on this night and then back to his home where he will finally "see" his wife, is called Zafa. I don't know what that means, but it is happy and exciting and rather fun to watch. About a half hour after that a taxi drove up and into the event full of people who were in charge of bringing water to the event and so that was interesting to see, and rather comical. Then about another half hour to an hour after that we finally left the wedding.

On the way out of the wedding I was introduced to the uncle of the Groom who was helping to host the event with the Groom's father. When he met me I was told to speak in English with him because he had been to America three times and he spoke English. Which he did rather well, except that he kept calling the grooms the brides, so I thought that was a little funny, but I didn't feel the need to correct him. Anyways, while we were trying to leave he asked if we had had any Arab coffee, to which he was told no, and so he insisted that I have some. He explained to me that "Everyone drinks Arab coffee, otherwise you know that they are trying to stab you in the back." So he took my hand, which he had been holding for quite some time at this point (its very normal for Arab men to hold each others hands, arms, etc as they walk down the street) and led me over to where the coffee was being made. At this point my roommate Matt ditched me and slipped off to talk with the kids, and left me alone to try and explain why I couldn't drink the coffee from this man. My attempt at excusing myself didn't work. I tried to explain that it was against my religion, to which he asked what religion and I said "Mormon." So he said "Christian?" And I said, "Yes." He then replied, "Oh, well then its ok, we are all essentially the same religion anyways." and then continued to lead me over to the coffee, at which point in desperation I yelled out to my dear friend Thamer for help. At which point he then came up and helped to explain to the man that coffee in my religion is Haram (forbidden). Thankfully the man understood and dropped the issue but then asked me, "Well, then what do you drink?" So, I told him "I drink water, milk, juice," and then he interrupted me and asked, "Soda?" I told him "Yes, I drink soda." At that he was very happy and told me "Ok, tomorrow when you come for the feast we will have soda for you to drink. I would give it to you here, but we don't have any." I told him that was just fine. He then walked me back down to the entrance of the event holding my hand, and told me that he was giving me a special invitation to come to the feast the following day. Unfortunately, I didn't get to go, because our friends who would have taken us both ended up not being able to go.

Following my near escape of offense and coffee drinking, Thamer explained to me that in their culture there is a saying that goes something like this: "When the old man speaks (offers or insists) there is no room for argument." He said that he had basically told the man that coffee was haram in our religion and that we were very lucky that he understood and dropped the matter. Let's just say I was very grateful for that, I don't know what I would have done, I guess I would have had to offend the man. We then walked back out the way we had come, and stopped shortly at another one of our friend's home, where we lounged and I drank juice and water, while they drank tea. However, when I arrived there my stomach, which had not been feeling good all day finally decided that it was time to die or kill me. So I asked to use the bathroom. When I walked into the bathroom, I was shocked and horrified to learn that they just had a squat spot. After deciding that I just had to man up and relieve myself, I soon realized that there was no TP and no bidet with which to clean myself. All that existed was a small spigot and a couple of jugs that looked like watering pots for gardening. After much debate I decided to use the jug as best I could and not my hand (which is traditionally normal, and is always the left hand which is why you never sit to eat with thieves), since I realized that I wasn't sure there was a sink outside of this little room where I could wash my hands with soap and water. So I tried my best to clean myself off and then just hoped that I didn't smell or still have any inside that would squish around. I am glad to say that I got myself clean.

Following our visit at Anwer's home we took several very Arab pictures and then uploaded one of them to facebook. On that note, I have to explain that having an Arab friend in much more high maintenance than a girlfriend or spouse because they really demand a lot of attention, and sometimes act very much like a girlfriend would, wanting to take all sorts of photos together and then uploading them to facebook immediately. But, its all culture, and last tonight was full of it.

Orphans, Horses, and Break Dancers Oh My!

So this weekend I went out with the group Jordan Volunteers again, and played with orphans. I would have to admit that playing the Orphans was way more fun than hanging out with the Elderly people, but for different reasons. Don't get me wrong I really enjoyed the Elderly people, but little kids are just so cute.

Today we took the orphans out to the middle of no where basically, in an area near Madaba. Not the city itself, but somewhere within the general area. So we were about an hour or so outside of Amman, itself. It was actually really very beautiful, for having absolutely no real greenery. Anyways, we were out in this area to take the kids and help them ride horses. It was pretty funny, mostly because I had one idea that I was thinking of, like when I grew up and we would go horse back riding out in the country on American saddles, and so I had this type of idea going into it. However, when we finally arrived there I was surprised to learn that it was more like a training ground, with a small area for riding horses. Then there were like 3 horses that were ridden by all of the kids as well as most of the Volunteers. So it was really funny, because there were three men with each of the horses who would walk you around the training area and then that was the end of your turn. It kinda reminded me of the little kiddie petting zoos, where they have the pony ride, where you get on a pony and ride around in a circle. Regardless, it was still really fun.

When we first got there we were expecting to have 4 bus loads of Orphans, aged somewhere around 5-10 years old. However, when we showed up, only one bus had showed up and we had 3 buses full of volunteers. As a result the ration of volunteers to orphans was a little off, but it work out just fine. We were divided into groups and while several groups waited to do the horse (pony) ride, the other groups went and played on a giant slide, a zip line, a climbing wall, and a rope bridge. Let's just say that had we been in America these other things would have been condemned as unsafe/safety hazards. The slide looked like it was part of a half pipe, and it literally went straight down and then straight into the ground, and was built on this really rickety tower. The rope bridge was a hazard in more than one way. Either you were gonna fall like 3 feet onto your face because of it swaying from other people, or by the time you had "safely" crossed to the other side, then you had a hand full of slivers and probably some good rope burns. Additionally, the climbing wall also had a really bad rope which resulted in several of the volunteers ending up with major rope burns all over their fingers and palms which were basically bleeding because of how much it had ripped through the skin. Finally the zip line, was actually fairly safe, until you got to the end, because you would reach the end, stop suddenly and if you weren't holding on tight enough then you would fall on your butt.

Nevertheless, everyone had tons and tons of fun. The horse riding was fun, even though it was in a circle, mostly because it was funny to ask the man holding the reins to make the horse go faster. It made me feel like a little kid again. Also, there were these three little girls who learned my name really fast, and then every time or almost every time that they saw me they would come up and ask me to take a picture of them, and of course I couldn't say no since they were just so cute. So I have like 20 pictures of these three little girls. Additionally, I have become the official photographer it seems like of the Jordan Volunteers group, and so I was going back and forth between the groups taking pictures of everything, which I really enjoyed. As a result, I took about 270 photos today of everyone and the kids, and everything else. So yeah, I don't really know what I will do with all of these photos, but I do know that I will be giving a copy of them all to the group sometime soon.

The day was made even better, because I was able to dress up and look straight up cowboy. I had my boots, jeans, and western styled shirt, and so the other students with me kept telling everyone that I was a cowboy from America. It was pretty funny. My boots were a huge hit with them all, and so I was showing them all how high they went, etc, and they were getting a huge kick out of it. It was even better because, after I showed them my boots, they began asking me where my spurs and sheriff star were. I told them that I didn't bring them with me, but it was pretty funny.

In addition to going out with the Orphans on Saturday, Friday night after, I went with a group of students down to Rainbow street in Amman, which is the place to be on Friday night. Every Friday night, traffic builds up down that street to the point that it gets backed up for about a mile. The street is literally the place where all the shabab go and play their music really loud and look at girls, since they can't really interact super freely as far as dating goes. Additionally, during the summer, there is a market there that opens up on Friday nights and sells all sort of jewelry, art, and touristy stuff, but it is still always packed with natives as well. It is probably the equivalent to a farmers market or flea market in America the way it is set up, but it is still really fun. Anyways, this week, while returning home from the market the group I was with were stopped by some shabab who told us that they were about to have a break dancing competition that was sponsored by the Prince of Jordan. So we turned around and watched it. Some of the guys were really good, and others were sub-par. I took a lot of pictures, but eventually I got crowded out by people continually standing in front of me, which was highly annoying. There is no concept of personal space in the culture, oh well.

Finally on a finishing note I want to suggest a great dessert. Get some pita bread, or other flat bread, and warm it up and place some warm banana either inside the pita bread, or between two thin slices of the other bread that you are using. Additionally the bread should be of the white kind. After you have warmed the bread and added the warm banana to it add a healthy coating of warm Nutella over the top. Serve warm. It is AWESOME!! If you don't like it you probably did something wrong.

Bidan Ziman

Jenni Boyle, Tom Nance, Sami Al-Jammal, David Ferguson, Jordan Haddock

Ah, seeing as how it is the weekend finally, and my brain has melted from studying Arabic a group of us decided to go out shopping tonight and then to go out to eat. Well the shopping was fairly lame, it was just a bunch of cheap knock-offs of the real thing, and I didn't see anything that really interested me. However, the food we had was amazing.

The ride to the restaurant was very interesting. It started off with us trying to get a cab which is considerably more difficult during peak times and on the weekend. So after we finally waved down a taxi that was free, we got in and told him where we wanted to go. Well, he decided that he was going to rip us off, so first he started driving in the wrong direction. Then after he was going the wrong way he decided he was going to stop for gas and let the meter continue to run. Then after we were going in the right direction, he decided he was going to stop for some coffee real "quick" while the meter continued to run. Following the coffee, and about half way through to our destination, the driver decided that he would light up a cigarette, which is somewhat normal here in Jordan since everyone smokes like a chimney here. However, in our case he decided to blow all the smoke into the car, which was super annoying. Anyways by the time we finally got to the restaurant the meter had reached about 2.20 JD. The ride should have only cost like 1.30 JD to 1.60 JD. This is where the story really gets exciting. When we got to the restaurant, one of the other students, who was sitting in the front seat told the driver that he wasn't going to pay him the whole price, since he had wasted so much time running his personal errands. As a result he told the driver he was going to pay him only 1.50. So we got out of the taxi at the restaurant, while the other student got progressively more annoyed at this driver and continued to inform him that he was only going to pay 1.50 for the ride, and that was being generous.

By about this time, one of the valet drivers at the restaurant came over to see what the problem was. At first word he was siding with the driver telling the other student, Jordan, who I feel I should mention is in the army and about as broad as a bus, that he needed to pay the 2 JD. For about a minute there I was pretty sure that things were going to turn south super fast, especially since the taxi driver decided to get out of the car and continue to insist that Jordan pay him 2 JD, while being right in his face. I thought for a second I was going to see an Arab die. Anyways, after explaining how the taxi driver had ripped us off, the valet driver/usher at the restaurant sided with us, and took us into the restaurant to be seated, while the taxi driver was ushered away. Once we arrived inside the restaurant, which from the outside looked like a freakin' desert palace, we realized just how fancy and hi-class this restaurant was. We walked into a 100% legitimate Arab restaurant which was all located outside, which fountains, brick oven, tent covering, Arab musicians, and so on.

The food in the restaurant was hands down, the best Arab food that I have had since I got here. We started off by ordering 2 sides of hummus, baba ganoosh, arab salad, and then a couple of other things that I don't remember the names of. All of this came with baked bread which was heavenly, similar to naan (the bread at Bombay House). So we ate heartily from these sides, and then our main dishes came out. For a main dish we ate an authentic Jordanian dish of munzaf, which is essentially rice and lamb, with a cream sauce over it. As with most foods in Jordan, all of this was eaten by taking the bread and breaking/tearing it apart and using it as a utensil to eat the rest of the food. Just one of the ways that the culture here resembles the latin culture, and is making it really easy to adjust to being here.

After the meal was finished, we all realized that we had eaten too fast, and purely as Americans eat. What we should have done was sat there, and eaten a little, and then talked some. Then we should have eaten a little bit more, and then talked some more. And then after several hours of sitting there and eating, and after we had finished our meal and were finished visiting, then and only then would we have asked for our bill. That is one of the small things that Arabs have got down. An evening out at a restaurant, cafe, club, etc. doesn't end quickly. Rather it will continue all night with the servers continuing to bring you more of whatever you would like, until you are good and ready to leave. Truly the way that eating out should be experienced. (As a side note, it should be mentioned that when at a restaurant, and more of anything is asked for, the person who asks is always the last person to receive item requested. This is a cultural thing and revolves around the idea that the first will be last and the last will be first. So, if you are really thirsty and want some water, just make sure that the person with water is the one who asks.) The best part of the whole meal, and really any eating out experience in Jordan is that you can get amazingly large amounts of food for an incredibly good price. Our meal tonight which fed and filled 5 men and 1 woman cost each person only 6 JD (about $8.47 USD).

After our meal was over, it was time to find a taxi back home. This turned out to be a bit more difficult, considering that taxis don't really stop at this restaurant because it is off a smaller road that is essentially an exit from the main road. So, in the spirit of all good things, we began walking home. After walking down what would be the equivalent to I-15 in Utah, we were finally able to get to a spot with enough traffic to catch a taxi. Over all the experience was fun, hilarious, delicious and rather exhilarating.

From Lawrence of Arabia to John al-Khalaila

This last week, while in Jordan I've been trying really hard to follow the program and speak 2 hours everyday with a native in Arabic. Surprisingly that is more difficult than you would expect, primarily because everyone here speaks English. However, once you have made a few friends or rather once you have talked with someone more than once, or for more than an hour, you are automatically inaugurated into their group of friends and their family, gaining all sorts of benefits. For example, the other week my roommate Matt and I met a group of Shabaab (young men) who were all native Jordanians, which is a somewhat rare since about 75% of Jordan is Palestinians. So after talking with this group of Shabaab they decided that they would give us new names. So I have now became John al-Khalaila and am part of the Beni Hassan Tribe. Which is one of the largest and most powerful tribes in Jordan. The al-Khalaila part of my name signifies that I am part of smaller part of the larger tribe of Beni Hassan. My roommate Matt became Mathew al-Abadi which is also a large tribe in Jordan, the Prime Minister of Jordan is from this tribe.

Another example of Arab hospitality can be found in another set of friends that my roommates and I have made. One of my roommates Garret, found a group on Facebook called Jordan Volunteers, and expressed interest in being a part of the group, as a way to meet people as well as serve. As a result a girl by the name of Woroud al-Jammal messaged him and set up a time for us to go and meet with her, her older sister Bitul, and her older brother Adel at a hookah bar (I may have written about this last week). After several hours of talking with them and getting to know them we had to leave to get home and do some homework, and on the way out they expressed that anytime we needed anything we could call them and that they would be our family while we were here in Jordan. As a result of this relationship with this family my roommates and I were able to go to an Elderly Home (Markaaz Musaniin) to chat and visit with some of the people whose families have abandoned them (very literally abandoned them). In Arab culture, you just don't drop you're old people off at a home, you take care of them and they live with you until they die. So we went with this group of young people and chatted and sang and danced with the elderly people. It was really very very fun, and fulfilling.

After going to the old people home, we had to go to the store and so we asked where the best place was to get food, and we were told that C-town was the best place. After we got back into Amman, one of the people from the group decided that we needed help in getting around and so he walked with us until we found a taxi, which was about 30 mins later. Then he got into the taxi with us and told the driver where to go. Then he paid for the taxi. Then only after much persuasion were we able to persuade him that we would be ok buying food on our own at the store and getting a taxi to take us home. It was somewhat silly/funny, and also somewhat annoying, but that's just the way that Arab hospitality is.

Life in Provo

Let's just say it is not the same without John, but I have been so busy that it hasn't hit me yet. What was I doing before he left?  Here is a list:

• trying to get vendor applications 
• packing and moving out
• shopping with John for baby stuff (yes, shopping)
• trying to keep up with work stuff, like the HIV program and anti-tobacco
• ZUMBA, teaching, finding subs, taking equipment to classes, etc
• cleaning the apt 
• feeding my baby and john
• trying to do church stuff

Try doing this at the same time is not easy.  I easily worked 12 hour shifts (more so after John left) but it was exhausting.  I am grateful for a very understanding and supporting husband that put up with this.

Then August 29th came when I had to drop off John at the airport. It was hard to see him go and not be able to go with him but I knew it had to be done.  So instead of feeling sad for myself I decided I would work and take care of my baby.
(Our baby is such a great little guy already, hopefully he continues to be a good after he is born.  He is very active at night when he knows mommy is at home.  During work he usually is really easy going and he doesn't give me any problems during ZUMBA.)
So now that John has been away for about 2 weeks I have been:

• finishing up vendor application
• finishing unpacking, and moving things to Springville
• trying to catch up on all my work 
• teaching ZUMBA classes, finding subs
• FESTIVAL LATINOAMERICANO 
• talking to John on skype, facebook, gchat etc
• fixing a flat tire
• trying to shop for baby stuff (it is super hard without John)
• trying to SLEEP & REST

So my list didn't get any shorter, which I find to be a good transition.  Luckily I have been surrounded by amazing friends and family who are very attentive and are taking care of me.  Norma, Alex and the girls have been great, letting me stay with them and feeding me. I think things might start to slow down a bit, but who knows. I have a health fair coming up in a month or so, that will keep me busy.  If that doesn't keep me busy, trying to read and research pregnancy info, baby strollers, pumps, labor & delivery books will.

A special thanks to everyone who has reached out to me and offered their love, help, and support.  I really appreciate it. You know who you are.  

اهلان وساهلا - Welcome to Amman

As all those who read this know, primarily since you are friends and family, I have left America to study Arabic in Jordan. After being gone for about a week and a half, here is what has happened so far.

I left Monday morning, the 29th of August, and arrived at the airport where, I sat around for a while until my plane left. Thereafter I arrived in Chicago where I again sat at the airport for about 10 hours waiting for my flight to leave. Lets just say that after a nap in an airport bench, walking back and forth across that airport many many times, some food, and a couple hours of reading, I would advise anyone who is flying internationally to just pay the extra money and go direct. That said, at 10:30 pm or so I got on a flight to Frankfurt Germany, where I met up with several other students. With another 8 hour wait at the airport and not willing to shoot myself in the face quite yet, we hopped on a train and went into the city and walked around for bit. I have to say that for a large city, Frankfurt was probably one of the cleanest cities I have ever been too. Even the shanty town was nice, with green lawns, lots of flowers, and cutely painted shacks, which to the untrained eye just looked like a cute little park for children. While there I saw several cathedrals, some river (not really sure which one it is) and got blisters on the bottom of both my feet from walking too much in my new shoes, which I had never worn. Following my short excursion into Frankfurt, I returned to the airport and enjoyed hearing the stories of some of the other people from my program, about how they got a 40 euro fine for ridding in the wrong car on the train. Lesson from this story, don't wear new shoes to go walking for hours and make sure you ride in the right car.

I have no idea what cathedral this is.

At around 10 pm I got onto another plane which flew myself and 9 other students into Amman, where we exchanged money, paid to get into the country, got our passports stamped, and then watched as our T.A. Randall had all of his luggage lost. After waiting for him we met our rides, and headed to our apartments. Around 3:30 in the morning, I finally made it to my apartment, where unfortunately I couldn't sleep at all. At around 4:30 I heard the call to prayer blasted throughout the city, at which thought I screamed in my mind about how horrible it was that the sun was going to be coming up in an hour or so.

My first day in Jordan was full or orientation and disorientation. The city is extremely difficult to navigate at first until you understand the layout of the city. In Utah for example everything is based on a grid, which runs North to South and East to West and is based off of Temple Square. However, in Jordan, and especially in Amman, everything is based off of landmarks. So for example to get to the church you would say that you want to go between the 3rd and 4th circle (roundabout). Anyways, my first day here, I was coming back from the store with a bunch of food and 2 of my roommates and we decided to hop on a mini-bus which essentially takes you from point "a" to point "b" and you can get off whenever you want. However, they are really interesting to use because you don't always know where they are going, and the final destination is. After riding around for a short distance we decided to get off and walk the rest of the way home. Needless to say we got lost. We started walking in the wrong direction with all of our groceries, and all of our water and wandered around a random neighborhood trying to find our apartment. After about 45 mins of wandering around we finally tried to get a taxi and when a taxi finally pulled up another guy come up and offered to give us a ride for free. The conversation went something like this:

This is looking out from half way down Mt. Nebo

-Hamiid "Hey you guys need a ride"
-Us "How much?"
-Hamiid "Its free, don't worry I don't have any dead bodies in my trunk. You can look if you want."
-Taxi "You can't do that, it's illegal. The police are going to come and get you."
-Hamiid "Shut Up."
- Us "Its ok, he's our friend."

So we got a ride from this guy Hamiid, and he was super nice, and spoke perfect English. So that was Wednesday.

Thursday we went to Madaba, the Dead Sea, the Baptismal site, and Mount Nebo. It was cool, but at the same time, it wasn't all the exciting since there were 67 of us all traveling on two large buses and we only had a limited amount of time at each space. But I did take some interesting pictures, but also didn't take very many because I felt too touristy.

Looking out from Mt. Nebo

Friday was church and that was fun because it meant we got to go and find church, and listen to the Friday sermon over the loudspeakers. The branch here had bout 30 people in it, so we more than double it when we go. In addition, there is a little suq that is only open on Friday nights, which is off of a street called Rainbow Street. So I went to that and walked around for a little bit. It was pretty cool to see, but most of the stuff there was pretty cheep stuff.

Looking out towards the dead sea (its off to the left)

Sunday was the first day of school for us here, and that commenced the hectic crazy life that will be for the next four months. At some point during the week we celebrated someones birthday, and I went to that, and the only people where were there were married couples. It was weird, because it was all of the people who I "should" be hanging out with with Angelica, had she still come, but who we still wouldn't have really hung out with because we find them weird. So it was weird to see them all, and be all like, "Hi, how's it going? I see your wife is here with you. Clearly mine isn't here, but that's ok, because I still find you a little weird."

This is from the roof of my apartment

This last Wednesday night was probably the best, because I went to a Hookah bar (not a hooker bar, don't get those confused) and met some people there to talk with them. It was super fun. We were there for about three hours talking with them in both Arabic and English, about their families and our families and just getting to know them. What is funny, for those who don't know about the Middle East, alcohol is basically not sold anywhere in the Middle East. So, at bars, what you get are fruit drinks, milk shakes, smoothies, coffee or tea while you sit and enjoy talking with the people you're with. Additionally, if you go to a Hookah bar, like the one I was at, you typically will order a water pipe along with some flavored wood of sorts (like apple, grape, cranberry, etc), and you will sit and smoke it. However, since I or anyone else in my program don't smoke, we just sat there and enjoyed smelling the smoke, which smells wonderful by the way.  By the time that we finished talking with these people, who were all siblings, they showed us the true Arab hospitality and informed us that they were our family while we are here, and that if we need anything at all that we should call them and let them know.