A new perspective

So I've finally just returned to Sab'ha after an extended stay in Amman. My time in Amman was really good- therapeutic even! When I first arrived in Sab'ha, I forced myself to be extremely positive about everything; I glazed over/ignored anything I didn't like, such as: the squatter, the snarky mosquitos, the carpet guy that ripped me off, a lack of real food at stores, etc. Basically, I was sandbagging my complaints, so that when I got sick, the wall broke; thus the Sab'ha Whine-fest 2011. When I left Sab'ha last week, I was feeling pretty whiny. I wasn't happy about being here, and really wanted to just return to Amman for good. And for the first day, I felt like I was justified. It was AMAZING to sit down with the guys, eat a pizza, and watch an American movie. Then the hiking trip was pretty sweet. We got back into Amman on Saturday night, and I didn't leave until this afternoon (Tuesday); because my work is in Sab'ha, and because I was kept under the constant assumption that I was- inshah allah- about to leave, I got really restless, and started longing for Sab'ha again. At first I thought I was struggling from a severe case of the-grass-is-always-greener-on-the-other-side, but I've come to a different/better/correct assumption. For me, Sab'ha will be a much more meaningful and consequential experience. However, it isn't all roses and ice cream; there are negative things out here as well. That's a part of life, yo! So, now that I have a better idea what to expect (and now that I'm unpacked) I fully expect to have a more positive experience in Sab'ha. Since I'm in my own apartment, and since I essentially have as much work as I want to have, I have a great amount of control over my routine. Bwa ha ha! So I'm going to have me-time in the mornings: scriptures, exercise, and Arabic study. Plus I have a book that I'm reading... FOR FUN! As for work, I'm going to be: working on a few small projects that are mostly meant to build relationships, talking with local leaders to create a network for future programs, determine the viability of a future TESOL (English Teaching) program in the region, and determine some of the specifics of said program. Pretty cool/exciting, huh?

My ride here was fun. So, first off, I took a taxi to meet K&C at a mall. The taxi driver was kinda shady; I could tell that he took the long way. And then... grrrr... I accidentally gave him a 50 instead of a 5, and I didn't even realize until just about 30 minutes ago. Hmph. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt; maybe he didn't notice either; maybe his wife or kid is really sick and he's been praying for 50 random Dinars to show up in his pocket; maybe. I waited at the mall for a while and made friends with an employee there. His English was great! He talked in English the whole time, and I tried to respond mostly in Arabic. I finally met up with K&C and we took a taxi to the bus station. Once again, shady taxi driver, took the WAAAAY long way, but since we didn't know where the bus station was we didn't realize it until the end. We took a bus to Mufrak, and I made a new friend named Mustafa. He invited me over to his house next week for dinner, and called me a few times after our trip to make sure I'd found my way home safely. Now THAT'S what I love about the people out here! We took another bus to almost Sab'ha (an intersection about 7km away), and then started walking. However, cue the hospitable person, we were picked up and dropped off at home. Home sweet home. I finally unpacked, cleaned up, killed a few roaches, and now I'm just chillaxin.

So, there's my ride home / profound new perspective. Love y'all!!!

يرمي

Hiking in Dhana

So this past weekend we took a trip to Dhana, which was pretty fun. One thing you should know beforehand that makes the story more interesting (perhaps) is that I forgot shoes and shorts in Sab'ha, so I bought some cheapo ones in Amman before we took off for the trip on Friday. The drive down was relatively uneventful; I hadn't slept much the night before (after sleeping all day Tuesday my body clock has no idea what's going on) and so I was pretty tired. But after buying a Coke from the overpriced tourist trap we stopped at, I was good to go. Old Dana (I've seen it spelled both ways, so I'll mix it up to keep things... um... interesting?) was pretty cool, and tiny. Lots of what looked like old buildings (although I'm sure they were built in the 60's) including our hotel. Our hotel was one of these buildings, with a few rooms; there was one toilet, squatter, and shower for each gender. There was a tented area on the second floor with couches for us to hang out and play cards. 

Luckily, our day involved more than just hanging about the hotel. After putting our stuff away and changing, we headed down for a big hike. We all started out together. Then, everyone decided that staying on the trail was lamesauce, and so we explored some off the beaten path. That brought us to a steep downhill; this was where I stopped. Let me tell you for a moment about the shoes I bought. They were leather slip-ons, which ended up being just too small for my toes, so my pinky toes were getting strangled. The downhill had been exacerbating that problem, and so I concluded that I'd just be a sissy and head back towards the trail by myself. I experienced roughly 1-2 minutes of last-kid-picked-on-the-elementary-school-kickball-team syndrome before I realized how AWESOME it was to be by myself. The views were stunning, and at each turn I just wanted to start singing. Because I was by myself... I COULD! So for about an hour or two I sat down on a comfy looking rock; I sang hymns, prayed out loud, and just pondered about where I'm at right now in life vs. where I want to be. As always, things are a-changin' and it was good to sit down and have some alone chill time. I can't say that I had some huge epiphany or that my life was changed forever, but it was a great recharge.

After getting back and resting for a few hours, our guide took us on a hike to a "waterfall" where we "might be able to swim". Psht. It was an experience full of broken promises. So first off, given the shoe situation, I asked our guide before we left what the trail was like. He said it was mostly level. Psht. We departed on what started off as a chill hike. Roughly five minutes into it we reached a ridiculous uphill stretch through shifty sand that required me to use my hands for balance and climbing. Level huh? Psht. Then we got to the "waterfall" which was actually a small square of stagnant water perhaps 3-4 inches deep and 2 or 3 square feet. STAGNANT! Double psht. Then when we were thoroughly through with out disappointing waterfall experience (although the kids were cute) we headed back down to the hotel on the PAVED ROAD! Yes, my friends, rather than taking the scary hike, we could've walked up the paved road. PSHT!!! After that we went to a small shop where I bought cheapo sandals, which permanently replaced the demon shoes. And let me tell you, these flip-flops are quite the find! They're covered in random English phrases such as: 'Order Now', 'Getting Things Done', 'One Thing Leads to Another', 'Good Sport', and 'Police Force'. Oh yeah! After dinner it was fun to just hang out with our group. We just chatted for a while and played some games. Then my body gave me a much-appreciated two-minute warning that screamed "GET TO A BATHROOM NOW!", which I quickly complied with. I'll try to leave most of it to y'alls vivid imaginations, but needless to say I was through for the night.

Saturday morning we dillydallied about Dana, just checking out some of the local color. Then we went to check out a caste, which was actually pretty fun but only mildly interesting. However, I acknowledge that those suffering from digestion issues are often prone to disinterest in big old things made out of rock.  So, you should go sometime; maybe it's your kinda thing! At any rate, we eventually ended up at home, where I relaxed both physically and emotionally for the evening.

As I write this, I'm still in Amman, but I should be heading back to Sab'ha sometime soon. I'm recharged and ready to go back out and get to work. I miss you guys, and would love to hear from ya. Love y'all!!!

يرمي

Back in Amman

So first off, allow me to apologize for my whininess in my last blog. Being an incredible mature sick person has never been a strong suit of mine... particularly in developing countries. So, after my negative sickyness, I am very happy to report that I'm back in Amman for the weekend. Yesterday K&C and I got ourselves incredibly psyched about vacationing to Amman for the weekend (they're actually going to Jerusalem, but I'm too jealous to talk about that). We got all packed up, met at my apt, and then went to a shopkeeper friend of ours to ask him about the bus. As luck would have it, yesterday was a national holiday, and the busses weren't running. But after finally preparing ourselves to go, there was no way we were going to stay put for another day. Our friend told us that we could get a taxi from there to Amman for 25 JD, which is about 30 bucks, and we decided that is was WAY worth it. The "taxi" ended up being him calling his brother with the chance to make a few bucks, but that totally works for me! I got back, and then me and two of my roommates ordered pizza. It was amazing. It tasted like home. [I will now take a moment for you to tease me, since just last week I was morally opposed to eating US food... oops!] But wait! There's more! We then watched an American [pirated] movie: Cloverfield! It just felt good to chillax for the night. After the movie, my body let me know that eating an entire Hawaiian pizza the day after I was sick was not such a fantastic idea. The worst part was the soreness in my shoulder muscles, which kept me awake until 6am.

So... I ended up sleeping in today until 1:30. It felt very good, and I felt a lot better. I headed into the old city for a bit, and then all us BYU folk met up for a Jordanian dinner. Afterward we just hung out and chilled for a while. It was so sweet to just relax and hang out together. Afterwards we headed out into the city for a while. We met up with some local friends that Skye and Austin made; we went to a place that's amazing and yet indescribable called Fruit Salad. It's kind of like a combination of Jamba Juice and Fenton's Creamery. I ordered a Royale fruit salad with ice cream. It was AMAZUZUZING!!!

Tomorrow we're heading off for a hiking trip. It'll be 2 days, with us staying in a hotel overnight. Tell ya about it in a bit!

يرمي

Sorry it's been awhile

Sooo... the past few days: Sunday was my first day at the school... but not really. I showered for the first time in my apt, sans water heater. THAT was quite an experience, considering it's proximity to the squatter. You practically have to have one foot in the squatter as you shower, and since I refuse to do so, it's quite the acrobatical act! Anyhoo, I got to school and started helping out in what I think was the first grade class, helping them with their English. I read them "Green Eggs and Ham", and then drew a sheet for the letter "W", with the capital and lower-case letter, and some pictures of stuff that starts with "W". I drew an awesome whale, wagon, and a glass of water. I also tried to draw a woman, but when the teacher looked at it, she said "That's not a woman, that's a girl!". And then whenever another teacher would come in she'd show it to them and they'd laugh and say the same thing. So, I erased it. Shlash called me after I'd been there for about 30 minutes and asked for me to come let him into my apt because... da da da DA, a plumber was installing a water heater!!! Then he wanted me to come run some errands with him. He took me to another school for kids with disabilities where his cousin works. It was actually kind of awkward, he introduced me to her, I sat down in her office, and then he left for 2 hours. His cousin (whose name I forget) is very cool. She's really good at English, and is also almost fluent in Spanish. So she's been working on an English/Arabic/Spanish dictionary, and wants me to help her out with that project! How sweet it that?! Afterwards I was back in my apt bored, and some guys came and knocked on my door. Apparently I'd been invited along with K&C for lunch, and none of us had realized it had happened. So I called them up quick and we headed over. As always it was really good, and as always we ran out of Arabic small-talk after a little bit. So, we just sat and pretended to watch some Turkish soap opera, dubbed in Arabic, which was WAAAY over-dramatic. Everyone here watches TV all the time. Usually it's the news. After that we wandered around for a bit until we got a ride back to Defyana, which is the village K&C live in. We had dinner with a family (who may or may not have remembered that they invited us... awkward!). It's interesting, because Carissa always has to go into the other room for dinner, with the rest of the ladies. I'm pretty sure that when it's just the family, everyone eats together, but when there's a large gathering, they eat segregated.
Monday we hitched a very smooshed ride back to the school. This time I kinda just sat there and did random jobs that the teacher wanted me to do. I feel kinda useless; I feel like they give me little things to do because in reality they don't need me and don't know what to do with me. After school, K&C and I stayed for a while to use the internet. We talked to Loren, our "boss", about our take on the program thus far. Basically, we feel that we don't have the resources to help little kids right now, and that a better focus would be to develop a teacher training program. There's a lot of cultural things that are frustrating in terms of elementary education. For one thing, the kids, especially the boys, behave terribly, and the teachers don't do anything about it. I'm talking about stabbing each other with pencils kinda behavior. And the teachers notice, but the attitude is "well, boys will be boys". Also, the kids all yell out answers all the time, even if you're talking to one kid. So it's hard to measure understanding in a group setting, you'd have to do it one-on-one, which isn't feasible. Now, let me say that the kids are so sweet! It's been great being with them. In the class that I help with there're two kids, a boy and a girl, who always fight to sit next to me, and often wrap their arms around my neck to kiss my cheek. It is so sweet! But that almost makes it harder, because I want these kids to have good education! We did some one-on-one tutoring, and my student, Abdullah, had MAJOR attention issues. I was trying to go over the ABC's with him, and unless I was shaking his shoulder for his attention, he was staring blankly out the window. He knew the first half of the ABC song, but had no idea what the individual letters were, let alone what sound they made. As much as I love kids, this is making me think that I'm really not cut out to be an elementary school teacher. Good thing I wasn't planning on it anyway, right? After we finished using the school's internet, we locked up and started walking to Defyana. It's probably a 3 or 4 mile walk, but we really just wanted to be outside and stretch our legs. In the first quarter mile of walking, at least five cars stopped to offer us a ride. Two of those offered us dinner as well! They all looked at us like we were crazy when we told them we wanted to walk. We finally accepted a ride about a mile later once it was getting kind of dark. They gave us these lamb quesadilla things, which were actually pretty good. We got home and just talked for a while.
Now, before I go on, I need to tell you something about the house K&C live in. It's pretty big (3 stories), and mostly empty, except for random furniture. So we joke about it being the perfect site for a zombie apocalypse movie. There's a lot of random noises that make it pretty creepy. So, Tuesday (Yesterday) morning, I was woken up at 5:30ish by a bang and a moaning sound. I was SOOOO creeped out! I just laid in my [makeshift] bed, trying to convince myself it was nothing and to go back to sleep. But, a few minutes later, Carissa came into my room. She told me that Kevin was sick and had passed out on his way back from the bathroom (thus the moan). So I walked over to our AWESOME neighbors and asked for a ride to a doctor. He took us to a local clinic type place, which was super shifty. The guy that helped Kevin, we're not sure if he was even a nurse. He kept asking out neighbor, Dr. Faisal (NOT a medical doctor) questions, like he wasn't sure what he was doing. And apparently, everyone in the area just assumed everything is a cold. The lights kept going out, and there were a lot of flies and mosquitos. Oh yeah! When Kevin was barfing, Carissa couldn't take the sound of it (we're both barfers of the sympathetic variety) and so I started playing Journey on my iPhone. It was so funny... we felt like we were in a movie. After a few hours and an IV drip line, we went home, where Carissa and I both proceeded to ALSO become sick. Hooray! So yesterday was mostly the three of us sleeping, lying down and talking, whining, and then going back to sleep. Also, we didn't eat anything; the only food we had in the house was "chocolate" cakes that barely have any chocolate and mostly taste like fakeness, and we really didn't feel like chicken and rice, which is all our neighbors make (although it's always good... I'm not whining about that). It's just, when I'm sick, I have a very specific appetite. So now here I am on a Wednesday morning, feeling a bit better, but still with an awesome headache. Hopefully we'll be heading into Amman today and sticking around for the weekend. I really want to go.
Sorry if that sounded a bit whiny. I suppose that the honeymoon is ending, and I'm realizing that it's not 100% amazing out here, and that there's some American luxuries that I miss, that I never realized were luxuries before. But I still stand by previous statements of positive things: the people here are awesome and very hospitable. I'm excited to be getting better at the language. But there are some things that bug me, and I suppose that's life. That's about it for today. Thanks for reading!
يرمي

Hangin with the shabab

Well hello everyone! So last night I was back in my apt, and I had a relatively functional nights rest! After the cockroach massacre last night (which was followed up by some additional executions this evening) and after taking care of the blog and some emails, I participated in the mosquito massacre. I closed the door to my room and then proceeded to hunt down every mosquito I could find... killing about 5 or 6. I went to bed, and was mocked by a few that I had missed. They underestimated my level of annoyance with them. I woke up, turned on the lights, and proceeded to hunt them like the evil vermin they were. I even taunted them... out loud! And though they seemed to cleverly hide... I outwitted them each time. Ha!

Today was a pretty good day. I mostly cleaned. I went to the store to get some supplies, and then I scrubbed my floors (although I haven't quite got to the bathroom yet... ick!). Once the floors were clean I went to a local shop and bought some carpet, which really makes this place feel more homey. It's like I'm doing interior design... I bought a tablecloth for the table, I'm going to print out some pictures to put on the walls. I figure if I'm gonna be here for three months, I may as well settle in.

At lunchtime I was wandering and found a falafel shop here in town. I ordered one and talked to the guy while he made it. He welcomed me to Sab'ha, and then refused to take any money for it. Have I mentioned how awesome these people are? They are the kindest, most hospitable people on the face of the planet, and I am very grateful to have this experience.

When I was tired of cleaning (thus... I still have a dirty bathroom) I headed outside to wander some more. I came across a group of shabab (teenage guys) and they invited me to hang with them. We just walked together for a while... cruisin'. Their English was OK, and my Arabic is getting better, so we communicated just fine. They're just like any group of American teens; they asked me what my favorite movie was, my favorite car, if the girls were prettier in America than in Jordan, etc. One pulled out his iPod and played some sweet Arab tunes, and we all danced down the street together. It was way fun. One of the guys, whose name was (I think) Fahal, seemed kind of protective of me. When I declined the invitation to ride a shifty looking horse, one of the boys kept hassling me about it, trying to get me to go on. Fahal just grabbed my hand and led me away, dancing and talking. (And he kept holding my hand for probably 5 minutes... which is actually quite normal for guy friends in this culture). When we got back into town, Fahal and one of the boys started arguing over who I would go drink juice with... haha. They played tug-a-war for me, and Fahal won, so I ended up at his home for the next four hours, drinking water, juice, tea, and staying for dinner. I met his cousin, who's about 28 (Fahal is 18) and we had a great conversation. His cousins English is pretty good, and strangely that makes me more confident in my Arabic. I held my own pretty good... they kept complimenting me on my Arabic and acting surprised that I'd only been studying it for a year. We talked about a lot, mealtime customs in America vs. Jordan, marriage (the cousin is engaged), Israelis and Palestinians, the woes of media, etc. And at the end, as always, they made sure to tell me that I can always come to them if I need anything.

Tomorrow is my first day going to the school, so I'm pretty excited. Wish me luck!

يرمي

PS- one more thing: I forgot a sweet story from dinner yesterday. I was trying to ask the father of the household how many sons he had, but I accidentally asked how much his sons cost (which is only one syllable different, in my defense!). We all got a pretty good laugh out of that. I realized later how lucky I was that I didn't ask him about his daughters like that... especially since it was at his house that they proposed a wife for me!

Living in paradise

So the past 2 days have been wonderful.  But the beginning of my story is not so.  After I blogged, my computer was dead.  So I determined to go to bed.  And my pajama pants were red.  If you hit me in the head, then I will be dead.  ANYHOO... enough rhyming.  That first night was miserable.  It was hot, my pillows are hard, mosquitos were divebombing my ears, my neighbors were talking loud and the outside hallway is very echoey, my mattress wasn't quite thick enough for me to not feel the 2x4s holding me up.  I needed to go to the bathroom but the lights in there didn't work and there were cockroaches all around the squatter.  And there were dogs who sounded like hyenas outside.  Sooo... basically, I couldn't get to sleep.  After a few hours of lying there unable to get to sleep, I determined that I'd find something to do for a bit.  My computer was dead, so I pulled out my iPhone and played a game for about 5 minutes before THAT battery went dead.  Then I went to see what games were on my program cellphone, and there was one but it was really lame.  And the light wasn't good enough to read in.  So I sat there, perturbed, for probably an hour, then I decided to try sleeping again, this time placing a tshirt over my head in the hopes of avoiding kamikaze mosquitoes.  FYI: that doesn't work.  So I still couldn't get to sleep.  4am hit and the call to prayer started.  That has probably been the only time that I was mad about hearing it.  It woke up all the animals (there's a farm behind my apt) and they made sure to let me know they were awake.  About an hour later the roosters decided it was time to wake up, and they hollered for what felt like forever.  (Author's note: I now realize it wasn't all as terrible and dramatic as I perceived it to be in my misery... so I'm trying to express how angry I was last night... I've gotten over it since.  In my tiredness I was a drama queen about it, plus it sounds more interesting that way).  It started to get light.  And the more light it got, the more mad I got about still not having slept at all.  I tried the cell phone game again... just to be sure it was still as lame as it had been a few hours before.  It was.  I decided I'd try the other side of the bed, since it was 2 twins smashed together.  It ended up that the other end was more comfortable, which made me wish I'd tried it before.  So I finally dozed off for a bit, until my bed broke.  It freaking broke!  So it woke me up as my butt hit the ground.  And a cockroach ran off... just for good effect.  I may or may not have sworn as the rest of my bed proceeded to fall apart with it.  I looked at the clock, I'd been asleep for maybe an hour, from 6-7am.  So I meandered back to the uncomfy yet stable side of the bed, where I slumbered for another little bit until Loren came at 9 to pick me up.  Sigh...  

So that was my first night.  But remember, I said that things are wonderful.  So let me tell you what happened after I woke up.  I went with Loren and Shlash to visit the school I'll be doing a lot of work at.  The owners name is Dr. Faisal, and his family is a pretty big deal here in the area.  His brother-in-law is a highly respected Sheikh of one of the many tribes here in Jordan.  But more importantly, his family is wonderfully hospitable and kind.  I also met two other interns working with Zaytoon, which is an NGO.  Their names are Kevin and Carissa, they're from BYU, they're married, and they shall from henceforth be referred to as K&C.  I'll be working with them a lot, which is sweet because they're really cool people.  Loren and Shlash had some business to attend to, so I just hung around with K&C... for the next 36 hours.  Talk about making friends fast, right?  We sat in on an English class, and then stuck around to talk with the teachers, all of whom are women.  They're all way nice and cool, and I can tell that I will enjoy working with them.  After school we went home with Dr. Faisal's wife, Umm Munthr, where there was a big lunch.  It was DELICIOUS!!!  Grape leaves, and squash stuffed with rice, as well as chicken and rice.  These people know how to eat!  And I think I'm picking up on a few more cultural nuances.  They give you a ton of food, but you're not supposed to be able to eat it all, so it's OK.  Reason being... it's an expression of their immense hospitality, and an indication of their wealth.  So, it would be embarrassing for them if I cleaned my plate.  We stuck around to talk for a while, and then excused ourselves to go nap.  K&C have a saWEET living setup.  Dr. Faisal has some family who mostly live in Saudi Arabia, but have a home here as well for when they come to visit.  So K&C have this whole HUGE house to themselves.  The Saudi family is coming back in July after K&C leave... otherwise I'd just move in there!  Anyhoo... it felt wonderful to nap after the aforementioned night's lack of sleep.  Afterwards we talked and got to know each other some more before we headed off to a dinner at the Sheik's home.  Yeah, I had dinner with the Sheik, and it was so cool.  Kevin and I were in a room with the men (the men and women usually hang out/eat separately for these big events... and some small ones).  The group started out small but every few minutes someone new came in.  Each time somebody new came in everybody would stand, and the newcomer would go around the room to greet everyone, shaking their hand and often kissing him on the cheek.  We just sat and talked for a while... Arabs have dinner pretty late.  Oh, and we drank LOTS of tea.  They drink lots of tea and coffee here, but they respect us when we tell them it's part of our religion that we don't drink it.  So everyone's been making lots of herbal tea.  I've never been much of a tea kinda guy... but I LOVE it; probably because they put in lots of sugar.  Chamomile is good, but my new favorite is oregano tea.  Mmm mmm good.  We finally ate at around 10:30 or 11, but it was definitely worth the wait.  We had mansef, like we had the night before at beyt Shlash (Shash's house), but it was different.  I'm pretty sure that this time it was lamb.  And I was taught the appropriate way to sit this time (cross-legged).  Afterwards we retired back to the parlor for tea, fruit, more tea, cake, and... you guessed it: tea.  The general conversation was obviously in Arabic, and it was pretty fast, but I was able to generally follow the gist.  However, as I got more and more tired, my ability (and desire) to enter and participate in the conversation dissipated.  I let Kevin do most of that.  But one of the men there (Badr, who picked me up from the airport, and his brother) speak pretty good English; we talked to them for a bit about some of the politics of Jordan.  It was interesting to get there take on what I've heard a bit of before.  After a while we left, and I crashed at beyt K&C for the night.

I slept WONDERFULLY last night, in my own room, which was one of the parlor's of the house K&C are staying in.  This morning we went in to town to buy a few things, and then we came back to the house for a cleaning party.  I helped them clean and fix their place up, and tomorrow we're gonna have a cleaning party at my place!  We chilled for a while with Loren and his brother.  I really like the people that I'm working with.  We were able to talk for a while today about a lot of things: spiritual, political, philosophical, random, etc. and I can tell that this summer is going to be great.  We wandered around for a bit, checked out the roman ruins that just so happen to be down the street (how freaking awesome is THAT?!).  Loren and his bro left, and K&C and I headed over to a neighbor's home for dinner.  It was, once again, DELICIOUS!  Everything here is amazing.  We had chicken and rice (you'd think that combination would get old, but each one tastes different yet awesome).  This time we (men & women) all ate together, and we tried diligently to have a fantastic Arabic conversation.  The TV was on (also quite normal here... it's usually the news).  Al-Jazeera was on talking about the events in Syria.  Our host is in the army and works at the Jordan/Syrian border, so it was interesting to get his take on it.  I couldn't say much, other than shake my head and say how terrible it was.  Their kids were very cute, and some of their other family members were wandering in and out throughout dinner.  One was a young woman who my host suggested I should marry.  (He actually said that I should "husband" her, but I got the point).  Haha.  She was pretty, but I still think I'm gonna hold out a bit longer.

And now, I'm back in my apt.  My bed is fixed, I have a table, and I'm excited for my cleaning party tomorrow.  I also bought some cockroach spray and went on a rampage.  Bwa ha ha!  Now the last thing to figure out is the mosquitos.  They mostly stay up by the light, but every once in a while one comes down to pick a fight.  I've picked up on the ritual: first they buzz my ear, then they flee to the wall, then I smoosh them.  As I've been writing this, that dance has been repeated at least five times.  And with that, my friends, I will leave you.  I look forward to another day tomorrow, in bedouin paradise.  Love ya!

يرمي

My new home

So today I finally arrived at my home for the next three months.  After saying goodbye to my Jordanian brothers: Ahmed and Mahmoud, I left with my director (sorta) Loren, his brother, and a local guy that I'll be working with a lot named Shlash.  We drove for a while, probably 2 hours.  We stopped in Zarka for some sweets, and ended up on the road to Baghdad.  Yeah, it was pretty cool to have the road signs say "Syria" and "Iraq" on them.  (Don't worry mom, I'm safe in a good town).  The town I'm in is called Sab'ha, and it is tinee-tiny.  I have my own apt, which is weird, but cool.  The amenities are a bit different: my bed is so far my only piece of furniture, I have a squatter toilet with a water jar instead of toilet paper, and I'm definitely gonna have to invest in some roach traps.  But nonetheless, it's home sweet home, and I look forward to being here for the next 3 months.  Once I got dropped off I had about an hour to kill before dinner, so I just wandered around the village and talked to some people.  People's English here is very limited, so I'm definitely gonna have to start swimming in terms of Arabic.  The dialect is, once again, quite different, even from what's spoken in Amman.  I'm sure I'm quite the spectacle: random blue-eyed American in a tiny bedouin village who speaks only enough Arabic to introduce himself.  Then once they (naturally) expect a conversation, I've got nothing.  So I just say "sorry" and they just laugh.  But seriously, I am very excited about my time here.  The people here are very nice and welcoming.  For dinner I went with Loren and his brother to Shlash's home, where we had mansef, which is DELICIOUS chicken and rice with a sauce on it.  They showed me how to eat it with my hands, which I did semi-successfully (although I made a total mess).  Then afterwards we just chilled.  Sigh... this is the life.  Arabs are sooo laid back, at least about schedules.  One can choose to fight it and remain frustrated, or embrace it and relax.  So... here's to 3 months of productively relaxing.  Ma'salama!

يرمي

Short and Sweet

So I'm not gonna lie, today was mostly boring.  I started out by sleeping until 11:30 again.  Then I did some random stuff in the morning.  I guess one of the more interesting things was, I did laundry.  "Jeremy, why the hell would laundry ever be interesting", you ask.  AhHAH!  Lemme tell you... so our apt doesn't have a dryer (most of Jordan is with us on that).  So I hung my clothes out to dry outside our balcony in clothespins.  Oh yeah, I felt totally legit.  However, today was really dusty and kinda really smoggy, so between that and my lack of showering I've resigned myself to smelling not-so-good this summer.  But that's OK... it's not like I'm trying to pick up Jordanian chicks or anything.  The other thing that was fun was tonight, when our neighbor's/Jordanian brothers Ahmad and Mahmoud came over, mostly to use Facebook, but also to hang out.  I've bi-literally seen them every day since I've arrived, and I love it.  I'm sad to leave tomorrow but even then I'll still see them on weekends when I come back into Amman for church.  Yup, you heard me right, I'm finally (inshah allah=hopefully) headed out tomorrow.  I'm excited to see what I'll be doing, and to get into a semi-routine.

So, like I said, not a lot to say today, other than I'm doing great and I love y'all!

يرمي

Thank goodness for Mountain Dew!

So last night I was up really late.  Like, the 4am call to prayer started right after I got into bed.  But I figured it was fine, because I didn't have work today.  However, my facilitator called at 10am, asking me to come with them to work today, mostly to give them something to do.  Luckily today was shower day, so that kinda woke me up.  We went to an NGO out on the outskirts and toured around.  It was pretty fun.  Afterwards we went back to their work at the Ministry of Social Development, where I met Lauren, who is in charge of my specific assignment.  So...  I got a few more specifics.  The village I'm going to is named Saf-ha, and is by a few other villages.  Apparently the small villages are the place to make connections here in Jordan.  Anybody who's anybody works in Amman, but lives out where I'll be at.  So although my specific task is to teach English, my objective is to get to know the people and pave the way for future BYU programs out there.  No pressure, right?  As for my living arrangements, I will no longer be living with a roommate.  That makes me feel both relieved and sad.  It'll be nice to have some alone time, but I was looking forward to being overwhelmed by constant Arabic.

After walking around quite a bit (and due to some sleep deprivation) I was way tired when we were through.  But after a shawarma and a mountain dew, I was good to go!  I went back to the bookkeeper from yesterday to buy a beautiful English/Arabic Qur'an.  I figure since the Qur'an has perfect Arabic, I should probably study the two languages side by side.

And now, my friends, I am tired.  I've been at home for a while, and my good friend Mahmoud came over for a few hours, and so now I am very ready for bed.  Perhaps I shall say something profound tomorrow.

يرمي

𝄫 All by myself♭

So today was the first day of work... for everyone else.  Thus, I ended up having most of the day to myself.  I was semi-productive in the morning: working out, etc.  Then I set off to wander and explore the area around me.  I headed down a street I hadn't been to yet, and after meandering for a while, stopped to ask a random man where the best shawarma was in the area.  He pointed me to a nearby butcher shop, where I purchased and devoured a beautifully delicious shawarma.  Mmmmmm.  Afterwards, I wandered some more!

I've been looking for a good reference book for Jordanian Arabic (at BYU we study mostly Egyptian) and so I stepped into a bookstore to browse.  I didn't find the book, but I did end up chatting with the storekeeper for about an hour.  His English was OK enough that I could throw in some English words when I couldn't find an Arabic one.  He complimented me a lot on my Arabic, although he was just being polite.  When other people would come into the store, he would show me off: "Look! This American can speak Arabic!"  They'd greet me, I'd reply, and then they'd look up at him, nodding, chuckling, and smiling.  We covered a lot of topics; he loves geography so he grilled me about where I live, where I go to school, and had me show him on his US map.  We talked about religion, with him explaining Islam and me explaining (as best as I could in Arabic) my faith.  He showed me a BEAUTIFUL copy of the Qur'an.  It's the English translation that was made by the Saudi University, and has the English and Arabic side by side.  I'm going to go back to buy it tomorrow!  Not only is it beautifully made, but I think it'll be a great tool in learning Arabic.

So I'm in Amman for a few more days.  I just found out that I'll be headed out to my totally rockin' bedouin village on Wednesday.  So, that gives me three more days to wander!  As always, we spent the evening with our awesome neighbors, watching the Real Madrid vs. Villarreal soccer (ahem, football) game.  Since arriving in Amman, I think I've at least doubled, if not tripled, the amount of soccer that I've watched in my lifetime.  And guess what, I'm beginning to thoroughly enjoy watching soccer!  Who would've thunk?

Well, I'll keep you apprised of tomorrow's wanderings.  For now, ma'asalama!

يرمي   

انا لا اريد اكل امريكي، اريد اكل عربي!!!

Last night I slept 12 hours!  Can you believe this?!  Part of it is my blinds, which are totally legit- you don't even know!  To close them, I loosen a rope by the window and a metal grate comes down that keeps out all, and I mean ALL of the light.  So when I woke up this morning at 9am (and yes, for those of you doing the math, I was lame and went to bed at 9 last night) I thought that it was still the middle of the night.  It wasn't until a roommate came in to shower that I realized what time it was.  Crazy, eh?  But not as crazy as my roommate that slept until freaking 5pm!  Yeah, our body-clocks are still adjusting.  And then, as if my 12 hour sleepiness wasn't enough, today was shower day!!!  You see, water's an issue here.  Every week they come fill up our allotment of water, and if we go over, too bad.  We'd just have to wait until the beginning of the next week. So showers=every other day... and I've stocked up on body spray!

My roommate and I had to head to the mall for a few things today, and so I ate lunch there.  Now, I'm not sure if I've told you yet, but there's a ridiculous number of American restaurants here.  For example, our apartment is in between دجاج كنتاكيا (KFC) and Popeyes, and our neighbor works security at Safeway.  So, back to the mall.  Having not been in Jordan even a week, I really didn't want to eat lame American fast-food.  My options seemed hopeless: Hardees, McDonalds, Quiznos, Pizza Hut, Cinnabon, Sbarro, etc.  Downstairs was no better: Chili's, Applebees, TGI Fridays.  But then I saw it: Kababs!  However, it was the only place that was CLOSED at lunchtime.  Aaargh!  So I stuck my head up to the grate and asked when they'd be open, and found out they were just about to open.  So whilst my roommate had [lame] Quiznos for lunch, I had a spicy kabab, pitas with hummus, and Fanta.  Which reminds me, I'm going to be drinking so much soda here!  It's a much less risky alternative for water.  So, although it was still from a mall, I had good kabab at last!

Once we got home, there was a good 3-4 hours where I did nothing in particular, which sucked.  I can't wait until work starts, and with it a normal routine.  However, I eventually went out with some roommates, Austin and Skye. We took a taxi to the Abdullah mosque, which is beautiful!

Notice how right next to the mosque is a huge Christian church (I'm taking this picture from the steps of the mosque).  I LOVE this view, representing the brotherhood between Jordan's Muslims and Christians.  Sadly we got to the mosque once visiting hours were over, but it was still great to see it again (I visited last year with the BYU-JC program).  After that we decided to just wander around.  We passed a barbershop and Skye decided to get a haircut/shave.  One of the men working there was ecstatic to learn that we spoke Arabic (although he talked as if we were fluent already...).  He talked to us for a while about the rich history and heritage of the Arabic language, which developed into what seemed like the first discussion for Islam.  Lol.  It was very interesting, although as he got more passionate, he spoke more eloquently (and faster) so that my comprehension went out the window.  Somewhere in there he switched to politics.  Now, I agreed with a lot of what he said on both topics: religion and Islam.  However, because I don't possess the vocabulary to express that, he kept reiterating what he'd already said.  So, Austin and I just continued smiling and nodding until Skye was done.  After that, we got FALAFEL from an Egyptian man, wandered around some more, got MORE falafel (what can I say, I'm an addict), and eventually ended up at the King Hussein mosque, which is much older than the Abdullah one.  

AND THEN, as if our evening wasn't exciting enough already, on our way back into our apartment, our neighbors saw us and invited us inside for a bit.  I love spending time with them, not just because they're awesome, but because I feel that those situations help my Arabic the most.  They don't know much English, so we've gotta figure something out in Arabic.  To those of you (probably most of you) that aren't terribly familiar with Jordan, listen up.  Jordanians are AWESOME!  They're incredibly welcoming.  Today as we were wandering around, at least 3 or 4 people stopped or pulled over to make sure we weren't lost.  Everywhere we go we hear "Welcome to Jordan!  We love Americans!"  They seem to be very aware of the Middle East's reputation in the US, and make sure to distance themselves from it.  Each time we go over to our neighbors, we hear: "America and Jordan are brothers!"  I agree!  These people are amazing, they are children of God, and they possess immense quantities of charity and love.  So the next time you see or hear something negative in the news, please remember that these are real people who cannot be generalized just as Americans cannot be generalized.

And with that, ma'asalama!

يرمي

Church in Amman

I have an important announcement to make: they do, in fact, sell peanut butter in Amman! !الحمد لله  They are really small, but it looks normal!  (Now if there were only some Thai food, right? haha)  

So a cool story from yesterday: there's a local guy named Omar that helps out with our program.  He came over and we talked to him for a bit.  We know enough Arabic and he knows enough English that we got by.  Mostly he was helping us with our Arabic.  You see, at BYU we study Egyptian Arabic (amiyya) and proper Arabic (fus-ha).  However, they speak a different dialect here in Jordan.  So we get made fun of a lot.  In Omar's words: "No! Egypian Arabic=False!"  Speaking Egyptian is like unto speaking like a hick (no offense to my redneck friends!) ;) while speaking fus-ha is like speaking ultra proper.  So he was helping us navigate the new dialect.  He is originally from Iraq but left due to the war.  It's an interesting experience to have something like the Iraq war become something real as I meet those personally affected by it.  The reason I mention that is every once in a while he would throw in an Iraqi word, just to confuse us even more, hehe.  After about 2 hours, my brain felt like it was going to explode!

Today was my first time going to church in Jordan, and it was sweet.  We meet at the Church's community and cultural center in Amman.  Before today I'd been there once before, a year ago, for a fireside given by the Branch President.  In fact, it was during that fireside, in that building, that I felt prompted to begin studying Arabic.  Kinda cool, huh?  [FYI any non-LDS readers, the next few sentences will be confusing.  Bear with me!]  Apparently there was a big regional conference this past week where Elder Holland (one of the current apostles) came and reorganized some of the stakes in the Middle East.  So in out meeting today we had the Stake/District Presidents from Jordan, Saudi Arabic/Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, and Israel.  Kinda cool, huh?  Plus we had the Area President because the Branch Presidency got rearranged.  The branch is actually pretty big, at least 100 if not more.  For Sacrament and Priesthood, everyone met together.  Everything was in both English and Arabic.  For our closing song, everyone sang "I Stand All Amazed" in Arabic.  That's my favorite hymn anyway, and it's just as touching and beautiful in Arabic.  Needless to say, it was a very special experience.  After church we had a linger-longer, which was nice because I was really hungry.  I was humbled as I tried my Arabic with some of the members, and we met some of the other interns here for the summer.  And as we were leaving, the unexpected happened... it rained!

Today for dinner we went over to our neighbors home for an amazing meal.  I think they tried to make an American meal for us: chicken and rice... with pita.  The mom kept checking that we eat that type of food in America.  It was really good, and once again their generosity and hospitality abounded.  We brought over some Arabic pasties (SO GOOD!) to contribute to the meal.  Then we digested as we watched some soccer and... you guessed it: Sylvester Stalone!  I can't wait to bring my family here (soon? pleeeease Dad? hehe) and introduce them to my new friends. 

Any day now I should be leaving Amman for the desert!  I'm anxious, excited, nervous.  I'll keep you posted!  But for now, ma'asalama!

يرمي

Overwhelmed by free time?

So today was an awesome day.  I was prepared to be surprised by many things.  One thing that I did not anticipate, however, was an adverse reaction to free time!  Really, I've been going non-stop since January.  After finals I went home to CA for 3 days before I went to DC to work for 2 weeks and then I came here.  When I woke up this morning with absolutely nothing on my to-do list, I had no idea what to do with my life.  And it didn't help that, courtesy of jet-lag, I was wide awake at 7-freaking-am.  So, I reviewed Arabic vocab for a while, read my scriptures, organized my stuff, made my bed (?!), fixed the TV, sat on my bed doing nothing, paced, and looked out the window ponderously.  Then my roommates finally woke up, and we went to run some errands.  We took taxis everywhere today, which was very ego-boosting.  You see, taxi conversation is very simple, and so my Arabic skills aren't overwhelmed by the task.  Not only that, but after 5 different taxi trips, I became a semi-pro at the "where's your family from" routine.  We went to the mall (yawn), ate lunch/breakfast at a Lebanese place (SO GOOD), went grocery shopping, napped (at home), picked up my cell phone (local calls only, sorry), got Arabic pastries (Mmmmmm), visited our facilitator, and generally wandered about.  I continued to geek out about my surroundings (OMG that's a great view of Amman!  OMG I can read that Arabic billboard!  OMG I love the smell of the spices!) 

I also learned more about where I'll be going in a few days.  You see, I'm only in Amman until Sunday (at the most).  I'll be moving about an hour away to a rural bedouin village (I'm still not sure of the name) where I'll be teaching English.  For the first 2-3 weeks I'll be living with an Arab man (I have no idea how old) who speaks no English.  Time to see how creative I can be with my Arabic skillz!  After that, the details of my living arrangements are still blurry.  Don't worry though, I'll keep you posted.  Oh!  And one more story before I go.  Remember Mahmoud, the 14-year-old next door?  He stopped by today to invite us over again.  Sadly we weren't able to come this time.  However, I'm realizing just how persistent these AMAZINGLY generous people are!  A simple "no thank you" wouldn't do.  I had to produce an explanation for why... in Arabic!  So, I think I told him that we had errands to run (which we did), although from the somewhat confused look on his face I can't be sure.  But I think he saw the desperation of effort and took that.  But once our errands were done we went over for a bit.  This time we met their mother and another son, whose name was (I think) Hammed.  They are the nicest people ever!  They brought out Pepsi for us, and some nuts, then some chamomile tea (with plenty of sugar!) and cookies, AND THEN invited us over for dinner Friday, which is a big deal because it's their equivalent of a Sabbath meal.  They helped us out with our Arabic, we helped them out with some English, an we've decided to become Facebook friends!  Sigh... I'm happy to already have awesome Jordanian friends.  Well, that's about it for now!  Love y'all

يرمي

The Journey

OK! It's time to wake this travel blog up with yet another international adventure. This time I'm in Jordan for a three-month internship through BYU's Kennedy Center.  I'm mainly going to be teaching English out in a rural area outside of Amman, but I'll have the opportunity to sight-see on the weekends.  My primary goal is to develop my Arabic and familiarize myself more with the local culture.  I've been here for 2 or 3 hours, and I love it already!  But woah, I'm getting ahead of myself.  First... the journey:

Kiara (Deveren's wife) was awesome enough to drive me to the airport last night.  My flight from DC to London left at 10, and was about 7 hours.  I planned on sleeping through most of it, but I always forget how uncomfortable planes are for sleeping.  So, I slept a bit, and read my book on Arabic culture (I know, I'm a nerd, get over it!)  ;)  I got to London around 10am their time, starving!  However, the Heathrow airport seems more like a classy mall than an airport, and I couldn't find anyplace cheap to eat.  I was eventually led to a "cheap-ish" restaurant where I got a DELICIOUS sandwich, and some pita w/ hummus.  Mmm Hmm!  However, since right now the British Pound and US Dollar aren't on good terms, it was still way expensive.  Sigh...  I made it to my gate for my flight to Amman.  There were obviously many Arabic people speaking, duh, Arabic.  It was at this point that I had a mini panic attack, as they were talking REALLY fast and I couldn't really pick out anything substantial.  (They mentioned they had 4 of something!)  But then they turned to me and spoke in perfect English, so my fears were [somewhat] abated.  The flight seemed really long because I kept drifting in and out of sleep and I kept on having really weird dreams, but I did land safely in Amman (that's for my Mom).

After changing my money, getting a visa, and going through customs, I was met by my facilitator, Annie, as well as a local man named Badr.  They drove me to my temporary apt (I'll be moving in a few days out to that rural town) and we talked a ton on the way over.  They made me feel very welcome and excited.  It is so cool to be back in Jordan.  I'm geeking out about everything: the smells, the highway signs, the drivers who don't stay in their lane, the call to prayer, etc.  Once we got to my apt, my roommates were still out so we waited outside for a bit until they got there.  Now, exhibit A of why I LOVE Arabic culture: As we were waiting, a boy (14 years old) came out, introduced himself, and insisted that Annie and I come in while we waited (Badr had already gone home).  The father of the family is Samiir.  He's from Jerash, and is a police officer here in Jordan. He has 4 sons, 2 of whom were home.  The 14-year-old is named Mahmoud, and Ahmed is the oldest son (he's 23).  They were so welcoming!  They insisted we come in and sit down, and then Ahmed brought us both Coke.  They were watching a Sylvester Stylone (sp?) movie, and then they turned it to the Madrid soccer game.  While Annie was there I let her do most of the talking (they don't really know English and she's fluent in Arabic).  Every once in a while they'd ask me a question and I'd have to turn and have Annie help me.  But they were very nice and patient with me.  Annie left to go home, and so it was just me.  We just hung out and chatted (IN ARABIC!).  They made sure to speak slowly for me, which was greatly appreciated.  Since they live across the hall, I have a feeling that I'll get to know them very well, which is sweet 'cuz they seem like a very awesome family.

So, that's about it for now.  Tomorrow we're getting the internet and phones figured out, and maybe I'll find out a mailing address.  But really, just email me, 'cuz it's free!  Love y'all!

يرمي