A very busy (and unEllalike) week

Well! two big things I did this week: cook, and hike! Not things I generally enjoy doing, but I did have a great time.


This past Sunday, I learned how to make a Jordanian dish with Lara, my language partner. I forget what it is called, but it is fried eggplant and potatoes cooked with rice and was delicious! I went to Lara's apartment for the first time, and ended up staying there for about 5 hours! We cooked, her friends came over and we all ate together, then she painted my nails (and added pretty stamps to them! It was soo cool I have to get some!) and some little girls from the apartment upstairs came over. One of them had an English test the next day so I helped her study.

My friend Katie and I do yoga while we wait to go hiking

Left to Right: Sam, Me, Chelsea, Olivia, Andrew, Pitrus, Katie, Jenny Sue, Peter

Olivia and I lying in the water after floating down

At the end of the hike, we were underneath a waterfall...thank goodness for waterproof cameras!

Then, this weekend, I had to go to Amman with my Archaeology class, and everyone decided to make a weekend out of it. We went down on Thursday evening, and went to a library that was converted into a bar. On Friday, we went to Wadi Mujib. It was AMAZING. Basically,  there is a siq (like a canyon) created by this river that you walk up. You walk in the water, and have to climb up several small waterfalls to get to a big waterfall. It was really hard at times, and I am sore and bruised and cut up now, but I love anything with water. We had life jackets, and in parts that were deep enough, we would float downstream for a bit. The end of the hike was at a waterfall, and there were a ton of hikers there. Some of the shebab (Jordanian boys) were jumping off a rock under the waterfall, so I did too. I slipped once, but dove a few times. it was pretty fun!

More yoga

The citadel

A view of Amman atop the Roman theater

On Saturday, we met my Archaeology teacher at the Roman Theater, and learned about the history. We also visited the Citadel, which had a beautiful view. We ate lunch at a very non-vegetarian restaurant, even though I told them to ask if there was veggi food, my teacher assured me there would be. There was humus and pita...thats about it. Luckily the heat made me not that hungry.

Adventures in the North

Yesterday was our trip to the north to visit Um Qais, Ajloun Castle, and Jerash. I like having already been on these trips before because they were different. Last time, we all were just set loose to run around and explore. This time, we all stayed together (there are only 9 of us after all and most of our language partners) and saw everything as a group. I liked having the big group last semester, but I also like having a smaller group too. We have become tight and when we party, we ALL party. (we have only each other after all) If you have been following my blog since this summer, you already know how this trip went. We left early and bussed over to Um Qais. We explored a bit, then went to Ajloun Castle, and then on to Jerash. We finished at a nice restaurant in the new city of Jerash (still pretty old, just not roman ruins time). We stuffed our faces, and i passed out on the bus home. Later last night, after a short nap, we all met back up and had ourselves a little party (just the CET students, not the language partners). We went to the roof and met up with some Korean students who are also studying Arabic at the language center. They seem to only want to learn fos-ha which I don't really understand because its not really that useful, but I think they may just be having difficulty with learning essentially two languages at one time. Here are some photos from the trip!

From Left to Right, Chelsea's language partner Rasha, Jenny Sue, Chelsea, Me, My language partner Lara

Ajloun Castle

Me and Andrew and Hamze at Ajloun Castle

Pitrus, Olivia, Chelsea, Me, Katie and Jenny Sue...all the girls (and Pitrus of course)

My favorite play structure on the trip is always this door frame...this time was a bit 007 ish, who knows what next time will be!

Morgan, our resident director assistant and Rita a language partner having fun with a hole in the wall

It hit me yesterday on the trip how easy it was for me to slip back into life here in Irbid. It was really difficult to get used to over the summer and I left hating the place. Now, its not my favorite place to live but its not killing me anymore. I realized it must be really hard for the new students and I can hardly remember how awful it was my first time. I keep trying to say it will get easier and it will get better, but I would hate to hear those words if I was in their situation because I wouldn't want to get used to this. But the truth is, it does get easier and better. Not because you get used to the emotional bombardment, but because you find places of relief from it. You find good people, or quiet places, or even some strange part of yourself where you can hunker down in and hide from all the shit they spin here. Its not the perfect way to experience life, but it is definitely better than how I was feeling before. I'm not unhappy here anymore, which is good. I like not being unhappy.

Sunday Funday

Hello all,

So not much has happened here. Its a pretty boring life usually. I am enjoying an apartment to myself (although there are some bugs that I share it with, but for the most part they are friendly so no big deal, and I also share my windows with birds, but again no big deal). I don't know if or when we will be getting roommates. It is against university rules to allow foreign and Jordanian students to live together (we are a bad influence on them). If I don't get a roommate, I am gonna rearrange my room again and make myself a wonderful huge bed!

For the most part, I have just been going to class and studying and working. I go to the gym a lot with the girls (the boys go to a different gym). The woman at the front desk is really nice and we have been getting to know her. I also know one of the guys who works there now because he was a language partner last semester.

I have a really hard project for my Arab media class - I have to research Syrian news agencies and discuss their biases, problems, history, all sorts of stuff for a 15 minute presentation!!!! That is HARD. I have to do 4 or 5 minute recordings for my fos-ha class a lot for homework, but 15 minutes!!!!!!!! All in Arabic?!!!! I am terrified. I dont even know how to start researching this. But it seems like everyone else is worried too so I feel a little better that I'm not blatantly the worst in the class. Its just going to be a lot of work. I hope I can do it. (Pray for me to the g-ds of studying that I can study my ass off and learn all this)

Today will be my first real Archaeology of Jordan class. We were supposed to have one last week but she didn't show, and the next day we were supposed to just meet her and see where her office was, but it turned into an hour conversation. She is really nice and I am really excited for the class, but I felt sooo bad because we were pulled out of amiyya class to meet her, and then she took us to her office, and I thought it would be only a minute or two to see where it was and then go back to class (where I had left all my stuff including my phone). She wanted to talk, however, and we talked for an hour. I was supposed to meet my language partner and accidentally stood her up! I felt soooo bad, and worst of all, my phone was with my stuff at the language center, so she called me 3 times but I never answered. Then right after that I had my Arab Media class, and it was a while before I could call her! I apologized a lot tho, and I felt sooo bad and she forgave me. We are meeting up today.

My Archaeology of Jordan class seems really exciting. We will be taking weekend trips to archaeological sites, and maybe even get to see a dig in progress. Also, its in English, so I am happy about that, and the professor seems awesome. She lives in DC and knows Gayron and Lindsay (students from spring and summer that I know) and just seems really nice and cool and laid back. She said if we spend a lot of our weekend time on trips, we may cancel class during the week so we can have some free time.

Anyways, that is pretty much the jist of my life. I go to school, I meet with my language partner (usually), I go home to study, go to the gym....boring mundane life stuff. This weekend I think is our first rihla or trip. It is just a short trip to the north to see Um Qais, Ajloun castle, and Jerash, but it is fun.

More stories to come!!!

Oh, if anyone knows of a job I could do from around xmas until Jan 20th, (anywhere!) that would be awesome. I have been trying to find an Au Pair job, but no one has contacted me yet...I can do something in the US or somewhere else too if I can find a place to live...

Tasharafna l'Sharika al Lu3'awi

Today I got to meet my new language partner! Remember Bra'a, my partner from last semester? This time I have a nice girl named Lara. She is studying translation, like I want to do as well. Meeting her was much easier than meeting Bra'a because when I first met Bra'a I couldn't really talk at all- I knew no amiyya and wasn't comfortable speaking in fos-ha either. But this time, I wasn't perfect of course, but I was able to talk and there weren't really any long awkward pauses like I always had with Bra'a, so "Thank Bra'a! You were a great teacher!"

Anyways, in other news, I have rearranged my apartment so it is a lot nicer and my room seems bigger too :) Yay feng shue!

I did okay on my quiz from Thursday, yay, but I still need to step up my studying, I know. I hate knowing words and then forgetting them when I need them! It is so frustrating. I forgot the word for drug on the test, but only minutes before the test I talked about it and explained what the word meant in class! frustrating.Today, class was really hard because we had to do this reading that was really difficult, and I knew a lot of it but I didn't know exactly what she was looking for in her answers, so it was hard. And our first paper is due on wednesday! its not long, like 250 words or so, but still. Basically, we have a  ton of homework, which is good cause it will keep me bored, but Im tired already! (actually that is because of the stupid school next to us that has morning exercised led by a microphone in their playground every morning at 7:00am!) I dont like it...I dont have to wake up until 9, but I always get woken up too early!!!! It is loud and annoying and they just repeat 1,2,3,4 and some other things over and over!!!! Mish kwayyis! (Not good)

On Thursday, I got to see my friends Khalid and Ra'ad. It was sooo nice! They were two of the roommates with some of the boys from the summer and we became good friends. When I saw them, we went to our old favorite spot, Cuzins, and hung out. I took Sam, one of the boys from the program this semester and we had a great time. It was soo nice to see my friends. I like all the kids here, but most of them know each other, and dont know me,so it was nice to see some familiar faces and be able to catch up. Khalid has a new baby sister named Ila, so close to my name! but they gave her a completely different nickname, which doesn't sound as nice but means something like 'hidden diamond' which is really pretty I think. Ila is like a fawn or a small deer, or something? My teacher calls me Ila cause she likes it better than my name and she tried to explain it to me, but Im not sure.

Ana Mish Kweyis

The title is not really true, I am fine (it means I am not great). Really, I am extremely frustrated because my brand new computer has this horrible program called McAfee on it and I can't get it off! It is a security program, and I deleted it from my computer but it is still blocking me from using certain websites, aka anything remotely entertaining, like facebook, tumblr, photos of elephants, online videos, anything fun, it will block. I dont know how to make it go away because I already deleted it from my computer and when I search for it to delete it again, it comes up empty! I went online to their help website and talked with a woman who gave me a link to a program designed to delete this stupid McAfee program but it didn't work!!!! I dont know what to do if their programers can't get this shit off my computer. I am furious. I never downloaded it in the first place, it just snuck on and now I can't get it off!

Other than that, regarding my actual life in Irbid, not much is going on. Tomorrow is the weekend! I have a short vocab quiz but I am not too worried. The homework this semester is much different from the homework last semester. We have to record talking for several minutes and then she will correct them with us during our office hours. Oh, by the way, my teacher is different this semester. Her name is Adella and she is actually from Jordan (my previous teacher is from Syria). That means that in amiyya class, I know a lot of Syrian words which are different than Jordanian words. For example, the word for Clothing in Fos-ha is milabis, in Syrian is tiyabi, and in Jordanian is oa'i (like hawaii but with an 'ooo' sound instead of a 'ha' sound. We are also learning a lot of cultural sayings- they have sayings for everything! For a hair cut or shower, for eating or drinking, for receiving something via hands vs via other means. And each saying has a specific response.

Today's class was a little crazy...looking at my notes, here is the pattern of conversation:
(translated of course)

what is the opposite of the word clean?
-Dirty

If your clothes are dirty, what do you do with them?
-wash them

Whats another word for 'to wash'?
-to wash (different word)

What else can you wash?
-clothes
-hands
-cars
-....money

What is the word for cocaine, heroine, caffeine,...
-Drugs

What is another way to say cleaning money?
-cleaning cash

If you sell drugs, are do you get black or white money?
-....black?

Yes, and if you  want to clean the cash, what color do you make it?
-...white?

Yes, how to do you turn white into a verb?
-form 9, to make white

Yes, what is another phrase to mean cleaning money?
-Money laundering (actual translation making cash white)

If you go to a restaurant, where do you read what food they have?
-the menu

If something is not allowed, it is...
-forbidden

If something is forbidden, it is on a menu.
-...?

Do you know what AIDS disease is?
-...yes

If Jordan doesnt want AIDS, what do they do?
-...put it on the forbidden menu...?

Now read an article about money laundering in the Vatican....

INTERESTING CLASS, NO?

Its kinda boring here right now...all my friends who would still be here aren't here yet because the university doesn't really start until next week (or maybe the week after I forget) so I haven't seen any of my friends. I miss them, and can't wait to see them! The students in my program are all really nice, thank goodness, but I think some of them may still need to get used to talking a little, and also we have trouble understanding each other. Most of them are from American University and know all the same words. Also, when I got here, my vocabulary was pretty bad. My chit-chat vocabulary was practically nonexistent. It wasn't really a problem cause I just learned all of that in amiyya, but they mostly don't know amiyya, and I keep forgetting the words in fos-ha. After a while, I think our vocabulary will mesh and we will be able to talk more (In Shah Allah). We also dont have much class time. Last semester, we had 3 hours of fos-ha and one of amiyya but this semester we only have two hours of fos-ha. its because we are going to be starting culture classes, but we haven't started them yet.

PS Thank G-D! I scanned my computer one last time before I had a mental break down and norton security system fixed my problem (hopefully! knock on wood) again to get mcafee off my computer!

anyways, see ya! wish me luck on my quiz tomorrow! The grades this semester will be harder, and they actually count.

Hello Again for Round 2

Hello Again,

I know it has been a while since I last wrote but I was on vacation and my computer had died, and vacation is no time to be hanging out on a computer for hours on end! Now I am back in Jordan, and not quite ready to start all the studying I am about to do, but excited for all the new classes I will be taking, and determined to study hard and improve my Arabic like a boss!

First let me catch you up on my travels:

So I already wrote about my awesome time in Israel, and left off just before I got to the airport. Israel with the girls (and a few boys) was sooo much fun! But Jessie and I got to the airport 3 hours early, and nearly missed our flights!!!! We got there at about 2am (our flights were at 4:50am) and we were questioned like normal - even got to skip the line for some reason, we were taken to the front! - but then we had to get our checked bags searched....it was annoying, but okay, we had plenty of time, and were escorted to the front of the check in line (got to cut again, lucky us!) and then went to wait in the line to go through security. we had about 1 hour and some change to spare, so I wasn't that worried. But then the trouble started. My backpack was searched by 4 different people. My person was searched twice, and it took sooo long! I had gotten my dad some spices from the shook Jerusalem and it was taken away. Jessie was not allowed to take her computer on the plane! They took away her entire carry on to put in checked luggage and gave her only her phone and wallet to take on the plane! I have no idea what we did wrong, but apparently, we screwed up badly. we were escorted through customs and to the gate and were the last people on the planes. We barely had time to say goodbye, and it was extremely upsetting. by the end, when I finally got on the plane, I was on the verge of tears due to frustration and my lack of a proper goodbye to my friend whom I may not see until June!

I arrived in Berlin early in the morning, exhausted emotionally and physically with no money and no credit on my phone. I wandered around the Tegel Airport until I found an atm and went to buy some minutes for my phone. I bought the smallest bit - 15 euro - which didn't work on my phone! I tried and tried and it wouldn't register that my phone had minutes. I asked for help from the woman who had sold it to me and she was very rude and said she didnt know how to do it. I tried and tried, and then asked if I could return it because it wasn't working and was defective or something, thus I wanted my money back. the woman said 'no', and I got kinda upset and we got in an argument which only ended when she physically left her booth and hid in another room until I left. I was pissed, to say the least! I ended up calling Aunt Deborah from a pay phone (very complicated now adays with credit cards and operators and whatnot), but I finally reached her and told her I was there. Then it was time to tackle the public transportation which went relatively smoothly, and struggled up to Aunt Deborah's apartment. Over the next week, I pretty much just hung out, walking/wandering around Berlin, drinking coffee, reading my kindle (g-d bless the kindle! I ended up reading like 7 books!) and visiting my old stomping grounds.

I was in Berlin about 5 days and then Aunt Deborah and I flew to Oslo. Uncle Harold (Aunt Deborah's husband for those of you who don't know) was in Oslo, working, and Aunt Deborah lives there too sometimes and sometimes they are in Berlin. We went on a few beautiful nature walks and had a picnic dinner by the Fjord. I wandered around there too, seeing the sights (but for the first time this time). It was SUPER COLD for me, although for the locals, they loved it- it was about 23-25 and sunny! (for you Americans, I think it was about 65ish), which for me is really cold and I didnt take off my fleece the entire time! After a few days there, I left to go to Amsterdam to meet up with my family (immediate family I mean, I was with family the whole time pretty much).

We all got 'gifts' from the Heineken Museum. This was one of ours.:)

Me playing virtual soccer at the Heineken gift shop

Me at the Heineken Museum

I flew to Amsterdam, and was supposed to meet Hannah my sister, but her flight from NYC to Charlotte was late so she missed her connecting flights and ended up coming much later that night. I was smart enough to call my family before wandering around the city looking for them, and it turned out they would meet me at the train station, so I put on a hijab to surprise them and headed to the train station. They didnt recognize me at first, lol! I had to call our their names, but it was fun. We went back to our lovely apartment which was the top floors of an old dutch house so many flights of steep steep stairs!  (PS I don't like stairs- I fall down them too much) Luckily I never fell. I got my new computer from my parents, and a new batch of movies from my sister, and we hit all the high spots of Amsterdam (not really, we never went to a cafe, but close enough). We saw all the museums with amazing art, took a walking tour, went to the Heineken museum, had a cheese tasting, got some cute trinkets for friends, took a canal tour (it was hot and I did fall asleep but I caught some of it). We also visited one of mom's friends from her camp days who moved to Amsterdam. We met her family and took a bike ride to a beautiful little area with windmills and cheese samples, all sorts of fun things!

 This is a photo of Hannah in the little town where the windmills were. The baby was playing with the shoes, then Hannah tried them on and the baby wanted them back! It was very cute.

Aunt Deborah came for the day to see the rest of the family

Finally, it was time to head back to Jordan, and my flight was much later that everyone else's, so they got up early and I slept after they left then headed on my way to Israel. I stayed at the Florentine Hostel again for 3 nights met some lovely folk there and we went to the beach and to bars and hung out. Then on the 29th, I crossed the border in possibly the most expensive way possibly! Had I known crossing the border to Amman was more expensive than everywhere else, I would have crossed the northern border and saved mad money and gone on my own. as it were, I spent a lot of money and hung out for a few hours at the Marriott hotel in Amman, then got picked up by CET and taken to Irbid.

We are living in different apartments now, on campus right near our classes and right over the administrators. The program also seems to be a lot more organized, and its REALLY SMALL- only  9 of us (5 from American University, btw) I think I learned Arabic in the states for the least number of years, but I was here, so we shall see where I stand and in which classes I'll be in. We take 3 hours of fos-ha and one hour of amiyya daily, plus I think 2 other classes in either English or Arabic on culture and historical things. I really wanna take one in English and one in Arabic to keep some sanity but also learn a lot of Arabic, but they all sound so interesting, I want to take them all! I am sure I will take that sentiment back once I start to feel the workload, but for now I am excited.