An Average Day in Amman

Roughly 8 or 9 am: wake up and get ready. Open the metal shutter on my window to let the sun in. Eat a breakfast of eggs or cereal or flatbread on the balcony.

9-11 am: Study on the balcony. Walk to the bakery nearby/clean house. Accomplish random tasks.

11am: Walk to my school with classmates. This takes about forty minutes and involves walking many hills. Recently, a Shepard and his flock took up residence in a grove of trees set in between two apartment buildings near mine. Lots of stray cats. A couple watermelon stands. Dodge traffic. Alternatively take a cab if it's too hot out or I'm short on time.

12:00 pm: Study at school. Walk to the falafel shop across the street for a sandwich.

1 - 5 pm: Classes at Qasid Institute for classical and modern standard Arabic.

5-7 pm: Get food with friends and classmates. Do errands. Eventually get home via taxi.

7-9pm: Homework.

9-12pm: My favorite part of the day if there isn't too much homework. Get together with some friends to the local coffee shop to watch the world cup game. Watching soccer in Jordan is fantastic. The Jordanians get excited about everything. We relax in this outdoor court next to a tiny pool and watch the game which is projected onto a blank wall. The whole area is enclosed by apartment buildings so it feels very private. Also, the kids from our school have developed a rapport with the owners and it's fun to talk with the guys who work there.

12am - 1am: Sit on the balcony with a friend and talk before climbing into bed. Watch the traffic. Almost every night there is a wedding in Jordan, and you can tell because when a wedding party drives by everyone honks their horns in rhythm while they lean out the windows and shout and wave. This happens pretty frequently in the evening.

1am + Sleep.

This is more or less an average day for me, but things vary wildly. One thing I should note is that the weekend here is friday - saturday, not saturday - sunday like in America. So the work week ends on thursday and we go to school on sunday. It takes some getting used to but it's not a huge change.

Alright, I need to go study now. Have a great fourth of July weekend.

ps. Mom! I'm sorry that the internet cut out on our conversation last night! It was not intentional, I love you and Dad and miss you both very much!

Al Haiyat Bil Amman

Hello everyone,

Ok! Ahhh I am now officially settled in Jordan. Classes have started at my school and I have already seen many interesting things and had several exciting incidences. Unfortunately, the internet in my apartment is still on the fritz, and my computer remains stolen. I am considering purchasing a new one while I am here, but for now I am begging/borrowing from my friends and classmates. It would be impossible to share all of the cool stuff that I've seen so far, but here are a couple of my favorite things about Amman. Hopefully they will give you a feel for what the atmosphere is like here.

- Strangers love to talk with me, and everyone loves to try out their broken english. We take cabs everywhere, which range between eighty cents to a few dollars to get around the city. The first day I was here a friend of mine and I took a cab downtown. The driver took a sip of brown liquid from a dirty glass cup and then offered it to us.

- The degree of poorly translated english here is delightful. Our school is right next to a grocery store called "Food and Food" which sells things like "bran flex" or "mastered" (mustard). A friend of mine found a t-shirt with the words "Justice, Jazz and Jesus" inexplicably written on it. Insha'allah photos to come.

- These guys walk around with little pan flutes and which they sound constantly selling cotton candy and little plastic trinkets.

- Ok this is probably my favorite. There are these trucks that drive around everywhere selling propane tanks because everything runs on propane here. These trucks play music out of their windows to let people know that they are coming and sound very much like ice cream trucks. But the thing is, the jingle they play is really creepy and dark. They sound more or less like spooky carnivals.

-My bed is right next to a window which leads out to our balcony. So I often climb through the window and go out there to study. Amman is built on a series of hills, and every building is painted the same tan color. So when you look out a window, you see this rolling sea of identical brown apartment buildings sprawling out to the horizon.

So these are a few of the perks of living here. Right now I have to go to class but I will try and write more often as resources provide. I hope you all are having a fine summer, please go swimming in the river for me.

The Lord Giveth...

Ok, here is a quick update. Pardon my brevity but I don't have much time.

So, I made my flight from LAX to London and spent a fine day there. Walked all around, took dozens of pictures saw Buckingham palace, Westminster Abbey, Big ol' Ben, had some fish and chips and a Guinness, struggled with the trains. Had a grand time. The only thing I kept thinking was how it was hard to believe that this place had been bombed to bits not too long ago.

Flew from London to Amman, arrived in Jordan around midnight there (About a twenty four hour waking day for me). Got my visa, was picked up by a man named Yahir from the school. He dropped my friend Amer and I off at our apartment where many of my old friends were staying. I put my stuff down and crashed around three am.

Here is where it get's interesting. I awoke to find that during the night my camera, laptop, GPS, and eighty dollars American had been stolen apparently during that morning. A friend had been up and around in the apartment till about seven Am. Another roommate woke up around eight thirty. During this window, the door was unlocked and it would seem this is when the robbery occured. Thankfully, my wallet and passport were on my person so they are safe. I intend to go to the police office today and file a report but the chances of finding my things are slim. Ma'sha Allah, praise God I am safe and surrounded with friends. Saw some crazy stuff yesterday in Amman, the old Citadel, Roman Ruins, some of the dead sea scrolls. Ok, now I have to go to the pharmacy because I may be getting sick. Please keep me in your prayers as I get through this rocky start.

(obviously no pictures of London or Amman due to stolen Camera.)

The Last Days

I leave for Jordan tomorrow at 12:45 from LAX and will be flying into London Heathrow Airport tomorrow morning. I guess considering I'm not in Jordan yet this is sort of a cheater post. However, I have been spending the past few days in Newport Beach Ca, with my parents and extended family. I've been having a great time and I was able to see some friends from the Arabic program last year.

Yesterday I was lucky enough to go scuba diving with my cousin's boyfriend Chris. He's been a diver for awhile now and after a day of trying to locate rental gear, took me down to divers cove in Laguna Beach. (see picture). Having only been diving a few times before, diver's cove was considerably better sightseeing than I had previously encountered. Saw lots of fish, seaweeds, a couple urchins and cool fish. Hopefully, I'll have the opportunity to go diving in Aqaba, the only seaside city in Jordan. Diving in the Red Sea is supposed to be some of the best in the world.

Tonight is my last night in the states and I am considerably nervous. Figuring out how to spend my ten hour layover in London, expect more on that subject later.

An Introduction

To friends, family, and persons interested. My name is Greg Shafer and I will be traveling to the kingdom of Jordan during the summer of 2010 to study Arabic. This blog will act as a record of my life in Amman and allow me to report to my loved ones back home. I intend to write often however my schedule is as of yet unknown to me so I will post as time and internet merits. The current dates of my trip are from June the 18th, to August the 25th. During that time please feel free to leave comments, pictures, stories etc. I will appreciate the encouragement and interest. There are only so many hours in the day and as such I don't expect much interest or readership, but this will serve mostly for my own purposes and help me analyze the events of my trip. But to those of you who do decide to spend some of your time reading about my trip, I greatly appreciate your love and friendship. May you all be well and joyful and I look forward to seeing you all when I return.