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.