Reunited and it FEELS. SO. GOOD.

The Long Awaited List

We made a list of memorable occasions/signs of going crazy during the study abroad. Enjoy!

-tracing a hand to make a turkey during class
-sleeping in the ladies lounge for two hours
-not being able to connect english sentences
-reading an article about Iraq peeing oil
-breaking out in dance moves
-Sami's border crossing
-Sami playing poker with a girl from the Israeli army
-dance careers
-doing handstands on edges of cliffs
-guys dreaming about mahajababes/mahajaskanks
-boys watching anime movies daily
-sticking pens up one's nose (ahem James)
-trying to fit the entire recorder in one's mouth (ahem James)
-dissolving into boston accent
-wearing leggings for extended periods of time
-toilets exploding
-checking out our boab's booty. we call him big booty haris
-southern bell and eastern flower (m3 ba3d?)
-five foot tall attacking sass-a-frass
-no shave november
-roasting marshmallows on a gas heater
-choosing between warmth and asphyxiation (warmth won)
-stuck in elevators
-hair tumble weeds
-two students playing in sewer water (it was raining)
-speeding and drifting with arabs
-five liters of pepsi (small boston, big pepsi)
-epic dancing peekers
-fashion show on the bus
-boys talking like girls
-shwarma twice a day
-increased chocolate eating
-ferrel felines following students to school
-ferrel felines singing outside our window
-"I trusted you"
-someone trying to get an audience with the king and breaking all possible social norms (failed)
-race drama
-"thats what she said" got Out. Of. Control.
-skinny dipping in the Sea of Galilee
-running out of water in the middle of a shower
-the miracle of the water
-meeting with members of the Muslim brotherhood
-the miracle of the internet
-hitchhiking
-sticking fingers in water tanks because it was leaking
-wearing roommate's last pair of garments without permission
-punching a taxi
-eating falafal everyday
-Arab women falling in love with Andrew
-hellen keller
-Gary drowning in Wadi Mujib
-stalkers
-shoulder touching stories
-Arab men falling in love with Sarah Kate
-wearing ugly clothes, two sizes too big
-pushing two twin beds together and fitting four people
-comparing every price to falafal
-getting get kicked out of a taxi
-throwing humus in the restaurant
-getting flashed by an Iraqi mamma
-getting felt up by an Iraqi mamma (oh yeah, those happened)
-getting locked in kitchen/apartment
-unknown couple kissing in Qasid (STILL unknown)
-pregnant couple count: 2
-crazy shabab hair/pants
-talking teachers out of presentations
-falling asleep on buses
-speed walking to kanafa
-frequenting koshary restaurants
-adventures to Mafruq
-wearing clothes to bed, getting up and going to school in the SAME clothes (guilty)
-increased facial hair (not guilty)
-climbing down the colosseum illegally in Petra
-climbing up cliffs illegally
-mustache count: 8

Time for the Holy Land

Finished my exams!!

I have survived the Jordan study abroad. 

My apartment is experiencing a wild range of emotions. So if you are one of the men from the program, I suggest not coming within 50 feet of this apartment. 

Our next couple days are busy with our goodbye's and packing. We leave on Saturday. Here is my itinerary for the Holy Land:

Saturday 10th:
Cross border early
Massada
Jericho- lunch
Cable Car to Monastery
Hisham's Palace
Staying the night at a convent in Nazareth

Sunday 11th:
Sephoris
Akko
-Crusader Ruins
-New Excavations
-Prison Tour
Haifa
-Bahai Promenade
-Beach
Sisters of Nazareth Convent

Monday 12th:
Nazareth Churches
Nazareth Village
Sisters of Nazareth Convent

Tuesday 13th:
Banyas + Waterfall
Tel Dan
Druze Restaurant
Golan
Staying at Ein Gev, Kibbutz on Galilee

Wednesday 14th:
Galilee Churches
Boat Ride
LDS Church
Tiberias
Baptismal Site
Ein Gev

Thursday 15th:
Bet Alpha
Megiddo
Um Al-Fahm
Kibbutz Ein Shemer (dinner)
Ceasaria
Arrive to Jerusalem Center

Friday 16th:
Triumphal Entry Walk
Via Dolorosa
Cardo
Demascus Gate
Western Wall
Jerusalem Center

Saturday 17th:
Church
Gethsemane
Garden Tomb

Sunday 18th:
Temple Mount
Davidson Center
Kotel Tunnel
Lunch in Bethlehem
Jerusalem Center
Lectures at 7 and 8 PM

Monday 19th:
Lectures at 8 and 9 AM
Free day in Jerusalem (but wait, we have an assignment?)
Lectures at 7 PM
Jerusalem Center

Tuesday 20th:
Yad Vashem/Mr. Herzel Field Trip
Lectures 7 PM
Jerusalem Center

Wednesday 21st:
Sederot Tour
Tel Aviv:
Bun Gurion's House
Independence Hall
Rothschild St. Wooden Houses
Jaffa

AIRPORT

BOSTON :)

So naturally I am excited and praying that my energy will last a little longer.

Payback is Sweet, Matthew Martin

Meet Majdid, the mother of the Iraqi family. She just beat her kids in a card game.

 It must be a universal thing. Remember when you would make Jess cry, mom? Oh wait and Jayk and Jory AND Jacy. I can still hear your cackle.

I had to say goodbye to them last night. It was rough.

One time, Ynna criticized my blog for its lack of pictures. Since it's your birthday, this post is dedicated to you. Happy Birthday, pretty girl. I miss you.

This weekend we went on a two hour bus ride and found this:

Green.

So Dil stopped the bus and let us walk around outside. 

I'm thankful to be here.

I'm thankful to learn more about myself while studying Arabic and this culture. 

Even with the consequence of a constant headache, I'm thankful for our moveable gas heater. It saves us from our thirty degree apartment.

Death by hypothermia or asphyxiation?

Easy. Asphyxiation.

Our Thanksgiving was a little unorthodox with falafal sandwiches and hours of newspaper reading. We made up for it shwaya with a potluck dinner tonight. Finding cooking supplies and working ovens was a fiasco. Creative thinking made it work in the end and it was delicious.

I'm thankful for my Jordan family.

More importantly, I'm thankful for these girls. Last night, all three of us squeezed into a twin bed. Didn't think that was possible, didya? They even let me sleep in the middle, those gems.

I've written about Dana previously. She is the sweetest. 

Jordan and I have literally spent every minute together on this study abroad. We have pushed each other to maximum capacity and fought through times of sluggishness and despair. She's brilliant and extremely talented. I'm thankful to be around someone who is motivating and supportive. Shuks katiir.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dancing: We are repressed from it. Music is ubiquitous in this culture and creates a temptation of the worst kind. We don't want to attract negative attention in public so we sit there and tap our fingers at the most. Well, the other girls tap their fingers. I lack self control so I shake my shoulders. When we get into elevators full of girls, we break out in the best booty dancing you wish you could lay your eyes on.

Today was one of those days.