A list of things I will never again take for granted

I am not a spoiled little brat by nature, and I thought I knew just how lucky I was in my life to have all the things I do. But here is a list of things I never knew I took for granted, but never will again. Oh I miss you, my old way of life! I had it so easy, but it is amazing how quickly you get used to living in a (pardon my french) shit hole (all you PC people who get upset when I say bad things about other places, I am talking about Irbid,  not Jordan in general, and nobody, not even Jordanians like Irbid- they are just here cause they can't afford Amman or because of the University- the ONLY two reasons!).

MY LIST OF THINGS I WILL NEVER AGAIN TAKE FOR GRANTED


1) FLUSHING TOILET PAPER DOWN THE TOILET

In Jordan (and apparently a lot of other countries according to the handy website http://www.wheredoiputthepaper.com/gtom.html) you cannot flush TP down the toilet. Unfortunately, you put it in a trash can, which I find nasty but the plumbing system can't handle the paper!

2) THE PLUMBING

In general, the plumbing here sucks. You can't flush TP down the toilet, as I said already. Also, things just get clogged all the time. Every time I shower, the bathroom floods and I have to squeegee the water into a hole in the floor created specifically for this purpose! why not make a normal drain and keep all the water IN the shower?! There is also a hole in the kitchen floor which used to overflow all the time before we got that fixed. And the sink in the bathroom is clogged too. And hot water? Thats not really done here.

3) TOILET PAPER

There isn't TP in every public bathroom. Everywhere I go here, I carry around TP with me!

4) SAFETY

Here, just like in The States, there are safety regulations for public buildings. For example, there must be a fire extinguisher in every building. However, this really only applies to large stores and government funded buildings. Also, the fire extinguishers are saran wrapped to the max, and if there was a fire it would take so long to tear them free from the saran wrap, you would burn first.

The streets are littered with broken glass, animal feces, and broken sidewalks. The sidewalks themselves are a constant mess of broken tile and concrete, lots of stairs, lots of sudden endings and a lot of ups and downs- lots of slipping and tripping and stubbing opportunities!

Sitting on a bus is just a suggestion here, along with seat-belts for children (and adults too but its the 5 children chillin' in the back seat of a car without seat-belts that worries me most).

5) HEALTH

I've never had to worry about getting worms from the food I eat and the water I drink or the streets I walk on. But two people here have gotten them! I hope I don't!!!

I've never worried this much about whether or not the food/water was clean (I have a Jordanian friend from GW University who told me under no circumstances was I to eat parsley in Jordan because people don't clean it properly).

6) BEING CLEAN

I know I should have expected this, but I feel so gross every day because all I do is drink water and then sweat it out! I didn't sweat this much in Israel, I guess cause I didn't have to wear as much and there was proper AC.

Also, due to the fact that Jordan is extremely dirty, my body constantly has a layer of dirt on in, that sticks to the sweat. It really is quite gross.

7) AIR CONDITIONING

Very few places have descent AC. The gym has 2 on the ceilings but its a big room and so is always SOOOO HOT! My classroom only has a fan, my apartment only has 2 fans- one in my room and one in my roommate's room (if I ever get a Jordanian roommate, she won't get a fan :( poor her, but as of yet she doesn't exist).

8) PROPERLY WORKING APPLIANCES AND KITCHEN STUFFS

All my appliances technically work, I have to light my stove with a lighter ever time I use it. I have to fill up my washing machine with sink water into a pot dumped into the machine and then the water drains into the hole in the kitchen. The lid to the machine is from another machine so it isn't really attached. Same with the toilet seat, its from a different toilet and is not attached, but hey, at least I have one! The toilet at school doesn't. My shower is more of a trickle of cold water but still manages to flood the bathroom every time because there is no shower curtain. I hang my clean laundry from hangers hung from my curtain rod and draped over doors and chairs, because we don't have a dryer or drying rack (I might buy one since I will be here so long).

One of my pots has a hole in it about half way up and ever time I boil water, it slowly leaks out from there. luckily, my stove is tilted so if I place it correctly, the pot can tilt away from the hole and not leak as much. As for silverware and dishes, we have 2 forks, 2 spoons, 1 knife, and 2 plates but a million esspresso sized cups! Not really useful.

9) PERSONAL FREEDOMS

I am not allowed to go out by myself before 8am and after 6pm. Whenever I am with my language partner, she makes sure we are never more that 5 inches apart, even if we are shopping in a big store. Personal space doesn't really exist here, which is too bad because everyone smells a bit due to the fact that everyone sweats so much and there is so much dirt and garbage around that everyone is dirty.

I can't wear just anything I want, or say whatever I want. If I want to go to a restaurant, I have to sit in the back of the restaurant or upstairs, separated from the men's section. Male friends can sit with me in the 'family/woman' section, but I can't sit in the 'men's' section.

10) NOT BEING VERBALLY ACCOSTED EVERY DAY

Every day, while walking on the street all the shebab shout at women, especially foreign women. Usually its harmless and best to just ignore, but every day we hear "Welcome to Jordan!", "oh my g-d" kissing noises, and other stupid things they picked up from watching western movies and tv. The older women, on the other hand love to ask if I am married, and when I say no, suggest their sons. When I say no thanks, they ask why I hate Jordanians. It is exhausting explaining western ways to people!

11) TALKING TO WHOMEVER I WANT

AKA boys. Most of my friends at home are boys, so it is hard for me to adjust to not talking to them. The shebab (youth aka boys between the ages of 15-25) on the street are awful and easy to just ignore, but there are some polite boys who it is nice to talk to ever once in a while but whenever I am with my language partner, she always drags me away and tells me never to talk to them because they are bad (I really don't get it).

This city has no movie theater. There is nothing to do here. Still, it builds character, no? And luckily I would never travel for more than a weekend without my own movies, so I am not dying. I still manage to have fun, don't worry!