By now, you have read about many of my adventures in Jordan. Between broken washing machines and getting locked in taxis, I've certainly had my fair share. My mum came out to visit me for 10 days during my spring break, and those 10 days were packed with all sorts of interesting events. We visited the Dead Sea, rappelled down a waterfall in Wadi Mujib, had a backyard barbecue, drove a rinky-dinky car down to Petra for a candlelit tour, rode donkeys up to the monestary, saw a beautiful sunset in Wadi Rum, rode camels through the desert, and spent a day in Aqaba, just 5km from the Saudi border. I loved having my mum here to experience a bit of my life and meet my friends. Fortunately, my head chilled out and didn't give me much trouble for those 10 days. A couple days after my mum left, however, it started acting up again, so I changed my ticket and left 5 days later.
Leaving early was a blessing in disguise. I was going to miss the last month or so of school and giving up valuable time with friends who would not be returning in the fall. But I got to fly out to L.A. to spend a week with my sister and see her graduate from USC. We flew back to NC, and Aisling and I then drove out to Ohio - her ultimate frisbee team (the Hellions) had made the Nationals tournament! We spent most of the summer playing ultimate just about every day of the week, hanging out with family, as well as a week down at Emerald Isle. Aisling and I flew out to Scotland in mid-July. We stayed with good friends and my granddad before Aisling left to go on a cruise, and I left to return to Jordan.
While I was at home, I had 2 procedures done to help my head. For the first procedure, the doctor injected steroids and anesthesia into my neck to help with the inflammation, with the hopes that it would lower or get rid of my pain. After the pain of the procedure wore off and the steroids kicked in, my pain was dramatically reduced. It wore off after about 2 weeks though, so we went back for a similar procedure that would last longer. The doctor injected the same thing, but also inserted a probe and fried the nerve. It's been about a month and a half since the second procedure, and my pain has continued to stay much lower. Most of the time now my pain stays between a 2 and a 6, which is a huge improvement that I'm incredibly thankful for.
Because I missed so much school, I came back early to make up the work. I was also invited to the wedding of the kids of two of my teachers. I've been back almost 3 weeks now, and am completely caught up and ready for third semester. I got a new roommate who arrived this past Saturday - her name is Bethany. She's older than me, but I'm used to that. She's really great - it should be a fun semester for both of us!
Coming up: Ramadan starts in 2 days, college applications, and school starts on Monday! It will definitely be an interesting week.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
![we went clubbing :]](http://img7.travelblog.org/Photos/78054/398711/t/4182934-we-went-clubbing-0.jpg "we went clubbing :]")
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Medical Escipades
As most of you already know, I have had a migraine since Sept. '07. It has been a tough 18 months, filled with doctors, medications, and all sorts of unpleasantness. However, last May I decided to come out here and study Arabic, something I've wanted to do for several years. For the most part, I've been able to do so without my pain interfering too much. I got a wonderful new doctor over winter break,Sa he changed my meds, and they've been helping a lot since then.
Until March 27th, a Friday. My pain basically got out of control, and I had to go to the hospital. This has happened before, although the past couple times I had my mother with me, and I was also at Duke, where they speak English. At first, I was in no mood to look at this like an adventure. But I was lucky - I was with people when it got out of control, so they were able to get me to the hospital. My roommate and 2 other friends were there with me, making sure I was taken care of, and playing with all the cool toys in the room. I'm pretty boring when my pain gets bad, turns out. But we got the doctor there to speak with my doctor here in Jordan, and with mother, who was working in the ED at the time, and I got the medication I needed. I was admitted an hour later to receive fluids and more pain medication after a few more hours. The nurse on the floor brought in cots for my friends to sleep on while I was there - it was really nice. The next morning, I was cleared to leave, and Christina (my roommate) and I had an awesome breakfast of bagels and cream cheese, scrambled eggs, and real bacon. The neurologist I was admitted under asked me to come see him in a week at his clinic, and I said I would, in case I had any more hospital trips.
The following week, my pain did not improve. My neurologist in the States had me on pain killers, I couldn't go to school or do anything remotely involving my brain. I did, however, rediscover my love for the West Wing, and watched almost 2 seasons of it. When Saturday rolled around, Emily (my neighbor) and I went to the clinic, sat down with the doctor, and explained to him how this was my life. He suggested a few things, and then ordered an EEG. I thought, why not, I haven't had one yet, can't hurt. So we went into the next room, and the nurse there hooked me up (which was very stressful - she put huge globs of adhesive gluey gunk all over my face and all up in my hair, which I had worn down for the first time in months). It was quick. Then we went back to the doctor's office, he told me it was normal, and sent me on my way. That gluey stuff took like 20 minutes to get out of my hair. It was ridiculous.
That next week was not much better. I was still on a lot of pain killers. Towards the end of the week, I started to taper successfully, and went back to a morning class, to the surprise of everyone there. It's been a week since my first class back, and I've been to at least 1 class every day since. I'm not taking any more pain killers right now, and have been off them for almost a week.
I also had an awesome high point yesterday. Since the whole pain thing started, I haven't really been able to do much studying. I can study, but it has to be in small increments of time, maybe 2 hours tops. Add mono to the mix (best christmas present ever, right?), and I'm down to like 15 minutes tops. No good. Anyways, I skipped my last class yesterday, and went to one of our "study hangouts" with Emily, sat in the sunshine, and studied for 4 hours, without causing my head to spike. This is totally a milestone for me. Now, today, no such luck. But hey, I'm getting somewhere.
My super exciting news: my mother gets here the day after tomorrow. We will then have 10 amazing days running all over the country. So I will have some way cool stories for you guys really soon. Spring break couldn't come at a better time.
I have to shout out to Kirsten and Caleb, who just welcomed the absolutely beautiful Rachel Anne to their growing family, who I can't wait to meet.
Random events - I'm tired of dead, brown stuff. So I got some plants. I know have geraniums, so other leafy plant, some calla lilies, fresh mint, and a cactus. That cactus is named Earl. We also found the most epic chocolate Easter Egg ever. Seriously. You could fit like 2 of my heads in it. It's massive. So we bought it. And shared it with out favorite shop owner on the corner, Mr. Awni.
Coming up: well, we got the Dead Sea, Wadi Mujib, Aqaba, Petra, Wadi Rum, and my mother gets a first-hand look at what life is really like here in the desert. Should be a good one!
Until March 27th, a Friday. My pain basically got out of control, and I had to go to the hospital. This has happened before, although the past couple times I had my mother with me, and I was also at Duke, where they speak English. At first, I was in no mood to look at this like an adventure. But I was lucky - I was with people when it got out of control, so they were able to get me to the hospital. My roommate and 2 other friends were there with me, making sure I was taken care of, and playing with all the cool toys in the room. I'm pretty boring when my pain gets bad, turns out. But we got the doctor there to speak with my doctor here in Jordan, and with mother, who was working in the ED at the time, and I got the medication I needed. I was admitted an hour later to receive fluids and more pain medication after a few more hours. The nurse on the floor brought in cots for my friends to sleep on while I was there - it was really nice. The next morning, I was cleared to leave, and Christina (my roommate) and I had an awesome breakfast of bagels and cream cheese, scrambled eggs, and real bacon. The neurologist I was admitted under asked me to come see him in a week at his clinic, and I said I would, in case I had any more hospital trips.
The following week, my pain did not improve. My neurologist in the States had me on pain killers, I couldn't go to school or do anything remotely involving my brain. I did, however, rediscover my love for the West Wing, and watched almost 2 seasons of it. When Saturday rolled around, Emily (my neighbor) and I went to the clinic, sat down with the doctor, and explained to him how this was my life. He suggested a few things, and then ordered an EEG. I thought, why not, I haven't had one yet, can't hurt. So we went into the next room, and the nurse there hooked me up (which was very stressful - she put huge globs of adhesive gluey gunk all over my face and all up in my hair, which I had worn down for the first time in months). It was quick. Then we went back to the doctor's office, he told me it was normal, and sent me on my way. That gluey stuff took like 20 minutes to get out of my hair. It was ridiculous.
That next week was not much better. I was still on a lot of pain killers. Towards the end of the week, I started to taper successfully, and went back to a morning class, to the surprise of everyone there. It's been a week since my first class back, and I've been to at least 1 class every day since. I'm not taking any more pain killers right now, and have been off them for almost a week.
I also had an awesome high point yesterday. Since the whole pain thing started, I haven't really been able to do much studying. I can study, but it has to be in small increments of time, maybe 2 hours tops. Add mono to the mix (best christmas present ever, right?), and I'm down to like 15 minutes tops. No good. Anyways, I skipped my last class yesterday, and went to one of our "study hangouts" with Emily, sat in the sunshine, and studied for 4 hours, without causing my head to spike. This is totally a milestone for me. Now, today, no such luck. But hey, I'm getting somewhere.
My super exciting news: my mother gets here the day after tomorrow. We will then have 10 amazing days running all over the country. So I will have some way cool stories for you guys really soon. Spring break couldn't come at a better time.
I have to shout out to Kirsten and Caleb, who just welcomed the absolutely beautiful Rachel Anne to their growing family, who I can't wait to meet.
Random events - I'm tired of dead, brown stuff. So I got some plants. I know have geraniums, so other leafy plant, some calla lilies, fresh mint, and a cactus. That cactus is named Earl. We also found the most epic chocolate Easter Egg ever. Seriously. You could fit like 2 of my heads in it. It's massive. So we bought it. And shared it with out favorite shop owner on the corner, Mr. Awni.
Coming up: well, we got the Dead Sea, Wadi Mujib, Aqaba, Petra, Wadi Rum, and my mother gets a first-hand look at what life is really like here in the desert. Should be a good one!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Weekends were made for gallivanting
First of all, sorry it's been a while. Not much has happened here since my trip to Jerash (which is actually Greek, as I was made aware of, but it's not my fault the Ministry of Antiquities messed up...). We successfully got internet in our apartment, so I no longer have to fight the sound of the coffee grinder when I Skype my family. We had a Valentine's party, all singles of course, complete with chili, chocolate, strawberries, and cherry tarts. Other than that, my life has just about revolved around school. Oh, and I've finished all the seasons of the Unit, and am caught up to where it is currently in the States (that's 3 and a half seasons...).
Anyways, we had a long weekend this past weekend. Kelsey gave us Saturday off, and Monday was apparently Mohammed's birthday, so we had a 4 day weekend. A few weeks ago, I decided that the best way for me to spend this free time was to travel to Israel and the West Bank with my friend and former classmate, Brenda. So we left early Thursday morning for the Northern Border. We got through pretty much without any issues, took the bus across the border, then grabbed a taxi to Jerusalem, where we would pick up our rental car. [Now I was recently informed that the day I was going into Jerusalem, there was an attempted attack. We were at the border two hours away when this happened, so no need to worry.] Once in Jerusalem, we only had about half an hour before we needed to get out of the city to avoid crazy weekend traffic, so we took a quick drive through the Old City. Then we headed out of the city to Ariel, a Jewish settlement in the West Bank where we would be staying. The weather there was awesome - it was warm and sunny, with beautiful sunsets, a welcome break from the cold and wet of Amman. Brenda had lived in Ariel for a while before coming to Kelsey, so she had an apartment there, and knew a lot of people there as well. I got to meet a bunch of them our first night there. One group of people included some of the Waller family, who are an amazing people. (You can read more about what they do at www.hayovel.com) They were there with 10 or so other people to work in the vineyards for a month.
On Friday, we were going to go to Tel Aviv, but we found out that the Wallers and Co. were headed out past Nablus to see Mt. Geraziim and other Biblical antiquities. So we jumped in the car and followed suit after a breakfast of champions - fresh pastries from a local bakery and some good coffee. It was a clear day, and you could see for miles. Since the past week or so has been full of rain, we got up to the top of the hill, and found it covered with beautiful wildflowers and grass. Put my allergies through the ringer, but I loved it nonetheless. Friday night is the beginning of Shabbat, so we grabbed some wine and headed over to the Wallers and hung out for a couple hours before going to another family's house for Shabbat dinner. It was really cool to see how Shabbat works - the blessing of the wine, bread, people, the Shabbat song, and then there's this big horn that gets played. We had fresh, homemade xhalla bread too. It was delicious. After dinner, we played Dilemma (it's some intellectual game that I got whomped at...) before heading to bed.
On Saturday, we went into Tel Aviv for church. After church, I met a group of students from a Bible college in Jerusalem that were heading to the beach for the afternoon, so I joined them. It was a beautiful day to be at the beach. I was particularly excited because I finally could wear shorts - they're acceptable in Tel Aviv... The water was pretty warm, so we swam for a bit, listened to music, and played some volleyball. After several relaxing hours, I met up with Brenda again, and we went out to Jaffa for dinner and ice cream. We drove back to Ariel that night, because I was going to have a long day ahead of me. And we got the coolest chocolate ever - it has pop rocks in it! Definitely kept me amused for a while...
Then came Sunday. I got up around 6, and headed over to the Waller's at 730. The girls and one of the families were going to Jerusalem (since it was their last day), but the guys were all going to Shiloh to help plant some trees and clear out a ton of thorny brier bushes at this guy's farm. And I was going with them to work. Brenda had a bunch of things to do and people to see, so I was perfectly happy to help the Wallers and Co. I was the only girl there, so the guys joked that they'd have to watch their language, and that they would be sitting around drinking coffee while I did the heavy lifting. We got to work around 830, pulling out big bushes and replanting some of the newer trees. We kept at it for more than 6 hours, stopping for brief water/food breaks. We ended up clearing out huge amounts of brier bushes, and I left the field with a bunch of thorny splinters and a farmer's burn. Regardless, it was an awesome way to spend most of the day. We went back to the apartment, had chili, rice, and salad for dinner, and saw off one of the families. We then went to see Ami, a teenager who survived a pipe bomb explosion a year ago, play in a local basketball game. His team lost by ten, but it was still a good game to watch.
We left for the border early Monday morning, stopping in Jerusalem to meet another of Brenda's friends. One of the guards at the border was actually from Cherry Hill, near where we lived in New Jersey, which was a fun coincidence. We had to wait a while for the bus across the border, but other than that, we got across with ease. We were in a taxi on the way back to Amman by 2, so we only had a few more hours before we would be back. The taxi driver took us up a newly paved road, which was ridiculously steep, and we almost didn't make it up. But it was a beautiful scenic route, the hills covered in new grass and wildflowers. I was sad to leave.
The journey was long and tiring. But it was definitely worth it. I met some of the coolest people, experience traditions from another culture, and got to see some awesome places. I really hope I can go back again soon, because long weekends like this were made for gallivanting.
Coming up - more visitations, movies, vocab, better weather, and my mother gets here in 39 days!!!!!!!!
Anyways, we had a long weekend this past weekend. Kelsey gave us Saturday off, and Monday was apparently Mohammed's birthday, so we had a 4 day weekend. A few weeks ago, I decided that the best way for me to spend this free time was to travel to Israel and the West Bank with my friend and former classmate, Brenda. So we left early Thursday morning for the Northern Border. We got through pretty much without any issues, took the bus across the border, then grabbed a taxi to Jerusalem, where we would pick up our rental car. [Now I was recently informed that the day I was going into Jerusalem, there was an attempted attack. We were at the border two hours away when this happened, so no need to worry.] Once in Jerusalem, we only had about half an hour before we needed to get out of the city to avoid crazy weekend traffic, so we took a quick drive through the Old City. Then we headed out of the city to Ariel, a Jewish settlement in the West Bank where we would be staying. The weather there was awesome - it was warm and sunny, with beautiful sunsets, a welcome break from the cold and wet of Amman. Brenda had lived in Ariel for a while before coming to Kelsey, so she had an apartment there, and knew a lot of people there as well. I got to meet a bunch of them our first night there. One group of people included some of the Waller family, who are an amazing people. (You can read more about what they do at www.hayovel.com) They were there with 10 or so other people to work in the vineyards for a month.
On Friday, we were going to go to Tel Aviv, but we found out that the Wallers and Co. were headed out past Nablus to see Mt. Geraziim and other Biblical antiquities. So we jumped in the car and followed suit after a breakfast of champions - fresh pastries from a local bakery and some good coffee. It was a clear day, and you could see for miles. Since the past week or so has been full of rain, we got up to the top of the hill, and found it covered with beautiful wildflowers and grass. Put my allergies through the ringer, but I loved it nonetheless. Friday night is the beginning of Shabbat, so we grabbed some wine and headed over to the Wallers and hung out for a couple hours before going to another family's house for Shabbat dinner. It was really cool to see how Shabbat works - the blessing of the wine, bread, people, the Shabbat song, and then there's this big horn that gets played. We had fresh, homemade xhalla bread too. It was delicious. After dinner, we played Dilemma (it's some intellectual game that I got whomped at...) before heading to bed.
On Saturday, we went into Tel Aviv for church. After church, I met a group of students from a Bible college in Jerusalem that were heading to the beach for the afternoon, so I joined them. It was a beautiful day to be at the beach. I was particularly excited because I finally could wear shorts - they're acceptable in Tel Aviv... The water was pretty warm, so we swam for a bit, listened to music, and played some volleyball. After several relaxing hours, I met up with Brenda again, and we went out to Jaffa for dinner and ice cream. We drove back to Ariel that night, because I was going to have a long day ahead of me. And we got the coolest chocolate ever - it has pop rocks in it! Definitely kept me amused for a while...
Then came Sunday. I got up around 6, and headed over to the Waller's at 730. The girls and one of the families were going to Jerusalem (since it was their last day), but the guys were all going to Shiloh to help plant some trees and clear out a ton of thorny brier bushes at this guy's farm. And I was going with them to work. Brenda had a bunch of things to do and people to see, so I was perfectly happy to help the Wallers and Co. I was the only girl there, so the guys joked that they'd have to watch their language, and that they would be sitting around drinking coffee while I did the heavy lifting. We got to work around 830, pulling out big bushes and replanting some of the newer trees. We kept at it for more than 6 hours, stopping for brief water/food breaks. We ended up clearing out huge amounts of brier bushes, and I left the field with a bunch of thorny splinters and a farmer's burn. Regardless, it was an awesome way to spend most of the day. We went back to the apartment, had chili, rice, and salad for dinner, and saw off one of the families. We then went to see Ami, a teenager who survived a pipe bomb explosion a year ago, play in a local basketball game. His team lost by ten, but it was still a good game to watch.
We left for the border early Monday morning, stopping in Jerusalem to meet another of Brenda's friends. One of the guards at the border was actually from Cherry Hill, near where we lived in New Jersey, which was a fun coincidence. We had to wait a while for the bus across the border, but other than that, we got across with ease. We were in a taxi on the way back to Amman by 2, so we only had a few more hours before we would be back. The taxi driver took us up a newly paved road, which was ridiculously steep, and we almost didn't make it up. But it was a beautiful scenic route, the hills covered in new grass and wildflowers. I was sad to leave.
The journey was long and tiring. But it was definitely worth it. I met some of the coolest people, experience traditions from another culture, and got to see some awesome places. I really hope I can go back again soon, because long weekends like this were made for gallivanting.
Coming up - more visitations, movies, vocab, better weather, and my mother gets here in 39 days!!!!!!!!
Monday, February 9, 2009
Columns, football, and way too much vocab
Let me start by saying that Roman ruins are pretty cool. **as I'm reposting this, there were a lot of comments about this being greek. while it may have been, the romans were still in jordan, and i have photographic evidence.** Walking through them is always interesting, seeing how people lived thousands of years ago. Very cool.
So I went to Jerash, one of largest sites of Roman ruins in Jordan, with my friend Amanda on my first day off after school started. I have wanted to take this trip since I got here, but haven't been able to up until now. We took a public bus, which took about a hour. Amanda had residency, so she got in for dirt cheap, while I got to pay through the nose. Being a foreigner is not always a good thing, especially when it comes to tourist sites. It was a beautiful day, and it was chilly, so there were hardly any people there. The first thing you notice - the columns don't end. They're everywhere. We were able to walk through a couple amphitheaters, down cobbled roads, and we got to move columns. That's right. There are moving columns. They don't move much, but just enough to keep them from falling apart in an earthquake. It was way cool. We were followed around by Arab kids willing to part with "insiderknowledge" of the place, should we care to part with our money. We even had a kid follow us, even when we declined, and after he talked at us for 10 minutes or so, we gave him a dinar so he would leave. He then had the audacity to tell us it was a bad tip, and that we should give him more for the service we didn't ask for. And then yelled at us, and used some foul language when we politely refused. So we told him if he didn't shut it and be happy with what he got, we'd take it back. So he left us alone. We wandered through the site for several more hours, taking loads of photos, going wherever we pleased. After we had been through the site, we learned how the funky sand art with the pretty camels and mountains was done, and went to eat at a restaurant outside the gates, which was highly recommended. We ate, then headed back to where the bus was supposed to pick people up to head back to Amman, only to find that there wasn't going to be another bus to Amman that day. We honestly guessed that this would be the case, the day had gone so smoothly thus far, and both of us have a habit of attracting all sorts of "adventures." So we got a sirviis to take us to the edge of Amman, where we had to try to find a bus going into the city to get anywhere near where we lived. It took us a while, but we finally found one. After about half an hour, we were instructed to get off the bus at the side of the road and walk somewhere to another bus station to get further into the city. By this time, we were tired, so we simply flagged a taxi and went home, which only cost about a dinar more. Overall, it was a good trip. It was my first time taking a bus, too, so I was pretty happy that we didn't die.
That same weekend was Superbowl 43. We go all out for stuff like this. Kick-off was at 1:30 am, so we all went over around 10:30 the night before, bringing plenty of junk food, as is traditional. We hung out, pigged out, and trash talked the teams (because it should've been the Eagles, for serious. Because they're amazing). We even had the game projected on the wall - the biggest screen showing the game in Jordan. It was a pretty big group, and we tore through soda, chips, awesome homemade dips, sausage balls, and coffee. Lots of coffee. And it was actually a decent game. I was in a pickle though, I couldn't root for the Steelers, being a die-hard Eagles fan and all, and I certainly couldn't root for the Cardinals, they weren't even supposed to be there. So in the end I rooted for no one, accurately predicting a Steelers win, as much as I hated it, and simply enjoyed a good game. We wrapped up and headed home after 5 that morning. I was supposed to get up 2 hours later for school, but I may have accidentally turned off my alarm clock and slept until noon. I felt like a trainwreck, but the experience was definitely worth it.
About school. It's tough. I'm keeping up, but there is a ridiculous amount of vocabulary involved. Most of my homework is memorizing vocab. My brain is already full and overflowing, and I still have around 70 new terms to memorize tonight for tomorrow's classes. So it's a lot. But the classes are interesting (except grammar, I could really do without classical grammar classes), and it's really fun to be able to say more and more as the days pass. We've also switched to Arabic script from transliteration, and all of our written assignments are expected to be in script. This certainly isn't easy, but I love it. Writing is my favorite part. I"ve also gotten better at visiting with Arab families here - I've been tutoring some Iraqi kids with a classmate, and visiting teachers from last semester after school.
A quick update on my time-wasting skills: I can know do my Cube in 3 minutes, 45 seconds. I can also make vegetable stew, I've finished the 1st season of The Unit, just started the second, and The Secret Life of Bees is a truly excellent film.
Coming up: I attempt to watch the UNC Duke men's game on thursday, but we don't know if it'll be broadcasted here yet, more conversational visits, an epic game night, and we are FINALLY getting internet in the apartment. Again. Maybe this time it'll actually work... Oh the joys of Jordan.
So I went to Jerash, one of largest sites of Roman ruins in Jordan, with my friend Amanda on my first day off after school started. I have wanted to take this trip since I got here, but haven't been able to up until now. We took a public bus, which took about a hour. Amanda had residency, so she got in for dirt cheap, while I got to pay through the nose. Being a foreigner is not always a good thing, especially when it comes to tourist sites. It was a beautiful day, and it was chilly, so there were hardly any people there. The first thing you notice - the columns don't end. They're everywhere. We were able to walk through a couple amphitheaters, down cobbled roads, and we got to move columns. That's right. There are moving columns. They don't move much, but just enough to keep them from falling apart in an earthquake. It was way cool. We were followed around by Arab kids willing to part with "insiderknowledge" of the place, should we care to part with our money. We even had a kid follow us, even when we declined, and after he talked at us for 10 minutes or so, we gave him a dinar so he would leave. He then had the audacity to tell us it was a bad tip, and that we should give him more for the service we didn't ask for. And then yelled at us, and used some foul language when we politely refused. So we told him if he didn't shut it and be happy with what he got, we'd take it back. So he left us alone. We wandered through the site for several more hours, taking loads of photos, going wherever we pleased. After we had been through the site, we learned how the funky sand art with the pretty camels and mountains was done, and went to eat at a restaurant outside the gates, which was highly recommended. We ate, then headed back to where the bus was supposed to pick people up to head back to Amman, only to find that there wasn't going to be another bus to Amman that day. We honestly guessed that this would be the case, the day had gone so smoothly thus far, and both of us have a habit of attracting all sorts of "adventures." So we got a sirviis to take us to the edge of Amman, where we had to try to find a bus going into the city to get anywhere near where we lived. It took us a while, but we finally found one. After about half an hour, we were instructed to get off the bus at the side of the road and walk somewhere to another bus station to get further into the city. By this time, we were tired, so we simply flagged a taxi and went home, which only cost about a dinar more. Overall, it was a good trip. It was my first time taking a bus, too, so I was pretty happy that we didn't die.
That same weekend was Superbowl 43. We go all out for stuff like this. Kick-off was at 1:30 am, so we all went over around 10:30 the night before, bringing plenty of junk food, as is traditional. We hung out, pigged out, and trash talked the teams (because it should've been the Eagles, for serious. Because they're amazing). We even had the game projected on the wall - the biggest screen showing the game in Jordan. It was a pretty big group, and we tore through soda, chips, awesome homemade dips, sausage balls, and coffee. Lots of coffee. And it was actually a decent game. I was in a pickle though, I couldn't root for the Steelers, being a die-hard Eagles fan and all, and I certainly couldn't root for the Cardinals, they weren't even supposed to be there. So in the end I rooted for no one, accurately predicting a Steelers win, as much as I hated it, and simply enjoyed a good game. We wrapped up and headed home after 5 that morning. I was supposed to get up 2 hours later for school, but I may have accidentally turned off my alarm clock and slept until noon. I felt like a trainwreck, but the experience was definitely worth it.
About school. It's tough. I'm keeping up, but there is a ridiculous amount of vocabulary involved. Most of my homework is memorizing vocab. My brain is already full and overflowing, and I still have around 70 new terms to memorize tonight for tomorrow's classes. So it's a lot. But the classes are interesting (except grammar, I could really do without classical grammar classes), and it's really fun to be able to say more and more as the days pass. We've also switched to Arabic script from transliteration, and all of our written assignments are expected to be in script. This certainly isn't easy, but I love it. Writing is my favorite part. I"ve also gotten better at visiting with Arab families here - I've been tutoring some Iraqi kids with a classmate, and visiting teachers from last semester after school.
A quick update on my time-wasting skills: I can know do my Cube in 3 minutes, 45 seconds. I can also make vegetable stew, I've finished the 1st season of The Unit, just started the second, and The Secret Life of Bees is a truly excellent film.
Coming up: I attempt to watch the UNC Duke men's game on thursday, but we don't know if it'll be broadcasted here yet, more conversational visits, an epic game night, and we are FINALLY getting internet in the apartment. Again. Maybe this time it'll actually work... Oh the joys of Jordan.
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