May 25/26

Friday, May 25: DEPARTURE DAY (and Saturday because we got into Jordan at 4:45 pm-- >11 hr flight)

            Friday was a really great day.  I spent it with very important people before my flight took off at 10 pm.  Nicki, Peggy, Rachel & Rebecca came over for Ess-a-Bagel and some well-awaited scones.  I got ready for my flight in their company and then I had a hair cut appointment.  After the haircut- Mary & Ellen came over and visited.  They were nice enough to drive me to the airport.  On the way I got a chicken ceaser salad wrap with French fries- necessary.  We were told to be at the airport at 7:30--- THREE HOURS EARLY.  I thought that was crazy and insisted that I would NOT be there at that time.  I ended up getting there at 6:30 because we were nervous of Memorial Day traffic… funny.  Anyway- I said goodbye to Ellen Mary and Mom and then met my friends (Nicole and Eric) in the airport.  Everyone else was already there.  We checked in, and the same old questions started up again: “Why are you studying Arabic? Why Jordan?” etc.  It was refreshing to be with Nicole for those questions because she was very excited and happy to answer them for the both of us while I kept quiet. 

            We got burgers at a place in the airport and then waited at the gate.  I spoke Moroccan Arabic with a Jordanian waiting to board the same flight as us, and I was pleasantly surprised when I realized that he could understand me.  The flight was totally seamless- you could call it a blur- I slept the entire way.  Literally all 11+ hours.  It was great.  I could NOT find my peanut butter m&ms which was the only bad part about it (update- found the m and ms… theyre now in the fridge).  It became Saturday, May 26^th on our flight, which was weird. 

            I woke up for good when there was about an hour left until we landed.  Looking out to Jordan beneath us was very different than Morocco.  It was ALL desert.   We got off the plane, got our bags (everyone was pretty groggy/out of it).  Waited a long time for the man who was driving us to Yarmouk University to pick us up—turns out he was waiting upstairs the entire time…. We took a busride (don’t know how long… we all passed out again) to the University.  It was dark when we got to our APARTMENTS-- kitchen & living room--(not YU dorms because Waed was very unimpressed with them…).  We dropped ALL of our luggage in our apartment on the top floor and settled in a little bit.  Waed and Mohamed went to their hotel (they will eventually stay in our building too, but it is so new that their space is not ready yet) and said they would come back in a half hour to pick us up for dinner.

            We all were bouncing around each others’ rooms when all of a sudden the lights went out! Thankfully we were all sitting on couches.  Blackouts are such a weird sensation.  We didn’t know what to do.  We just kept on sitting but then someone noticed that the balcony was illuminated from the street outside, so we went there.  All 10 of us eventually got to the balcony.  Molly noticed that she had service on her phone (she was using the REAL flashlight app on her iPhone) so we mass-texted our parents… not sure if you got it mom??  Being on the balcony with everyone was great, and I started to appreciate how awesome this trip is really going to be.  The lights eventually came back on and conveniently Waed and Muhammad missed the blackout.  They definitely took more than 30 minutes, but maa FEE mushkil (Jordanian dialect).  We then went out for shawrma.  It was great.  We got the “Super Arab Meal Deal” or something.  It came with French fries and a LOT of shawarma sandwich.  Sooooo yum, AND we had leftovers (I failed the CPC tonight) to bring to our apartment refridge.  After dinner, we came home and slept.  I slept totally through the night (after the entire plane ride), but my friends did not.  The boys woke up VERY early and explored/watched the sunrise on our awesome roof (we just need to get some tables & chairs)…. Maybe one morning I will.