Update

Our trip to Amman yielded quite a few good things: wonderful pictures, good steak, gifts for a few special people back home, and another great experience to add to the book. Our cab driver on the way down explained to me that he had three wives, whom he referred to as madams, with ten kids. I couldn’t tell if he was kidding and really don’t think he was. Who knows, it made for some good conversation as he asked me if any of the girls on the trip with us (Antonia, Katharine, and Sarah) were my “madam.” I explained they were not, and he seemed baffled by they prospect of me being “only friends” with the girls. There were also two Sri Lankan ladies in the mini-bus with us. One lady stayed on the phone the entire time and got all up in Sarah’s space, as she explained once we arrived to Amman. Oh, and at one point I was employed as a make shift parking brake. We pulled over to let the Sri Lankans out and my friend, the bus driver, said: “You’re foot, here!” while pointing at the brake. After getting over the initial confusion, I happily placed my foot on the brake to keep us from rolling away.

The hotel, more of a hostel, we stayed in only cost each of us 7JD (about $10) for the night and it included wireless, a semi-working shower, and free breakfast. I’d say that’s a pretty good deal. No air conditioning, but you seem to get over that luxury while visiting other countries. It also makes you feel a little dumb for your insistence upon air conditioning in the states… I mean, most of the time (except 100 degree/100% humidity summer days in Mississippi), a fan and an open window will do the trick. Sorry for insisting upon 70 degrees at the house, Dad. I’m learning.

What else? Just two days ago one of the guys from another group, Akhram, whose family is from Irbid invited us to his family home for dinner. His mom cooked a wonderful meal, actually the national dish of Jordan: mansaf. It’s lamb cooked over rice with a fermented yogurt sauce. May not sound appealing, but it was actually really delicious after I got over the amount on bones/fat present in the meat. We were then served cake, fruit, and coffee; all Arabic style, of course. It was great to get a look at home life in Jordan and I enjoyed myself thoroughly. I think they want to invite us back and know we would happily accept the invitation!

For those who care, mainly my parents, I made a 9.5 out of 10 on our first test! Hopefully I can keep it up because we have three more tests over the next few days. We’ve been here for about 2 weeks and have about 7 left, which seems like such a long time! Definitely starting to miss a few things about home…

Best news of the week would be that I think we’re going to the Dead Sea this weekend. It’s probably the thing I look forward to the most, although I’ve heard it’s not the nicest place in the world. Still an experience. I’ll keep trying to upload pictures, but no promises.

! سلام

اسكندر