May 28-31: First week of classes

We started class on May 28.  Classes start at 9:30, so we usually wake up at 8:30.  We eat breakfast together (shove bread and Leben—thick greek yogurt/cream cheese—down our throats) and take a LONG WALK to our school.  It’s not really long, but it is pretty hot (does not bode well for the rest of my summer…) so it seems much longer than it actually is.  Classes are really great. We have 50 minutes of 4 different classes (media, lecture-writing/conversation, listening, and aameia- colloquial/spoken Arabic) five days a week.  (9:30-2:30 with a one-hour lunch break Sunday-Thursday).  Waed does not teach us, but I like all of the teachers a lot.  They’re very engaging and I can understand almost everything that they are saying.  They also are working really well with us because we are at totally different levels of Arabic, but I don’t think anyone is over or underwhelmed—MUCH better than my class in Morocco.  It’s going to be a lot of work, but I think it will be well worth it. After class we usually go to a café called B12.  It is brand new, and has wifi.  The people who work there are very nice, and the HUMMUS is great, and only 1.70 USD.  We do our HOMEWORK there and then just hang out once we are done.  There is a huge terrace and a NICE VIEW.  We leave around dinner time, and get falafel or shwarma for dinner.    

 

Some highlights from the week include-

Back from our trip to Safeway to get some essential things (hand soap, toilet paper etc.) and Zach & John stopping to smoke hookah with these random Jordanians hanging out on the street. 

Eating khafeh (a dessert that is very sweet and kind of cheesey, but very savory, and a traditional Jordanian dish) for the first time. 

We went back to the same place the next day and got delicious BAKLAVA .  Good news- Waed said that it will keep through my trip to Morocco, so I will bring some Jordanian baklava back for you to enjoy in August!!

Eating falafel (this one has french fries in it.... u have nooooo idea) for every meal (even though Waed's brother, who is a physician) advised against that because of "constipation, something that i forget, and diabetes"...... 

Spending a lot of time on our nice (but very dusty) roof