Madaba

Friday was an adventure; a group of us decided to hop on a bus and go to Madaba, sort of midway between Amman and the Dead Sea...only...not? I don't know, only about 40 minutes outside the city, and like 75 quirish (about 1$) by bus.

When we got there, we picked up some lunch and then walked around, trying to find the churches and the mosaics. There were lots of cool shops, and I think I might go back towards the end of the trip to check out the souvenir selection. We ended up finding St. George's church; the mosaics were so crazy...teeny tiny bits of ceramic, with shading and everything.

It was a very cool place; though one of the guards came up to me and told me it was disrespectful to cross my legs in a holy place. Who'da thunk it?
After the church, we decided to head to the hot springs. I hopped in the car with Chris and the 3 Iraqis, Noor, Haydar, and Senan. The others took a taxi to go the 30km. Along the way we stopped and took some great photos of the countryside, which I like to tell people is the same place Moses walked around :-P
(Blog has for some reason started hating my uploading pictures, so will have to show some other time).
We ended up arriving first, and had to pay to get into this place; we Americans were totally charged 5JD more than the Iraqis!! Went in, headed to the (one) hotspring, and were totally disappointed. All it was was a relatively large hotspring, which was (surprise!) disgustingly steamy on such a hot day and at such a low elevation. What hurt most was the fact that it was mostly men and conservative women there: I'd been expecting more tourists and brought my only (bikini) swimsuit. I could tell it wasn't going to happen when lifting my shirt just a little caused all heads to turn towards me in surprisingly perfect unison. Guys were starting to the point of me wanting to get out my camera and snap a photo of them just to send the message. So no swimsuit, and i wasn't about to get the clothes I was going to wear for 45 minutes in a cramped car wet. Slightly miserable, and we called the others to warn them that it was not worth the 15JD to enter, particularly for the girls. They ended up taking off in the taxi in which they'd come, and we left soon thereafter. Headed back to Amman and ate at an overly air-conditioned restaurant (I just can't be satisfied, eh??) We dropped Chris back at his apartment and got to check it out, even though as a girl I'm technically not allowed in a guy's apartment, according to CIEE and the landlords. But I went, and was so shocked by the amazing quality of that place! Huge rooms, each guy had a bathroom, nice kitched, fully furnished...and aparently most apartments were that fantastic.
Headed home and went to bed!

Just awful!

So I know, I know, I'm a terrible person, who can't even maintain a blog/journal thingy beyond a week. But I promised updates will come soon!! I'll probably skip the first week (except for mentioning a few key details like getting my internship, visiting Madaba, and our peer tutor day of middle-school awkwardness), but I'll try to be better, I promise!!!

Day 1 of school!

It was rather weird starting classes on a Sunday, I can't wrap my mind around what happens when! Met the guys and headed towards the main road to hail a taxi around 8am. Found our way to the classrooms with the help of one of the CIEE office folk, and began at 9. My teacher was Rabi'a, in Intermediate One; the lesson was mainly a review of things we should have already learned, like past and present conjugations, pronouns, possessives, etc. I felt really strong though, and was very vocal in the class (like a certain Hillary Sue was :D ); the teacher seemed to acknowledge that I wanted to move up a level--I'd rather have to push myself than be the one who's reminding the others how to say "her pen" and "he works, not y'all work". Really now. We will have meetings on Tuesday, one on one with the teacher, to go over our placement tests to see if this is where we should be, so all that can be sorted out at that point.
After class we all headed towards the CIEE office to check the final rosters for the culture classes that we'd be starting the next day. I'm enrolled in "The Middle East: Alternative Perspectives" and "Introduction to Islam" (which, for the record, is pronounced ISS as in "kiss" LEHM as in "flegm"...not like IZLAWM).
Also went to check out the gym Aspire, which is just up the hill from the CIEE office, and is women only so I can wear anything I want to work my buns! Pretty good deals for a 3-month membership, and I really need a gym if i'm going to be snacking on Reese's p.b. cups, putting cream milk in my tea, and eating like it's going out of style!
Some other nitty gritty stuff...got a lock for the gym, tried out the McDonalds for lunch (I had to see if it was different!! it wasn't, so soooo not worth it :D ) etc etc. Took forever to hail a taxi since there were many people trying to do the same thing, and they were all very well practiced in the art of diving into the taxi that stopped for us.... Elizabeth and I just ended up sharing a more expensive taxi, just cause we were sick of waiting.
Spent the rest of the evening at the apartment, mostly alone since the family ends up lunching with Rita's family then going to church. Good chance to review my Arabic lessons from the book though, and to start on the next chunk of vocabulary! I went to bed before they got home, since the first day had wiped me out, and left a "jayyid jiddan" note on my door (in arabic!) to explain my schedule the next day.

first Saturday

Because the family is Christian, Eddie and Rita both work on Saturdays, and their son goes to school; their weekends are subsequently Fridays and Sundays. Had the apartment to myself, and ended walking with Aaron to "Food City" to both get a few favorite snacks to keep in the kitchen (as if I'll ever be hungry again...) and to get passport photos that we supposedly need to turn in with our applications to the student center (TAGKS) just underneath the CIEE office, located just off campus. Came back and cooled off after the walk, then decided to do a trial run to the University, just to see how long it would take to walk to the main street and hail a taxi and get to the Main Gate of the uni. All the taxis wanted to charge us 5JD when we flagged them down, when really it's a 1.5JD ride, if that. We quickly learned that it's best to get in without letting them set a price, and make sure they restarted the meter!! Anyhow, we made it to the main gate of the university, and then found our way to the CIEE office. We also turned in our TAGKS application and got set up for that so we'd have a computer/study place to chill at.
Got some foods and headed home, testing where a cab would drop us off. I took a nap 'cause that sandwich was too heavy in that heat, but then woke up in time to chill with Rita and Eddie before they went to the doctor for Rita's cold and I headed out to meet some folks at Books@Cafe for some (tobacco!) hookah. Managed to handle the taxi by myself; did everything right: wore the sunglasses to avoid eye contact, sat in the back, had exact change, didn't answer the probing questions....couldn't help it that he took me about 500 feet beyond where I was supposed to meet Elizabeth to get to Books@! It ended up being a good spot, but how was I supposed to know? I just didn't think quick enough to say, Hey, I asked for First Circle, this looked like a 3-way-stop to me!
Nice evening, met some apartment people (they had a whole separate orientation so we never all met...they were kind of seen as "those apartment people", a whole separate entity!). Some of us started scheming about travel later in the semester, and planned on going to the Royal Jordanian Airlines office to start sucking up to them!
Came home, not to late as school starts the next day, ended up staying up anyway talking since the neighbors were visiting. Their little girl Amanda was very friendly and begged in English for me to come play with her (nice change from Andrew who is so shy!). The neighbors have an American girl staying with them, from the SIT (?) program, named Sophie. Nice to have a fellow Amreekiya right next door! Had some tea (yes, tea!) and passed out. So ready to start classes!

first 24 hours with the family

Waiting for our host families to show up at the hotel lobby was such a funny situation. I don't know..I kept thinking how hilarious it would be if, when the family came in and Rana called out the student's name, the family was like "Um..no, I don't like this one. Can I have that one over there? She's not so tall." It was just a weird limbo; being checked out of the hotel, but then waiting for this relatively unknown person to come and take you away. :)
Eddie came for me; he's the father of my host family. His parents actually live in the top floor apartment, above Eddie's family a few floors, so he also collected the two guys, Aaron and Andy, who would be staying with the grandparents. Neither of those guys have taken Arabic lessons before, and I really admire them for being able to just jump into something completely new, only being able to say a few words and greetings, that must take a lot of courage!
Managed to get my luggage into the apartment; luckily it was on the lowest floor!! Rita was there, and Andrew, the five year old. It was such a relief to just finally meet the family and be installed in the place I would be spending the next 3.5 months in. Not only was it nice to not have to live out of my suitcase anymore--which I absolutley hate!!--but the whole hurdle of mystery and nervousness of the initial connection was in the past now, and all that was left to do is to just build a friendship.
Soon thereafter Grandma and Grandpa (Eddie's parents, Monira and Albert) came downstairs with Andy and Aaron to sit around and meet 'n greet. Monira (my host grandma, shall we say, "tita Monira") knows English, but she's very adamant about teaching vocabulary words. If we ask for something in English, which of course the other guys do because haven't learned much yet, Monira says and repeats the Arabic word, insisting that we say it back to her. She assured me that by the time I leave in 3.5 months, I will be fluent! She even promised that those guys will be "jayd jiddan", very good.
There was recently a wedding in the family (not sure whose) so Eddie's brother was in town, and had with him his American friend and her husband, who seemed to be longtime friends of the family. So dinner had lots of English going on, but I think that was nice for the first night. Rita made lasagna, but since apparently last time the lasagna had failed, Eddie had also ordered pizzas... Not a very traditional meal, I must say, but I knew I'd get plenty of that in my almost 4 months here.
Managed to unpack my bags, which I was definitely itching for. Somehow about fifty Reese's peanut butter cups found their way into my sneakers :-D
Finally heard the Call to Prayer around 5am, having slept with my windows open...It's definitely not as cool as I thought it was going to be, and I'll hear it all the time! But no, the idea is still pretty cool.
Yesterday when I woke up, we all went upstairs to tita and jaddu Leitch's apartment (my "grandma" and "grandpa" since Eddie and Rita are my "mama" and "baba"....which makes aaron and andy my "uncles", since my "grandma" and "grandpa" are actually their host parents...?). We had hummus and foule (mashed beans) and lebana on pita for breakfast, along with tea. The Jordanians have this 'communal plate' practice which I'll explain later for lunch..
We then went to visit Rita's family; they all met up at this old farmhouse in Jerash. Tiny little place, and the living room consisted of 3 cots around the walls to serve as couches, with a coffee table in the middle. Rita's parents were there, and her grandmother (I told Rita later that I really want to photograph her grandma because she has a great face for a portrait!). There was tons of Arabic, of course, and after about half an hour of trying to pick up the jist of the conversation, it was too tempting just to zone out. After a while of fighting off heat drowsiness, a huge platter of barbequed chicken and ...lamb? was brought in. I got my own plate, I suppose because I'm a guest? But everyone tried piling more pieces of chicken onto it, and it was all i could do to politely say it's delicious! amazing! i'm so full!! no more, please, i beseech you! yadda yadda.
Afterwards, I asked the maid who had helped me wash my hands from a bottle of water if my face was clean, and she goes laughing into the room with the whole family: clean?? you're face is too clean!! (referring to the fact that I"m so white :-P).
Showed the grandma--my host great-grandma-- some photos, since she'd been asking about my grandmother, then headed home. Can't remember what I did at that point, but it was late afternoon and I'm pretty sure I just passed out and hung around the apartment. Good ol' shower was definitely in the mix after such a hot (yet fully covered) afternoon!

Just to be clear!

It has come to my attention that what I mean by "hookah" or "sheesha" is questionable. JUST TO BE CLEAR: as this is an Islamic country, most places do not serve alcohol, although it is possible to go to bars if you choose. A more popular pastime is to go to hookah lounges/cafes. These places only serve tobacco in their hookahs, and do not add anything but flavors. There is a strict no-tolerance rule set by my program about exploring beyond tobacco, and I want to be clear that this is not offered in any of the places I go to when I write that "we're going out for hookah/sheesha". Believe me, I want to stay here and enjoy the local customs as much as possible!! That is all. :)

Orientation

Tuesday was Dead Sea day. The sea itself is about an hour's drive outside the city, so we left around 8:30 and went straight to the Dead Sea panorama, a building on top of the cliffs near the DS with a museum and such. Got a few good photos, i think!

So this was the beginning of our study abroad orientation. We had a few presentations in a conference hall of the museum (things like why are we here, ice breakers, program overviews, rules, policies, paperwork...all the nitty gritty). After that bit was done though, we had lunch on the panorama deck (some good ol' schwarma) and slathered on all that sunblock.

Drove down the cliffs to the Dead Sea Spa Hotel, where we changed and went down to the beach to float. Craziest feeling ever! So buoyant; if you're floating on your stomach--which is a bad idea anyway since you want those eyes as far from that water as possible--it's so hard to bring your knees under you to become vertical again. I could literally just SIT in the water, and float. Went way far out to the boundary buoys: it was great since we didn't have to tread water, and my discomfort with going out beyond feeling the rocky bottom in a body of water was dispelled by the fact that no way can anything live in that water.  We of course did the whole mud thing, how could we not!? Can't miss out on all those cultural experiences!

Had tons of time at the resort, so chilled around the lounge a bit, went through my notecards to prep for the placement test that we'd be having the next day. Took the time to ask Ahmad about work opportunities, will have to wait til next week.

Had another presentation out on the pool deck with some program alumni, some of whom are here working through Fulbright Scholarships. It was just an opportunity to get answers from a student's point of view, as opposed to from our coordinators and directors... It was pretty helpful, and the sunset in the background made it slightly more bearable :)

Had dinner at the hotel--a super nice one. Hour's drive back to the hotel, mad stampede to shower all the salt, mud remnants, and grime from us. Generally a very fun, very exhausting day!

Wednesday was all about academics. After breakfast we were driven to the West side of Amman, to the university. Got a quick greeting and immediately entered our placement tests. Ugghhhhhh hardest test EVER. There were some reading comp sections that I couldn't even complete because the paragraphs were totally foreign (some written in aamiya, the colloquial, and others just too advanced and i only knew every third word and might be able to guess some of the new ones...). Everyone came out ready to cry, but the staff assured us that it was meant to cover everyone from beginner beginner to native speakers, and our scores would be relative to everyone else's when it came to separating into levels. We won't know how we did until Sunday, when classes begin!

Had some tours around campus (funny story: there's a rock sculpture hut thingy on a quad, and during one tour with CIEE students a few semesters ago, they joked that everyone at the university says it's ossama bin laden's hiding spot. kid told his mom, who subsequently freaked out, called ciee, and demanded why we were studying at the university where ossama was hiding!!). It's a pretty nice campus, lots of trees and shady spots to sit, a big ol' clocktower, etc etc. Apparently the path that runs from this side of the campus through the other side is about a 45 minute walk. Lots of cafes, restaurants, and supplies shops around the gates to the campus. After this we had our oral interviews, in which we went in one by one to speak with a professor who would assess our speaking ability. I think i did really well, and the prof seems pleased, and really impressed when I realized I'd messed up the iDHaafa construction and corrected myself. So the test was over, no more worries, and anyway we can petition our levels once we're placed and feel that it's not right for us, not a huge deal. Meanwhile we got lunch on campus at a restaurant, then went to a lecture hall for a 'health and safety' briefing, which was for the most part directed at the girls, but they also covered some good points about traveling outside Jordan, travel warnings, sickness, etc. Back to the hotel for a relaxing evening. Went out downtown to a sheesha lounge called Jafra with four Iraqi-Jordanian guys (who had been friends Elizabeth, who was here in the spring, all summer, and now back for this semester), as well as six friends from orientation. It was so nice; the place was really interesting, very traditional: no booze, inexpensive sheesha, a singer performing old Arab songs on what was the precursor to the guitar. Awesome atmosphere, and great conversation!

Today the drill was all about daily living and getting along with host families. Talks took place in the hotel, and we covered things like how to get around in buses, where to find good gyms and bookshops, how the money works, how the post and phones work, how to behave in the hosts' houses, what's acceptable and what's not, etc. Useful information, but I feel like most of it is common sense, really, and observation.

Just been lounging around the hotel now...went to the grocery store across the street to browse the Arab candy situation, found lots of American items with Arabic labels, and I just want to grab a sample of everything to show to people, like "look! it's Pringles written in Arabic! it's Snickers!!" Definitely picked up a sample of Kinder Buenos, typical typical.

Had a quick meeting with the staff to ask questions about my specific host family, and to receive my travel stipend money (which should just turn into extra spending cash: if not taking advantage of the half hour walk each day, i can at least split the taxis with the other CIEE student living in my building!). Packin up the suitcases now; so relieved my family lives on a ground floor!!!!

Will take a snooze and meet the Lietches in about 2.5 hours!

Arrival in Jordan

Ohhhhmigosh, love it here already!! But I'll start from the beginning:
Sunday was a terrible day of travel, and lots went sour: missed rendez-vous due to delayed flights, stupid French rules about there being a 24Euro charge on every kilo over 20..? 23..? (which amounted to a lot of money because the State's rules are different, but since I'd exited into Paris....), sick on the plane (funny story though, the flight attendants were SUPER nice, and let me sit back in their prep area in the tail just sippin water. later they offered me bread and sliced cheese and grapes from their own personal first class snacks, inviting me back behind their privacy curtain. was one of the family, they said!), headphones didn't work in my tv screen, so all i heard in movies were the music and the sound effects, no one to meet me at the airport, so took a taxi alone... Ended up okay though, managed to get directions to the taxi driver.
The taxi ride itself was exhausting. It was great driving into the city, saw lots of camel riding and donkeys, picnics being held on the side of the highway..? Great sunset, and palm trees, and the buildings..ahhh!! The taxi driver managed to get a few sentences out of me, but after answering my questions, he'd go on for 10 minutes or so, forgetting that I just said I only know Arabic qaleelan (a little bit)! He drove with no hands for the most part, one hand flourishing with a cigarette, the other showing me the Quran quote thing hanging from his rearview mirror to explain classical Arabic usage. He ended up inviting me to his house in Madaba to meet his 6 sons and daughter and to have some tea. Just smiled and nodded.. at least we were warned about excessive Jordanian hospitality!!
So managed to meet up with Izabella, Ali (american girl, not like Aladdin Prince Ali haha), and two Iraqi guys (Noor and Haidar) who are students in Amman. They knew a girl from last spring who's still here and whose apartment we bunked out in that night. Went straight to a place called Books@Cafe for some hookah and for me to feed my rumblin' tummy. It was a nice evening, just chilin on the rooftop.
Went to the apartment and crashed. There were six of us bunking there (another girl tagged on after meeting one of the original invitees in the plane).
Next morning, Elizabeth made us some eggs n fried potatoes for breakfast, then we all gathered our mountains of baggage to move to the orientation hotel. Flagged down a taxi and headed to the BelleVue.
There we met some reps from CIEE, who helped us check in, gave us our orientation packets, set up phones for us, etc. My number's 0799442663 if you wanna chat me up ;) (not international phone..i'm just kidding..)
Found out who my host family is! The jist is that they're a young Christian family, mom dad and 5yo son. They live pretty close to the university, i'll have my own room, no smoking, they have a goldfish, my curfew is at 10:30, and they got a good review from their previous student guest. Kinda bummed they're not Muslim, but I'm sure I'll get enough of that cultural angle from other Jordanians I meet.
Walked around the street to get phone minutes, lunch, cash..They warned us about getting looked at and stuff, but wow...9 out of 10 cars that passed  honked at us, particularly taxis. They told us the worst thing to do was to make eye contact, which is very hard to do since we're looking around everywhere and such; but they key was to invest in some dark sunglasses! WIll do, particularly if i want to walk to uni every day.
Dinner with the group at 7, met lots of people today, kind of hard keeping everyone straight, but that'll come. Afterwards, about 12 of us went back to Books@ and met up with Noor, another friend, and Senan, with whom I'd been corresponding on facebook before the trip, asking about the country.
Very pleasant evening, but returned home in time for a quick Skype run and in bed by about midnight. Today we're off to the Dead Sea, and will have a few orientation talks there along with some free time to float and lather mud all over ourselves, the usual tourist thing, no big deal :P
Will try to write about how that goes later on tonight! Goodnight America!

Jour Parisien Final

Again, a day of just being in ze Paris atmosphere. Woke up to a lunch of meats cooked ourselves on a hotplate (a bit too much raw meat mixing, for my tastes!! using the same fork to put the raw meat on the grill as to eat..no way, thank you), then went to Arthur's friend Camille's house. Saw some of her pictures from her summer adventure in Mauritania, then came home in time to chill before Arthur's friends were supposed to arrive for dinner. Had time to Skype with the rents for the first time, rather successfully, even though Mom wasn't wearing makeup (gasp!), quel horreur! :)
It was about eleven of us at dinner (including me and the three Heller boys), munching on frozen pizza and aperatifs. I like hanging around the young folk but geeeeez, their French is so fast, and their slang...very easy to get lost!
It is now 1:30am and I'm arranging my suitcase to leave for Jordan tomorrow! Not looking forward to dealing with ze bags, but that's all my doing, I suppose! Doesn't help that Catherine (the french mama) gave me a cute pair of shoes that I'd worn to the nightclub and are too small for her. But much appreciated; what girl doesn't like new shoes??
Won't get to post for a couple days; well, Monday at the earliest. Meeting some other American chicks at the Amman airport and then staying in an apartment for the extra night before the real orientation begins at a nearby hotel. I think the plan is to go dancing?? Not too late a night for me, though! I think the other girls particularly will be rather jetlagged, not having had the sweet little limbo that I've had here in France these last few days :)

Days 2 and 3 in Paris

So the next day, slept in a while, and woke up in time for lunch (Yes, it is possible for me to sleep that long, it seems!). Arthur and I decided to walk around Paris a bit, and took the RER and the Metro to arrive near the Bastille. Ventured around, got stuck in the rain, ended up in the Place de Notre Dame, and walked next to the Seine a bit. I managed to find the old apartment I'd stayed in with my mom when I was 11 and again with mom and Christopher three years ago. After "taking a coffee" and a hot chocolate at a cafe to get out of the rain, I bought some more of those French posters I like to collect (for my apartment in the spring, cross your fingers!!!). Headed back home and snoozed on the train.

Sorry it's blurry, the RER's bumpy!!

Oh, almost forgot: there was totally an accordion player on the train heading in to Paris. All the natives just seemed annoyed at the noise, but I loved the quintessential French sound, riding the trains into Paris. Le sigh...

Back at home, had another nap (Hey, it's exhausting here!) and headed out for night two of Rosh Hashanah. More people this time, around 30, and lots and lots of fast, confusing French. Had me some sips of whiskey and zoned out a bit :)

Yesterday was tres calme. Leisurely lunch, a bit of Arabic study for me, then Arthur's friend Camille came over and we totally made crepes.

More chillin round the house, then after dinner Arthur and I prepared to go out to ze nightclubs! Had a few apparetifs chez Heller then mama was nice enough to drive us to Place des Etoiles, right next to ze Arc de Triomphe. The line for this night club (called Duplex) was long, and there were some silly drunk American girls behind us in line. I like the clubs here, it's always fun to dance amid smoke n blacklights and everything. Called it a night around 2.30, got a ride home, and had a loooong night's sleep! Sadly it was just us two at the club, since none of Arthurs friends wanted to deal with the expensive entry fee, but hopefully tonight there'll be a little soiree here at the house. Nice, friendly night before heading to Amman tomorrow!!

first night in Paris

Finally made it! Not that it was that bad (17 hours to South Africa definitely made this one seem like a breeze), just lots of anticipation. I love being here; just the French atmosphere is exciting, at least for a foreigner, I suppose :).
Arthur got me from the airport, and we sat for a good while in traffic. The comments made about the weight of my bags weren't toooo out of line :P. Back at Chez Heller, got caught up with Catherine and took a lovely 3 hour nap--very necessary after only getting about 2 hours of sleep on the overnight flight. Woke up to a lovely lunch of salmon then just spent the afternoon chillin (including watching Sherlock Holmes in French, which sounds rather funny).
Now, Rosh Hashanah dinner: big family gathering. All the Hellers, plus grandma and grandpa, plus a few cousins and their families, a great aunt or two...I think 22 overall? Here were the courses: apperatifs (sausages and fish on toothpicks), les entrees (bread in honey, apples in honey with sesame, what looked like pomegranite seeds, dates, gefilte fish, soup with crackers), the principal dish (beef meatball things, potatoes with onion, greens including beans, leeks, chickpeas..), dessert (fruits, quince, sesame "cigars"), then tea. Y'all should be so proud, I tasted almost everything, and always cleared my plate: good practice for Jordan!!
Came home absolutely exhausted: French wears you out, man. And, of course, lots of questions about my semester abroad; these people vacation in destinations like Tunisia..they had lots of questions and suggestions!
I almost forgot...during the entrees, shotglasses full of vodka were passed around. I passed, fully aware that my few sips of wine would suffice juuuust fine.
Bit of computer time back at the house, but otherwise totally passed out at 2am. Another dinner at "mami et papi's" tonight, but smaller crowd it seems. Going back to bed!