End of Midterms!

I cannot believe that March is almost over--this month flew by!!  I am almost finished with my midterms, which feels great!  Just one more presentation in Arabic tomorrow and then Greece, which does not gel real at all!!  I am still in shock when I realize that I am living in the Middle East, and have been doing so for two months!!  I rode a camel in the middle of the desert last weekend--that’s crazy! 

Abbi, the girl I am travelling with, and I realized today that neither of us speaks any Greek.  I barely even know what it sounds like!!  I figure that as long as I get a few basic words-- yes, no, please, thank you-- than we should be good to go!  Go figures, I come the Middle East for a semester, take intensive Arabic (which I still struggle with) and I leave for a week to a place where I don’t know even a little of the language!  This will make it that much more interesting!  I am ready for a week of relaxation and exploration in a beautiful new area!  Can’t wait to get there!

Wadi Rum







I'm in the little group on the to right



I spent this past weekend in the desert; camping in Bedouin tents and riding camels.  The desert was absolutely gorgeous--it can neither be captured in a picture nor described in a way that would do it justice.  The first day was pretty chilly, not what I was expecting in the desert.  We rode on the back of pick-up trucks for four hours, making stops at different parts of the desert.  I ate my lunch on top of a huge rock mountain, looking out onto the desert.  We got to climb a bunch of different mountains and rock structures, which was really cool.  We watched the sunset and drank tea with the Bedouins before driving to our camp site.  Where I dumped a mini desert out of my shoes!







Our humble abode in the Bedouin Camp



The camp itself was really nice, a lot better than I was expecting.  The tents were divided into three separate rooms, with two beds, mosquito nets, chairs and candles.  The tents were right on the sand, so there were carpets that were place down so that people could walk easily.  There were actual beds, not just sleeping bags, which was a lot better than I was expecting.  It gets so cold in the evening during the desert, and once the sun went down it was absolutely freezing!  It’s a good thing that there were a lot of blankets and I brought a lot of layers!



Sarah and I with our Camels



The next morning we got up early and took a three hour camel ride!  It was so much fun and quite an experience!!  It was so relaxing and peaceful to be on the camel.  They smelled a little bit, but not nearly as much as I was expecting them to, which was a plus and I did not get spit on by a camel, which was a very big accomplishment!  Though, I have to say that all of my clothes smelled like a camel, which was really gross--nothing some detergent won’t be able to fix!  They led us on the camel for a little while, and then I was able to guide my own.   We had a little kid who was our guide, and wanted to make sure that we were having a good time--it was really cute. He would just turn around and smile at us and say hello.   My guy liked to snack a lot, so he stopped at almost every bush to get something to eat, and then would get going again.  One of the camel guides told his CIEE student that he would like to be my husband--so, if all else fails, I can marry a Bedouin and live in the desert!  While riding a camel was so much fun, I have never been so sore before!!  It was definitely worth it; a once in a lifetime experience!



Nabil and I-- The Siena Crew





Sarah and I in the Desert





Only one week of midterms and than spring break!!  Look out Greece!

So much food...

This week was not nearly as exciting as other weekends have been, but it was nice to relax.  I celebrated St. Patrick’s Day at the Embassy, which was quite interesting and fun to say the least.  I spent all day on Friday procrastinating finishing my papers, and relaxed and read a book for fun, which was really nice.

One thing that is really interesting here is what is considered meat.  I am not a huge meat eater, I prefer to eat vegetables, and when I have meat I prefer chicken, and not lamb.  Here, they do not consider chicken to be meat, so everyone is so perplexed when I only take chicken, and not the lamb.  They always proclaim “you don’t like meat?”  Every time I answer that I have meat, and then I remember chicken doesn’t count and have to explain it all over again.  They also really like spinach.  I am not sure if it is in a lot of Arabic dishes, or if it is just my host family.  Regardless, I will return to the states like Popeye--look out!!

Sarah’s family has taken me in as another family member, so I go to their house for lunches on the weekend.  Friday I went to her great-uncle’s house for lunch and to meet her great-aunt who came from Egypt.  We then spent the evening relaxing, and we watched the movie Rabbit Hole, which was really good.  Saturday, I had to finish my papers--it felt so good to hand them in!  Then I went to another lunch where I ate way too much food!  We watched the news of Libya and the no-fly zone on the TV.  It is interesting to see the difference in what is covered between the al-Jazeera and the western news stations.  The videos are not censored nearly as much as in the states, so it is interesting to see the difference.

Monday was mother’s day in Jordan.  So, after class we went to a French bakery and bought two cakes; one for teta (Sarah’s grandmother) and another for our host mother.  We then stopped by her grandmother’s house and ate finger foods, cake and fruit.  We then went back to my homestay, and ate dinner and then more cake.  Everyone had the same idea for my host mother, so we had four different chocolate cakes.  Here it is impolite to refuse food, so I sampled four different types of cake, on top of all the other food that I ate--I feel like I am going to explode.  It’s a good thing that I am going to the gym tomorrow!!

The weather here is starting to get warmer, which is really nice.  It is so much nicer to be outside when it is sunny and warm.  Just two presentations (a weekend of riding camels!) and a week of midterms and then spring break!!

Happy Mother's Day from Jordan!!

Catching Up

I cannot believe that it is already two weeks into March!  February seemed to take so long, that this month is just flying by!  For the most part, the weather is starting to get nicer.  Though, this past Thursday there was actually some snow!  Granted it was only for a half-hour or so, and it started just as my class began.  If it was only thirty minutes earlier, then I would have had a three day weekend.  Since it rarely snows here, the entire city seems to shut down with the tiniest bit--it is quite a change from NY and all the snow they have been getting this semester.

I took a trip to the Jerash Ruins and Ajlun Castle the other weekend--the weather was absolutely beautiful.  Jerash is one of the largest Roman ruins, outside of Rome, that remain today.  It is interesting, because all around the ruins are current houses.  It’s interesting to see the contrast between the two.  The stone work at the ruins is incredible--it is hard to believe that all of that was created without modern technology, and is still standing today.  While in Jerash, we saw a Roman reenactment of the army and the gladiators--it was quite interesting to say the least.  There were also these little kindergartners that were there as well, and they were picking the weeds and giving them to us in bunches--it was adorable.



Roman Reenactment







The work has started to pick up, since there is apparently a study component to study abroad--who would have thought?!  It has been quite a shock to my system to have to actually do a significant amount of work, since the last time I did that was right before finals in December, last year!  Though, after working hard for the next couple of weeks, I am going to Greece for spring break!!  I will have an entire week on a Greek Island, without anything to worry about! 



Flowers from the little Girls



I am starting to learn some of the little differences that take place between here and the states.  Nescafe is a big thing here, it is like instant coffee and there are little stands all over the place.  One of the things here is that if you ask for black coffee, you have to specify that you do not want any sugar in it. In the states, black coffee is without milk or sugar, though technically the coffee is still black even if there is sugar.  It took me a little while to realize this, and since people here really like their sugar, I had quite a few cups of extremely sweet coffee!  They also make mint tea with a plain tea bag and a bunch of mint leaves floating in the water.  It tastes really good, and makes it so that you only have to buy regular tea, and then you can add different herbs to it to get different flavors.

I cannot believe how fast the time is flying by.  I went to plan out what I want to do on my remaining weekends, and I realized just how few are left.  Before I know it, it will be summer and I will be heading into my senior year!  But, until then, I am just going to enjoy living in another country, and attempting to pick up the language!