Fort Night Fortnight

Tonight will be a  big night. I will be writing two blog posts tonight because I have fallen slightly behind. So be prepared for some awesomeness.

In Israel, the girls and I decided we would not make it 40 days in Irbid without doing something 'happy' every day. We made a list of little things and big things to try and bring some sunshine into our apartment-stuck lives (girls aren't really supposed to be out after dark unless accompanied by a related man. Also, outside is where the shebab are, so we don't go there...needless to say I think I am quite vitamin deficient - especially since they dont eat a lot of veggies....I do my best, but there is only so much I can do.

Anyways, what I was most excited for from our 'Happiness List' was Fort Night Fortnight. Our two weeks left mark would be celebrated with the building of a fort! When was the last time you built a fort? Its been years, and I am pretty sure I was with Grant, the 2 year old version of the boy I used to babysit. That was 8 years ago (oh my g-d I feel old right now). Anyways, I was super excited, cause I love forts. Two weeks was November 29th, last Thursday (I'm late I know, but I have a good excuse - several even!) So Thursday rolls around, and after class (Arab Media, interesting but much too long - it is 1.5 hours on the schedule, but she usually goes for 2. Once, she even went for 3 hours....all in Arabic....after a full day of Arabic classes...too much, makes my head explode) my friend Olivia and I hop in a cab and try to explain to the cab driver where we want to go (the one liquor store in Irbid) without actually telling him where (because alcohol is BAD here) and also, there aren't really addresses  so we had to say 'the circle before the circle with the clock tower'. The cab that picked us up had two other girls in it, so it was kind of awkward, but what the hell? Welcome to Jordan! So we finally got there, and asked about their wine selection. Unable to properly convey to us what kind of wine they had, they just told us to come behind the counter and look. Again kind of awkward, but Jordan! We got a white and a red, and headed back to the university. We picked up some veggies for our dinner, and while Olivia and Chelsea worked on dinner, Katie and I worked on the fort. Here are some awesome photos of the night...the fort in various stages, and might I say, it was a fort of champions. It was twine reinforced, with a squeegee entrance way, some sparkles and was big enough for 4 women and a table full of food and wine. As you can see, it was pretty epic. All in all a fantastic night. We got a little tipsy, and sang along to all my favorite musicals like Rent and 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

"This is an ADULT fort!" says Chelsea with as much conviction as anyone can while sitting in a fort

Like our sign?

Look at all the delicious veggies we get to eat!!!!

The next day, we all came back to the fort to study. We made a mountain of banana nut pancakes, and sang 'Banana Pancakes' by Jack Johnson. We had planned on going back to Amman, just for the day, to study at Starbucks, but our residential director didn't want us to because of protests. Sad, but fort time was nice. Hours later, we went out for food and shenanigans, and when we came back, my roommate was there (she goes home for the weekends, but as our 'school trip' - the subject of my next entry- was the next day, she came back early). Needless to say she had some question. But as she is an amazing young woman and very open minded (very much NOT from around Irbid), she sort of just went with it. She joined in our studying, and hung out in the fort.

Saturday was a LONG day. and I will continue this story in the next blog post.