First days of insanity

Day 1

Hey everyone! I am alive and well in Jordan!!! I made it finally, phew! I didn’t sleep much on my first flight, to London, because we had movies to watch!!!! I saw The Best Most Exotic Marigold Hotel which was excellent, and another one I forget the name of….What’s Your Number? Maybe? Anyways, it was a stupid chick flick and I loved it too. I ended up having 3 white wines because they flight attendant poured me one, and then the couple across the isle, but they wanted red wine, so she gave theirs to me. I don’t really like to be tipsy on a plane…its boring, and I didn’t have anyone to talk to- the seat next to me was empty. And I couldn’t even sleep for some reason, I tried!

 I met a very nice guy from Arizona while waiting to board the plane to Jordan. I forget his name, but it started with an N…. anyways, he was leading the CLS Program in Jordan- the one I wanted to do originally that was completely funded by the government, but I didn’t get accepted. Anyways, I have heard great things about this program so far, so I am okay. The second flight, I sat next to a mother with a 1 year old. And we sat across the isle from her sister who also had a 1 year old. I’m not sure who was whose, because they kept changing babies and the babies kept running around and crying and going to visit Grandma (Jidda or جدة ) . The kids, Michael and Jacob (Jordanian American babies) were super cute and sweet, but they had been traveling from San Fran, needed diaper changing, and were unhappy a lot. They also didn’t understand the concept of ‘I don’t know you, I shouldn’t bother you’. I’m pretty good with kids, but I couldn’t sleep at all. They used my legs as something to hold on to while they ran around, and when they took naps, their little legs ended up on my lap and stuff like that.

By the time we landed, I was extremely tired. So tired in fact, that I left my carry-on on the plane! I took my purse and went through customs and went to the bathroom before I noticed I didn’t have it. I rushed over to baggage claim sure that they had destroyed it or something, and they made phone calls and told me to go get my other bag and come back. Luckily, I saw my carry-on bag on the line, and snatched it up first.

It was a two hour drive (my program picked me and 4 other girls up from the airport) to Irbid, and they gave us a water bottle, which was good, but I really had to pee by the time we got there, but of course, it was just my luck, that my roommate wasn’t home. The door was locked. Mazen, the resident advisor didn’t have a key for me. The woman who owns the apartment building didn’t have a spare key. I really had to pee. After about 20 minutes, my roommate came home and I was able to get in. We have been sharing one set of keys which kind of sucks. They say they will make us each a set, so here’s hoping.

After I got in and met my roommate, Lauren- a very nice girl, I was starving and wanted to go email home to let everyone know I was still alive, so me and two other girls headed out to find food and an internet cafe.

After a bit of wandering, we decided to ask three women- the only women we had seen in a while- but they didn't speak any english, so with broken arabic we asked for a restaurant with internet. They motioned us to follow, and everyone was laughing because of the misunderstandings. We ended up in their home and they tried to serve us coffee, but we were hungry so we begged leave and one of the women sent her son with us to take us to a falafel restaurant. 

At the restaurant, a woman came up to us and said 'Are you American?' Turns out she was from Kentucky, and had married a man from Irbid. The man, Fares, knew everyone in Irbid, it seemed. They were very nice and we got free falafel from the chef because he knew Fares. Then they took us to get Khunafa, an Arabic desert. I couldn't tell you what it was. I think it was cheese and filio dough with some sweet sauce. it was delicious.

Day 2

So the problem thus far was my roommate and I were sharing one set of keys, and were doing different things. This morning, she had her placement interview at 10:45. Mine was scheduled for 1pm but it ended up being closer to 2pm. I got into Intermediate Mid and I am very proud of myself.

After my interview, I was hungary so me and a girl Nicole went to town to get lunch and phones. Surprisingly enough, we ran into Fares again! He was very helpful in getting us phones and sim cards and everything. Fun fact: my new phone has prayer time reminders on it that I can set up if I want. I won't, but I thought it was funny. 

Then we went to get falafel again. Afterwords, I found Lauren my roommate, and she had been given another set of keys so I got a set of my own. I got some breakfast veggies for tomorrow, signed up for a gym, and got to know some of my fellow students.  

TT4N!

(TATA FOR NOW)