Welcome to Amman, Round 3

So first, my apologies, I know that this blog is long overdue. I imagine dozens of you were waiting anxiously, restlessly checking the interwebs each day with the hope of an update from your favorite world traveler. No? Ah well, at least I can dream big. But seriously, I know that this blog is mostly for me (and so my parents know I’m still alive), but I’m still going to try and be a semi-diligent writer. Anyhoo… let’s start at the end:

I’m alive, and perfectly safe. That sentence was brought to you at the urging of my professor, Dil, after certain events. Egypt and Libya are a ways away from me, and Jordan is far more stable. With that being said, let’s go back to the beginning:

The flights over here were relatively uneventful (and I won’t bore you with all of the details) but I do want to share a few quick notes:

• ·      They tell you to show up at least two hours early for an international flight. What they do not tell you is that you will get through security just as fast and then be bored to tears waiting for your flight. Ah well, at least I had the time and forethought to purchase a neck pillow.
• ·      On my flight from Houston to London there was an on-demand movie selection! I’m a fan of whoever came up with that. Yes. Yes I am. On a completely unrelated note, J. Edgar Hoover is a totally boring movie, and the new Mission Impossible is wonderful. Also, on that same flight we had several members of the USA Para-Olympic team! I sat next to a guy who is on the Rugby team, and was in Beijing was time. When we landed our pilot announced it and we all gave them a round of applause wishing them luck.
• ·      From London to Amman I had told myself that I wouldn’t fall asleep so I could get over jet-lag fast. Yeah right. As soon as I sat down I was asleep. I woke up when we were about to land, and I was really groggy and out of it. So out of it, in fact, that it took me a good 30 seconds or so to realize that there was a drunk Irish man yelling angrily with plenty of f-bombs. Apparently he had gotten very drunk and started yelling about how the Jordanian police were going to arrest him as soon as he got there because he was a Jew. Well, he did get arrested upon our arrival, although I think it had a bit more to do with the yelling than his holy book of choice. It was funny to watch the stewardesses go from politely asking him to be quiet, to blatantly telling him to shut up while gesturing angrily in his direction. 

And after all of that… I made it to AMMAN!!! Woot woot!!! Life here is good.

From now on I’ll try to post every week to keep you a bit more updated, and I’ll include some good stories. But 3 weeks is overwhelming for me, so I’m just going to go all ADD on you and post some random things:

• ·      Carrie and I have a pretty nice apartment with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, 2 balconies, a family room, kitchen, dining room. Needless to say, it’s quite the improvement over our Texas apartment in most ways. We live about 5 minutes away (walking) from my school, so we’re saving a lot of time and money travel-wise.
• ·      I love being back! It’s fun to already kind of know my way around, so I can spend my energy exploring and learning instead of adjusting too much. Also, being here is making me miss my friends from last year.
• ·      Seeking out speaking appointments makes me feel like I'm dating again. I was complaining to a fellow student about how none of the Arabs I've met thus far want to be my friend. Then I met 2 people who asked me on a "second date" and I was super excited. The aforementioned friend told me I can go to her and her roommate's apt to analyze the date and see where the relationship will go. Lol. So silly...
• ·      The program has lived up to my expectations in terms of intensity; Each day I have class for 3-4 hours, 2-3 hours of newspaper skimming and translation, 2 hours of speaking with locals, 1 formal speaking or writing presentation, and 10 minutes of watching an Arabic news channel. Needless to say, I’ve been keeping pretty busy (and thus it took me 3 weeks to finally write/post this), but I can also tell that it’s working. I’m excited to see where I’m at after this program. I’m gonna be LEGIT, yo.
• ·      On a mushy note, I’m really glad to have Carrie here with me. Because of our fun little medical emergency, I was by myself here for almost 2 weeks before she finally joined me. And I will say that having her here is decidedly an improvement. Even though I’ve been pretty busy, spending quality time with my loving and gorgeous wife has been essential to my making the most of this program. :)

Well folks, I suppose that’s it for now. I know there’s plenty more, but I also know that if anyone is actually reading this I’ve already bored you to tears. So, I’ll post next week! Carrie and I are still on Facebook and emails, so hit us up, yo!