Neurons that fire together, wire together

I would like to preface this post with the fact that it is nearly impossible to find female speaking partners outside of Jordan University.

Every day after school, I pass a salon for women on the way home knowing that if I entered, I could easily find friends. It took me four weeks to get up the courage to go. I'm a little ridiculous. And by a little, I mean very.

I entered it today. Four women from Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, and Morocco share the salon. I asked if I could sit with them and speak. Of course they said yes. Of course. Tomorrow they are going to give me a manicure (they were appalled by the state of my nails) while we watch their favorite Arab soap operas from Turkey. It was so amazing listening to their interesting lives. I showed them pictures of my family. Those were a hit. They told me I can come and sit with them whenever I like.

Euphoria. 

Pure Euphoria.

This is why I study Arabic. They are the reason. 

Also, it's super humbling when a woman is speaking to you, stops talking, and excuses herself to pray as a simple submission to God. I love it.

This past weekend I visited Salt with a small group. We went to a couple museums and then our professor loosed us to explore. The city consists of a hill, a valley, and a hill on the opposite side. The valley is the business center where a large souq and mosques can be found. A few of us decided we wanted to go to the top a hill and see the view. We climbed up stairs and ruins going through abandoned houses and hopping fences. Gorgeous.

It reminded me of the movie "Captain Abu Raed," which is actually filmed in Amman. If you haven't seen it, I highly suggest you do.