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.  :)