adjustments

I moved to college when I was 17 and made the adjustment just fine. In fact, I was more than fine; I met amazing people and truly have lifelong friendships and memories. I studied abroad in Morocco for a summer and made the adjustments there as well: fell in love with beautiful people and a beautiful culture, had a family, great friends, and learned a lot about myself. I learned to be independent and how to travel whilst alone. After I graduated from college I worked a full time job until I moved to Jordan for a year. I had the most amazing experience and wouldn't have traded that year or anything that happened during that year for anything. I found six best friends that I know I can count on for the rest of my life.

Now that I'm back in the United States, I have found that the hardest adjustment in my life so far is moving...home.

i'm back

My life has been rather drab. It is quite a shellshock to go from living in Jordan with my best friends, studying Arabic, tutoring English, constant traveling, laying out by the Dead Sea, etc. to living with my parents. Or in the words of Harold and Kumar:
Kumar: You're worthless.
Harold: I'm not worthwhile.

My typical [not worthwhile] days go a little something like this:

1 - Wake up at the earlybird time of 10:53am. Facebook for a while, obvi.

2 - Attempt to apply for some sort of job. My standards are a bit low at the moment as I applied at Ultimate Tan this morning.

3 - Physical therapy session, enough said. Having a dislocated knee is awful, if only I could walk like a normal person.

4 - Met my Mom at Sholem Pool for a little sun. Came to the realization that I actually don't love kids all that much. Not that I hate them, but being surrounded by hundreds of them is almost like my hell.

5 - Nap.

6 - Dad wakes me up for dinner. Today he woke me up and asked if I would like Mexican. Margaritas? Cheese dip? Fajitas? Is this even a question Dad? Yes.

7 - Post-dinner, watched a movie with Dad.

8 - And here we are.

So to sum up, life is good.

shzm

There was a time
I thought, that you did everything right
No lies, no wrong
Boy I, must've been outta my mind

Thank God you blew it
Thank God I dodged the bullet
I'm so over you

I wanted you bad
I'm so through with it
Cuz honestly you turned out to be the best thing I never had
You turned out to be the best thing I never had

You don't deserve my tears
I guess that's why they ain't there
When I think that there was a time that I almost loved you
You showed your ass and I saw the real you

Thank God I found the good in goodbye

to read or not to read?

I have realized that with my time closing here in Jordan, I still have 9 books left to read. Unfortunately, I have only just about a month left here. What to do? I don't want to lug the books around with me through Europe and then onward to the States. So, I am starting a challenge with myself to finish these 9 books before I leave. If I do so, I think I will reward myself with 9 straight days of Jimmy John's (which will probably happen anyway regardless of if I complete my challenge or not).



Of course I could be reading right now instead of writing this blog post, but here we go. Let the reading begin...

i got it from my momma

the wall that separates us all

**These are from the wall that separates Jerusalem from Bethlehem (part of Palestine). It is also a barrier that keeps Palestinians from entering Jerusalem, Israel.

al-kuds

S and I just spent a beautiful four-day weekend in Al-Kuds (Jerusalem in Arabic). Of course we traveled around to Bethlehem and the West Bank as well, but my favorite morning was our last one spent in Jerusalem. We woke up at the wee hour of 5:30a to go to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. We had gone the day before, but the line had been outrageously long to see Jesus' tomb so we went back early in the morning to be able to see it without the crowds.


It was surreal to be praying over the Jesus' tomb next to a nun at 6a.


Then we strolled through the souk over to the Dome of the Rock. We also wanted to be there early enough to see it without massive crowds. As you can tell, we were really excited to be the first ones in line...

to all the douchebags in my life...

marathon

Yesterday me, Tom and Eric spent the day from 2pm until 12:30am marathoning a classic movie: Scream. It was the epitome of perfection: we ate junk food and popcorn all day, ordered yemini food for dinner and reveled in being 'scared.'



Scream 1:
Why do you have a cellular device, son? - Sheriff Burke

Scream 2:
Jesus Gail, you have more lives than a cat. Nothing like reporting from the trenches eh? - Cotton Weary

Scream 3:
I can't pick a favorite quote from this one, but I can pick a favorite scene: when the 'killer' throws his knife at Dewey and the wrong side hits him in the head. Seriously, if you haven't seen it -- youtube it.

Scream 4:
Your lemon squares taste like ass. - Gail Weathers

perfect afternoon

Sarah and I are currently spending our Friday (in case my loyal readers have forgotten--thanks Mom--Friday afternoons are like Saturday afternoons since our weeks run Sunday-Thursday) afternoon in the best way I could ever imagine.

It has been raining all day, but it ceased for a moment so S and I made a quick trip to the store to stock up on supplies: shwarma, fries, chocolate, ice cream, soda, and anything else fattening we could get on our hands on. However, while at the store it began to hail! Hard. We were stuck there for a while but finally the hail turned into rain and, with our supplies in hand, we made a quick dash back to our apartment. Now we're enjoying ourselves by watching Pride and Prejudice beneath a blanket and filling our tummies.

I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine.

cabbies

Everyday I have this same conversation with cab drivers...and everyday it annoys the hell out of me. I'm not exactly sure why it annoys me so much, but it does...

Cab driver: Are you visiting Jordan?
Me: No, I'm living here.
CB: Oh! How do you like Jordan?
Me: It's really nice.
CB: Welcome to Jordan!!
Me: Thank you.
CB: Where are you from?
Me: I'm from Chicago.
CB: America?
Me: Yes.
CB: I have a sister that lives near there!
Me: Mm, that's nice.
CB: She has been there for 5 years, I want to go visit but haven't gone yet. You know, money and visa issues are a big problem here.
Me: Mmm.
CB: Are you working or studying in Jordan?
Me: Studying arabic.
CB: Good, good. Do you study at the university?
Me: No, I study at a language center near Duar Medina.
CB: Mmmm. Well, welcome to Jordan!!
Me: Thank you.

arab lit

Today my arab lit class got cancelled. So instead of discussing the ins and outs of arabic culture and symbolism (in arabic, might I add), I am writing this blog post and am on the verge of watching yet another Gilmore Girls episode. I should be using this time wisely to go to the gym or do some homework, but lying in bed is just all too tempting today. I'm off to my veg session, but before I go I will leave you with a picture from the King Abdullah Mosque that my roommates and I visited this past weekend:

jordan rally

Hanging out with Arabs and watching car races in the desert was definitely a once in a lifetime experience.

the water saga

We have had just about the worst luck ever with water in our apartment. It all started when we first moved in, and we always ran out of water really fast. (In Jordan, you get weekly refills of water to a tank on the top of the building. Generally every apartment has their own tank, when it runs out the haris (landlord) has to flip a switch to refill your tank from a spare tank in the basement. Usually everyone's tanks are refilled anywhere from Friday - Sunday of every week. Exciting stuff eh?)

Anyway, we would start running out of water on Tuesdays and had no idea why. None of us were taking extremely long showers four times a day and we never had enough water to do laundry. However there was always an excessive amount of water on the kitchen floor and in S and C's bathroom. Once we mentioned this to our haris, he came over to look at the situation. Ah yes, he said as if the problem was blatant. The washing machine (in the kitchen) and the toilet were both leaking and needed to have pipes fixed. Since everything operates of Jordanian time (read: slow), it took about a week to get both of these issues fixed. Not to mention, that in the process of "fixing" the toilet the haris just left a hose unplugged so that toilet was broken for a week. But at least our water issues were resolved, or so we thought...

Then our electricity kept shorting and we had to flip the switch basically all the time. There were a few days when we were flipping it at least 10 times a day, not safe. Finally the haris and a person from our school came to have a look. Come to find out, there was water inside of the water heater and it was making the electricity spark. They 'fixed' it, but alas another week later there were more problems. Eventually we needed to get a new water heater, which meant that while they were replacing the old one we didn't have hot water for a few days.

However, our new water heater doesn't really heat the water. Our brand new water heater keeps water steaming hot to the point where it is burning your skin for a full 12 minutes, and after these 12 minutes the water is freezing again.

A few days ago, our water pressure completely dropped where only small dribbles would come out of the sink at any given time. We though we had just run out of water so we called our haris to refill it. He said he did, but the water pressure was still really bad. So he gave our pipes a look and our water pump had a burst pipe. So they turned off our water in order to fix the problem which left us without water for about two days at this point. Eventually the plumber came, but the day he came he realized he couldn't fix it without some parts and would hopefully be back the next day. Not the best phrasing when you've been without water for 3 days already. So the water finally got fixed today, just a mere two hours ago. So our 3-month bad water saga is over, at least for now...

love

I'll admit it, I am one of those people that like Valentine's Day; this is probably due to the 3 years I worked at Hallmark. Sure, it's kind of a crap holiday but it's always fun to spend a day of the year with the one you love and just celebrating the simple fact that you have love for one another. I used to LOVE this holiday, but I think i've become a bit more desensitized since my high school beau days.

One year the boy I was seeing showed up at my door (without me knowing), had a box of chocolates and a personalized rap in hand. He proceeded to rap about his love for me. Aah, those were the days. (This just so happens to be the same boy who grabbed my hand at my birthday party and had me run away with him to his car where he had a kitten with a bow around it's neck waiting for me.) Another year I was really sick and my more steady boyfriend showed up at my house with a bunch of flowers and candy and watched movies in bed with me until we fell asleep.

Valentine's Day isn't really the same in Amman as it is in the States. So the normal 7 of us, who all don't have people to share the holiday with or our significant others aren't in the same country right now, spent the night eating fajitas together and playing drinking games at my apartment. Perfection.

Anyway, Happy Valentine's Day to all my reader(s)! Hope you had a good day celebrating with your loved ones. I know I did, as my current loved ones are 7 other people I live with and couldn't imagine spending the day without them!

four things

I recently read a news article about a man who lived in Gaza while it was attacked by Israel. It was unreal to read some of the things him and his family went through. Afterward he went through a great time of depression, he couldn't leave the house and overall couldn't socially function with others. He allowed himself to be glued to the TV being constantly downtrodden by protests, rioting and violence.

Eventually his sister knew that he needed to get out of the house and really start living his life, so she sent him to a shrink. The shrink asked him what made his life happy, what made each day of his life worth living. He came up with four small things that make his daily life worthwhile and happy. Coffee, books, beans and rice, and emails. Four simple things that made his life happy.

Here are the four simple things in life that make my life happy:

1) The beach. There is quite possibly no place I would rather be than the beach. Being at the beach makes me feel like I'm reconnecting with the earth in some sort of spiritual, hippy way.

2) Pasta. I could eat past for every meal for the rest of my life, and be completely content.

3) Housing blogs. I love looking at pictures of beautifully decorated homes, cottages and beach houses especially ones that have gorgeous staircases.

4) Coffee. Not to copycat this man in any way, but I truly love coffee as well. Nothing feels quite as bad when I have a white mocha latte or caramel macchiato in hand.

why so syria - damascus

In November, me and four other friends traveled to Syria for our Eid break. The culture in Syria is absolutely fantastic, and I loved being there. Traveling in Syria for 12 days I actually saved money because Syria is so cheap compared to Jordan. We did so much that there is no way I could blog about everything in one post, so I'll break it up into cities. First: Damascus.


After our unnecessarily long pit-stop at the border, we got to Damascus around midnight when we were expected to get there around 8. Our host, Josh, was out with friends so instead of going to his apartment we went straight to a bar. Ended up crazy dancing until 4 in the morning.


Umayyad mosque at night.




Umayyad mosque during the day.

The rest of these pictures are mainly from walking around the souqs in Damascus: eating chocolate crescent rolls for breakfast, drinking endless cups of fresh-squeezed pomegranate juice (Miriam was loving it), visiting other mosques, having pizza and wine for dinner, meeting random new friends, etc.







Spice market in Souq Hamadiya.








Sarah and I made friends with this man. We went into his store at least 3 times to haggle with him, and finally on the third time we bothered him enough that he brought down his prices on some pillowcases we were buying for our families.


This last picture portrays how Syria feels about Israel. This metal Israeli flag has been anchored to the ground in one of the main souqs in Damascus so everyday thousands of people walk over it as a sign of disrespect.

chili a la arab

Today just felt like one of those days for chili: its chilly and rainy outside, i'm a bit tired and have a big workload for the night. So after class I went to the grocery store to pick up the ingredients. Of course, living in Amman right now I couldn't quite find all the things I was looking for.

The store didn't have ground beef so I had to go with kafta (lamb) instead. If you don't like the taste of lamb I wouldn't recommend this at all because the lamb taste is a bit overwhelming. Also, couldn't find any sort of chili seasoning so I had to substitute taco seasoning.



Despite all the substitutions this was still pretty good, so this is my newest chili a la arab recipe! Nom.

fire

I can honestly say the excitement never ends in Amman. It seems that some beyond-my-imagination events happen all too often here.

Today Caryl and I were on the verge of taking naps, all snuggled up in bed ready to go. You see, it was necessary that we take naps because we're heading to a sports bar at the ripe time of midnight to watch the Superbowl; it starts at 1:30am our time. All of a sudden I hear Sarah start to yell: (pardon my french, or rather her french) "Fuck! What the fuck! Our washing machine just blew up! Fuuuuuuuck." First thought in my head: well thats a bit rude to yell so loudly when Caryl and I are trying to nap. I wildly debated in my head rather I should investigate what was going on...I finally decided that I should.

When I came out of my room Sarah informed me that there was smoke coming out of the washing machine. I went into the kitchen but realized that the smoke was actually coming from underneath the sink. I opened the cabinet doors and saw a small fire! There must have been some sort of electrical problem because the wires were sparking and a nearby plastic laundry basket had caught on fire. I quickly pulled out the laundry basket, fanned the other flames next to the wires, and voila! No more fire.

The best part was when we called our haris (landlord) to come up and see the commotion: he came up, gave it a look, and left. Came back 20 minutes later with his haris friends and they all had a good laugh before they began to fix/investigate the situation. But thankfully we were home and caught it before it became serious and we're all safe!

The damage...

forever young

Wouldn't it be nice if we were older
Then we wouldn't have to wait so long...

I don't know what the Beach Boys were singing about, but I would have to respectively disagree. I love being young. I have no desire to get married and have kids anytime soon. You may be with the one you love, but the minute you get married its all about bills and what are 'we' going to do with our lives. Although I have many married friends, that's just not what I want for my life just yet.

Last night I had an absolutely crazy night in Jordan. Now, the morning after, its nice to be reflective on the fact that I love being young. I was voted most likely to never grow up in high school, maybe all those voters were on to something...

morning glory

As we are preparing for our newest issue of JO Magazine in Jordan, there is a mountain of proofreading to do but not much else. So I am spending this uneventful morning sipping on coffee, listening to the new Decemberists album and reading through all my favorite blogs. Ah, pure bliss...


Here we come to a turning of the season
Witness to the arc towards the sun
A neighbor's blessed burden within reason
Becomes a burden borne of all and one

And nobody, nobody knows
Let the yolk fall from our shoulders
Don't carry it all, don't carry it all
We are all our hands and holders
Beneath this bold and brilliant sun
And this I swear to all

A monument to build beneath the arbors
Upon a plinth that towers t'wards the trees
Let every vessel pitching hard to starboard
Lay its head on summer's freckled knees

A there a wreath of trillium and ivy
Laid upon the body of a boy
Lazy will the loam come from its hiding
And return this quiet searcher to the soil

So raise a glass to turnings of the season
And watch it as it arcs towards the sun
And you must bear your neighbor's burden within reason
And your labors will be born when all is done

learning

Everyone always says that you learn so much about yourself while you're abroad. So here are two things I've learned about myself in the past month:

1) I love, no not just love but LOVE, looking at pictures of beautifully decorated homes. I have recently become addicted to the 'real estate' and 'house and garden' sections of the NYTimes. I seek out housing blogs and spend countless amounts of time looking through all the pictures, reading about how to freshen up your home. I don't even have a home. I mindlessly drool every time I see a picture of a butterfly staircase. The realization of my obsession came when I emailed my mother pictures of staircases. Who knew?

2) I have really high expectations of people I'm with. Because I have such high expectations, I'm constantly disappointed.

goal

I have made it my goal to update this thing more often. I have gotten so behind and don't even really know where to start. Update on my life in Jordan: As much as I love living in Jordan, life has begun to get a bit monogamous. Work, school, study, hang out with the same people, repeat. As much as I love my friends here, I cannot constantly see the same 9 people for the next six months. Two weeks ago I branched out and met a lot of really cool, new people. It's beyond nice to have some new people that I feel comfortable with and to go out with.

Picture update from the past month:

New Year's Eve was eventful, to say the least, but lots of fun had by all. Especially by the four boys who live below me that came home at 2 in the morning and recorded the next hour of their lives. The next morning I walked into their apartment to check on them and found: a door off its hinges, a broken clothes rack, a broken fan in the bathtub, a toilet seat in the living room, and video documentation of it all happening. The next hour was spent with four of us snuggled up in one bed watching all the havoc that was wreaked.


Sarah's 23rd birthday was this past Thursday, the 20th! On Wednesday night, the roomies got dressed up and went to dinner (steak and red wine, yum!).


Then on Thursday we all went out to celebrate the birthday girl. Caryl and I wore these crazy headbands to display Sarah's love for sparkles.