A Week In Retrospect

Well, this past week has been somewhat uneventful. No major disasters, thankfully! The first two days of school were good, although it's tough to adjust to being in school again. Friday, our first day off, was like a breath of fresh air. I slept in, watched a movie, and then went to bake a fresh peach and blueberry cobbler. Got everything ready, turned on the oven, and went to simmer the peaches when the gas wouldn't light. We had run out of gas. So i changed the tank, which also ran out of gas after about a minute. So we talked to our landlord, who gave us the name of a guy could come fill our tanks for us. My unbaked cobbler went into the fridge. Christina and I then headed off to Starbucks to study for a couple hours before our small group met.
It was soo difficult to get up at 7.20 Saturday morning to go to school again. Ridiculously difficult. I just wanted to sleep. But back to school I went. After school, the gas guy came and filled our tanks, and i got to bake my cobbler, which was delicious!!!! I watched another movie and took a nice nap, and then went out to see the Dark Knight with some friends I met recently. They just couldn't get enough of the Prince Caspian chair though...
Sunday was a day to relax and get some more studying in before class on Monday. Monday arrived, and it was back to class and studying. Tuesday was a change, we had a guest speaker for an hour who came and talked to us about cultural differences and the importance of forging new relationships with locals here. The speaker was actually a member of our small group, so I had already had a chance to talk to him and his wife a bit. It was fun to hear him speak to all of us though! We also had a SWAN (Students Without A Network) meeting Tuesday night, which was long, but really enjoyable. There were about 15 of us there, and a ton of young kids. We talked for a bit, just getting to know each other and asking questions about things that we didn't understand in the culture here. After that we sang for a bit, and split into groups of two or three people to talk on a more personal basis. Then it was time for food!!!! Everyone had to bring food, so there was more than we could possibly eat. I made a cake, which came back with me virtually uneaten, because everyone was stuffed from dinner, no one could handle dessert.
Today was probably the hardest so far. It was high 90's outside, and in the classroom it felt over 100. With no air conditioning, it was near impossible to focus and get through class. I was so tired as well, the heat was exhausting, and not sleeping very much the past few days made it hard to keep my eyes open. But I managed ok, and went home and off to sleep. After a nice power nap, Christina and I went to the police station to get our visas checked, but the guy who does it wasn't there, and we were told to come back tomorrow. Just a little frustrating... Today being our water day, I was also kind of worried something else would go wrong, as it seems every Wednesday something always ends up going wrong. But we got the house cleaned, and our neighbor is home and still letting us do our laundry at her place. So it's been ok.
Coming up: more Starbucks study sessions on Friday, possible pool on Saturday for some heat relief, and Ramadan starts on Monday. It'll be an interesting month! :]

Back in School. Again.

Today was a pretty big day for me - it was my first day at Kelsey! Classes started at 8.15, so I had to be up early. Not so much fun.... But we got there, and Mark, the director, sat everyone down for a little assembly to talk over the rules and make sure everybody knew where we were going. After that, we headed to our separate classrooms. The class you're assigned to stays in the same room and with the same people for classes, with only the teachers changing. Nellie, my first hour teacher, launched right into a lesson on patterns and pronunciation. We had a 10 minute break between 1st and 2nd hour, so we used that time to start learning each others names, and got contact info in case one of us missed a class. Our 2nd hour teacher, Haifa, also put us straight to work, working on learning the consonants, vowels, and how they were pronounced. We also started learning how to write them. After 2nd hour, we get a 30 minute break, when the students usually congregate in the courtyard, and we have tea and chat for a bit before heading off for the final hour of the day. 3rd hour was the most difficult for me, we were learning a long list of new vocabulary, which is due to be memorized by tomorrow, and has lots of pharyngeal consonants in it. It's actually pretty difficult to learn new ways to make sounds I've never heard spoken, it just doesn't feel natural. So we'll be working on that... All in all though, it was a good first day. I met a bunch of new people, and I was able to hold my own.

Now, today is Wednesday. Cleaning day. Honestly, we should just call it the day of disasters. Christina and I came home from school, and we were making lunch before we started cleaning. I made some ramen noodles, and sat down to eat them when I looked down at my bowl and saw a TON of dead ants. Apparently the ants had gotten into all my noodles, and, not noticing, I boiled them alive with my noodles. And almost ate them. I joke that it's extra protein, but truth be told, we've put so much ant poison down to keep them out of our food and kitchen that I'd probably get sick. I grabbed another pack, seemingly sealed, put it on the stove, and then saw that it, too, was filled with ants. So I pulled out the whole box, but didn't see any ants. Regardless, I'm pretty convinced that all my noodles are infested. All I wanted was some ramen noodles. So, I had to go to the shop across the street a get a Cup 'O Noodles. Frustrating. Then we decided to test the washing machine, recently returned and said to be fixed, before putting in a load. Lo and behold, it was still broken. Now the spinner didn't even move. It seems like we just aren't meant to have clean clothes. With a nice heavy load of homework tonight, I do not have time to hand wash two weeks worth of clothing. So we've talked to the landlord again, who's trying to sort it out, but it looks like we're going to have to send out our laundry to get it cleaned. It's an expense I don't want, but for lack of a better option, it seems to be the short-term solution.

Ok, so disaster may be over-exaggerating. There were no floods, broken bones, getting locked out, or falling down dusty, smooth staircases. But the fact that I still can't wash my clothes without scrubbing them in a bucket by hand to me is ridiculous. As my dad would say, it's an adventure. Which is completely true. Every day of these past two weeks has been an adventure. And I'm loving every bit of it.

My latest adventure

OK, so every building here has a water tank that only fills up once a week, and you have to be careful not to run out of water before then, otherwise you can't flush the toilet or brush your teeth or do anything else that requires water. Wednesday, today, is our water day. So we scrub down the apartment and do all the laundry on Wednesdays. Or so we thought. Now, I just got my new mattress yesterday, so when I say I was sleeping, I mean I was passed out cold. When I finally woke up, I see Christina, my roommate, looking a little stressed out in the next room. I got up, stripped my bed, and walked into the kitchen, to find the floor completely flooded. At this point, Christina told me she had made sure the washing machine worked, had put in her sheets, only to find that once she turned it on, all of the water came pouring out of the bottom, all over the floor. So I spent the next 30 minutes or so pushing all the water out of the kitchen into the living room so it wouldn't destroy out fridge, which we then soaked up using towels and used the rest to mop the floors in the rest of the apartment. We finished sweeping, mopping, and dusting, and I sat down for a hard-earned breakfast. And when I walked back into the kitchen, I discovered a ton more water on the floor. At this point, we were both stressed about the fact that the machine was broken, and we were quickly running out of clean clothes and sheets. So we blockaded the machine and ever-growing puddle with a bunch of spare towels, and we are still waiting for the handy-man to come fix it. On the upside, we have some very clean floors. Unfortunately, I have a funny little feeling that I'll be hand-washing my clothes tonight...

Every day here is an adventure. I love it. I wake up every morning to a cool breeze and sunshine, not knowing what the day will hold. Registration for classes is on Saturday, and I can't wait! I'm so excited to start school here, that's a first :] So I don't know how I'lll spend my last two full days of summer, but with so many new things to try, I'm sure I will truly enjoy them.

The Beginning

It's hard to believe I've only been here for three days, it's been such a whirlwind. So let's start at the beginning.
August 5th - I headed off to the airport, and after finally finding the right terminal, discovered that I had one bag too many, and that bag would cost me nearly $1000 in excess weight to bring with me. So I left it in London, and I'm still trying to figure out how to get it here. My plane was delayed almost an hour, but once we boarded, everything went smoothly. We flew over the Alps, which was breathtaking, especially because it was right at sunset, and the light was reflected off of the snow. Got into Amman at quarter to 1 in the morning, got my visa, and met Rob, who would be taking me around Amman for a bit. We drove to the hotel, I got dropped off, and went to bed. So I thought. You see, every morning, at 4 am, there's a call to prayer. And it's loud. Really loud. And I happened to be staying a block away from the mosque. So at 4 am, the call to prayer came on, and I just about jumped out of my skin. I had no clue what was going on. I thought it was like an emergency evacuation thing or something, and I was freaking out because it was all in Arabic and I really thought I was going to die. And then I remembered Rob telling me about the call to prayer. I felt very foolish, and went back to bed.
August 6th - After the call to prayer scare, I thought I deserved a lie-in. So I got up a little later, had fresh pita and strawberry jam for breakfast, and then walked to QuestScope to meet with Rob. We went to a small restaurant around the corner for fresh hummous and falafel, and then walked to this coffee shop with free wifi called Chocoholic. It's definitely one of my favorite places here, everything there has chocolate. It's amazing. I went back to the hotel for a nap and to watch Chocolat (I was in a chocolate mood...) and then went back to QuestScope so Rob could show me where Kelsey was, and we ate at this little gem of a place called Mijana. It's hidden away down a side street, but has an awesome view, great food, and the best lemon with mint I've tasted so far. Lemon with mint is fresh squeezed lemonade with chopped mint mixed in, and it's really tasty. I was exhausted by this time, we had walked around Amman for a bit, so I went back to the hotel and off to bed, woken again at 4. But this time I knew what was going on...
August 7th - A big day for me. I was going to take a taxi by myself to Jabal Amman, which is one of the main hill areas (I had been staying on Jabal alWebdei), and I was going to meet the director of Kelsey, and a possible new roommate. I got the taxi ok, and managed to tell him (in Arabic!) where I wanted to go. Then we started driving. And he started saying all sorts of... interesting.. things. He didn't really speak English, I certainly didn't speak Arabic, and the few things he knew weren't exactly appropriate. So when I finally got to Kelsey, I wanted to get out so badly that I didn't argue when he seriously overcharged me. I was glad to be done with it. So I met with Mark, the director, which was nice, got some very important questions answered, like how to pay bills, and then headed off to a little bookshop/cafe to meet Christina, who was also looking for a roommate. We hit it off quite well, and the apartment she had was right around the corner from the bookshop. I went to see it, and when I found out what the rent was, that was me sold. It was a lovely two bed apartment with a small kitchen and a nice living room, as well as a little balcony. And it was hidden off the street, so quite secure. Best of all, it was less than a five minute walk from school. Which meant no taxis everyday. I hit the jackpot. Wasting no time, Christina and I went back to my hotel, packed up my things, checked out, and I moved into my our new apartment.
August 8th - Fridays here are like Sundays in the States - its the religious day off. So Christina and I headed to a Sudanese church she goes to, which was really nice, the people were welcoming, and the pastor translated half the service for me. We then went to the Meridien hotel for a day at the pool. Much needed relaxation time in the sun... And almost no burn. Soooooo excited... :] After a few hours in the sun, the only thing we wanted was a burger, and there was, conveniently, a Burger King around the corner. So fast food it was, and it was delicious. We went to a small group gathering that night, and I got to meet a bunch of awesome new people. We also found out that the bookshop around the corner from our apartment is open every day until 10 pm, with free wifi. That definitely made my day...
Which brings me to today. I did my first big food shop, and discovered that the BJ's of Jordan was run by a french company. Turns out my high school french became very useful when we were trying to figure out which one was real butter and which was not... We're also going mattress shopping today, because even though the apartment is furnished and has "mattresses," they're actually really uncomfortable foam pads. So we're replacing them.

So as you can see, I've been all over the place these past few days. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures to post at the moment, because I've been so busy, but since things are slowing down now that I'm settling in, I'll go take some cool pictures to put up for you.