A Stellar Student

Today I had a student stay after class to get some tips on pronouncing the letter r. I was glad she stayed behind since I was planning on meeting with her at the end of the semester anyway, to see what her plans are for when she finishes her bachelor’s You see, Luma is a remarkable student and I was impressed with her level of English fluency, assertiveness (and modesty), and intellectual curiosity from day one. She’s just the kind of student I would like to encourage to seek funding and resources to attend graduate school in the United States. I was glad to have the chance to talk to her today about her plans for the future. I asked if her parents would allow her to study abroad after she finishes her BA and she emphatically replied that they’d be thrilled (as would she). It’s not necessarily a given that a young Muslim female has parents who would desire this for her, and to be honest, I wasn’t sure how she’d react since she’s the only person I know who wears a full veil (a niqab). Before having Luma in my class, I used to associate ultra covered-up women with a lack of independence. Luma is the only person I’ve ever interacted with who has all but her hands and eyes covered. Initially it was a little distracting for me to be honest, but within the first five minutes of class she no longer stuck out because of her niqab, but because of the brilliant and inquisitive student I realized she was.

Interestingly, I actually do know what she looks like. There was one day in class a few weeks back, where the one male student didn’t show up. That’s right, there’s one male student in my class of 35. Halfway through the class, she pulled down the veil, resulting in her looking like just another girl in hijab. Today, as well, I closed the door while we were chatting and she pulled it down. The whole hijab and veil etiquette is so foreign to me that I found this fascinating. Anyway, she and I got to talking about grad programs in the US and I asked her what she thought about being fully covered in the US. She went into her history with wearing the veil and how she only used wear a headscarf in high school. It wasn’t until college that she made the decision to cover up completely. Many of her friends tried to talk her out of it and even her own father somewhat disapproved. However, Luma has very strong convictions and has stuck with the veil because, as she said it, “she’s proud of her religion.”  I told her straight out that I’d be worried about getting along in the US with a full veil. I told her she may have a hard time having genuine interactions with people and that many may react negatively to her since in the US, we’re used to being able to see someone’s face. She mentioned that she has an aunt who moved to the US and decided to wear only a headscarf there. Luma told me that she would most likely not follow suit since it may be seen that if she starts wearing only hijab, this could lead to other transgressions from her Islam. I told her there are definitely some cities that would be better to live in than others and that it would be important to help educate people that the veil is her choice. She nodded emphatically at this, demonstrating to me that she probably knows very well some of the misperceptions Americans have regarding why some female Muslims are covered. I have learned a tremendous amount from Luma and am hoping to spend more time with her once the semester is over and she’s no longer my student. She’s exactly the kind of hard working, mature, and passionate student an American graduate program and community could use. 

Olive Harvest in Jordan

On Sunday I had the unique opportunity to pick olives on my friend’s family farm near Madaba. Though my friend Mohammad and his family live in Amman, they have a small farm where they grow olives and cucumbers. There were also chives growing alongside the road but I’m not sure they belong to the family. It was refreshing to get out of Amman for a day and take some photos. On the farm, I met Hussein, the caretaker of the property. He came here 6 months ago from Syria and lives here with his family. Mohammed mentioned to him that I work at the Za’atari camp and Hussein told me he has some family that lives there. Hussein didn’t used to farm back in Syria (he worked for a business – that’s all I understood) but he learned gardening techniques from his father. I’m glad he was able to get work outside of the refugee camps.

Mohammed and I toured the small farm with Hussein and I took LOTS of pictures. I munched on a delicious cucumber from one of the green houses (plastic house in Arabic) and before the sun went down, I helped pick some olives. The technique they used was to pull them off onto the tarp or hit the higher up ones with a stick. I don’t think this farm is necessarily a source of income for Mohammed’s family. It’s more of a nice property they visit where they can harvest some food.

After the sun went down the family made meat kebabs to grill and we enjoyed them with hummus and grilled bread. It was a very relaxing day and I’m so glad I got to have this very Jordanian experience. 

 Here's a photo of me outside the entrance to the farm. 

 Mohammad in the cucumbers

 Hussein's youngest

 Hussein - the caretaker

Some cucumbers in the green house

It appears that chives make for a comfortable bed

Hussein and his family

          Those UNHCR tarps come in handy outside of the refugee camps apparently

Slowly but Surely

Progress in Arabic

I’ve decided to title this post “slowly but surely” because I think it pretty accurately describes how my Arabic is coming along. Last weekend I went on a hike with some of the Fulbright researchers who are currently taking 3 months of intensive Arabic before they being their research. It was interesting to listen to their impressions of how their Arabic is coming along as it helped me process how I feel about my own progress. Essentially they all agreed that on a daily basis they don’t think they’ve improved much in Arabic but when they consider their collective time enrolled in Qasid (the school where we all attend classes) it becomes apparent how much they really have learned. This is how I feel as well. My sentiments regarding my Arabic and general life in Amman can be very polarized. During some moments I almost want to cry (and have a few times) out of frustration but in other moments I feel such an incredible high. What keeps me going is that there is a balance and that I just have to power through the bad times.

Classes at Qasid started about three weeks ago. I attend a class on the local dialect on Sundays and Tuesdays from 4:30pm until 6:50pm. Our teacher is named Hadeel and she’s a lot of fun. Our class consists of some post baccalaureate students from Britain and the USA as well as a few study abroad students from Britain. There are four other Fulbrighters in my class. Each chapter at Qasid has a theme. The chapter we just did had food related vocabulary. We are learning how to conjugate verbs in Amiya (the dialect) as they’re slightly different from Modern Standard Arabic which most of us learned at our home universities. Sometimes the differences are slight and other times they are quite significant. The verb conjugations are pretty similar thankfully. For example, “I study” in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is “adrus” but in Amiya it’s “badrus.” There are also differences in pronunciation. The q in Amiya is pronounced differently from MSA and also differently between women and men. For women it’s a glottal stop like the sounds you get between “uh” and “oh” when you say “uh oh.” For men it’s a g sound. What’s tricky is that sometimes the q still sounds like that of MSA so I have to figure out when it changes and when it remains the same. More often than not I feel absolutely overwhelmed by how much there is to learn. By far the most frustrating part is learning new vocabulary. I have the absolute hardest time remembering the words I study. I can’t rely on the crutch that is Latin like I did for French, Spanish, and Portuguese. My timeline for learning new works is very long. I’m presented with vocabulary from the chapter at Qasid. I go over them. I then make flash cards. Then I study the flash cards multiple times. Afterwards I quiz myself on the original page from the Qasid text. A few days later I’ll go over them again and maybe know one third of them! What’s most depressing is that is just while I’m in the comfort of my own home reviewing vocabulary at my own pace. I’ll have a real life interaction and of course the word won’t come to me at that instant. Last night for example, I had taekwondo practice and spent a while chatting with my coach and one of the middle school-aged girls after practice. There were plenty of things I wanted to say but couldn’t and I’m now getting used to having the moment, 15 minutes later, when the word occurs to me. It’s funny because upon a few occasions I’ve realized what I needed to say while entering my house after walking home from taekwondo. Slowly but surely (inch’Allah) things will become more automatic. I think what’s hard this time around is that I know what the journey to fluency involves and knowing how long it takes is very daunting. I almost wish this were my first foreign language and that I could be ignorant to the magnitude of time required to become skilled in it. Alas, I had to choose the hardest for last (?) and I just have to keep plugging away.

Weekend Hiking

            Since winter is upon us (more so indoors than outdoors due to the concrete and tile buildings throughout this region) I’ve been trying to take advantage of as many hikes as possible. Two weekends ago I rented a car with four Fulbrighters to hike Wadi (canyon) Himara and last weekend I hiked Wadi Zarqa Ma’in with an adventure tour group named Tropical Desert. Wadi Himara, which was supposed to lead us to a magnificent waterfall, ended up being dry. We still had an enjoyable time though. At one point we had an impromptu climb out of the small canyon to avoid a dog we heard barking ahead of us. Although we couldn’t see it because it was behind a few palm trees, we decided to climb around it just in case it decided to attack us. While hiking back out of the canyon a young Bedouin boy followed us on his donkey, approaching closer and closer until eventually he passed us up. The dog was not far behind him and I think we were all relieved to finally get a glimpse of the dog since it had caused quite a change in our hiking trajectory.  

            Last weekend I went on a rappelling trip through Tropical Desert Trips. We descended three pitches including two large waterfalls. It was exhilarating to hook up to the ropes and begin the descent without really seeing what you’re getting into. The two waterfalls were absolutely breathtaking both literally and figuratively since it was quite cold to be wet in that canyon. As always, hiking with a tour group is fun (the guides are all really cool and knowledgeable) but also requires a lot of patience since the groups are generally pretty large. It took us forever to do a relatively short hike since we each he had to be connected to the belay three separate times. Sadly I missed most of the game between Barcelona and Real Madrid that night but still had a fun time at the hotel sports bar that night. At the hotel I met up with a few Fulbright fiends and also a couple of local friends who are fans of Barça. After the game had ended, while I was sitting with two Jordanians (they were attempting a recap of the game in a mix of Arabic and English), a friend of those two Jordanians comes up and I am introduced to him. Apparently he’s the finance director of the hotel (Le Royal) and was very upset that I already paid my bill. In an attempt to make up for it (he even tried to cancel the Master Card charge – after I told him it wasn’t a problem at all) he invited us all to have drinks in the lounge at the top of the hotel. I learned a lot about the hotel and had an enjoyable time relaxing with such a beautiful view (it’s one of the tallest buildings in Amman). 

 

                                                     

            (the photos of me (red t-shirt) are by Izzy Hendry and Andrew Fichter)

Week 3 - Teaching and Exploring

Getting into a routine

Tomorrow marks my one month anniversary since arriving here in Amman. Just as is expected with any big change, some weeks go by slowly while others seem to pass before I even realize it. I’m happily settling into my routine and am grateful to be back teaching. I’ve been assigned two courses at the University of Jordan. Monday and Wednesday mornings I teach “Oral Skills” and Monday and Wednesday afternoons I teach “Reading and Listening.” These are both fun topics to facilitate although my biggest challenge so far is managing the large class sizes. I only have 35 in reading and listening and it’s going well. However, I have 62 students in my oral skills class, which is really quite laughable when you consider they’re supposed to be improving their speaking skills. The room I’m in is essentially a small lecture hall with fixed seats in graduated rows. I do my best to break them into small groups and walk around to monitor the students but it’s pretty challenging. I’m very glad I have a few years of teaching under my belt both for practical reasons related lesson planning and classroom management, but also because now I have the wisdom to understand that I can only be expected to do my best. My 6 hours a week of classroom time is slightly less than I thought I’d have, but the time I’ll be spending grading nearly 100 students worth work will make up for it. I’m also glad I have teaching experience because I’ve really been thrown into these classes with very little explanation of the expectations. It’s no coincidence that I, an MA holder, am the Fulbright teacher at the University of Jordan. Generally the Fulbright ETAs who have less experience in the classroom have been placed in schools where they are either assisting the main teachers or are given a lot more guidance.  The installations at the University of Jordan are what would be expected in a developing country. The copy machine doesn’t have a staple feature for example. This alone does not mark the end of the world of course, but I spent an extra 45 minutes making copies last week simply because it was such a challenge to find a stapler that didn’t jam up or spurt out multiple staples at once. Printing is also a challenge. At this point the shared faculty computer isn’t set up to print and the poor secretary has been so busy with matriculation issues (yes, people still register in analogue fashion) that I’ve felt so guilty asking her to print documents that I email to her. Students have all made photocopies of the text book at this point (also standard practice in developing countries) so hopefully I won’t need to print and copy too many more documents for the rest of the semester. There are countless other things that are annoying about the university (cigarette smoke in the hallways, dusty surfaces everywhere, no speakers or av equipment or internet in the classrooms) but I won’t get into it too much. My students have been great so far. For the most part they are very eager to learn and seem to come from relatively humble backgrounds. They remind me of the scholarship students I used to teach in Rabat who were from low-income backgrounds and demonstrated a passion for learning English. I’ve taught my fair share of wealthy students in the past and so far, my University of Jordan students do not seem this way at all. In the end, I’d much rather teach at an institution that has poor facilities but eager students than at a fancy school with privileged students who are apathetic toward learning. 

This is where I hold my "Oral Skills" class.

                                            

Empty campus before classes begin.

I ran into my Fulbright colleague Amal at the copy center the other day.

We were both shared a mezze near the north gate. 

This meal cost about $4.

Renting cars and exploring the country

            I’m grateful to have come here with the Fulbright group. There are more than 25 of us living in Amman and what’s great is that is almost always a small group interested in going on an adventure. Two weeks ago, before I started teaching, a group of us rented a car and headed to the Dead Sea. The car was dropped off at one of the apartments where a bunch of Fulbrighters reside and we headed out at around 10:00am. Armed with day passes to the Holiday Inn Dead Sea resort, we made our way out of the city to the lowest point on Earth. Our first trip renting a car went mostly smoothly, however we did have a slight delay at the last roundabout of the city. The roundabouts in Amman are a total mess and we managed to slowly scrape a car as we tried to exit the turn. Unlike in the States, accidents are resolved on the spot, where a police officer decides who is at fault. I imagine it kind of like a fighting match where the judges point to the victor at the end of the final round. Our friend who was driving felt at fault and after a very calm and peaceful discussion (the other driver shook our friend’s hand as a greeting immediately after the collision occurred), we gave the other driver a relatively small sum of money and both parties were happily on their ways. Our Dead Sea trip was very fun. The Holiday Inn had quite a few relaxing pools and the salty sea was fun to float in. I brought my GoPro and the group took a selfie while we floated high upon the water. We had a delicious lunch at a seafood restaurant with tremendous views of the Dead Sea and returned to the pools of the Holiday Inn to relax some more. This would be my last “day off” before the semester started and it was very well spent. Per the recommendation of Alain, our commission director, we returned to the city before sunset. 

 

Necessary floating and muddy Dead Sea selfies!

            The following weekend, a larger group took a trip up to the north to visit the Roman/Ottoman ruins at Umm Qais. This time we took two cars and made it out of the city with no scratches. However, we made up for our smooth exit out of the city by taking some wrong turns near Irbid. After getting stuck in Irbid traffic (Google Maps sometimes indicates roads where there are none) for a little under an hour, we managed to ask some people on the street for help. A kind group of young men actually led us in their car to the turn off we needed to take to head north to Umm Qais. Literally 200 meters from the point where they directed us, we hit a pothole and got a flat tire. While Andrew changed the tire (thankfully there was a full sized spare in the trunk), Norah and Mark ventured to a nearby house to ask to use the restroom. After about 20 minutes, they still weren’t back so we assumed they not only found a bathroom but were most likely invited to tea by the residents. We called them and were correct in our assumption. When we asked Mark how long they thought they would be, he explained that we were all invited to have lunch with the family. Unable to refuse (really, it can be impossible to refuse a tea or meal invitation from an Arab), we parked our cars near the army post (being guarded by men with no magazines in their weapons) and entered the house. Norah and I hung out in the kitchen with the mother and younger children while the guys chatted in the living room. The mom teaches Arabic at a nearby school and between our limited Arabic and her limited English, we got along quite well. The youngest daughter proudly showed me her school books and they happened to be at a perfect level for my Arabic (the colors, preposition etc.). Soon enough lunch was ready and we made our way into the dining area. The house reminded me of the more traditional homes I used to spend time in in Morocco where the walls are lined with sofas and the floor was covered with carpet. Strangely the family didn’t eat (they said they had had a big breakfast) so the six of us sat around the shared dishes and enjoyed hummus, goat cheese in olive oil, olives, french fries, sweet black tea, pickled vegetables, and za’atar (a thyme and sesame seed dip), homemade honey from the father’s honey bees and some of the most delicious bread I’ve ever had. As if our meal wasn’t enough, we were served another round of tea after lunch, then coffee, then juice. It was about a two and a half hour affair! Our hosts shared with us family pictures and we chatted about a range of topics including the teacher strike (with the help of the more advanced speakers in the group) and our time in Jordan. I took some nice pictures of the family and got their emails so that I would be able to send them as a thank you. It was an incredible experience and honestly, I’m getting the impression that experiencing such generosity isn’t that out of the ordinary here. My friend Andrew wrote a nice post on Facebook about the experience and I’ve included that below. I’ve learned two important lessons. Always bring some kind of little gift with me wherever I go, and don’t leave town without my SLR because it’s in unexpected times like these that I’ll want to have it. Thankfully I did and the low light indoors pictures came out super well!  

              

Photo by Andrew Fichter  

            By about 2:30pm we said our good-byes and were on our final stretch toward Umm Qais. The Greek and Roman ruins were very impressive as was the juxtaposition of the later Ottoman buildings on the same site. It’s pretty crazy how much freedom tourists have to walk on the structures and potentially fall in gaping holes. From Umm Qais, you could see Israel and the Sea of Galilee, the Golan Heights, and Syria. We could hear explosions off in the distance but considering southern Syria isn’t experiencing as much violence, we projected that it may have just been Israeli practice fire. I have really enjoyed my Fulbright travel companions and am very pleased to know that they are just as interested in taking nerdy photos as am. This one wasn’t even my idea:

Photo by Andrew Fichter

Roman and Ottoman Construction at Umm Qais

Israel and the Golan Heights, the Sea of Galilee, and Syria

Week Two - making friends and exploring

It’s week two here in Amman and I have experienced an insane amount of things. I feel like I’ve been here for three months already. In order to figure out what to share, I’ve decided to group this post into sections.  

Sounds of the City

One of the things I love about moving to a new city is discovering what the odd sounds I hear all of the time actually lead to. I purposefully don’t ask what these curious noises are associated with so that I can discover them on my own. The first one I discovered sounds like an ice cream truck driving by. When I first heard it I was very tempted to follow it to the source in order to enjoy a nice cold treat during that 90+ degree day. I’m sure glad I didn’t venture out to find it because it turns out to be the truck delivering propane tanks.

Click to hear

The other curious sound I hear in my neighborhood is a whistling noise. This one is in fact for children. There’s a man who walks around the neighborhood selling cotton candy and little toys to kids who come running out when they hear the whistle.

Click to hear

Finally, there’s the call to prayer. Just like I experienced in Beirut in 2010, I am struck with how beautiful it sounds (in contrast to the ones in Rabat, Morocco). It’s really a soothing sound and I to my pleasant surprise, I haven’t been waking up to it at dawn every day like I used to in Rabat!

Things that have and haven’t gotten accomplished

When I arrived here I had a volunteering project all set up. I was going to help coaches with soccer and basketball leagues and camps and also aid in administrative efforts for a small local non-profit called Reclaim Childhood. Unfortunately, last week I found out that the one full-time employee (who hired me as a volunteer) was offered a job for International Relief and Development on the Za’atari Refugee Camp. She’s reached out to me and is trying to help me secure a sports or photography related volunteer job so hopefully that works out! I’m anxious to start volunteering! In the meantime, I’m all set to volunteer with English conversation on Thursdays at the Za’atari camp. IRD provides a bus from Amman so this will be a 11 hour day for me.

Finding places here is very hard. Somewhat like Costa Rica, although less officially so, there don’t seem to be set addresses here. One day last week I spent 45 minutes trying to find information about the local Right to Play office (youth sports non-profit). First I started with Google but there was no phone number or address listing for the office. Then I tried the New York office but they weren’t open yet. Then I finally found a number for the Amman office but the phone number was expired. After that I was able to get in touch with someone from the Aqaba office who gave me the Amman phone number. At this point I had one of the administrative assistants at Fulbright talk on the phone with the Amman office to get directions to their location. She kindly took down directions for me and then I was on my way. When I move home I am definitely not going to take the simple act of Google searching a company, having the address appear, and then getting there based on the drive, bike, bus, or walk options. Here, when you click on the bus tab, it gives you a blank screen.

Meeting people

It’s incredible the number of people I’ve met and exchanged contact info with since arriving last week. I know it’s important to make contacts and I’ve been trying to take advantage. We had a lot of great community members come speak to us during Fulbright orientation and I am very grateful for that. I’ve met the new US ambassador to Jordan, the dean of the college of Arts and Sciences, the director of cultural affairs at the US embassy, the director of the American Center of Oriental Research, a nice Mexican girl who is going to invite me to Latino parties, and over five rock climbing enthusiasts! In addition to these contacts, I’ve also met three athletes who compete for the Jordanian national team (one for swimming and one for taekwondo). It is a small country, a fact which I am reminded of when I think about this last point.

Arab hospitality

Last week I had an interesting experience with one of my friends from the Fulbright program. Aqsa (a 4^th year med student here on a research Fulbright) and I visited the city athletic complex known as Sports City one day after Fulbright orientation. We did a lot of wondering around before finally finding the swimming complex. I asked about the hours for women to swim and it was explained that the women only hours are three days a week from 11-4. Aqsa and I wondered around a bit more and on our way out, decided to stop a woman who seemed like an English speaker. Somehow, I could tell. I think it was because she looked on the wealthier side, was wearing a sleeveless blouse, and she was walking very fast, similar to an American “no nonsense gait.” In any case, she did indeed speak English and rather than simply tell use how much she pays a month, she offered to take us to the office to inquire about pricing for a month-to-month basis. She interpreted for us and we were very grateful. I was happy to find out that those women only hours I thought referred to the only time women were allowed to swim in fact refer to the time that men are excluded. As it turns out, the pool is completely co-ed! After getting info on the month-to-month membership we asked about the running track and if she knew how to get there. She told us that she knows Sports City very well as she uses it every day and that one of her daughters is on the national swimming team! We thought she told us she’d show us the running track on her way out so we hopped in her car. The next thing we knew we were pulling up to her house! We walked inside and there were her two daughters with their three friends, drinking juice and smoking hookah. They looked a little surprised to see us walk in the door but we were made to feel extremely welcome. We hung out for about an hour, exchanged Facebook contact info, and then headed out to get ready for our fancy Fulbright dinner being held “in our honor.”

Troubles and Frustrations

I haven’t yet started teaching but I anticipate the lack of technology will become an issue. There’s no wifi in my office and I still haven’t figured out how to go online using the Ethernet cable. I’m grateful I own an older MacBook because the new generation doesn’t even come equipped with an Ethernet port. The English department has one projector that I can check out but I won’t be able to count on this since there’s only one. What I do anticipate doing is using the “American Corner” for class periods that involve AV equipment. The US embassy has set up “American Corners” in different parts of the city that serve as a meeting place for Americans and other people interested in improving their English or meeting Americans to share ideas and get to know our culture. There’s a nice flat screen TV in the American Corner on campus and it even has air conditioning (something which I believe soon enough I won’t even be able to imagine needing).

Transportation is another frustrating aspect of living in Amman. Last week I took taxis everywhere because I had to get to various parts of the city for my settling in tasks. The bus system does not appear to be very good here and it seems that there are not a lot of routes. Fortunately, I’ve chosen to live between where I teach and study and there’s a straight shot bus route that I’ll be able to take. I’m so glad to get into a routine so I don’t have to deal with the taxi drivers as frequently. I was truly spoiled in Mexico City. I don’t think I’ll ever live in a city that has better public transportation than Mexico City.

Honking! Oh the honking! Honking is just another form of communication here and I’m ok with that. What bothers me is how every taxi driver feels the need to let his presence known as I walk down the street. I wish I could hang a sign on my back that says, “believe it or not I’m walking on purpose and I do not need a taxi at the moment.”

Doing things!

One of my Fulbright colleagues connected me with his climbing friends last week. I met the three of them at a point at the south end of the city where we haggled to get a taxi since technically the gym is just on the outskirts of the city. It was a bit of an ordeal but we managed to make it to the gym in less time than I thought (Amman seems big but in reality, it’s not really that large). I was shocked with how nice the facilities were! It’s a multiple story building with two different rooms of tall walls in addition to a gift shop, and separate bouldering room with built in crash pads. It happened to be the 1^st Wednesday of the month and I only had to pay for my harness since women are free on the 1st Wednesday of the month. After doing a brief test with one of the employees, I was given the go-ahead to belay my friends. I had a fantastic time and met a lot of other people there. I was grateful for this experience especially because one of the guides for my hike on Saturday recognized me and it allowed me to make a connection with a local outdoorsperson in a way that I wouldn’t have had I been just another American on the hiking trip.

I used to do taekwondo in Mexico City and I’ve been wanting to get back into it ever since but the schools in Honolulu were not a good fit for me. After doing a little shopping around last week, I found a nice one very close to my house (15 minute walk – Alhamdulillah). One of the coaches speaks a little English (just the right amount to be honest) but I’m definitely the only foreigner training there. I’ve had two practices there and I love it so far. It’s an intense two hours but so far it’s been balanced with warm ups, technique improvement skills, technique demonstrating skills, sit ups and push ups, and lots and lots of stretching. I love the stretching. Taekwondo is the reason I’ll probably never do yoga. You get the benefits of stretching and relaxation, but the pleasure of kicking things! There’s nothing better to work off the frustrations of a tough day than by kicking and punching things! I’m in heaven! Alhamdulillah.

Getting Settled

It's been a busy few days here in Amman. I arrived on the same flight from Chicago as three other Fulbrighters. The flight was fine, and I am grateful to have had sleeping pills because I was stuck with a middle seat. Yikes! The two young women next to me were very nice, however, and I even got to chat with them about Amman (they are both from Amman). The girl to my left spoke pretty good English and she even studies at the University where I'll be teaching. Initially we talked about where she lives and how she commutes to the University. Before we even had time to take off, I had been offered a ride home from the airport (in typical generous Arab fashion). I kindly turned down the thoughtful offer as our Fulbright commission arranged for a ride to a hotel in town for myself and the three other Fulbrighters who were on my flight. I managed to arrive to my house (which has no address) from the hotel thanks to the taxi driver willing to call my flatmate twice along the way. One piece of luggage did not make it on the plane but it was delivered to the house this morning. Honestly it was kind of nice to not have to lug everything home with me from the airport on Thursday. My room is large and the bed and closet are very nice. My Jordanian flatmate speaks perfect English and her son is adorable. It's a new and comfortable house with a large outside patio. Most all of the buildings around mine are under construction and there is a lot of dirt and construction rubbish. I fear what the weekday will bring in terms of construction noise but I think I'll be busy during the week so hopefully it won't be a problem. Now that I have all of my luggage, I can definitely say that I'm all settled in my house, which is more than I can say about the dust all around me."Hachew!" ... excuse me! On Friday, my first day here and also the holy day, I met up with three other Fulbrighters to go on a SIM card adventure. We didn't think it was going to be an adventure but we ended up spending the whole day traveling by various taxis around the city. This was due partially to the fact that all of the shops were closed until early afternoon. We went to a flea market, visited the Citadel, got our local phone numbers (amazingly easy and affordable because this is not America), and even made it to the chic expat neighborhood Jebel Webdeh for a nice lunch. I ordered a citrus mint drink that is now my absolute obsession. I’ve had three in the last two days. Essentially it’s fresh lemonade with mint blended together. It comes out green and looks a slightly unappetizing but it’s delicious. I arrived home fairly early on Friday and fought the urge to take a nap by catching up on Showtime’s Masters of Sex. I had downloaded the first episodes of season two for the flight but once I realized who my company was, decided that would not be very culturally sensitive viewing on a flight to Jordan. Once night fell I decided to venture out to finish my book at a café near my house. There, I had my second lemon mint drink and a tasty roasted eggplant salad. There has been nothing I’ve consumed that I didn’t absolutely love. I'm hoping to keep that streak going for a while. Today was an even better day but I need to sign off for now as it’s 2am and I have an early morning tomorrow which marks the beginning of a week of in country orientation. I hope you all are well. I’ll be in touch soon! Love, Hannah