I woke up this morning and realized that I will be in Jerusalem and Bethlehem during the Christmas season. Oh boy. I can barely contain my excitement. 

Three articles and a culture class on honor killings today. They were painful to read. It's completely understandable how people with sheltered lives can hide away in ignorance (I know, I have), but that doesn't make it acceptable. 

The more I spend time here studying this language, the more I know this is exactly where I'm supposed to be. 

We are out of water, again. Jordan says that our apartment is the girl's camp from hell that never ends. It looks nice though.

Jenni Boyle. She once told me that I am better than the only toilet in our apartment that flushes. I've gotta admit, I feel the same about her. 

We have to read two hours of newspapers a day. Well, they say two hours, but it ends up being about three. They are all depressing. Our recent articles have been about a drowning, the Palestinians losing hope about getting recognition, and Syrians being tortured. That one is the worst. One time we walked in the apartment and Dana was sobbing. She asked us Why do we have to read this? Jordan and I turned back around through the door and bought lots of chocolate that night.

I also purchased "The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe" in Arabic. We are trying to read it as an apartment before we go to bed so we can lighten the mood shway.

Thoughts on Dana. I am fully convinced that she is the most perfect human being I have ever met. She wakes up early, does her little kickboxing video, finishes her homework, prepares her lunch (normally a fabulous salad), goes to school early, comes back, does all her homework right away, makes some culinary masterpiece that smells divine, and (get this) she embroiders.

I'm amazed.

One time I tried to be domestic and make brownies. They ended up being gooey on the sides and burnt in the middle. I am putting all the blame on our archaic stove. :)

I went running with the perfect couple, Stacy and Jacob, the other day. Stacy is on the BYU track team. It was quite the rude awakening. There were a few choice words I wanted to say when I saw them running down the street looking like Greek gods at six in the morning.

The possibilities here are endless, let me tell you. I am growing bags on top of the bags that currently reside underneath my eyes. It's quite impressive.

I love being here right now during all this political turmoil. Pick up the newspaper. It's interesting. I get to listen to friends', teachers', taxi drivers' opinions about the recognition of Palestine and the Syrian revolution. There are also weekly demonstrations for both, which we are actually ordered to avoid, but I like to think that I'm participating in some form or another.

I still hang out with that group of girls at the university every day. They are fabulous. More details to come.

Neighborhood blackout in Amman? Check.
Hearing Sarah Kate's high pitched scream echo through our apartment building? Check.
Prying open the elevator to free Coby from the elevator? Check.

Guess homework wasn't meant to be. 

Instead of homework, we went star gazing.
Look at me, I'm getting a little wild and crazy.

PS: The call to prayer is bomb. It's got to be one of the best sounds in the world.

Signs of Culture Assimilation

At the conservative language institute that we attend, there is a ladies' room. As the name suggests, only us ladies can enter. Some took the segregation as an insult. Others love the quiet atmosphere and opportunity of shedding layers of clothing. Anyways, the BYU girls have taken over the room.

Today, Andrew came in to look for Esther. He swung open the door and marched in. He had been where no man has walked before. Because we have been so used to being apart from the men folk, some girls let their mouths fall open with shock, while others just stared blankly. He immediately realized he had done something wrong.

Silence for two minutes.

He turned around and left without saying anything and then we all laughed our heads off.
Now, I would like to remind you all and more importantly myself that it's only been two weeks.
Imagine how we'll be after three months.
Yikes is right.

Figured out how to turn on the water heater. 

And it was good.

You're Not Lost If You Don't Know Where You're Going

Traveling. Well, it was interesting. I spent two and a half days traveling from Boston to Frankfurt to Amman. My trusty companion, Catie, was with me the whole time. We met a massive group of BYU students when we arrived in Germany.

Since we had over ten hours of an airport layover, David, Jessica, and I decided to go exploring. It's not every day you are in Germany. We went without a plan, knowledge of anything German, and directions. Story of my life.

We almost got arrested.
You think I'm joking, but I'm not.

It went a little like this. We purchased train tickets in the airport and boarded the next train. Apparently, there is a first class train and a second class. Our tickets were for the latter, but we found ourselves on the wrong one. We were approached right before our stop and told to hand over our passports. My companions stood there with their mouths open. This is when the rage of Jadyn begun. I don't know why, but this has been a long month of sass. I have found myself arguing with many authority figures. Long story short, I got the policeman to give us back our passports, avoided the station, and paid half of the fine. I credit my bargaining skills to experiences with Egyptian salesmen. He should of been lenient because we could not speak or read German, but ya3ny some people are not so cooperative.

Stupid Americans.

So ten minutes in Frankfurt and I wanted to head back to the airport. I hated Germany. David talked me into staying. For that, I am grateful. We went to a couple cathedrals, walked along the Rhine river and had some pastries. We had a great time.

Pictures will come later. I am without internet except for spare moments at the institute. Uploading is too tedious.

I finally arrived in Jordan after two years of preparation and it has exceeded my expectations.

We have already gone to the Dead Sea, Mount Nebo, and the Byzantine site that marked Christ's baptism. Again, pictures will come.

In case you're wondering, dormancy for four months and an Arabic placement test don't mesh well.
I was sent to a room where a panel of Arab men sat with mungo pot bellies. That description is important. I had to read a paragraph chosen for me. It talked about the saying, "The way to man's heart is through his stomach." I was asked what it meant and my opinion about it. I started giggling because of the situation. One of the men told me it must be true or they would all be skinny. Yeah, it was a good time.

Jet lag went away fast.

Some have gotten sick, I haven't. Al7umdillallah. Jory, you can thank me for passing off my super-human germs to you when I used your toothbrush that one time.

Food is so gooood. We ate at a Yemenese restaurant our first night topped with some of the best ice cream I have ever had. I would describe it, but I don't want you to feel bad about your next meal.

It is actually quite cold here (especially at night). Good thing I brought all those cardigans, mom. :)

Jordan is in the top five countries that is in danger of having no water. We have a water tank on the top of the apartment building. It is filled up once a week. When that runs out, 5alas.
Showering... Well, it's interesting. It takes me about an hour to get up the courage to take one. We haven't figured out how to heat up the water yet. It goes a little like this:
 Water on. Shriek. Water off. Scrub scrub scrub. Water on. Shriek. Rinse. The end.
I try to keep it to five minutes max.

I thought I had it bad until our whole apartment actually ran out of water for a couple of days. That was a blast.

My apartment is great. We have an awesome view of Amman. You'll be jealous when the pictures come.

Classes have been busy. We talk about Arab issues in my first class. The second is a performance class where we prepare a speaking report every day. After, our professors loose us to the university where we are supposed to make friends and speak for two hours. I hated it at first, but now it's enjoyable. We meet back for individual speaking or writing appointments with Arab professors. Dil's class is last, newspaper reading. We get done about six and we normally have a full night's worth of homework.
I actually like the schedule and we still find time to relax.

Jordan and I met a group of girls. It's easy to make friends here. One of them invited us to an all women's party. Her younger sister just graduated from Jordan's version of high school. I got there and was whisked off for the makeup/ dress room. I have never worn that much makeup in my vida.
Arab women are so beautiful and sexy. They took off all of their hijabs and curled their hair. I tried not to stare...too much. We went downstairs and had a belly dancing party. I don't know why we don't do this in the US, but I plan on incorporating it in my near future.