This is for those of you who are ready to strangle me because I have said nothing or very little to you about my trip so far in Jordan. Well first let me state it is not because I don't love you or even because I don't have the time. It is more because well frankly I haven't done too much of note as of yet. But I am going to tell you what have done now if only to keep people from hating me when I get home.
August 24th 2008
Okay so to begin with my flight to Amman was very uneventful. The only odd thing I found in my flight to Jordan was that the flight from JFK to Amman was filled, and by filled I mean like twenty or twenty five people, with people from the program. It was so funny really. So I sat next to this girl named Lisa, who on a later note became one of the girls here I hang out with the most. Anyways, Lisa has no Arabic under her belt so everybody is constantly giving her new words to remember. She is a great person. She had just studied in Poland right before she came here. Of course like most people she is just here for the semester.
The only other person I really talked to on the plane was name Elexer. He is also on the program and like me he is here for a year. He has studied Arabic somewhat. (Oh as a side note only two people on the program are Majoring in Arabic in the University, myself included). Elexer is a religious studies major.
Mostly I talked to these two people or attempted to sleep.
Okay so that was my flight in a nut shell. Moving on to the airport. First let me just say that Jordanian men are not these horrible beasts that people make them out to be. As a matter of fact it is cracking me up so much just how much they just want to help. Always ready to help you with your bags. Push your cart for you. Frankly I have never been treated so nice by Airport workers.
When you walk out of the airport you are instantly hit with the smells of Jordan. And let me tell you it is the greatest smell ever. (As far as I have seen so far the city smells amazing even in the poor parts) Everywhere smells of shisha and of flowers. Especially Jasmine. This city is one of the best smelling major cities I have ever been too. And let me tell you I expected it to smell horrible.
I was met by the CIEE people and they took all of us to the hotel by Van. It was a very cramped and very very hot ride over to the airport. And Jordanians drive like nut jobs. They have no concept of lines on the road and they use their horns way too much.
After we threw our stuff into our rooms we went on a walkabout around the area of Shemaisani.
Our group was about six people and after walking around in a large circle we went to a place to eat food. And being the silly Americans that we were we went to a coffee shop thinking there was food there. There wasn't. But here is the funny part. When we asked the guy if there was food he went down the road and ordered Arabic food for us. It was funny. And the food was so cheap. Food is really cheap in Jordan.
Oh and I got some Shisha while at the cafe. And the shisha in this country is so much better than the USA could ever get.
My roommate, Katie, and I went to bed in the hottest room ever. And I think we both about died in our sleep. (I figured out how to work the AC the next night thank god)
Anyways that was day one.
August 25th 2008
Okay so this day in the beginning was a bit on the boring side. Basically we all got into these really nice buses and went to a room in the Children's Museum in Amman. (We didn't get to see the museum though). Anyways we had our first orientation meeting. Very boring and the first of many. All we did was talk about rules and play "get to know you games". Moving on from this.
After the Orientation meeting we all went to the King's Automobile museum. It was pretty cool. Especially if you like old cars. All of the cars were in perfect condition. But as all of you know I have very little appreciation for cars. But even I fell in love with one of them. It was a bright red 2002 Ferarari (spelling?).
After this we went to one of the many Mosques of Jordan. It was a beautiful Mosque that was just built. They made all of the girls cover their hair before they entered and we had to put these black robes on over our clothes. Seriously it was an amazing building. There was gold everywhere. And the rugs we amazing. But the most amazing part of the mosque was the air conditioning. It is so hot in Amman. I considered becoming religious just so I could soak up the AC. Seriously Pheonix looks cold next to this place. However the locals say this is not normal at all.
After the mosque we went to see some of the other old touristy spots. We went to the temple of Hercules. And we went to the museum that has the dead sea scrolls. It was all pretty cool. And we also went to the Roman theatre. On the way to the Roman theatre we walked down the worst sidewalks ever. I am serious they suck in Amman. They are broken and slick and some are very steep. I tried to climb to the top but the steps were so weird I was terrified I would turn into the graceful person that I am and fall on the stairs and kill myself. As a resault I only made it two thirds of the way up before I got really dizzy and had to make a very slow decent down. (If I can figure out how to post pictures I will post pictures of this place)
Anyways, the only thing I really learned from all these touristy spots is that covering your head does make you cooler. Heck even the guys were buying covers for their head.
After all these we went to a fancy dinner that CIEE took us too. It was okay. But cheap Arab food seems better.
Finally at the end of the night a group of people and I went out and smoked Shisha.
August 26th 2008
The only thing worth note about this day was that I finally got to see the university. This day was all boring and I do mean boring orientation stuff. We did get a tour of the univerrsity, but I thought I was going to die because it was so hot.
Oh and on this day I really got to know Elizabeth and Tanya who so far with Lisa are the girls I hang out with most.
August 27th 2008
The morning of this day was also a bit boring. We just heard more rules and security issues. And all that silly jazz. Basically Jordan is a safe safe place. In the afternoon we were sent on savenger hunts with a local. My group consisted of Tanya, Farah, and Peter (Peter tried out for the olympics in swimming and only missed going by like one spot). Anyways we had an easy savenger hunt that took us all of an hour and then we went to get pizza and ice cream to waste the other five hours of the savenger hunt we had left. Farah was our local and she was amazing. She was a really sweet girl. And basically this savenger hunt just proved how much the locals are just dying to talk to us. Every body I have met on and off the street so far has been incredible and they all just want to help and make sure than we have great things to say about Jordan.
August 28th 2008
We get families!!!!
So on this day we finally got to know about our families. And let me tell you. I got the best family ever! I have two brothers about the ages of 22 and 14 and a sister (who I share a room with) about the age of 28. I have a great Arab mother, Ghada, but I don't have an Arabic father. He died.
My family is very modern and they are Christian. And yes they do have a western toilet (thank GOD) (Oh there are no western toilets at the university...that was an experience let me tell you!)
Anyways, my family really includes me and treats me like I belong to them! As a matter of fact my mother tells me all the time I am no different then her other daughter.
August 29th 2008
This day was nothing too special. I hung out with my family for awhile and then I went to Mecca Mall with Tanya, Elizabeth, and Lisa. This mall is huge and shames anything in the US. We got so lost. It has like 6 floors. It is crazy.
Oh and I also went and got a pedicure. It was so good. And it was cheap. Now my feet don't look so bad from working at summer camp. Haha
Anyways that is about it. Oh except for the fact that my host mom threatened me that if I didn't eat (when I wasn't even hungry) she was going to call Rana on me (the housing director). So I ate and I had this stuff I don't remember what it was called but it was this mix of herbs and you dip pita bread in it and it is so amazing!
And for dinner we had shawarma which was amazing. It is like chicken and this white sauce that I am not so sure what it is.
