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.