Today

Today was a relaxing day with a melancholy start. One of the students who did the one month intensive Arabic program I am doing (Adam Aljouni from Michigan) left for home. While I've only been here for a couple days, he has been an awesome help and fun friend to be around. His jokes and easy-to-get-along-with personality make each day fun. Last night for his goodbye-dinner-celebration we went to a VERY nice restaurant (best food I've had so far) called "Reem al-Badawi." The ambiance was just as nice. We had many traditional dishes (hummus, baba ghanoush, tabouleh, lebeni, Aleppo olives and then a variety of meats!) So far I've met a couple other great students here and it will be sad to see them go as well. This evening I am still in a slight melancholy mood, possibly in part due to some homesickness and also the realization that my language training will begin tomorrow. Luckily the internet has been a little bit better and I've been able to keep in touch with some friends and family.

Today I successfully managed to take a taxi by myself to and from one of the local malls to meet someone! The second cab driver was very nice, and we had a small conversation in Arabic and English (more the latter) about where I'm from, what I'm doing and his commentary on Jordan and Americans (which among many Jordanians I've met is very positive). He gave me his card and offered me what sounds to be discounted rates to any of the sites around Jordan. It may or may not be a good deal, since there are other means of traveling. Some of us were going to take a taxi (which another cool American I met, Tom, got a card from under the same circumstance) to Bethany up north this morning, but when Tom called the guy he quoted a price a lot higher than expected and reasonable.

In the afternoon I met my Arabic instructor at the Ali-Baba Language Center with the director, Ali Al-Hajj, and received the books I will be using. I will be in class at least 4 days for 4 hours, with a possible "half day" on a 5th day, depending on the staff availability. The book they proposed to be my level sounds one level to high, a problem some of the other students had, but we will see.

Judging by the loud booming bass of dance music, it sounds like another wedding or celebration is going on upstairs. Fortunately my air conditioner was fixed today, which will hopefully help me sleep easier. Last night I kept tossing and turning and waking up sweaty because the air conditioner, even set on the lowest setting, didn't do a thing to cool the room.