I DESPERATELY need to do homework but I'm a few days overdue so I'll be quick.
JERASH--I went on wednesday with Jourdan, Colin, and Dan. Notice something about that group? But it was fine; because we were going to such a touristy area I didn't feel awkward travelling with all guys. It was a BLAST!!!!! The bus ride was good and uneventful; you really do feel looked after as a woman in this country. Like whenever a woman walks onto a public bus, the men move around so she's not sitting next to an unrelated man (not in the family/married). It actually feels quite safe. Jerash had some AMAZING ruins and it was a lot of fun walking around with the 3 boys. It was amusing how we knew we were being very touristy, and made fun of ourselves every time we posed for a picture etc, but it was fun and we did it and enjoyed it. We also saw an...education reenactment of the Romans, learning about the army's formations and weapons, saw a gladiator fight, and a chariott race. All for the bargain price of JD 5! not a tourist attraction at all, nooooo, the real thing! It was one of those things that you have to see once in your life, and it's so godawful it's hilariously wonderful. I'm going back here with Molly and mom when they come up (though I'm not seeing the show again; once is enough!).
SUK--the next day was the first day the suk was open since Eid and like every other family in Amman, we had no fresh fruits and vegetables. So I went with Amal, Shireen, Laith and Tala to al-Balad (downtown) which includes the largest and oldest produce suk. It was NUTS!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so glad I wasn't the one doing the buying; I couldn't do anything but stare around wide-eyed and meekly follow Shireen and Amal as they bargained and bought. I can't WAIT until I can understand what everyone's saying! It drives me nuts that I can't! I also had the first falafel; Shireen bought us all some from a small hole-in-the-wall shop that "she knows is clean so they're very good." Cleanliness, especially from restaurants, is very important either here or to this family. I've heard many times that I should only go to certain restaurants/food joints because Shireen knows that they wash their hands and wash the vegetables etc; some places don't.
MADABA--also wonderful. This time the group was me, Jourdan, Colin, Jo, Rose, Joanna, and Simone. We caught the bus and then had to wait 20 minutes for another to come because ours broke down en-route; quite the experience. Then bargained for a taxi to take us up to Mt. Nebo (where Moses died), and it waited for an hour while we looked around then took us back. Nebo's really nice; has a great view of Jordan and Israel. OH MY GOD you can tell why the Jews wanted it. Even though it doesn't look as impressive as it once did I'm sure, it's still very green compared to Jordan. I can imagine, after wandering in the desert for 40 years, it would've looked really appealing. We got back to Madaba, saw St. George's Cathedral, and the rest of us wandered around looking at shops while Jourdan prayed in the Mosque. Until all the Palestinian, Syrian, Iraqian, etc refugees came in to Jordan, Madaba was a completely Christian town. I think that's really cool. Anyway, I didn't want to look into the store everyone was shopping at, so I wandered into next door and was invited to tea by the owner. And when everyone came looking for me he invited them in as well. And we talked and spent the rest of the time while Jourdan was praying socializing with him and looking around his shop. He sold mainly hand-embroidered clothes and tableclothes and scarves and etc. They were really works of art. When I go back to Madaba (we didn't come close to seeing everything that was there) I'm going to visit him again. We had lunch, and tried to see the mosque. To do so all the girls covered our heads with various scarves; but it didn't matter because the mosque was locked. Turns out they close 10 minutes after prayer ends so the building's not taken over by various groups. Country policy I believe.
Today I was back in school *sigh*. My MSA class has gotten MUCH better, though that may be because I'm more used to his accent, teaching style, and handwriting; and also because I worked on our new reading over break with Amal. The two of us sat down and I read each paragraph, then she helped me translate it by giving me single words I didn't know and then full sections only if I couldn't figure it out myself. I wrote it all down so I'll be able to know for the next quiz. Yay I did something he asked for but most people forgot about, and showed him and he said I'll get extra points next class when he checks it! That'll make up for the first quiz we took, where I got 1.5/5 points. (Ouch!) I got really annoyed afterwards because I went to The Ten Forms club, which is supposed to teach gramar and the 10 forms of Arabic, and instead we had to listen to a boring passage and did NO grammar and the teacher didn't speak English! Supposedly this is only because our real teacher is out of town, so I'm going to give the club one more week before I drop it. I want to and need to learn this stuff but I refuse to sit for an hour and be confused and frustrated when I have to do the same thing on Tuesdays at 8 in the morning!! No!! I'm so excited, though; clubs start this week which means I'll learn calligraphy!! I've been looking forward to this since I learned this club was an option. And then on Thursday there's the culture club, which will teach everything from cooking to dancing and I don't know what else. That one you don't have to sign up for so I'll go when I'm interested in the topic.
Jerash
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