I've Reached the Halfway Point

Well I'm a little over halfway through my time in Jordan and I'm seriously going to miss this place so much. I didn't think I was going to love it here as much as I do. I can't wait to come back inshallah.

On a lighter note this past week has been pretty fun and exciting despite having to go to class everyday and some unexpected events. This week I went downtown twice! Once to pick out a fancy abaya, but it was too big so I had to get it altered. So the second time, which was today, I picked it up! It is so beautiful!! I love it and can't wait to wear it! I also went with some of the ISA members to smoke shisha on Wednesday. We now call Wednesday "Shisha Wednesday", I'm definitely going to have to bring that back to the states! Also this week we had our first optional lecture about Palestine. The man who taught the lecture, Levi, is from a very small island in Canada and has lived and worked in Jordan for a few years. He is very knowledgeable about the situation. I'm hoping I can learn some new information to bring back to SJP at SDSU.

Finally after a long week of class and other adventures a friend that I met at the East West Forum, Michael, had his birthday party tonight! It was a surprise party in a park by Duwar Al-Paris. So many people from the East West Forum came! It was so awesome to see everyone again and to celebrate the birthday of a new friend. After the party Leah, Anndrea and I went to Ghadeer's house to see her family again and to eat! Her mom made kusa and batinjaan! It was so delicious! Ghadeer's mother is an amazing cook mashallah. We also went for a nice walk around the neighborhood and relaxed on the patio...the perfect way to end a long week.
Here are a few pictures from this week...

 Downtown at the fruit and vegetable market

 Knafeh from the best place in Jordan, Habibah! 

 Our view for Shisha Wednesday!

Arabic ice cream :D

 Yes, I went to Habibah twice in one week. I love knafeh!!

 Well when we were going to Michael's party tonight there was not enough seats in the car so Ryan and I ended up sitting in the trunk...

 We had to duck multiple times to make sure the police didn't see us and the armed guards on streets. It was quite the adventure!

 

 Kusa and Batinjaan!!!

 The kusa was amazing! I haven't had it this good in a very long time!

 The beautiful pattern on my new abaya :)

Another week over and start to the weekend. Tomorrow most of the ISA group will be going to Wadi Rum where we will ride camels, watch the sunset, and sleep in tents in the middle of the desert! Everyone says it is one of the best places to visit in Jordan! Then on Saturday we will be going to Petra for the day! I'm so excited for this weekend, its going to be amazing inshallah. I won't have internet access for a couple of days, so I'll be posting when I get back!

Weekend and Dead Sea Adventures

Hello!! This weekend was packed full of fun adventures!
On Thursday night I along with some other ISA students went out to Rainbow Street and met up with some of our Jordanian friends and other internationals. First we went to the best falafel place called Falafel Al-Quds. It was so yummy! I will for sure need to go back there before I leave. After falafel we went to an ice cream shop called Gerard's. I had the best milkshake I've ever had in my life!! Actually, pretty much everything I eat here in Jordan is the best, the food is amazing! Anyways, after ice cream we went to meet up with more friends at a cafe called Old View Cafe. We had shisha on the rooftop where there is an awesome view of Amman.
Here are a couple pictures...

 

Leah, Anndrea and I at Old View Cafe

 

 Gerard's!!!

Old View Cafe

Friday was spent with the Shahin family! I went over to Randa's mothers house for a BBQ with the family. It was great to see everyone again and the food was delicious! We then went back to Randa's house and Mayce helped me with my Arabic homework which was horribly hard. We also went to Taj Mall for a little with a few of Mayce's friends. Later at night Randa had a BBQ at her house and after Mayce and I went to a party at her friends house. The party was pretty fun, Mayce's friends were very nice! I then stayed the night at the Shahin household...sleeping in a comfortable bed again felt amazing!!

Here a pictures from Friday...

 View from the terrace

  Hanging out on the terrace

Now for today...Dead Sea!! Today I went to the Dead Sea for the first time! It was such a good experience! The whole ISA group went down to the Dead Sea and hung out at the Holiday Inn Resort for the day. First we went straight into the Dead Sea. The water was so weird!! I could float without even trying, there was a film of salt that you could see and there was clay at the bottom! After swimming for a little we all covered ourselves in the clay! It felt so weird, but it made our skin feel so soft!! After we finished at the sea we went to the pool for a little and then to lunch. The food was so good! It was great to have some resort food! After lunch we hung out at the pool until sunset. Even though we missed the sunset because we were taking showers we still got to hang out on the terrace and see the beautiful sky. The Dead Sea was quite the experience!

Here are a few pictures from the Dead Sea...

 Maegan was so excited to be at the Dead Sea!

 The Dead Sea is so beautiful mashallah

 Amazing view :)

 Getting excited for the swim!

 Beach time!

 Clearly Maegan and I could not control our emotions haha

 About to get into the sea!

 All of us floating in the Dead Sea!!

It was so much fun!

 All of us caked in mud!

 Facial at the Dead Sea ;)

 Mashallah

 The pool

 

 

Well that seems safe...

 

 The camel just chilling at the resort

 Sunset!

 Gazing off into the sea :)

 

 You can see Palestine across the sea!

 

 Gazing again :)

 Palestine <3

   Even my iPhone knew it was hot today...

This weekend was full of close friends and lots of fun! It was great to spend time with everyone and going to the Dead Sea was amazing! But it's back to school tomorrow. The Jordanian students start next week so campus will be pretty full. I'm excited to meet more Jordanians! I'm off to get some rest, Ma Salama!  

Random Adventures!

Hello everyone! I'm almost done with my first week of school and I couldn't be more happier! This week has been challenging, but hamdillah I have roommates and my advisor, Ghadeer, to help me out whenever I need it. Even though I'm on campus from 8-3 and I have at least 2 hours of homework every night, I've still found time to go on adventures! Yesterday a few of my friends and I went to Duwar Al-Paris and smoked shisha after class at Jafra. We had a great time hanging out and relaxing after a long day full of class. We also went to a local t-shirt shop called Jo-Badu that makes parody t-shirts and other small items that reflect Ammani and Jordanian culture. I got a couple of people presents from there!

Today after school Ghadeer invited Leah, Anndrea and I over to her house for dinner! Her mother and sister made us grape leaves with chicken. It was so amazingly good! After we all ate dinner Ghadeer got out her makeup and did mine and Leah's makeup. She did an amazing job on both of us, I want her to do my makeup everyday!! We also got to witness one of the coolest things in Jordanian culture...so we were all sitting outside and we hear a bunch of cars honking. We looked over the wall and we found out the cars were here for a wedding! The bride lived two doors down from Ghadeer's house and her groom was coming to pick her up! Now in Jordan when people get married the groom will come to the house to pick up the bride and then they go together to the big wedding party. Ghadeer's mom made us all go down to the brides house and we got to meet her and her family! There were so many people in the house and on the street singing and shouting for the new couple. It was really a cool thing to experience! I've come to love the Jordanian culture quite a lot over the past two weeks, its so interesting and exciting!

Here are a few random pictures from the past couple of days...

 Studying hard or hardly studying...

 Oh my, Maegan's pants can pretty much fit my whole body! 

 My little community

 Saudi milk :p

 I usually don't eat here, but its so much better in Jordan!!

 Well I'm in Jordan so naturally I read Arabic newspapers

 Yay for halal fries!

 Mayce is so good to me haha :p

 No horns on campus?

According to Anndrea the best cherries come from East Amman!

Even though I started classes and they can be challenging, I still love being in Amman and traveling around Jordan. This is truly the experience of a lifetime! I'm so thankful I was given the opportunity to come here, hamdillah :) 

Ending the East West Forum and Starting School

The past couple of days have been kind of been depressing. With the end of the East West Forum tonight and starting school yesterday the reality of actually studying while being in Jordan has sunk in. As I stated in my previous post the East West Forum was an amazing experience! Tonight we had the final meeting where they presented every participant with a certificate and a small gift. We also had the opportunity to write notes to our new friends and say things we appreciate about them. I was surprised at all of the positive messages I received and all the love that was showed towards me. People who are part of the East West Forum are really like a family and I'm so happy to be a part of it. It was hard to say goodbye to the friends that are leaving Jordan within the next couple of days, but inshallah I will see the Jordanians and other internationals who are staying before I leave!
Here are a couple of pictures from tonight...

 The amazing songwriter wrote a song for us out of the poems we made about friendship :)

 Anndrea and I being sassy ;)

 Micky from the UK :)

 My new sister Rawan <3

 Micky, Hannah and I eating the best dessert ever! 

 Um Ali!! Its so good!

Another new sister Aya :)

And Derek photo bombing!

Well I have a feeling some of my blog posts will be rather boring now due to the fact I have school from 8 until 12:20 and I don't leave campus until 3. The school is nice and my professors are good so far. I'm excited to meet new Jordanians and meet up with friends when the summer secession starts next week! As for now my roommates and I have resorted to some silly things to keep us entertained like going to Macdonald's for lunch and by the way its so much better here than in the US! We also tend to laugh at the small things like cold showers, crazy washing machines, and tying to plug in laptops.

 The lengths Rosalynd will go to get her laptop to work...

 Well the battery is useless!

Clearly the nice sitting room is the place for the drying rack...

Its back to school tomorrow which means waking up at 6:20 to catch the bus at 7:20. I'll be posting later on this week! I will be hanging out with the Shahin family on Friday then going to the Dead Sea Saturday!!