So far,
life in Jordan is looking up. I’ve successfully moved classes, and I got an A
on my first quiz, so the academic side of things is going well. The last couple
of days I’ve just come home and studied, and I feel like I’m beginning to get into
a productive routing.
These last
couple of days have also confirmed the fact that I’m an introvert – I’m not
antisocial, but I get my energy from being alone. I was so tired every day this
week, I couldn’t bring myself to do hardly anything. But the last couple of
days, even though I haven’t really slept anymore, I’ve been energized at the
end of the day, and I think it’s because for the first time in a week I had
alone time to study, and I’m getting things done.
Most of the
time I’m alone is at home; my roommate and I have settled in comfortably. Our
schedules still conflict, but now that we’re more comfortable making individual
plans, there’s less friction. We and our family get along well; at one point,
they told us we could only shower three times a week, but when we explained
that we could, in fact, take short showers, they acquiesced. Sometimes, at
night, the housekeeper brings in fruit plates and this excellent sweetened mint
tea, and that has become one of my favorite things here.
One of my
least favorite things here is the taxis; for every nice one you find, there are
two others trying to rip you off. If there’s a guy in the car with you, they’re
less likely to cheat you, but they still either refuse to use the meter and try
to charge you three times too much, or th
ey go the long way or take detours to rack up the meter. It’s easier to guard against now that we know our way around better, though.
Speaking of
being around, we went on the biblical tour of Jordan this weekend. The tour was
interesting; it was the Islamic, Jordanian-slanted version of the story, but
still fairly accurate. We went and saw the oldest map of Palestine, and the
church housing it, and then we went up Mount Nebo, where Moses is said to have
shown the Israelites the promised land (It was slightly anticlimactic – it was
only a little less brown than the other side, but I suppose several thousand
years can change a view).
And then,
of course, we went to the Dead Sea. I swam for about a minute-and-a-half, then
decided I didn’t like it and went and rinsed and got in the pool instead. It
was hard to swim and it stung and it left my skin coated and kind of icky, but who
cares? I’ve swum in the Dead Sea. We also went to the outdoor market this past
week, and I got a couple pairs of awesome athletic pants for a few dollars
each. We’ve also decided that it’s a good place for souvenirs, so we’ll be
going back.
That was
about my week; I went to church with a few friends on Friday, and it was a good
service. The sermon was on John 3, and we discussed it a little afterwards. We’ve
had some interesting religion and politics discussions (in English) in class,
which I have watched silently, for the most part. This week, classes seem to be
more relaxed; we spend a lot of time chatting instead of practicing, but I feel
like we’re still learning a lot, and it gives me a chance to relax a little.
And I’ve had time to Skype my parents several time – yes, I did call my mom on
her birthday.
So, I’m
learning Arabic, I’m meeting people, and I’m learning to like the food. We’ve
found a gym we’re planning on signing up for this week, and we’re starting to
venture out into the city. And of course, we’ve swum in the Dead Sea. Overall,
a pretty good week. We’ll see if the culture shock hits in a few days…
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