Random Stories and the Countdown to Spring Break

Spring Break starts Friday and I can't wait to go to Dubai and sit on the beach and wear shorts!

Random Stories:

1) This week, I learned why the gym closes when the machines are being serviced. It's because men service the machines and none of the women can work out because their hair would be uncovered or they might be wearing a t-shirt. When they serviced the machines this week, the area was blocked off but I asked to go in and it was a few westerners with one Jordanian who was wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt. I was perfectly fine in my spandex capris and spandex top but the trainers in the gym were wearing their hijabs because men were present.

2) It mid-terms week so I took a midterm Sunday morning only to get it back Tuesday with a -_- face on it. As my professor handed it back, he announced that I did terribly and I must not have studied. I told him I did study and he said I must not have studied well. In front of the whole class. I was very frustrated, especially after seeing my grade - B+. And unfortunately, that's pretty normal for Jordanians. The will tell you whether you're fat, ugly, stupid, whatever. One of the host moms of a student in the program told my friend she was too tall to be pretty. Just another cultural lesson. 

3) I continue to be fed too much. Last Friday my family had a BBQ and I was fed so much food. I had 2 chicken kabobs, 2 meat kabobs, a pita bread that was filled with meat and grilled, eggplant, and tabbouleh. I was so stuffed. Even on a normal day-to-day basis I am offered a lot of food. I generally eat a small dinner and Lama, the maid, keeps telling me to "Eat, eat!" I tried to explain that although all the food is delicious, there's just simply too much. Especially because I know after dinner there will be some sort of dessert plus tea and maybe other sweets depending on the company. Since extended family is over quite a bit, I can always count on some type of food being offered around 8 or 9pm in addition to normal dinner. 

Towards the end of the meal at the BBQ

4) I went on an adventure last Friday to Al-Mafraq. My friend Steven, who's host family is related to mine, invited me to go stargazing or something of the sort with his peer tutor. So we met up and got tickets (discounted for students) to some planetarium thing. I'm still not sure what it was exactly, but I think we were supposed to be seeing a comet. As it happens, the bus to take all the students failed to show up so we went in cars after getting our refund. I was with Steven, his peer tutor, and two other guys who were friends of the peer tutor. The vast majority of the students were male and I was feeling a little uncomfortable because it's very unusual in Jordan for a girl to be hanging out with a bunch of guys (even though there were about four other girls). So we started driving and about an hour in I start to see signs for the Syrian border. At the same time, I had the thought that the landscape (which was barren) would be perfect if you needed to get rid of a dead body. About 30 seconds after I thought this, what should come up in our headlights? A random guy with a shovel. I felt quite nervous. Finally, we got to our destination and it's a huge party. Everybody and their brother was sitting, talking, smoking argeela and having a good time. I ended up having a wonderful time and was very glad I went. 

Al-Mufraq - it was packed.

Handstand perfectly aligned with the Jordanian flag!

 Lanterns

5) Last Saturday there was a program trip to Ajloun, north of Amman. We toured the Ajloun Castle, went hiking in the Ajloun nature reserve, saw a soap factory (factory is a loose term), learned about calligraphy and ate a wonderful lunch. It was a nice break from the city and a great time.

The view from the top of the castle

Soap from the soap factory

Hiking in the Ajloun Nature Reserve 

Calligraphy

6) I had class at a cafe last week and I had to take a taxi to get there. We get to 2nd Circle (I needed to go to 1st Circle) and my taxi driver asks me if I want to get out there because there's too much traffic to drive me all the way. It was 80+ degrees and my walk from 2nd Circle would've been at least 20-30 minutes to get to the cafe. I told him no. I was just so surprised that he even asked me that. I was paying him to drive me to my destination, not 2/3 of the way there.