Today we went to Amman with the program. It was a GREAT and jam-packed day. A lot of fun & pictures.
We started at the S.O.S. Children's Village in Irbid. I saw the Moroccan S.O.S. Children's Villages, and I was very impressed by the Jordanian one in comparison. It was really nice, and seemed new. There were 9 buildings housing almost 100 children. Once the children get too old for this village, they go to a transition place where they are in the 'real world' but are still supported by the organizataion. The children were SO happy and friendly, it made me a little sad. I always get emo at these places, but I shouldn't because they are definitely happy. It's hard not to think about the kids who are not in these villages...
After the village visit, we went to Amman. Our first stop was the citadel. As I was getting off my bus I saw a woman (from a distance) who I thought I recognized. I was not positive, so I called out "Anna?", and low and behold it was Anna Swank (my very first Arabic teacher, from FS)!! SUCH a small world! So nice to see a familiar face. She told me that she was doing a Columbia program with Bram (my FS history), who was already on their bus. I went over to say hi to him as well. We were all kind of in a time crunch, but it was such a pleasant encounter- short and sweet. Friends reuniting across the world!! It really made my day. Here's a pic....
The Citadel
Then we had lunch. It was good and a lot of food- I wanted to nap after it, but we still had a lot to do. The next stop was King Hussein Mosque. Jordanian Mosques are different Mosques. Structurally as well as culturally- Jordanian mosques allow non-muslims to enter. Women are required to wear these hoodie/cover-up things. It was weird, and hot. The Mosque was BEAUTIFUL inside. Very nice and comfortable. Not a lot of people were praying and we were the only girls, but Muhammaed said that on Fridays it gets so crowded that people are praying from the outside.
There was a church across the street from the mosque, which was very interesting. The church was nice too. It seemed older than the churches that I had been in, and there was not a single soul inside. Leaving the mosque and going across the street to the church presented an interesting dynamic. I can not think of a place in America where we could find that...
We then made our way to the Royal Automobile Museum. There were a TON of cars. Obviously they were all beauuuuutiful, but I wish they had price tags on them. I noticed from reading the descriptions that a lot of them were gifts to the King from other world leaders.
We went to the children's museum, but decided not to go inside because it was expensive and we are not children. Nicole had the GREAT suggestion to go to the mall, so we did that. The first store that we saw was Starbucks. There was also a Claire's and Pinkberry. We shopped around a little. It was great. Pinkberry was weird because SO CROWDED and the majority was Jordanian tweens speaking very quickly in English (similar to the one on 8th ave four years ago....) I can't wait to go on my well-awaited American shopping spree in August.
After the mall we went out to dinner with the entire group. They y/ians met up with us. We ate ate a HUGE restaurant that seemed very popular. The food was really good and there were a lot of leftovers (that I am still eating a week later). These pix are of the entire group at the dinner table, and the CISLA representation at the restaurant. (Nicole '12 is in the middle. Ryan and Brian '13 are the boys, and Laurel '14 is the girl who is not me...)
GREAT WEEKEND, too bad it had to come to an end.... Last week of classes-- "Graduation" July 5th
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