February Top 10Feb 28, 2010
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| A friend of mine serving in another PC country had a great idea for blogging, so I'm copying her... a top 10. 10. Internet Bill: in a change of character for my site, something cost me less than it should have, my internet bill. The bill I got said JD3.46, they charged me JD16. It should have been JD33, and I paid only JD16. I'm not complaining, and my landlady advised me not to correct them. 9. Visiting Hussein bin Talal University: I went with a girl from my English Conversation class to her classes at the university. 3 of the 4 classes were actually in English, but given that they were for a degree in engineering, they were a bit over my head, like the fluids mechanics class, and remote sensory processing. I'm glad I graduated with my little B.A. in Spanish. 8. School started for the girls at the beginning of February, clearing the center until about 2 pm on weekdays. I do have conversational classes from 1 to 2... so I do still work, 3 hours on weekdays (to be fair, I do class prep and paperwork an hour a day, too). 7. The weather in Jordan is bipolar! It was spring for about a week (about 75 degrees F, everyday), but it's winter again, with amazing thunderstorms (I like thunderstorms), and wind, and cold. Today to storm, just wind and sand. 6. It's Lent, and I've given up meat and American TV via internet. I had a Mardi Gras celebration by bbqing with my landlady, and just my landlady. This is actually quite unusual, because men usually to bbqing, and women supposedly don't know how to start fires. I started the fire, Wafa prepped the food, and we even made tea over the fire. It was delicious! We ate a whole chicken between the two of us! Explaining to people that I'm not eating meat has been entertaining, especially since the only person to take it seriously is Wafa, everyone else says that I should eat just a little meat, or I should wait until Ramadan to "fast" (they call what I'm doing a fast). 5. Going to Petra: It took me over two almost 2 months, but I finally made it to Petra! We hiked for about 5 hours, climbed up rocks, and were just tourists. It was beautiful, and my pictures were amazing. Unfortunately, my Naomi proof camera was not Suzanne proof. Her battery died 20 minutes into our adventure, and since she's a much better photographer, I let her use my camera. We stopped to take a quick rest, and she set the camera down, forgetting to pick it up when we were off again. We retraced our steps and informed the police at the front gate (I phoned as soon as we realized she didn't have it... I have multiple connections with the police there), but it never turned up. She is waiting for the weather to clear up so she can go to Aqaba to buy me a new one. It's not too big a deal though, since I'll have plenty of opportunities to go back to Petra. 4. Landlady stories: so many to choose from... I'll keep it the short versions of 3 a) I tend to get great discounts from a little shop that Nasser (landlord) works at when he's not on duty as a police officer in Aqaba. When I first moved here i got some things from there (pots, pans, knives...) for about JD20 (my frying pan was worth about JD13, the knife JD2, the pot JD9, and I got a couple other little things). If I can, I buy things from there. The last time I went I got JD10 worth of stuff for JD6, the percentage of the discount is going up! b) After my last visit to Nasser's (even though it's not actually his shop), we went to visit the oldest sister, who lives down the street from downtown. It started off as me, Wafa, 2 of her sisters with their total of 3 kids, at the oldest sister's house, and her 4 kids (total of 7 kids, plus 4 adults). Then Sa3d, the youngest brother, showed up. Then Fadwa and her 3 kids. Then the sister that looks just like Fadwa, her husband, and their 5 kids. Then Hamza, the second youngest brother, showed up. The only person who didn't make it was Nasser, the rest of the family was there, minus 2 husbands (total of 15 kids, 9 adults). All in a 3 room house. c)The next day, Wafa's bratty nephew threw is little sister's shoe onto the lower roof, which is under my balcony, and I managed to knock it down with a long-handled squeagy tied to my jump rope. 3. I managed to get the promise of computers for my center from the head of the higher council for youth, when he came for a meeting a couple weeks ago. 2.We had a consolidation test to practice what we would do in the event of a major disaster in Jordan. Our warden decorated her house in a space theme, and made s'mores and nachos for the day part of the "party," and a pinata. I spent the night, and we made more s'mores, and I made Spanish tortilla, then we watched season 1 of Glee. I got up at 6 the next morning to get back to site in time for work. 1. I'm not particularly materialistic (I don't even have chairs in my house), but... Packages! I went on my first solo trip to Ma'an to go the the post office there to pick up a box... which really is my only reason ever to go to Ma'an. Anyway, that's why big envelopes are better, because those actually make it to the post office in my village. This month a got a lot of mail: a couple cards, a couple packages. The box from dad had a phone, magicjack (so people in the states can call me!), a stuffed animal, crystal light, kitchen rags, apple cider, and PIE!!!!! Other packages I've gotten (from mom and grandma) have included other baked goods, colouring books, colored pencils, candy, hot chocolate, and mail. It's nice to have those ties to the states! |
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