4:00 am.
Aaaaaaaa, allah akbar...aaaaah (various words), aaaaah, allah allah ....
I still had two more hours to sleep. At least. This time I fell back asleep. The adhan is something I am getting used to. It's also very useful for telling the time.
Today was long and short. Most days are like this. They are short and long. They are hard and simultaneously very easy. One thing a friend mentioned to me yesterday was that while you are here, you are always on, from the second you wake up to the second your eyes shut. You take for granted the ease of knowing a language for 20+ years.
In any case, here is my day in short form:
Wake up
Attempt to explain to my host dad why I will not be eating breakfast before I run 6km.
Grab Taxi
Talk with taxi-man. There will be no marriage service today.
Run at gym.
Meet girl from Britain (I have already met one girl from Sweden, and another Jordanian woman)
Shower (aaaaaaaaaaahhhh).
Eat apple and banana Baba packed for me.
Find new classroom.
Drink NesCafe (its all the rage here)
Grab falafel and shai with SAGE. Yes, its delicious.
Go to my first day at the internship.
Chat/Giggle with the women workers:
PAUSE. It was at this moment I realized what age I am in Jordan. I'm not 20 (or 21), but I am actually about 30 years old. I found out who has about the same maturity/humor as I do here in Jordan. It is the single Jordanian women who work as secretaries (but are extremely knowledgeable and intelligent) and talk about (no joke) G-Strings, Valentines Day, and Cigarettes. Anyway. I was supposed to edit an Arabic-English Translation of a document. I got to page three in three hours.
Now I am home, drinking tea, and fending off curious sisters who come look over my shoulder every two or three minutes.
In other news, this weekend was somewhat eventful. I went to a bar on Thursday night (our Friday) and ended up haggling with a taxi driver who eventually submitted and then at the end of the trip told me he liked me, gave me candy and sent me on my way. Friday I hung out at home which was somewhat boring because most of the time we just watch Turkish soaps and Arabs' Got Talent all day long. However the day was greatly improved by the arrival of kanafe, a delicious (in small increments) treat traditional to Jordan. Saturday was spent meeting my Peer Tutor and doing silly activities in a mysterious location to "bond." Today was school and work (I even got a ride home from my new friend Hind, from my internship!) and tomorrow I go to the Embassy for a blood test. It is also Valentines Day, and I think some of us will go to a restaurant to eat romantic dinner and smoke shisha. Tuesday is my day off since it is the Prophet's Birthday...so maybe I will go to Madaba or a nature preserve with CIEE folk.
As for downtime, I have been exploring. Most of the time I read, since I don't have much homework yet. But I'm sure this will change soon enough. I have my schedule finally figured out! This is a grand accomplishment.
Here are a few photos from around my home:
Addendum: The thing about blogs once you are abroad, is that you really don't want to write in them. But not for the reasons you might think. I know, you think I have no time and I am super busy with exploring and wandering about. HOWEVER, this is only half of the story here. The beginnings of a blog look promising, but it is only after you get to your foreign destination, and after you figure out your schedule, that writers tend to not want to write (well, I'm speaking generally, but really its just in my case I suppose). In my case, its because I now that I am here, I don't really want to record probably extraordinarily ignorant observations about a country I barely know. Then again, I know others are reading this to get just that. So, on I go when I can...
Aaaaaaaa, allah akbar...aaaaah (various words), aaaaah, allah allah ....
I still had two more hours to sleep. At least. This time I fell back asleep. The adhan is something I am getting used to. It's also very useful for telling the time.
Today was long and short. Most days are like this. They are short and long. They are hard and simultaneously very easy. One thing a friend mentioned to me yesterday was that while you are here, you are always on, from the second you wake up to the second your eyes shut. You take for granted the ease of knowing a language for 20+ years.
In any case, here is my day in short form:
Wake up
Attempt to explain to my host dad why I will not be eating breakfast before I run 6km.
Grab Taxi
Talk with taxi-man. There will be no marriage service today.
Run at gym.
Meet girl from Britain (I have already met one girl from Sweden, and another Jordanian woman)
Shower (aaaaaaaaaaahhhh).
Eat apple and banana Baba packed for me.
Find new classroom.
Drink NesCafe (its all the rage here)
Grab falafel and shai with SAGE. Yes, its delicious.
Go to my first day at the internship.
Chat/Giggle with the women workers:
PAUSE. It was at this moment I realized what age I am in Jordan. I'm not 20 (or 21), but I am actually about 30 years old. I found out who has about the same maturity/humor as I do here in Jordan. It is the single Jordanian women who work as secretaries (but are extremely knowledgeable and intelligent) and talk about (no joke) G-Strings, Valentines Day, and Cigarettes. Anyway. I was supposed to edit an Arabic-English Translation of a document. I got to page three in three hours.
Now I am home, drinking tea, and fending off curious sisters who come look over my shoulder every two or three minutes.
In other news, this weekend was somewhat eventful. I went to a bar on Thursday night (our Friday) and ended up haggling with a taxi driver who eventually submitted and then at the end of the trip told me he liked me, gave me candy and sent me on my way. Friday I hung out at home which was somewhat boring because most of the time we just watch Turkish soaps and Arabs' Got Talent all day long. However the day was greatly improved by the arrival of kanafe, a delicious (in small increments) treat traditional to Jordan. Saturday was spent meeting my Peer Tutor and doing silly activities in a mysterious location to "bond." Today was school and work (I even got a ride home from my new friend Hind, from my internship!) and tomorrow I go to the Embassy for a blood test. It is also Valentines Day, and I think some of us will go to a restaurant to eat romantic dinner and smoke shisha. Tuesday is my day off since it is the Prophet's Birthday...so maybe I will go to Madaba or a nature preserve with CIEE folk.
As for downtime, I have been exploring. Most of the time I read, since I don't have much homework yet. But I'm sure this will change soon enough. I have my schedule finally figured out! This is a grand accomplishment.
Here are a few photos from around my home:
Addendum: The thing about blogs once you are abroad, is that you really don't want to write in them. But not for the reasons you might think. I know, you think I have no time and I am super busy with exploring and wandering about. HOWEVER, this is only half of the story here. The beginnings of a blog look promising, but it is only after you get to your foreign destination, and after you figure out your schedule, that writers tend to not want to write (well, I'm speaking generally, but really its just in my case I suppose). In my case, its because I now that I am here, I don't really want to record probably extraordinarily ignorant observations about a country I barely know. Then again, I know others are reading this to get just that. So, on I go when I can...
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