The Friday Market in the heat

Today I bought a shirt for 3 JD, a skirt for 2 JD, and cute wedge flip flops for 4JD.  (Remember JD is a Jordanian Dinar? .7 JD to a dollar, folks)  It was a good day.  The skirt is not the cutest thing ever, but it will be so much cooler than jeans, that I don't care.  It took a lot of hunting for only 3 items.  The friday market is huge.  You wouldn't believe it.  And I needed the shoes so my pants don't drag in the street here or on the sidewalk.  The sidewalk will EAT you hems.  I've been safety pinning up my hems in the back to keep them safe! lol :)
      And today is HOT. Like Hot Hot Hot kind of Hot.  Miserably hot even.  The kind of day that really makes me question why darwinism let the hottest region in the world have a religion that requires women to cover up flourish? Because I wore capris and a tee shirt and was miserable.  I know they're used to it, and its a different kind of hot to them.  Yeah yeah.  Its unbearable.  I took a nap jut because I couldn't function in the heat. And I sweated though the whole thing anyway.  Same as I woke up this morning.
      The other day I went to an Art Gallery opening for our neighbor.  So cool!   It was at night so it was super dim, the outside was lit by christmas lights in the trees and this giant metal cutout that was backlit.   Then inside she had each room dedicated to a different type of her artwork.  She had one that was all these beautiful dolls suspended from the ceiling and as it got closer to the balcony they rose up higher and turned into angels. It was a piece about empowering women who can't do it themselves. So they could fly away. Beautiful. Plus she does prints and a neat statute thing and the metal work.  Just a lot of really cool pieces. Not to mention, I went to the opening of a art gallery to which I was personally invited by the artist! Never would have happened in Mt Peazy.
       Its a different world for sure.  The weather, the clothes, the events...the food and drinks (like nothing cold even when its 90*!) taxis everywhere, no walking (sidewalks again...) but I like it too.

Frogger and a weird Pita

         Today I played frogger. It was terrifying. Because I was the frog.   To get in to university of Jordan, you have to enter through one of the gates around the perimeter, which is fenced.  Campus is in the middle of the city.  We thought we could follow the roads outside of the university to get to the other gate and area of shopping and food.  So, the main gate is where we usually go and where the Study abroad office is.  But the north gate has a bookstore we needed and a good little restaurant.  So we tried to walk from one to the other on the outside of campus.  Bad idea.  Inside campus it’s a short, shaded, simple walk. Outside, it’s a miserable, dangerous, confusing hike.  You cross multiple 4 lane roads, a construction site, no sidewalk, and no shade at all. It was yet another adventure in Amman.

We couldn’t see around one of the curves to cross the road, and every time we tried, a cab would come flying at us.  Terrifying.  The trick is really to follow the locals.  When they go, you go.  And you don’t have to run. It feels that way, but you won’t really get hit.  It’s far too much legal work to hit an American.

Some perks…I get into school even without my ID card because of how I look.

Drawbacks…guys have a far easier time hailing a cab. And they’re allowed to talk to the cabbie without trouble.

I definitely got hit on by a cabbie yesterday.  He was just too friendly.  Spoke only Arabic, but it was basic Arabic I could understand. My name is, where are you from, is this your first time in Jordan, how are you, have a nice day… he made a point to tell me his name as I got out.  I tried very hard to ignore him, stare out the window and not respond. He was not getting the hint. Next time, I’m just gonna fake a call phone call. Then talking to me would be rude even by his standards. Lol.

OK.  So I had the strangest thing for lunch ever.  I thought I was ordering falafel in a pita. The other girls already had one and it looked delicious.  So Jessica an dI go up to the counter and tried to explain and point to what we wanted. The guys is like “use Arabic!” So we tried and failed. Miserably.  If I could just use Arabic to get what I wanted, I wouldn’t embarrass myself and waste your time with my English and pointing skills. So we get our food and it’s a pita… wrapped around bologna, with a few small pickles and cream cheese. Yep.  That is what I ordered. Or just what they gave me to laugh about.  Not positive which. Next time, I’m saying falafel. Pita. And watching them make it. That said, it was the best bologna I have ever had.  And I don’t like bologna.

Also weird.  They feed me a pomegranate where all the seeds were scoped out into a bowl but you were supposed to eat the whole seed, not just the squishy juicy part.  And the same for a guava where you eat the seeds too, not just the flesh.  I'm not sure I like this habit.  Its crunchy.  And not appealing. 

But most the food is amazing.  So I will take the slightly different and strange with the really good. :)

The city.

Ok.  So.

Let's start with the city.

Amman is huge.  I don’t car what Ahmed has to say, this place is enormous.  And confusing.  Supposedly its split into jubels (mountains or hills) and duwars (road circles) and you can find anything if you know which one its by.  But I can’t figure out any order to these things. I think the jubels are all in a row, there are 7 circles… IDK, it makes no sense, but I at least am recognizing certain neighborhoods and circles, even if I can’t find them. 

            So cabs and cars.  Driving here is insane.  Crazy.  Terrifying even.  Every time I get in a car, I swear we almost get in an accident. They drive bumper to bumper.  Like closer than you can imagine. And they drive fast then slam on the brakes.  Its so scary. Then honk.  And everything else you can imagine. I actually saw a guy run into another car just while parking and do damage.  It was intense. And I’ve been told almost all cabbies speak English.  Enough you can get around the city.  And there might be like 4 cabbies who don’t.  I have found all 4 of those cabbies.  And their doppelgangers.  The first day, we had trouble getting to school.  Wouldn’t you think, 3 american girls with backacks were obviously looking for the university? Nope.  The word for university and mosque are one long vowel of "A" apart.  Once he figured out where we did want to go, he lectured us on how to pronounce it correctly. Fabulous.  Context clues people!

Side notes...

Things that surprise me…

They drink every thing hot.  Hot hot too, not just warm.  Like the kind that burns my tongue.  Granted I do order my special coffee only heated to 130* or so, whereas most people drink it at 150* and some even hotter.  I’m not sure how… I just want cold juice when its warm out.  The idea of iced coffee or tea astounds them it seems. 

            It also seems they only have certain dishes.  Like in America, we can go weeks without repeating a dinner because we can have Italian, then Mexican, then Chinese, then steak and potatoes, and hot dogs and chicken nuggets…ect.  Where here, having hummus almost daily with rice and a meat dish seems normal.  Not that its all the same, and its almost all good, it just seems to be less options. But maybe thats because they keep feeding me the same special dishes and its to soon to tell.      

           All the girls wear skinny jeans. And clothes are not nearly as strict as people made it sound. No big deal.  More on that later I'm sure. 

            There is so much English.  The street signs are both languages.  There are clothes all over with stuff written in English.  And signs for businesses.  But it is the shirts that take the cake.  I found one that simply says “I love guava”.  What? Random. 

          We went to the Friday market today with Anna, me, Neda, Faize, and Nardeen.  It was the biggest garage sale slash farmers market slash rummage sale slash idk I’ve ever seen.   Clothes, shoes, bags, undergarments, semi-electronics, toys, fresh food, fruit, veggies, jewelry, everything. Craziness.

 And all for under 2 dinar.  Sad thing is, Anna and I don’t know our sizes in European which is what I think most of these were.  So we’ll have to return after looking up online size conversion in pants and shoes in particular, especially since you can’t try on anything first. 

             In a strange note, I think I’m already used to the prayer calls.  I was told I’m living in the oldest part of Amman, which means there are a ton of mosques and churches. So I was concerned the prayer call would be very loud and overwhelming and such.  But it is not.  Mosques blast the prayer call 5 times daily from about 5 am to 9 pm or so.  Even the sounds of the city don’t bother me. And magically, even though my room faces the sun and is a wall of windows, (I think its supposed to be a sunroom) I didn’t wake up to the sun this morning. A miracle.  I woke up because the sun had heated the room substantially by 9 am and I was sweating on top of the blankets. No good. So it goes.

            Anna and I will speak in Spanish to each other, especially when its about something we don’t want to be overheard, like religion or when we don’t like something, like a food.  I hope its not taken as us being rude, but its nice to use my Spanish, which I know so much better than my Arabic. 

           But it is starting to feel normal.  I;m getting my bearing for sure.  Thats a relief like you wouldnt imagine.  :)

My home

So I’m moved into my homestey and I’ve meet my family.  Wow, they are exactly what I was expecting and exactly what I was not.   But I really like them.  I have Baba who works til very late at night, like we’re talking bedtime, he’s getting home from work.  And Mama, who works at a day care.  Then there is Naheel, who is 16 and Nardeen, who is 10.  Nardeen is the biggest bundle of energy. She exhausts me!  But in a very good way.  She is constantly helping me learn more and more and more Arabic.  Just more than I can handle in a day.  But last night she sat and quizzed me over and over about numbers and days of the week and body parts, and again today.  Nardeen also helped me unpack everything, folding all my clothes and carrying my suitcases. 

They have another daughter, Jacqueline, who is 19 and just married like a month ago.  It was an arranged marriage from what I gather.  But according to Faize, a woman who lives in one of the apartment above us and might as well be an aunt, she met him 1 week, got engaged, married a few months later and after being married only 2 months, she loves him.  And Faize was very proud of this.  Faize speaks very good English, which is super reassuring.  In my family, Mama’s English is pretty good; Naheel’s is too. Nardeen, the youngest is either the best or just the most energetic and willing to try.  Baba is a little harder.  But its all good.  I’m getting along fine.

  And then mama’s sister and husband live just next door, in the same building.  And they also have an exchange student, Anna.  So us girls have each other if nothing else!  My aunt Neda is very willing to teach us Arabic too.  (And call off Nardeen when she overwhelms us!) Her husband, (and I can’t recall his name enough to spell it…) doesn’t speak much English.  So that conversation is limited for now.  The two families spend all their time together it seems. And Faise is never far. Every meal and time in between. 

They definitely keep feeding us.  Anna and I got Naheel to teach us how to say “I’m too full!”, as a way to avoid the overstuffing. But it barely works.  And only for like 10 minutes then they try again.  So in all these ways, they are what I expected.

            But they are Christian, and the girls and women all run around in less conservative clothes than I was expecting.  Short sleeves, knee skirts, capris, and tight fitting too.  Plus we were told to always have slippers in the house.   But the sisters don’t.  And to keep our rooms and closets very tidy.  But my sisters’ room has stuff in piles and messy like my room at home.  Well, on a good day…

In the end, I’m really happy I’m in this family.  And having Anna next door is such a blessing.  Between Nardeen and Aunt Neda, my Arabic is going to thrive. Because Neda doesn’t let us speak English if she can help it and Nardeen has too much fun playing teacher. Its gonna be great.

بيتي

Arabic word of the day: ba’it-ee

It means my house, my home.

Arrived in Amman!

Ok… I haven’t slept in days. I’m pretty sure. I’m not going to do the math, lets just say its like 3 AM Michigan time Tuesday and I slept for real Friday.  I slept a few poor hours Saturday.  Flew through the night Sunday.  I should be in bed. Well, I’m sitting in bed at the Belle Vue hotel.  But you know what I mean.  We got though our final flight no problem, and only one girls second suitcase is lost.  So for the most part we all made it perfectly. Customs was nothing.  They X-rayed my bags. Again. These must be amazing X-rays because its seems to be the main force to find things you shouldn’t have. (Amsterdam security check was intense; they did the body scans and pat-downs.  Much more aggressive than elsewhere.)

            So once though all that, we rode though the city out to the hotel.  The city is the strangest mix.  There is desert and palm trees and neon lights on stucco and BMW dealerships.   Cars seemed to be a mix of American and European styles.  But there were constantly cars stopped on the side of the road. For what looked like both picnics and car trouble.  It was…different.

            Checked into the hotel, which is beautiful.  There are bellhops. For real. J Diner and meeting people.  We got our local cell phones. Still gotta figure out how to make those work.  And packets about our homestay families and class schedules. I’ll fill you in on that later.  When I’m more awake. LoL But the girls checking us in were all wearing skinny jeans.  I left mine at home because I was told they were too sexy or tight or whatever. Turns out all the girls wear them and balance it with looser tops. Dang it! I love my skinny jeans. Oh well.  Shopping trip!  Dead sea in the morning. I gotta sleep.  More later. <3

A little later. Still no boarding pass.

OK so we almost went to the wrong airport. Googling Detroit International Airport gives you something other than Metro.  Something that was wrong and about 20 minutes further.  A detail I didn’t notice until 10 minutes before we were supposed to arrive. (Hey, I wasn’t in charge of directions, I assumed the person who printed the MapQuest had my itinerary and all was well.) So I could have easily missed my flight.  That would have sucked. But I didn’t and its all good.  Security was a breeze.  It felt strange. And I was so late, I just walked up to the gate and got in line, and got on the plane.  Close.

So flight number one, I sat next to a pretty cool german guy.  Ben.  He’s 21 on summer holiday visiting a brother in MI. Going to be an engineer. We had great conversation, lots of politic-- I won’t lie.  But also, school and trends and fun and normal stuff.  Turns out Oktoberfest is as amazing as movies make it seem and then some.  He called Beerfest a true representation.  I gotta check this out. Also, raised an interesting point about learning your limits with alcohol before learning how to drive seemed like a more logical pattern.  Watched Prince of Persia. Eh, don’t bother. There weren’t any super appealing movies, but they did have a good list.

So now I’m sitting in the Amsterdam airport, stranded and alone. Its got me a little nervous, but not as bad as I would think. I’ll feel better when I have my boarding pass.  At least I exist then.  But since its 10 AM its beautiful and sunny and perky out.  I’m not. 

Waiting in Amsterdam... without a ticket!

So packing was a disaster.  I had aimed at being done packing by Friday, so I’ve have all of Saturday to relax and review if I forgot anything or could remove anything unnecessary or whatever.  I was still rearranging and packing Sunday after church! I left Sunday night.  I had to leave Muskegon by 2.  It was a mess.

            Anyway, don’t let anyone tell you it’s easy to study abroad. It’s terrifying.  Especially since, right now I’m sitting at the airport in Amsterdam without a ton of critical information.  For instance…

·            *I don’t have my connecting flight boarding pass

·            *I can’t find the girls I’m supposed to be meeting up with to ask them if they have their boarding passes

·            *There is no one at the Royal Jordanian check in desk for another hour.

I don’t  know…

·             *who I’ll be living with for the next 4 months

·             *what my internship will be

Also…

·             *I’m not really sure what time it is.

I mean, do I go off home time for now? Or Amsterdam time? Or jump right to Jordanian time? (Which FYI is 7 hours ahead of Michigan.)

Its 4 AM Michigan time.  10 AM Amsterdam. And 11 AM in Amman.  I haven’t slept yet. And I barely slept yesterday between packing and wanting to hang out.  (By the way, Dad—sorry for not making you aware Andy would be arriving after you went to bed and sleeping on the couch.  I’m told that was a surprise to have a strange man on the couch…everyone else in the house knew. Opps!)

Transportation Security Administration.

So TSA will tell me I can't bring chlorine for pools and spas even in checked baggage...but it can't list ANYWHERE if my deodorant counts as a liquid.  Are you kidding me? I just want a list of typical traveling toiletries that are and are not acceptable.  Shampoo = liquid. Toothpaste = liquid. Pomade = liquid. OK.  TSA tell me, don't make me search Yahoo answers.

Also, Airbags can't be transported in a plane ever.  They're considered explosives. And TSA goes through the effort to tell me I can't bring a hand grenade on the plane. Seriously? Isn't that covered under explosives?

packing

This is a mess. I leave in less than 24 hours.  I'm not packed yet. It might be half done. Idk. There are still clothes I can't find that I want to bring.  I don't know what shoes to pack. I'm not even sure my suitcase is the right size for airline requirements. I need to make sure I have important things like my passport and ticket.  I don't think I'll sleep tonight, and not because of nerves or excitement...but because I'm still packing...

Last weekend at home

My last week in Mt Peaszy til January was AwEsOmE.  I got to hang out with my very best friends in the world.  (Of course, if I didn’t get to see you I’m sorry! Wish I could have! Not enough hours in the day.) Started out with Wares Fare and Fire Up Fest.  Which was a frustrating disaster.  I’m talking to you athletics director! But, onto the Football game, into rain. Plenty of fun.  Watching drunk freshman stumbled around and try to figure out when a key play would be totally made it worth it.  We whooped Hamilton.  But while I’m gone someone’s gonna need to teach this group of freshman guys who stood behind be how to cheer.  Because they seemed to think it acceptable to yell F*** Hamilton for every other cheer.  Please, some one teach these fools a better use of vocabulary and positive encouragement at games.  It was embarrassing.

            But onto a more positive note, Superheroes and Villains Party!  Total success.   Dan and Amber’s joint 21^st birthday party-what a night. I had an excuse to dress up as Sailor Moon.  Keep in mind how slim the pickings are in the category of female superheroes who are not wear full body suits or bikinis. Yeah, I wasn’t playing those games. Dan also had another reason to wear his bacon suit.  Never gonna turn down one of those opportunities.

            Saturday, Liz, Andy, and I visited the Hometown Cellars Winery in Ithica. It’s one of the coolest places around Mid-Michigan.  If you’re bored this semester, go check it out! They make their own wine and beer.  Super delicious fruit and desert wine.  Red and white is good too, I just like the others better. 

            That night, more birthday shenanigans. Including yummy cake. Sunday morning Church.  Lunch with my parents.  Then a long nap under the guise of watching Indiana Jones. ;) Went to see the Expendables. I thoroughly enjoyed the explosions.  And Jason Statham. Hung out and did some low key chilling for the evening.

Monday, Andy and I went down to Utica for Uncle Dave’s 50^th birthday party.  That was so much fun.  I seriously enjoyed his family, as always. Jess got me to help decorate the place with blowup parrots and monkeys and flamingos. Awesome. Tuesday I was supposed to leave, but I had a headache so I stuck around another day.  Its amazing how boring Mt. Pleasant can be until I’m forced to leave.  Right now, there’s no place I’d rather be. Irony sucks.

So home for packing and family. This should be fun.  I am not looking forward to packing.  I’m a chronic overpacker.  Too many variables.  I bring an entire duffle for a weekend at home.  Ridiculous, I know.  This is gonna be a mess. 

Why I didn't go to class on Monday...

      I’m Kryss. I’m going into my senior year of college and decided I didn’t want to miss out on big and exciting opportunities.  So I’m squeezing in a semester of study abroad. (Like really squeezing it in, I actually applied for May graduation just this morning.) I’ll be in Amman, Jordan studying at the University of Jordan.  I’ll be studying Arabic language and culture. 

     Why Jordan, you ask?  One of my majors is Political Science with a concentration in International Relations and a special interest in the Middle East.  Did ya follow that? So I think I want to work in the Middle East but I figure spending a semester there for school, when I know I can come home afterward is a better test of that than getting a job and moving around the world. It’s a bit more intense than moving to Chicago only to find you hate deep-dish pizza. My other major is Broadcast and Cinematic Arts. It doesn’t really apply to our purposes here, but I like it. My home college is Central Michigan University. It's an awesome place and I wouldn’t have gone anywhere else. 

        I leave in under three weeks so everything is starting to feel real.  Classes started today for all my friends and I just watched them go get syllabi, while I applied for my Visa. That was confusing. You send in an application, your passport, and a money order application fee to the embassy.  (Yes, my passport! Makes me nervous just thinking that it isn’t safely locked up where I can reach it!) The form asks for the place that issued your passport. But your passport doesn’t really say…mine says US Dept. of State.  Not super helpful, since that’s where all US passports are officially issued.  Apparently, the old form of passports had a telltale number in your ID that identified which region it came from. No longer. And Michigan used to all go through Chicago. No longer. So I tried to ask the postal workers at the post office, since they do passports there.  I got blank stares and a 1-800 number.  Awesome.  Turns out, my passport probably came from Denver.  So said the lady on the other end of the 1-800 number. I think. Well, I hope since that’s what I wrote down.  Anyway, the postal workers were laughing and joking (about Men in Black and aliens in the post office and missing mail...) and didn’t seem to quite know what they were doing…which only made me more nervous as I’m sending out my passport! I think it all ended up working out ok.  Oh yeah, and you send a return envelope so you get your passport back.  Key part to this whole thing.  

     So with the visa, Jordan’s are only good for a month, so we had to wait till close to departure to apply.  Then, once we’re in the country, the university works it out so that our visa is good for the semester.  Sounds tricky.  But the visa application also says its good for 3 months and its not.  Also tricky. So before I leave, I really just have to wait for my visa to arrive. 

     I pretty much work a few more days and have time to spend with friends. I have some movies I’d like to watch and a game of disc golf I’ve been promised. I’m hoping to have plenty of time to pack, unpack, and repack…since I’m still not really sure what I’m bringing. I’ll have an update on that later…headaches and all as I weigh my luggage on the bathroom scale and then try to take stuff out that I want but don’t really need.  Wish me luck!

Yay

Yaaaay