Thursday, October 30, 2008
Pumpkins, Washing Machines, and Opportunities
Almost 2 weeks since Wadi Rum, and things have been crazy. Really crazy.
Last week, we jumped into some new lessons the day we got back from our long weekend, which was a headache and a half in itself. I went to some extra practices for choir to try to learn some of the Arabic pieces we're singing. Speaking Arabic is tough - there are a lot of letters and sounds we don't use in English, and it's something all of us learning the language struggle with. But to then sing in Arabic... It makes speaking look like a cakewalk. Anyways, I also spent a lot of time working on learning the Alto part for Coventry Carol - it's a beautiful, haunting piece that was arranged for 3 women, Sop. I, Sop. II, and Alto. We were told that tryouts would be that Wednesday, for anyone who wanted to sing the piece, as written for 3 women, in the concert. So I figured, why not? I practiced, and then tried out with two powerful sopranos. It sounded pretty awesome. I also tried out for a descant part in a funky Caribbean-style piece, and got the part with 3 other women. It's way cool.
On Thursday, we celebrated Christina's birthday in true American style - we had a pumpkin carving party. We ordered Papa John's, made punch in a big bowl, had loads of cupcakes, chips and dip, soda... And then there were the sticky buns. I didn't really know what to do for Christina's birthday, so I told her I would make the sticky buns she thoroughly enjoyed. I was feeling a bit adventurous, so I added butterscotch chips and some rum to the sticky sauce. And they tasted awesome. We did some serious pumpkin carving, too. Christina did Obama's face, with the help of Jesse, Emily did Palin's face, really it was Tina Fey.. :], and I stepped outside of the political arena and carved Dwight's face (for all you who are not avid watchers of The Office, he is a hilarious cast member of The Office. And you should start watching it...).
On Saturday night, I made my first trip out to Ashrafiya, another part of town. Some friends of mine were all getting together for a girl's night in, but I was really late in getting there so I missed the creation of the delicious lasagna. But we ate it, and had the most amazing apple spice cake with cream cheese icing EVER. Then it was movie time - and we went Bollywood with Bride and Prejudice, still one of my favorites. We made pancakes and omelets for breakfast the next morning, and YouTubed the Axis of Evil comedy tour - which is soooo funny because we totally get it. Now that we live in the Middle East and all...
On Monday, I helped a classmate tutor some Iraqi kids in English, which was interesting. They were young girls, but they spoke so fast, the little Arabic I had didn't help. At all. But it was still and experience. Tuesday was good and bad. Good - we FINALLY got a new washing machine. More about that later though. Bad - a pipe in our bathroom broke. It was raining. When the guys came to fix our pipe, they broke it even more, and pretty much flooded the bathroom. They fixed it after a couple hours. I was working in the bookshop, and the internet died. Not on my computer, but the wireless in the shop, and it was down for half an hour. I don't know when or if it started working again that day, I had stuff to do, so I headed back to a friend's house to use her internet. And when I went to open the internet, it wouldn't work. But Skype would. That was it. So I went home. It wasn't a fun day.
Wednesday, however, was a much better day. I used our new washing machine. Which is ghetto-fabulous. Seriously. We have to fill it up with water from the shower head. And we have to put the pipe where the water drains out of in the toilet, so it doesn't flood everything. And after the clothes are washed, you have to put them into this little bucket thing on the other side to spin the water out of the clothes. And there are holes in the drain pipe. So it still gets water all over the bathroom floor. But IT WORKS. It didn't flood anything, my clothes got clean, and as ghetto-fabulous as it might be, it's so much better than not having one. We also had a massive thunder storm. Bucketing water. I would've run out in the rain, which is so much fun, but itwas also really cold outside. Yes, cold. It's really only in the 60's, but when you've been in the 100's for so long, it feels ridiculously cold. We put our carpets down, and we're walking around the house in thick sweats, warm slippers, and scarves. I also spent most of the day at an Arab friend's house, and her grandmother invited me over this weekend to learn how to cook some traditional food. Best of all, I totally responded to a question, in Arabic, without thinking. And it came out right. Milestone!!!!
But best of all, choir. First of all, I was feeling really sick, and I didn't really wanna be there. But I went, and I'm so glad I did. We did a lot of work on the Caribbean piece, where the four of us get to do the funky descant. But only two of us were there, and we got compliments, and the accompanist said we were awesome. And it sounded really cool. Then the director called a bunch of names for people to come see her after practice, my name included. So we went to talk to her, and she said we would be a small group singing some really jazzed-up renditions of Let It Snow and Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, with some crazy harmonies. This, I was really excited for. She hand-picked us, I felt special. And I found out that I got the Alto part for the Coventry Carol. So pretty much, it's gonna be an awesome concert. I'm sooo excited.
On the down side, I've had to cancel my trip to Syria this weekend, for a number of reasons. I'm really sad about that, but there's always next semester. And it means I get to learn how to cook some cool food.
Coming up: our electric sawba, attempts at renewing my visa, and who knows what else. Everything changes in the Middle East.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Wadi Rum
Thursday Night
I get back from a meeting, exhausted from a tough week, and I start packing. I make several peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, buy a flashlight, some pringles, apple juice, some apples and cucumbers, and some pita to snack on. I also pack several liters of water, apparently water is expensive in the middle of the desert. We've been told to have a passport with us, just in case we're stopped at a checkpoint on the way and have to prove we have visas to be here. I pack light clothing for the day, and really warm clothing for the night. Suntan lotion and mosquito repellent go in too, as well as one of my books so I can study on the long ride out. Christina's birthday is on Friday, so some of our friends are over to hang out and celebrate over her newly purchased mini-hookah. I head to bed by 1030.
Friday
I got up at 650. Ouch. But I had to - I had to have time to finish packing, double check that I had enough food and water, I had to take a shower and eat breakfast. I took some time to leave a note on Christina's door wishing her a happy birthday, then I ran out to be at the school by 8. 50 of us from school pile onto a bus, still looking half-asleep. There were 14 kids under 10, 13 under 7. We left just before 9. I sat in the back of the bus with Bill (one of my classmates), his wife, and his three kids, who made the sticky buns with me a couple weeks ago. They kept me occupied pretty much for the whole 4 hour drive. We got to Wadi Rum a little after 1 - and it was gorgeous. There was a lot of sand, but the rock formations were so cool, especially the way the sun hit them. A lot of people in the group said it looked just like Arizona, but not having ever been to Arizona, it looked foreign to me. Apparently if I ever go to Arizona, it'll look like Wadi Rum.
We settled into our tents, and then most of the families and couples went on a hike up a rock formation on the campsite. I stayed behind with a couple friends to rest and enjoy the cool breeze for a while before chaos would erupt upon the return of the mass of young children. Around 4, we all headed out for an hour long walk through the desert to this little hill for a sunset walk and fellowship. The kids ran almost halfway, kicking a soccer ball, until they were too tired to go any longer. By the time we got to the hill, I had sand dunes in my shoes, and the sun was beginning to set. We took pictures in front of some of the cooler rock formations and watched the sun set. It was beautiful - sitting on top of the hill, it was quiet and peaceful. We chatted and sung and played with the kids for a while, and some people from the camp brought some sage tea up to us. When it started getting dark, we loaded the smaller kids into the jeep, and the rest of us set off to walk back to the camp. When we got back, we had about half an hour to chill before dinner, so I took two of Bill's kids out to the back of the camp where it was darkest, and we watched the stars for awhile. There were so many - I had never seen stars like this before. We tried picking out constellations for a while, and while we were chilling on the ground, we saw a satellite going past, and a shooting star. It was the first shooting star the kids had seen, so they were really excited. They ran back to tell their parents, and we all headed to the middle of camp to eat dinner - pita, cheese, steamed vegetables, rice, lamb kebab, and barbecue chicken. After dinner, we gathered around a fire to roast marshmallows, make smores, and my new favorite - stuff chocolate into a banana, wrap it in foil, throw it in the fire for 5 minutes, and you get melty chocolate banana yumminess. We talked about everything from the science of smores to politics to the ridiculous amount of homework we all had waiting for us when we went home. The moon had risen, and it was really bright, so it was really difficult to see the stars, which made us all sad, we were looking forward to more star gazing. We all packed it in before 11, we had to be on the bus by 9 to get to the visitors center for the jeep rides.
That night, the baby in the tent next to us cried almost the whole time. Most of us didn't sleep very well. I didn't sleep at all.
Saturday
630 am, I was still awake. I threw on my sweats and flip-flops, and went on a walk around camp. It started to get light, and I realized that I was up in time to see the sun rise. I ran back to my tent to get my camera, and I wanted to hike up the rocks next to camp for a better view, but the sun was rising fast, so I sat in the middle of camp and watched it rise. Breathtaking. I can't remember the last time I saw the sun rise, and this one was pretty awesome. After the sun was up, I got dressed, and some of the kids were up, so I took them on an early morning hike up the rocks before breakfast - with their parents' permission, of course.
By the time we made it back down, most of the camp was still asleep, so we had early breakfast - pita and cheese again,cucumbers and tomatoes, jelly, boiled eggs, and tea or coffee. By 9, most of the group loaded onto the bus, and we left for the visitors center for the jeep tours. We split up into groups - our group was the biggest, with 7 adults and 5 kids. We piled in the back of the jeep and drove off, excited for what the next 3 1/2 hours would bring. We hadn't even been on the road for 5 minutes when the engine gave out, and we pulled over. Our driver got out, popped the hood, played around with some things, and we piled back in to try again. This time, we didn't make 30 secs before breaking down again. So we waited. Our driver, in true Arab style, waved past all the cars that drove by. Finally, we convinced him to call for another jeep, and when it arrived, we all piled back in an continued our journey through the desert.
We stopped first at a Bedouin camp that was set up near a spring in mountain. A pipe was run from the spring all the way down the the camp, so camels and people could get water. I tried to purchase a head scarf, but the guy selling them got way too close and kept telling me how beautiful my blue eyes were. I was creeped, so I went back to the jeep to eat some of the amazing cookies a woman from our group had made for the trip. We saw loads of camels while driving through the sand. I got excited, maybe I could find a guy who would let me ride one. I have wanted to do that forever. The next big stop was at this canyon - two huge rock formations with a big split down the middle. We went to explore it, and there were cool inscriptions (that I can't read, I already tried...) on the wall, and there were carvings indicating that it was a "holy place" - or at least considered to be at one point, probably before tourists invaded... I was walking back with some friends, and I saw this teenager walking down the sand dune with three camels in tow. I grabbed Amy, a second semester journalist (and one of my tent mates) to negotiate with the kid so I could get a picture on the camel for cheap. So the kid had the camel get down so I could hop on, and then the camel behind me started getting all up in my hair, I was worried he was going to eat it or something. But he didn't, and the camel I was on got up, I got my picture, and I thought I was gonna get off, but the kid started walking off, camels in tow, and here I was, no clue what was going on. So I went with it for a bit, and then asked the kid to let me off. The camel went down front ways first, and I really thought I was going to fall off. But I managed ok. I was so excited for those few minutes. I FINALLY got to ride a camel. About time... And then my camera died.
We set off again, through the sand dunes, and we were well on our way up one when our engine died again. This time, we were in the middle of nowhere. There were no Bedouins, no jeeps, no people, and no cell signal. We're thinking, great. We would get two messed up jeeps in a row. It's my luck. And apparently there a a couple other people in our jeep who have the same issue I do - that "adventures" follow us everywhere. Our driver "fixed" the issue with a plastic bag, not sure how much that really helped, but we didn't break down again. After a while, we got really close to this rock face, and we see this boulder on the left, and part of the rock face jutting out on the right, and so not enough space for the jeep to get through. But our driver keeps on, slows almost to a full stop, and crawls through the space, with barely an inch on either side. It's safe to say we all though he was going to take the top of the jeep off with that move. But he didn't. We were impressed.
The last stop was this massive sand dune. I thought, why not?, kicked off my shoes and socks, and starting climbing up it. It was really tough to get footing, and every step was exhausting, but I made it all the way to the top. Then I decided there was nothing better to do than to jump off the side of it. So I ran and jumped (not getting nearly as much air as I thought I would, nothing to really leap off of...) and tumbled down the side of the dune. When I stopped halfway down, I flipped onto my side and rolled the rest of the way, picking up about 6 lbs of sand in the mesh lining of my pants. It was so much fun. I got up to walk back to the jeep, and quickly discovered that I had rolled down the side of the dune that had been baking in the sun all morning. I couldn't take more than 5 steps before it felt like the bottoms of my feet were burning off, and I had to sit down and let them cool before attempting a few more steps. My group thought this was hilarious, but I eventually made it back to the jeep, and proceeded to dump all the sand out of the bottom of my pant legs.
After almost 4 hours in the desert, we headed back the the visitors center to go back to camp before the long ride home. We ate lunch at camp, checked that everything was packed up and no children were left behind, then we loaded up and headed off for the long drive home. You could tell that everyone was tired, for more than half of the trip, the bus was quiet - almost everyone was asleep. Close to 5, we stopped for dinner, and the last hour was noisy again, all the kids awake and energized after soda and food. We got home just after 7, exhausted, dirty, but having thoroughly enjoyed the past 2 days.
I get back from a meeting, exhausted from a tough week, and I start packing. I make several peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, buy a flashlight, some pringles, apple juice, some apples and cucumbers, and some pita to snack on. I also pack several liters of water, apparently water is expensive in the middle of the desert. We've been told to have a passport with us, just in case we're stopped at a checkpoint on the way and have to prove we have visas to be here. I pack light clothing for the day, and really warm clothing for the night. Suntan lotion and mosquito repellent go in too, as well as one of my books so I can study on the long ride out. Christina's birthday is on Friday, so some of our friends are over to hang out and celebrate over her newly purchased mini-hookah. I head to bed by 1030.
Friday
I got up at 650. Ouch. But I had to - I had to have time to finish packing, double check that I had enough food and water, I had to take a shower and eat breakfast. I took some time to leave a note on Christina's door wishing her a happy birthday, then I ran out to be at the school by 8. 50 of us from school pile onto a bus, still looking half-asleep. There were 14 kids under 10, 13 under 7. We left just before 9. I sat in the back of the bus with Bill (one of my classmates), his wife, and his three kids, who made the sticky buns with me a couple weeks ago. They kept me occupied pretty much for the whole 4 hour drive. We got to Wadi Rum a little after 1 - and it was gorgeous. There was a lot of sand, but the rock formations were so cool, especially the way the sun hit them. A lot of people in the group said it looked just like Arizona, but not having ever been to Arizona, it looked foreign to me. Apparently if I ever go to Arizona, it'll look like Wadi Rum.
We settled into our tents, and then most of the families and couples went on a hike up a rock formation on the campsite. I stayed behind with a couple friends to rest and enjoy the cool breeze for a while before chaos would erupt upon the return of the mass of young children. Around 4, we all headed out for an hour long walk through the desert to this little hill for a sunset walk and fellowship. The kids ran almost halfway, kicking a soccer ball, until they were too tired to go any longer. By the time we got to the hill, I had sand dunes in my shoes, and the sun was beginning to set. We took pictures in front of some of the cooler rock formations and watched the sun set. It was beautiful - sitting on top of the hill, it was quiet and peaceful. We chatted and sung and played with the kids for a while, and some people from the camp brought some sage tea up to us. When it started getting dark, we loaded the smaller kids into the jeep, and the rest of us set off to walk back to the camp. When we got back, we had about half an hour to chill before dinner, so I took two of Bill's kids out to the back of the camp where it was darkest, and we watched the stars for awhile. There were so many - I had never seen stars like this before. We tried picking out constellations for a while, and while we were chilling on the ground, we saw a satellite going past, and a shooting star. It was the first shooting star the kids had seen, so they were really excited. They ran back to tell their parents, and we all headed to the middle of camp to eat dinner - pita, cheese, steamed vegetables, rice, lamb kebab, and barbecue chicken. After dinner, we gathered around a fire to roast marshmallows, make smores, and my new favorite - stuff chocolate into a banana, wrap it in foil, throw it in the fire for 5 minutes, and you get melty chocolate banana yumminess. We talked about everything from the science of smores to politics to the ridiculous amount of homework we all had waiting for us when we went home. The moon had risen, and it was really bright, so it was really difficult to see the stars, which made us all sad, we were looking forward to more star gazing. We all packed it in before 11, we had to be on the bus by 9 to get to the visitors center for the jeep rides.
That night, the baby in the tent next to us cried almost the whole time. Most of us didn't sleep very well. I didn't sleep at all.
Saturday
630 am, I was still awake. I threw on my sweats and flip-flops, and went on a walk around camp. It started to get light, and I realized that I was up in time to see the sun rise. I ran back to my tent to get my camera, and I wanted to hike up the rocks next to camp for a better view, but the sun was rising fast, so I sat in the middle of camp and watched it rise. Breathtaking. I can't remember the last time I saw the sun rise, and this one was pretty awesome. After the sun was up, I got dressed, and some of the kids were up, so I took them on an early morning hike up the rocks before breakfast - with their parents' permission, of course.
By the time we made it back down, most of the camp was still asleep, so we had early breakfast - pita and cheese again,cucumbers and tomatoes, jelly, boiled eggs, and tea or coffee. By 9, most of the group loaded onto the bus, and we left for the visitors center for the jeep tours. We split up into groups - our group was the biggest, with 7 adults and 5 kids. We piled in the back of the jeep and drove off, excited for what the next 3 1/2 hours would bring. We hadn't even been on the road for 5 minutes when the engine gave out, and we pulled over. Our driver got out, popped the hood, played around with some things, and we piled back in to try again. This time, we didn't make 30 secs before breaking down again. So we waited. Our driver, in true Arab style, waved past all the cars that drove by. Finally, we convinced him to call for another jeep, and when it arrived, we all piled back in an continued our journey through the desert.
We stopped first at a Bedouin camp that was set up near a spring in mountain. A pipe was run from the spring all the way down the the camp, so camels and people could get water. I tried to purchase a head scarf, but the guy selling them got way too close and kept telling me how beautiful my blue eyes were. I was creeped, so I went back to the jeep to eat some of the amazing cookies a woman from our group had made for the trip. We saw loads of camels while driving through the sand. I got excited, maybe I could find a guy who would let me ride one. I have wanted to do that forever. The next big stop was at this canyon - two huge rock formations with a big split down the middle. We went to explore it, and there were cool inscriptions (that I can't read, I already tried...) on the wall, and there were carvings indicating that it was a "holy place" - or at least considered to be at one point, probably before tourists invaded... I was walking back with some friends, and I saw this teenager walking down the sand dune with three camels in tow. I grabbed Amy, a second semester journalist (and one of my tent mates) to negotiate with the kid so I could get a picture on the camel for cheap. So the kid had the camel get down so I could hop on, and then the camel behind me started getting all up in my hair, I was worried he was going to eat it or something. But he didn't, and the camel I was on got up, I got my picture, and I thought I was gonna get off, but the kid started walking off, camels in tow, and here I was, no clue what was going on. So I went with it for a bit, and then asked the kid to let me off. The camel went down front ways first, and I really thought I was going to fall off. But I managed ok. I was so excited for those few minutes. I FINALLY got to ride a camel. About time... And then my camera died.
We set off again, through the sand dunes, and we were well on our way up one when our engine died again. This time, we were in the middle of nowhere. There were no Bedouins, no jeeps, no people, and no cell signal. We're thinking, great. We would get two messed up jeeps in a row. It's my luck. And apparently there a a couple other people in our jeep who have the same issue I do - that "adventures" follow us everywhere. Our driver "fixed" the issue with a plastic bag, not sure how much that really helped, but we didn't break down again. After a while, we got really close to this rock face, and we see this boulder on the left, and part of the rock face jutting out on the right, and so not enough space for the jeep to get through. But our driver keeps on, slows almost to a full stop, and crawls through the space, with barely an inch on either side. It's safe to say we all though he was going to take the top of the jeep off with that move. But he didn't. We were impressed.
The last stop was this massive sand dune. I thought, why not?, kicked off my shoes and socks, and starting climbing up it. It was really tough to get footing, and every step was exhausting, but I made it all the way to the top. Then I decided there was nothing better to do than to jump off the side of it. So I ran and jumped (not getting nearly as much air as I thought I would, nothing to really leap off of...) and tumbled down the side of the dune. When I stopped halfway down, I flipped onto my side and rolled the rest of the way, picking up about 6 lbs of sand in the mesh lining of my pants. It was so much fun. I got up to walk back to the jeep, and quickly discovered that I had rolled down the side of the dune that had been baking in the sun all morning. I couldn't take more than 5 steps before it felt like the bottoms of my feet were burning off, and I had to sit down and let them cool before attempting a few more steps. My group thought this was hilarious, but I eventually made it back to the jeep, and proceeded to dump all the sand out of the bottom of my pant legs.
After almost 4 hours in the desert, we headed back the the visitors center to go back to camp before the long ride home. We ate lunch at camp, checked that everything was packed up and no children were left behind, then we loaded up and headed off for the long drive home. You could tell that everyone was tired, for more than half of the trip, the bus was quiet - almost everyone was asleep. Close to 5, we stopped for dinner, and the last hour was noisy again, all the kids awake and energized after soda and food. We got home just after 7, exhausted, dirty, but having thoroughly enjoyed the past 2 days.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Burning Buildings
This past week was tumultuous. Not really, but I really just wanted to use that word.... See, learning Arabic means I lose English. So I'm trying to get it back.
Anyways, a major disappointment - Jerash was cancelled last minute, literally right before I went to bed on Saturday night, the person I was going to go with wasn't feeling well. So we're planning on trying again sometime in the beginning of November, with some more classmates this time, so if someone is sick, I can still go. Unless I get sick. That would be ironic...
Also, a bug has been going around, no surprise there, and I caught it. So I've spent the past week not feeling well at all. I've still been going to classes, I wasn't sick enough to miss, but I've been sitting away from my classmates so they don't freak out about catching things from me.
I spent a lot of time this week studying and taking it easy - I wasn't feeling up to much outside activity. But on Friday I spent some time with a friend of mine from my small group. It was nice to just sit and chat for a bit over a cup of coffee and a Cinnabon (ok, I indulged...) and we explored Wakalot St, which has a lot of stores and little boutiques hidden away.
On Saturday, a bunch of us from school got together at Brenda's (my classmate's) house for Mexican food on the roof. We made tons of food, and it was awesome. So nice to have a homecooked meal... I don't really cook that often, but I did make chocolate chip cookies from scratch. Yum!
On Sunday, I went with Christina to volunteer with a children's club in a Palestinian refugee camp. We had face painting and coloring all set up, as well as a table on how to make dolls out of yarn. We were ready to open up shop, when the woman in charge of signing up the families told us it wasn't working out that day, no one was coming. So we packed up, with the promise of setting up another day. It was still fun, we occupied some of the other volunteers' kids for a while, my face ended up painted somehow, and afterwards 10 of us piled into a small car to go to Bakehouse - a restaurant that serves "American" breakfast. We had awesome waffles, fresh-squeezed juice (they had just squeezed apple juice and orange juice - it was fantastic), some brownies... Awesome.
Monday started out bad, I felt terrible, I couldn't remember the conversation I was supposed to have memorized by first hour, and I hadn't really slept the night before. Class starts, we turn the lights on after about 10 minutes, and the wire near the ceiling sparks into a little flame, and then goes out. We think, oh we'll just keep an eye on it, and then a couple minutes later, it flames up again, this time we've got a little fire. We all jump up and are like, "Oh man, what do we do?" First thought is, grab water, throw it on the fire! But no, it's an electrical fire. But then it goes out, so we get the director, grab all of our stuff and head outside to the courtyard to continue our lesson. We all settle down, I start reciting the conversation, and we hear this popping noise. So we run to check it out. That little flame that died had come back to life as a nice-sized fire, and it's burning those foam ceiling tiles, the ONLY flammable thing in the room besides the curtains. So we holler for the director again, one of my classmates runs into the office to grab the fire extinguisher, runs into the room, and puts it out. The electrician came in and replaced the wires, we aired the room out and got rid of the smoke, and all that remains is a half-burnt ceiling tile. And a bunch of people freaking out about how we managed to almost burn down a building that was apparently non-flammable. There's a reason why they call us the trouble class, and I'm not so sure it's because we're loud anymore...
Anyways, we all survived the ordeal. Life here is always interesting. Coming up this week: Wadi Rum on Friday and Saturday, dinner with some QuestScope friends on Sunday, and thankfully, another cold front. 95 degree days are SO last month...
And as a quick side note - in my last entry, there was a group picture, and in that picture, the woman in the long, black shirt was seriously pregnant, like about to pop pregnant. Well, today she had a healthy baby boy. So we're welcoming a new member into our group family! Thought you guys would like to know :]
liam fell asleep like this
we laughed and one of our group said it looked like he had too much whiskey. he woke covered in black paint from his soccer ball. it was hilarious.
Anyways, a major disappointment - Jerash was cancelled last minute, literally right before I went to bed on Saturday night, the person I was going to go with wasn't feeling well. So we're planning on trying again sometime in the beginning of November, with some more classmates this time, so if someone is sick, I can still go. Unless I get sick. That would be ironic...
Also, a bug has been going around, no surprise there, and I caught it. So I've spent the past week not feeling well at all. I've still been going to classes, I wasn't sick enough to miss, but I've been sitting away from my classmates so they don't freak out about catching things from me.
I spent a lot of time this week studying and taking it easy - I wasn't feeling up to much outside activity. But on Friday I spent some time with a friend of mine from my small group. It was nice to just sit and chat for a bit over a cup of coffee and a Cinnabon (ok, I indulged...) and we explored Wakalot St, which has a lot of stores and little boutiques hidden away.
On Saturday, a bunch of us from school got together at Brenda's (my classmate's) house for Mexican food on the roof. We made tons of food, and it was awesome. So nice to have a homecooked meal... I don't really cook that often, but I did make chocolate chip cookies from scratch. Yum!
On Sunday, I went with Christina to volunteer with a children's club in a Palestinian refugee camp. We had face painting and coloring all set up, as well as a table on how to make dolls out of yarn. We were ready to open up shop, when the woman in charge of signing up the families told us it wasn't working out that day, no one was coming. So we packed up, with the promise of setting up another day. It was still fun, we occupied some of the other volunteers' kids for a while, my face ended up painted somehow, and afterwards 10 of us piled into a small car to go to Bakehouse - a restaurant that serves "American" breakfast. We had awesome waffles, fresh-squeezed juice (they had just squeezed apple juice and orange juice - it was fantastic), some brownies... Awesome.
Monday started out bad, I felt terrible, I couldn't remember the conversation I was supposed to have memorized by first hour, and I hadn't really slept the night before. Class starts, we turn the lights on after about 10 minutes, and the wire near the ceiling sparks into a little flame, and then goes out. We think, oh we'll just keep an eye on it, and then a couple minutes later, it flames up again, this time we've got a little fire. We all jump up and are like, "Oh man, what do we do?" First thought is, grab water, throw it on the fire! But no, it's an electrical fire. But then it goes out, so we get the director, grab all of our stuff and head outside to the courtyard to continue our lesson. We all settle down, I start reciting the conversation, and we hear this popping noise. So we run to check it out. That little flame that died had come back to life as a nice-sized fire, and it's burning those foam ceiling tiles, the ONLY flammable thing in the room besides the curtains. So we holler for the director again, one of my classmates runs into the office to grab the fire extinguisher, runs into the room, and puts it out. The electrician came in and replaced the wires, we aired the room out and got rid of the smoke, and all that remains is a half-burnt ceiling tile. And a bunch of people freaking out about how we managed to almost burn down a building that was apparently non-flammable. There's a reason why they call us the trouble class, and I'm not so sure it's because we're loud anymore...
Anyways, we all survived the ordeal. Life here is always interesting. Coming up this week: Wadi Rum on Friday and Saturday, dinner with some QuestScope friends on Sunday, and thankfully, another cold front. 95 degree days are SO last month...
And as a quick side note - in my last entry, there was a group picture, and in that picture, the woman in the long, black shirt was seriously pregnant, like about to pop pregnant. Well, today she had a healthy baby boy. So we're welcoming a new member into our group family! Thought you guys would like to know :]
liam fell asleep like this
we laughed and one of our group said it looked like he had too much whiskey. he woke covered in black paint from his soccer ball. it was hilarious.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Amazing cakes and mini-hookahs
Ok, so it's been a slow 2 weeks. Unfortunately, the weather did not get as cold as originally predicted. I was sad. But it still cooled down a lot, and I got to snuggle up in my comforter with hot coco, so I was happy. And it did rain, in fact, it rained most of Saturday. It was the first time I wasn't able to eat my breakfast on the balcony before school. That wasn't so fun. But I still enjoyed the rain.
Last week was the Eid al Fitr, which is a few days off in celebration of the end of Ramadan. We were having a celebration party on Emily's roof, and I was supposed to make a dessert for the party. I thought, since I had the whole day, I would make something complicated and fun. So I made sticky buns - from scratch. I had been trying to find frozen bread dough for weeks before this party, but with no luck, I had to make my own bread dough for the first time. It was certainly and experience! I took the dough to a classmate's house to make the actually sticky buns with his young kids, which was fun for all of us. They turned out to be a big hit at the party, thankfully, and I have since received requests to make them again for various occasions.
I had planned on traveling during the eid, but my plans fell through. I was upset at first, but I really enjoyed the quiet time I had to study, watch movies, bum around, and generally relax. I watched some awesome films - Mongol, which won a foreign language film award, Last King of Scotland, The Queen, and a few more. On Friday, we had a going away pizza party for one of the families from our small group who has returned to the States. We were sad to see them go, but we all enjoyed getting to know them while they were here.
School on Saturday was tough - no one wanted to go back to school. But we went, albeit grudgingly. On Sunday, I took a taxi out to an obscure neighborhood to our small group leader's house for Sunday night football. I managed to get lost, and then finally find my way there, all while talking to the taxi driver in Arabic. I was pretty pumped. (It pretty much consisted of right, left, straight, sorry, and oops....) I got to watch my favorite team play - GO EAGLES! - and then watch them lose by 6. Ouch. But the fact that I got to watch my team play football made it awesome, so I was happy.
Last night was Emily's birthday dinner, and since her parents were out visiting, her mom made us all some awesome lasagna, and we had garlic bread, and Jessey made a sick nasty cake in the shape of an iPod. It was epic.
This week we wrapped up our review on past-tense verbs, and started a new lesson on the near future. It's been really tough to wrap my head around, but it's starting to click. Today, I took my past-tense test. It was a lot easier, I thought, than my last one, but we'll see when I get my test scores back...
Coming up: more verbs to memorize, Jerash on Sunday for a day trip, and then some more good 'ol American football.
Last week was the Eid al Fitr, which is a few days off in celebration of the end of Ramadan. We were having a celebration party on Emily's roof, and I was supposed to make a dessert for the party. I thought, since I had the whole day, I would make something complicated and fun. So I made sticky buns - from scratch. I had been trying to find frozen bread dough for weeks before this party, but with no luck, I had to make my own bread dough for the first time. It was certainly and experience! I took the dough to a classmate's house to make the actually sticky buns with his young kids, which was fun for all of us. They turned out to be a big hit at the party, thankfully, and I have since received requests to make them again for various occasions.
I had planned on traveling during the eid, but my plans fell through. I was upset at first, but I really enjoyed the quiet time I had to study, watch movies, bum around, and generally relax. I watched some awesome films - Mongol, which won a foreign language film award, Last King of Scotland, The Queen, and a few more. On Friday, we had a going away pizza party for one of the families from our small group who has returned to the States. We were sad to see them go, but we all enjoyed getting to know them while they were here.
School on Saturday was tough - no one wanted to go back to school. But we went, albeit grudgingly. On Sunday, I took a taxi out to an obscure neighborhood to our small group leader's house for Sunday night football. I managed to get lost, and then finally find my way there, all while talking to the taxi driver in Arabic. I was pretty pumped. (It pretty much consisted of right, left, straight, sorry, and oops....) I got to watch my favorite team play - GO EAGLES! - and then watch them lose by 6. Ouch. But the fact that I got to watch my team play football made it awesome, so I was happy.
Last night was Emily's birthday dinner, and since her parents were out visiting, her mom made us all some awesome lasagna, and we had garlic bread, and Jessey made a sick nasty cake in the shape of an iPod. It was epic.
This week we wrapped up our review on past-tense verbs, and started a new lesson on the near future. It's been really tough to wrap my head around, but it's starting to click. Today, I took my past-tense test. It was a lot easier, I thought, than my last one, but we'll see when I get my test scores back...
Coming up: more verbs to memorize, Jerash on Sunday for a day trip, and then some more good 'ol American football.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Of Cold Nights and Good Food
Another week gone. The days seem to fly by, but go so slowly at the same time. My weekend has just started, so I'm really happy to have some down time. We have two more class days (Saturday and Monday) before the Eid starts. The Eid is almost a week off, a national holiday, to celebrate the end of Ramadan. It'll be the first time in a month and a half that I'll have have more than one day off in a row. I'm so excited for it! A lot of people take this time to travel and go sightseeing, but a lot of places are closed, or extremely crowded, so I'm not really sure if I'll be going anywhere.
This past week was a busy one. After my last post, I went to choir, and really enjoyed it. The director asked me to try out this week instead, but more about that later. Thursday, I went to Jafra again with the same group of people, and I got to try stuffed grape leaves. They were really strong, and heavy in taste. It's definitely an acquired taste...
Friday was a relatively quiet day. I went to church, and got to meet a bunch of new people. After church, I went to Jasmine's for lunch. Her mom made a dish with rice, boiled eggs, meatballs, potatoes, pine nuts, cranberries, and chicken. I think it's called mansaf, but I'm not sure. Anyways, it was delicious. I ate way more than I thought I could. Apparently Arabs drink yogurt blended with salt and water with lunch - I tried it, but I really did not like it. Maybe with curry, but probably not. After lunch, I chatted with the family for a bit, some in Arabic, but mostly English. I don't know enough Arabic to really talk to people yet. We had tea and baklava, as well as some other traditional Arab sweets, and I left after a couple hours. I spent the evening in, studying and watching a movie. I wasn't able to make small group because of other commitments, but small group pretty much came to me. Jessey, Jeff, Emily, and another couple all came back to our apartment for pizza and to hang out, which was really fun.
Saturday, I got my test results back. Turns out I did pretty well, for all my worrying - I got a 91. I guess all that studying really paid off... The rest of the weekend was quiet, I spent a lot of time studying and took some time for myself. On Sunday night, I went with Emily to another group member's house to watch Sunday Night Football - Carolina vs. the Vikings. I really wanted to watch the Eagles game, but it didn't start until midnight, and I had school in the morning. Definitely reminded me of how much I dislike the huge time difference.
This week has been busy, mostly with school work. The difficulty of the lessons is increasing, which for some reason makes our teachers think it should go faster as well. But it's all good, we're getting better at the patterns and at keeping up. I had dinner with one of my classmates on Tuesday night - we made a spiced lamb bolognese with pasta, salad, and fried goat cheese. It was really tasty, and nice to have a home cooked meal. I don't cook full meals for myself too often, it's time consuming. But it was worth it, I might have to start actually cooking again. Wednesday was choir night, I went early for my try out. I was the first there, so I sang a song and did some scales so she could put me in whatever section she thought was appropriate. And I got in - as an alto, but she's puts me in soprano II when she gets bored, it's kind of amusing.
Today was really good as well. Classes weren't too hard, we were all in a funny mood, so we were cracking jokes in Arabic as often as we could. After class, I headed out to City Mall with a classmate to get a new pair of jeans and some more food. Tonight, I'm having a movie night with some other friends of mine from school, complete with popcorn and whatever unhealthy baked goods we can throw together before nightfall.
Of all the things going on right now, the change in the weather is probably my favorite. Sounds ridiculous, I know. But it's starting to cool down. The evenings are low 70's, which from high 90's, is pretty chilly. And it's dropping fast. We were in the 60's last night, supposed to be in the low 50's tonight, freezing on Friday night, and below freezing by Saturday night. But still in the 80s during the day, of course. Love that desert weather! We're getting clouds during the day, and we're supposed to have the first rain this weekend. I'm really excited! Any excuse to pull out my favorite hoodies and curl up with a cup of hot chocolate...
Coming up: Rain check, freezing nights, warm comforters, hot chocolate, a week off, end of Ramadan celebrations, and perhaps a bus trip to Jeresh. It'll be an interesting week.
This past week was a busy one. After my last post, I went to choir, and really enjoyed it. The director asked me to try out this week instead, but more about that later. Thursday, I went to Jafra again with the same group of people, and I got to try stuffed grape leaves. They were really strong, and heavy in taste. It's definitely an acquired taste...
Friday was a relatively quiet day. I went to church, and got to meet a bunch of new people. After church, I went to Jasmine's for lunch. Her mom made a dish with rice, boiled eggs, meatballs, potatoes, pine nuts, cranberries, and chicken. I think it's called mansaf, but I'm not sure. Anyways, it was delicious. I ate way more than I thought I could. Apparently Arabs drink yogurt blended with salt and water with lunch - I tried it, but I really did not like it. Maybe with curry, but probably not. After lunch, I chatted with the family for a bit, some in Arabic, but mostly English. I don't know enough Arabic to really talk to people yet. We had tea and baklava, as well as some other traditional Arab sweets, and I left after a couple hours. I spent the evening in, studying and watching a movie. I wasn't able to make small group because of other commitments, but small group pretty much came to me. Jessey, Jeff, Emily, and another couple all came back to our apartment for pizza and to hang out, which was really fun.
Saturday, I got my test results back. Turns out I did pretty well, for all my worrying - I got a 91. I guess all that studying really paid off... The rest of the weekend was quiet, I spent a lot of time studying and took some time for myself. On Sunday night, I went with Emily to another group member's house to watch Sunday Night Football - Carolina vs. the Vikings. I really wanted to watch the Eagles game, but it didn't start until midnight, and I had school in the morning. Definitely reminded me of how much I dislike the huge time difference.
This week has been busy, mostly with school work. The difficulty of the lessons is increasing, which for some reason makes our teachers think it should go faster as well. But it's all good, we're getting better at the patterns and at keeping up. I had dinner with one of my classmates on Tuesday night - we made a spiced lamb bolognese with pasta, salad, and fried goat cheese. It was really tasty, and nice to have a home cooked meal. I don't cook full meals for myself too often, it's time consuming. But it was worth it, I might have to start actually cooking again. Wednesday was choir night, I went early for my try out. I was the first there, so I sang a song and did some scales so she could put me in whatever section she thought was appropriate. And I got in - as an alto, but she's puts me in soprano II when she gets bored, it's kind of amusing.
Today was really good as well. Classes weren't too hard, we were all in a funny mood, so we were cracking jokes in Arabic as often as we could. After class, I headed out to City Mall with a classmate to get a new pair of jeans and some more food. Tonight, I'm having a movie night with some other friends of mine from school, complete with popcorn and whatever unhealthy baked goods we can throw together before nightfall.
Of all the things going on right now, the change in the weather is probably my favorite. Sounds ridiculous, I know. But it's starting to cool down. The evenings are low 70's, which from high 90's, is pretty chilly. And it's dropping fast. We were in the 60's last night, supposed to be in the low 50's tonight, freezing on Friday night, and below freezing by Saturday night. But still in the 80s during the day, of course. Love that desert weather! We're getting clouds during the day, and we're supposed to have the first rain this weekend. I'm really excited! Any excuse to pull out my favorite hoodies and curl up with a cup of hot chocolate...
Coming up: Rain check, freezing nights, warm comforters, hot chocolate, a week off, end of Ramadan celebrations, and perhaps a bus trip to Jeresh. It'll be an interesting week.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Gotta love the sunset...
Well, another week has past. Just after I finished my previous post, I went out to meet up with my friend, Jasmine, at City Mall. I managed to avoid taking a taxi by myself, although I had all my choice phrases prepared just in case. After a couple hours, we took a taxi back to 2nd circle, which is near Jasmine's house, when her mother called and invited me to come for tea and to meet the family. This was at 10:30, on a school night. However, it is considered to be really rude to turn down an invitation, so off I went on my first Arab family visit. We talked for a bit, had tea and cookies, and I got to meet Jasmine's two sisters and her little brother. Babal Hara came on, and they thought it was really funny when I recognized the theme song. I got to practice some of my Arabic, which was a lot of fun. Jasmine and her mother walked me back to Rainbow St. at 11:45, and when we past Jasmine's aunt's house, they asked if I wanted to come visit her aunt with them. This time I had to decline, after all, I had to be up and functioning for school in 7 hours.
Thursday night was a blast - Christina, Emily, our friends Jessey, Jeff, and Zoe from group, and I went to Jafra. Jafra is this little, hidden restaurant that serves traditional Arabic food in the balad. We had all sorts of stuff: hummus with meat, a yogurt w/ thyme thing you put in pita, eggplant hummus, and this salad thing. I say thing, because I really have no clue what it's called... But it was really good.
On Friday, I took a taxi by myself, and didn't die, I was soooo excited! I went to the Meridien to study at Starbucks for a couple hours before heading off to play Ultimate. When we got the field, I found out we were playing some serious savage - 3 vs 2. It was a workout, but it was definitely worth it. After Ultimate, we went to group, which was actually a baby shower for one of the members.
I spent the rest of the weekend relaxing and studying for my test on Monday. I was put in charge of the first review, so I set up Pictionary and Jeopardy, which went very well. One of my classmates put together "Who wants to be an Arab speaker?" for the class before the test, which was amusing. When it came time for the actual test, we were all pretty nervous. I felt pretty confident when I went it, after all, I had really studied for this test. But when it started, the woman who was asking me the questions was impossible to understand, so I'm not sure how I did on that half of the test. The second part was much easier, we had to translate sentences and we were tested on vocabulary. So it was tough, but I think I did ok. Of course, if I failed, I won't tell anyone...
Yesterday was a pretty good day. We started a new lesson on verbs, which has been challenging, to say the least. For starters, we're learning the past-tense first, because the past-tense form of the verb is actually the root word. And we won't be learning present-tense until next semester. Our teachers also decided that they were going to up the amount of work expected to be done in an hour, so we've been trying to follow the lesson at twice the speed. Not so easy. But I'm still enjoying the challenge. After class, I went home to take my afternoon nap, but was too wired, so I watched a movie and studied for a bit before heading off to the bookshop. I had been at the bookshop for about an hour when Emily came up and asked if I wanted to head out to this cool bridge in Abdoun to take some pictures at sunset. I was all for it, so I packed up, and we headed off to Abdoun to shoot the bridge. It was really pretty at sunset, and we'll go back soon to shoot it at night with all the lights on. After our photo session, I went home to study some more and watch ER. I was exhausted from climbing over walls and hiking through dirt piles for my pictures, so I crashed early.
Today should be fun, I'm going to try out for the only choir in Jordan. It's usually only up for holiday concerts, and I'll miss the actual concert, but I still want to sing. So here's to hoping I make the cut...
Coming up: Results from my try-out, and a proper Iraqi lunch with Jasmine's family.
Thursday night was a blast - Christina, Emily, our friends Jessey, Jeff, and Zoe from group, and I went to Jafra. Jafra is this little, hidden restaurant that serves traditional Arabic food in the balad. We had all sorts of stuff: hummus with meat, a yogurt w/ thyme thing you put in pita, eggplant hummus, and this salad thing. I say thing, because I really have no clue what it's called... But it was really good.
On Friday, I took a taxi by myself, and didn't die, I was soooo excited! I went to the Meridien to study at Starbucks for a couple hours before heading off to play Ultimate. When we got the field, I found out we were playing some serious savage - 3 vs 2. It was a workout, but it was definitely worth it. After Ultimate, we went to group, which was actually a baby shower for one of the members.
I spent the rest of the weekend relaxing and studying for my test on Monday. I was put in charge of the first review, so I set up Pictionary and Jeopardy, which went very well. One of my classmates put together "Who wants to be an Arab speaker?" for the class before the test, which was amusing. When it came time for the actual test, we were all pretty nervous. I felt pretty confident when I went it, after all, I had really studied for this test. But when it started, the woman who was asking me the questions was impossible to understand, so I'm not sure how I did on that half of the test. The second part was much easier, we had to translate sentences and we were tested on vocabulary. So it was tough, but I think I did ok. Of course, if I failed, I won't tell anyone...
Yesterday was a pretty good day. We started a new lesson on verbs, which has been challenging, to say the least. For starters, we're learning the past-tense first, because the past-tense form of the verb is actually the root word. And we won't be learning present-tense until next semester. Our teachers also decided that they were going to up the amount of work expected to be done in an hour, so we've been trying to follow the lesson at twice the speed. Not so easy. But I'm still enjoying the challenge. After class, I went home to take my afternoon nap, but was too wired, so I watched a movie and studied for a bit before heading off to the bookshop. I had been at the bookshop for about an hour when Emily came up and asked if I wanted to head out to this cool bridge in Abdoun to take some pictures at sunset. I was all for it, so I packed up, and we headed off to Abdoun to shoot the bridge. It was really pretty at sunset, and we'll go back soon to shoot it at night with all the lights on. After our photo session, I went home to study some more and watch ER. I was exhausted from climbing over walls and hiking through dirt piles for my pictures, so I crashed early.
Today should be fun, I'm going to try out for the only choir in Jordan. It's usually only up for holiday concerts, and I'll miss the actual concert, but I still want to sing. So here's to hoping I make the cut...
Coming up: Results from my try-out, and a proper Iraqi lunch with Jasmine's family.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Ramadan
Ok, so it's been two weeks since I last updated, but not too much has happened. I got sick a couple days after my last post, and it took me close to a week to recover. Ramadan started 10 days ago, and so far it hasn't been too bad. The calls to prayer are much more frequent, and much louder, and people tend to walk around banging pots and pans at four in the morning to wake people up for prayer and breakfast before the sunrise. School starts for us at the same time, and we're allowed to eat and drink in school so long as we don't in public, out of respect for those fasting. Breaking the fast in public also happens to be illegal, as I recently found out, and you can go to jail for it. My favorite time of day has quickly become around 7 pm, when everyone closes up shop and heads home for iftar, or the breaking of the fast. It cools down by then, and everything is quiet and peaceful for a time. Then around 8 or 9, everyone floods the streets and cafes to eat, socialize, and smoke the hookah (called argeelah here) usually until past midnight. And there are lots of fireworks.
Last Thursday, I went to a local restaurant with Christina and our neighbor, Emily, to hang out for a bit. There was a live band that played, which was actually quite good, and we got to just relax and talk and smoke argeelah. Friday morning, I went downtown to see the art market, which was open Friday mornings until Ramadan started. It was really cool - there were lots of eclectic things, jewelry, artwork, antiques from all over the Middle East. I settled for some funky earrings. I spent the majority of Friday studying at Starbucks before heading off to our small group, which is getting larger and larger every week. A bunch of us went to the pool to relax and celebrate my classmate, Amy's, birthday on Sunday. It was incredibly hot, with no breeze, the end of a stifling heat wave, so it was so nice to be able to jump into the cool water whenever we got too hot. We Christina and I got home, I made lasagna from scratch for the first time in my life, and was very surprised when it wasn't half bad. Classes this week have been much more difficult and at a faster pace than previous weeks, but I'm relishing the challenge. We've finished the first 5 chapters, so we're now beginning to review before our first test. My class thought it would be a good idea to put me in charge of our first review period, so I'm taking it and running with it. I've prepared pictionary and jeopardy to make the review more interesting, so it will definitely be a fun class tomorrow.
Today has been good so far. I got to explore the British Council, which was really cool. It has a library, classrooms and tables set up in a really nice, quiet garden. I will definitely be spending more time there. Our washing machine is still broken, so we're still doing our laundry at Emily's. Christina and I were invited to the office building to eat lunch, which was fantastic. I really enjoy a good home-cooked meal. Tonight I'll be attempting to take a taxi to a nearby mall to meet up with a new friend of mine. I'm still a bit nervous, but I think I'll be ok this time. After all, I learned a few choice phrases to use if the taxi driver oversteps the boundaries again.... And the icing on the cake: Babal Hara. Babal Hara is an Arabic soap opera shown every night during Ramadan. It's a great way to listen to how words are used in different contexts, and it's dramatic. My excuse is that it's educational.
So coming up: I attempt to pass the first test, register for absentee voting, and my introduction to steamed grape leaves.
Last Thursday, I went to a local restaurant with Christina and our neighbor, Emily, to hang out for a bit. There was a live band that played, which was actually quite good, and we got to just relax and talk and smoke argeelah. Friday morning, I went downtown to see the art market, which was open Friday mornings until Ramadan started. It was really cool - there were lots of eclectic things, jewelry, artwork, antiques from all over the Middle East. I settled for some funky earrings. I spent the majority of Friday studying at Starbucks before heading off to our small group, which is getting larger and larger every week. A bunch of us went to the pool to relax and celebrate my classmate, Amy's, birthday on Sunday. It was incredibly hot, with no breeze, the end of a stifling heat wave, so it was so nice to be able to jump into the cool water whenever we got too hot. We Christina and I got home, I made lasagna from scratch for the first time in my life, and was very surprised when it wasn't half bad. Classes this week have been much more difficult and at a faster pace than previous weeks, but I'm relishing the challenge. We've finished the first 5 chapters, so we're now beginning to review before our first test. My class thought it would be a good idea to put me in charge of our first review period, so I'm taking it and running with it. I've prepared pictionary and jeopardy to make the review more interesting, so it will definitely be a fun class tomorrow.
Today has been good so far. I got to explore the British Council, which was really cool. It has a library, classrooms and tables set up in a really nice, quiet garden. I will definitely be spending more time there. Our washing machine is still broken, so we're still doing our laundry at Emily's. Christina and I were invited to the office building to eat lunch, which was fantastic. I really enjoy a good home-cooked meal. Tonight I'll be attempting to take a taxi to a nearby mall to meet up with a new friend of mine. I'm still a bit nervous, but I think I'll be ok this time. After all, I learned a few choice phrases to use if the taxi driver oversteps the boundaries again.... And the icing on the cake: Babal Hara. Babal Hara is an Arabic soap opera shown every night during Ramadan. It's a great way to listen to how words are used in different contexts, and it's dramatic. My excuse is that it's educational.
So coming up: I attempt to pass the first test, register for absentee voting, and my introduction to steamed grape leaves.
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