1 AM Again

Tuesday was my day off, and it was fabulous. Shereen, Emily, everyone else and I walked from coffee shop to hookah bar to restaurant, sipping coffee, smoking shishah, and eating falafel/mango puree/baba ganouj. Also, I got my scholarship check deposited in my account! I was able to pay off my Dad for my taxes + plane ticket loan, pay my Houghton rent in advance for the entire summer, pay off my credit card, and still have a SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT left over. Like, I'm thinking enough for a trip to Egypt, maybe. Also, I went for a mini-shopping spree at ZARA. Best. Store. Ever. I got two shirts and a gorgeous pair of shoes.

Since it was Jordanian independence day, we went to King Hussein Gardens for an Independence Day Celebration. It was a riot! I have never seen so many excited Jordanians in my entire life. They were dancing and clapping and waving flags, and they were ALL decked out in their red-and-white-checked scarves (kind of like the one you see Yasser Arafat wearing, except it actually symbolizes Jordanians). I love traditional Jordanian music. The only unfortunate part is that the exuberant dancing is left to the men - the women just watch and clap. Kind of lame. Funny story - I walked up to a group of dancing guys to get a few pictures, and my friend's host mom actually walked up and pulled me away! I guess it's considered dangerous to get close to dancing men, but they didn't seem scary to me. They were all smiles and were pretty much fighting to get in front of the camera. I guess that was my "crazy American" moment of the day. For pictures, see my Flickr.

Today it was back to the grind, and boy, is it a grind. I officially know the entire Arabic alphabet, which means that I can read aloud any Arabic script I see and write down any word I hear(in theory). But let's not forget...Arabic is HARD. Imagine a language with two different kinds of D's, T's, K's, S's, H's, and TH's...spelling is so difficult, because I'm not good at telling the difference between the "soft" and "hard" consonants yet. That being said, Shereen, my Arabic-extraordinaire classmate (It's her parents' native language, she has an advantage) says that she is impressed and so are the teachers, and that I'm progressing quickly. I hope so. My brain feels jam-packed. I guess that's how it's supposed to feel. I feel lost sometimes, but I'm working my butt off and getting into it.

*Cough, cough*. I'm not sure if I've contracted a virus or if it's all of the smoking in the house, but I'm hacking up a storm. I spoke to my host mother about it, and she said she was so sorry and that they would start smoking outside on the balcony only. Still feels a bit like a cold, however. We shall see.

Since I'm feeling sickly and I had a METRIC TON of homework tonight, I was looking forward to just going home, doing my homework, and crashing early/having some free time. Madam Al'Araj picked me up from class at 3, and no joke, we were not home until 6:15. There was quite a long list of stops...I never want to hear the phrase "just ten minutes!!!" ever again.

That being said, the Al'Araj family are some darn good people. They seem to have been inspired by my pinings for Rosalie. We're getting a cat!! After about an hour of expressing my concern that they're only getting it for me, that it's a big responsibility, that they can't just neglect it once I leave, etc. etc., I was reassured that the whole family really does want a cat and that once she is trained up, Joud will make a very good pet owner. =)

Well, I have to get up in 5.5 hours (FML), but I cleaned my room, showered, and did every homework assignment to my best ability. I hope I'm not still all scratchy-throated tomorrow.

Ma-Salaama,

Kaye