Catch me if you can...

it aint over til the drunk irishman sings

2006-07-11T10:45:00.000-07:00

Got my Irish arse kicked this week.

So I spent a couple days at Connemara (a beautiful countryside region of Western Ireland) and met lots of people at the hostel... basically because you were kind of trapped inside. The first day a bunch of us went hiking around a mountain and the fjord to the side of it... yes Ireland has a fjord... just one. I think it was around 12-15km.

The next day a friend and I cycled like mad. Bc it's the only way to get anywhere if you don't have a car. I mean the hostel is literally in the middle of nowhere! I think we cycled around 40km (and that's not flat land), plus stopped off at the Connemara National Park to hike a bit (5km). I also fell flat on my butt at the Kylemore Abbey after slipping on a hill of moss. Ouch.

Met lots of international people: Switzerland, Czech Republic, French Canadian, Italian, Australian (Australian kayak instructor=well done Australia...). I was complaining on Wednesday night during the World Cup game bc there were so many French people but I had never met any of them. They seem to stick to themselves and I wanted to meet one so I could disprove the "stereotype." Well that all changed Thursday night when 2 French guys invited me and my friend to play pool with them. Turns out they didn't just run out of people to play with. They were nice enough, but now I think French people are a little creepy....

The only way to get from Connemara to Galway on Friday was a shuttle bus that ran at 8:30pm. This meant that I was stuck at the hostel but had to put all my bags in storage for the day... stuck w/the French guy and 81 middle schoolers who were coming in that afternoon! Luckily (hi mom) I was offered a ride by Bostonian brother and sister. So I hitched again, I guess.

I had a great time with Joey this weekend! On Saturday we climbed Croagh Patrick which was absolutely ridiculous. We were making fun of it initially because lots of old people make the climb as a pilgrimage. I had no idea of the resolve of Irish old people, though.
It was the rainiest day of the week and it was disgusting. We got to a point where the wind nearly knocked us off the mountain (like a hurricane w/those newscasters). It was probably one of the hardest things I've done. When we got to the top, we were SOAKED like we went swimming in our clothes, and it was freezing plus there was wind. I was afraid I'd have to lose a couple of my fingers to frostbite!
This is summer in Ireland, ladies and gentlemen.
Much of the climb were just huge stones set up at 60 degree climbing angle. And if it wasn't stoney, it was muddy. We couldn't see anything but 5 yards in front and behind us. Crazy... we picked a mighty fine day... but we made it. Now I have to go back two more times for my penance according to my relatives. Maybe a sunny day would be a good idea? We did do the entire climb in 3 hours which is pretty good. I fell once (going down, you're pushed by gravity) and now my hand is purple and puffy, but I didn't feel a thing at the time. I'm sure it should have hurt...

After the climb we made our soaked shivery journey back to Galway (yes the challenge was not over yet). Yes, Croagh Patrick you kicked my arse too.

We also watched the rather anticlimatic World Cup Final... go Italy... their team is hotter anyway... and not French.

Blarney Castle... probably the most touristy place I've been so far, but I went RIGHT when it opened, so I was able to appreciate the beauty of the whole land. I'm SO glad I went. Cottontail rabbits there are like our squirrels in FL. They're everywhere. The whole area (minus the castle and gross Blarney Stone) were soooo beautiful. I have lots of pictures and videos that I'll post later. Probably one of my top 5 places of all time. Tall trees, meadows, rock clusters, horses... Too bad tourists polluted the beauty soon after opening...

I've been having my lunches at this park in Cork where these crazy people hang out. It's really fun to people watch. Yesterday a drunk man was slouched on a bench with an inconspicuous bottle in his hand, singing REALLY loudly... Today was goth day I guess. But there were still a few old guys passed out in the grass (at 6:00pm!).

Last night in Ireland, tomorrow I fly back to London!

Ireland!

2006-07-05T01:38:00.000-07:00

Everyone in Ireland is so nice!

Got here on Monday and stayed with family in Dublin. Dublin is nice, enough attractions to keep you occupied but I really wasn't feeling too much Irish culture.

Until I got to County Sligo. I stayed with a relative and she lives on the land that my Great Grandfather was born on. Needless to say, I woke up one morning, looked out the window and there was a cow staring back at me. Moo... I even got a cow kiss on my hand! They have really wet noses and icky tongues. Went to "town" where EVERYBODY knows EVERYBODY! It's insane! Not only that, everybody knew that I was coming! People were great and I met so many people that SOMEHOW I'm related to. Ah, town life. Still, I really enjoyed living like a real Irish girl for a few days, and saw so many beautiful sights of the countryside.

People here are obsessed with Gaelic football and hurling. If you're curious, google it, but these are two very unusual sports. Wish Co. Sligo good luck in the football match this weekend!

One interesting thing about the Irish: (hi dad!) the men always drive. I mean a lot of the women are self sufficient and drive their own cars, but when a man's in the car, he drives. I guess they're a little old fashioned in that sense.
The women always cook, of course. Here's how I really don't fit in tho: they LOVE their potatoes and tea, both of which I'm not a really big fan of (tho they're both growing on me). Every time people ask if I want tea and I decline they look at me like I'm crazy!

County Mayo was great too, I stayed with a friend of the family in Castlebar. She took me around the county and to this big pilgrimage site called Knock. Apparently some locals saw an apparition of the Virgin Mary with St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist there in 1879 (i'm hitting them all up, katie). But the whole area is surrounded by TACKY giftshops. So kitsch, but I guess they have to make money so far. Miracles are really good for the economy. Went to Mass there (I've really been making up for my lack of Jesus in Jordan) and they had Annointing of the Sick where all of the old people who thought they might die soon came up to get a special blessing. LOL, for insurance purposes I guess.

On my way to the Connemara region which is supposed to be beautiful, then on Friday I'm meeting up with the world famous Joseph P. Wilson (shout out!) and we're going to climb the famed Croagh Patrick!

Yay for Ireland.

uk recap

2006-06-27T03:15:00.000-07:00

In Dublin now chillin w/some pretty cool relatives.

A few notes about England/Scotland:
People in Scotland say aye for yes... like a pirate!
People here love "jacket potatoes". there is even a potato restaurant at the food court in the mall. On your french fries (chips) you can put ketchup, mayo or "brown sauce" (hp) and I have sampled all and can appreciate the qualities of each one.
Lemonade here pretty much means Sprite.
Big Brother England is the biggest thing on reality tv and the cast is full of weirdos (one guy even has Turrette's... not sure how to spell that).

My first night in London we went to a pub where we watched the World Cup game between England and Sweden. There were many rowdy boys wearing the English flag around them, faces painted, etc singing lots of songs (i'm english til i die... ). It was a tie game, but an interesting way to start off my trip here. Hmmm, those Brits and their "football".

After 6 weeks in the Middle East, I finally got sick after 3 days in England. Several vomit false alarms, so luckily I never puked but I was constantly running to the bathroom to stand over the toilet. I blame on a product called Jelly Babies? They're like gummy bears, but who the heck came up w/the name Jelly Babies?

In Edinburgh we saw the castle and statue of Greyfriars Bobby (the little dog). We also went on a ghost tour where they said that Greyfriars Bobby was not really mourning over his master at the cemetary, he was actually eating the bodies that floated up from the rain... yeah thanx lady for ruining all of my childhood memories...

Ran into a Gator in Edinburgh... yeah literally ran into him. I was wearing Gator jacket, he was wearing Gator hat. We stared at each other and said Go Gators! and moved on.

The people at the hostel in Edinburgh were really nice. It's interesting to hear everyone's story. We stayed 2 nights and most people came and went, although a couple of people actually LIVE at the hostel.

Went to church finally! Yay, altho they felt it was ok to skip the 2nd reading. And I didn't know any of the hymns... but still it was nice to go... though I was definitely the youngest person there.

On Sunday, I spent a penny at the bus station... actually 20 pence, but can you believe the economic benefits of charging to use the toilets? I guess I had to do it once, but it costs just as much to make a phone call. Now I have to strategize my uses of public toilets so I can use only the free ones.

The hostel I stayed at Sunday night ended up getting really creepy at night. The shower especially reminded me of something from Friday the 13th... So I locked myself in my room and wrote in my journal all night.

Looking forward to Ireland!

y-UK

2006-06-25T09:29:00.000-07:00

So I've been in the UK for awhile now... right now i'm in a hostel/dorm in REALLY country Scotland but it's cool... very relaxing way to spend my Sunday and apparently this is the only computer with Internet in the area (the people who work here are really cool).
London is ok. But New York is better. The Met is better than the British Museum, our Museum of Natural History is better than their Museum of Natural History.
The people are probably not as friendly as New Yorkers (yes New Yorkers ARE friendly... check yoself). But the Scottish people are REALLY nice. They're so helpful and happy.
Edinburgh is a really cool city, I really like the feel of it and it's all so old.
I had some stories but I kind of forgot them bc I was caught off guard to use the Internet (I just got through running and now I'm typing and sweating...).
So maybe they'll let me use it tomorrow and I'll have some actual entertainment for you. In England and Scotland safe and sound tho, altho I miss Jordan ;-)
On my way to Ireland tomorrow but hopefully i'll post again tomorrow morning.

Petra/Aqaba/the final days in Jordan...

2006-06-19T00:29:00.000-07:00

Went to Aqaba and Petra this past week. Now I am sitting in a lonely office because school is on break, so I guess it's about time for me to leave (arriving in London tomorrow 20/6).

Aqaba is the only coastal city in Jordan so it's pretty much a beach resort town... but the city is pretty gross... it's kind of like any other city in Jordan only with the tourist aspect counted in. We went to the Royal Diving Club to use their beach and snorkel a little bit. When we arrived, though it was really windy so we sat on the beach and fell asleep... needless to say I'm a little toasty right now, but I put on lots of sunscreen... just never fall asleep under the Jordan sun. My sister and I snorkeled around and she swam very fall out to look at the reefs. I lifted my head up to find her, only to hear her asking for help.... turns out she ran out of energy and didn't have enough to swim against the waves and back to shore. Tried to pull her with me, but then ended up turning into a cheerleader ("only a little further") and before we know it there's an Arab in the water with a diving mask on pulling her to the bridge. And hotel guests staring. And hotel staff staring.
A little drama for the day...

Later on, we bought some mixed nuts for my sister's friend we were to visit the next day and the man at the counter was trying to make conversation with us... "ahh, Americans, where are you staying" and although we were staying across the street and could see him from our window, we lied... then he says "can I spend night with you?" without ANY shame. Just blatantly asks... and doesn't even apologize when we refuse!
ugh... I'm not sure what kind of tourists come to Aqaba, but they must be giving the rest of the Westerners a bad name! perverted peanut salesman...

Petra is really pretty... I wish I could post some pix but it's not looking good right now. It's an ancient city previously featured in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (the place where the Holy Grail was). Yes that's right I walked the same paths that Harrison Ford walked before me...
The site's a bit touristy and filled with Bedouin vendors, kids begging for you to ride their camels, donkeys, horses, etc, and Westerners making me ashamed by wearing traditional Bedouin headdresses.

We walked A LOT. The path to the Monastery had 800 stairs (which makes the Devil's Millhopper Sinkhole in Gville look like a walk in the park). I'm glad we were hardcore enough to do everything w/o donkeys because it was quite a challenge. Lots of climbing, stepping, sliding through sand. Some kid told us that a spring was located 15 minutes away so we walked only to be walking through stones from a river bed for 15 minutes and a dried (nonexistent) spring.

For the past few days we've been chilling... listening to American music station (yeaahhhhhhhhh Bryan Adams) and playing card games and stuff. Everything's really dead here although I think tonight we're going to a graduation ceremony. Then tomorrow I'm off to England so hopefully everything will go smoothly.

HOLY LAND!!!

2006-06-10T07:20:00.000-07:00

TRIVIA TIME:
it's been about a month since Megan's been travelling... in that month she has done all but one of the following:

A. hitch hiked with German tourists
B. used a squatter toilet
C. changed out of bathing suit on a public beach in UAE as the Muslim call to prayer went off in the background
D. toured with a group of Jews for Jesus

It's not as bad as it sounds...
Well, believe it or not, the answer is B... i have been fortunate enough to avoid the Squatter (Alhamdullah for excellent control of my facilities :-) )

Our trip to Israel was quite the adventure: took a bus that was supposed to take us to Nazareth, but left us at the border (bc Katie's passport took a long time to process bc she had been to Syria and Lebanon and they don't like that).
Stranded at the border we had no choice but to find two nice friendly German men who took us in their beat-up BMW to Nazareth. I saw them as we were coming in, and commented about their car... little did I realize we would soon be traveling in the back of it. Once we got to Nazareth none of the ATMs were working so a guy at the hostel spotted us some shekels. Nazareth was nice but a little boring... it's mostly Christian Arabs who live there, so lots of Arab food (hmm, getting tired of it).

Next day we went to Haifa, did a lot of walking saw the Bahai Gardens, but there's really not too much to do in Haifa. Met some Jewish girls from NYC who assumed we were Jewish too... lol.

Which reminds me, languages that people assume we speak: Hebrew, Arabic, German, Spanish, French, Russian... possibly some others bc in Jerusalem people would come up to us and i had NO IDEA what they were saying.

Anyway, I loved Jerusalem, it was great. SOOO many different cultures. Hasidic Jewish men, mixed with scarved Muslim women, and old people tourists with belt bags.
The city has SOOO much history too! Everywhere you go it's someone's birthplace, deathplace, something!

A few highlights:
Jesus!!!! Yay for Jesus-ness bc i was really missing out on it in Jordan. Place of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection, Mary's tomb (where some little Arab kid excitedly hugged us), Garden of Gethsemane, place of Last Supper, and MORE!
Wailing Wall (for Jewish religion), Dome of the Rock (where Abraham almost sacrificed his son... Muslim place), King David's Tomb, OSKAR SCHINDLER'S GRAVE! yes, ladies and gentleman, my sister and i even put rocks on it like they do at the end of the movie.

We also got harassed by a few people in the Arab markets... one guy would not LET up on bartering w/my sister. We also got followed by this guy who saw us earlier and remembered us and my sister and I were walking fast to escape him and we said "once we get to the Jewish quarter he'll stop" and alas he did... that was his boundary! Some interesting quotes: "You want coffee, tea? You want husband?" "Why do you call her young lady, she is still a teen angel." "I know you all!" (uh, stalker?) and the obligatory "hellohellohellohello! iloveyouiloveyou!" i don't know WHERE they get these things...

I'm used to those kind of things in Jordan but even the Israeli army guys got into it in Jerusalem! Altho a lot of them have REALLY boring jobs!
Stayed in an Arab hostel in the Old City w/great location, but the guy tried to give us a REALLY bad exchange rate when we tried to pay our bill, so we decided to pay in US dollars, like we originally had on the bill for our reservation... so in vindictive fashion, we gave him $102 US in 1's, 5's and 10's... hahahahaha have fun using all those 1's in Israel! And think before the next time you want to cheat whitey!

The Israelis are a lot less formal than Americans. Some postal employees dress like prostitutes. Vast contrast to what you see in Jordan. Many military people running around bc it's required for Israeli youth. Though I'll be the first to admit, the Israeli army uniform compliments just about anyone. :-) The gun helps too.
On the way back, we couldn't find the right bus in Tel Aviv and no one could help us (the bus station is 7 stories tall) so we ended up taking a really round about way home. Took us from 9:30 in Jerusalem until 6:30 to get back to the dorms, but at least we're back in Jordan now.

Overall, I really enjoyed Israel! The way in and the way out were trying, but it was worth it for all of the stuff in the middle. We met lots of nice people: tour groups of Jews for Jesus (actually Messianic Jews as they will tell you), Presbyterians, Baptists, a cute little French nun who wouldn't stop talking... it's amazing the conversations you can have with people while you're traveling... i even made friends w/a cat who wouldn't stop following me around!

Ooops, forgot we also went to Bethlehem which is in the West Bank of Palestine, so it was interesting to see the flipside of life... they are very poor in the west bank. still pics of yasser arafat all over the place. i'm not sure how i feel about the israel/palenstine conflict but my perspective has been permanently changed from my experiences both over there AND here in Jordan bc i have met many Palestinians and Syrians who have been effected by the conflict... one Palestinian guy even gave us a quick Hebrew lesson before we left Jordan altho it didn't really help. Won't write my opinions here bc that could get me in trouble!
Even tho many people speak English in Israel, next time I go back I would like to be a little more prepared in the language arena.

Just got back from dinner at a girl's house who is 1/2 Jordanian and 1/2 Mexican. Yummmm, Mexican food.... :-)

Now we're spending the night at my sister's tutor's house. Then we're off to Aqaba and Petra tomorrow!

Heard that the Mavs are in the Finals... hahahaha and people said it couldn't be done... go MAVS! and if the mavs aren't going to be champions, I couldn't be happier for DWade!!!

Also, heard that Zarqawi is dead? People are keeping pretty hushhush about it in Jordan, since he's from here (city of Zarqa)...

week in the village...

2006-06-03T05:08:00.000-07:00

so this week my sister had a pc conference in amman so instead of leaving me with friends or taking me to Amman, she dropped me off in a rural village with another pcvolunteer (and we were the only ones who spoke english in the whole village...)

Most people were really really friendly in the village, and they like to try their few English words they know. But the "shebab" (boys) were not too hospitable... they followed us one day for about 10 minutes. Another day they threw rocks at us... yeah that was fun. The other volunteer works at a special education center, where all the children were really sweet. They varied from 6-14 and they had ALL sorts of disabiities (mostly cognitive, a few physical). I really enjoyed working with the children and formed bonds with many of them, but I was surprised that the teachers sit around and drink tea, while 20-something children run around unsupervised. Granted, it's great that the kids have a sense of family, but every child needs attention, and I noticed that their parents are apt to spend more attention to their "normal" children, so I was a little disturbed by the behavior of the teachers.

Met one villager who didn't know any English until he met a PC volunteer in another village, and now I can have decent conversations with him. But the real thing that impressed me is that he is the ONLY Jordanian I have met with enough initiative to plan unselfish projects. He is currently working on making a soccer field for his school, and he's trying to get the volunteer I was staying with, to work with another woman to get a different project done. It doesn't really make sense written down, but the fact is: there's Peace Corps money just sitting in Amman waiting to be used for special projects and this guy is coming up with awesome ways to use it for the community. It's people like that who should be the political leaders of Jordan, not just a gym teacher.

Made some friends at the University, I guess, because I went to a Graham Oasis type place yesterday and ran into two people I knew, one of whom we just finished having lunch with. I told Katie, how can you be bored with so many friendly people all of the time, but she said that they wait for her to plan their social lives. The fact that I am visiting is kind of a break from their social monotony, and they feel like it's their opportunity to show me the "real Jordan."

Also, last Sunday, one of my sister's Palestinian friends invited us over for dinner (which was incredibly delicious) and we watched satillite (!) tv with her. This girl is so good at English but mostly because she watches so much American tv. We had to break the fact that many American actors are Jewish, which she was a little disappointed about, but she says that will not change what she watches. We also sang the Adam Sandler Hannukah song, lol.

The Arab interpretation of American TV and music is very interesting. They have shows like Buffy, Charmed, etc, but they also LOVE Dr. Phil and Oprah! Music-wise they do play a lot of top forty hits, but they are SOOO obsessed with olderbands like Whitesnake and Bryan Adams (i gotta say i do love myself a little bit of "summer of '69"). They also still haven't gotten over the boy band craze, as they love Backstreet Boys and O-Town (HUH?).

Going on a special trip this week, will write more when I get back.

week in Dubai

2006-05-28T04:17:00.000-07:00

Dubai is a very interesting place--not at all like Jordan.
No one speaks Arabic bc the Emirates only comprise 12% the population. The rest are ex-pats: England, America, and SOOOOOOOOOOOOO make Indians and Asians. When the airplane landed, I thought we landed in Indonesia or something. The Emirates don't do anything for themselves and they don't like mingling with people who are "not their kind."

The city of excess and opulence: it was actually kind of disappointing to see what the Sheiks are spending their resources on (not education or global poverty... more like man-made islands which they sell to Tom Cruise that will probably sink in 20 years. Malls are decorated like theme parks, but no one really shops in them...

Even though, I had a very good time, swam in the Indian Ocean (3/4 oceans down!), saw 4/7 Emirates, went on a Dune bashing safari, met lots of interesting ex-pat people (even got a TEEEEEEEEny bit of dancing in there... or watching people dance).

EVERYTHING is construction tho--2/3 the world's cranes are in Dubai. They're constantly working on the biggest and best (fill in the blank).

Running out of time tho.. back in Jordan and spending the coming week in a small village with another peace corps volunteer. should be fun, but internet time is hard to find.

Dancing!

2006-05-21T01:30:00.000-07:00

Everyone here loves dancing. On Thursday they had a celebration in honor of Jordanian Independence Day (which is actually next week but hey) and everyone donned themselves with Jordanian pride, red and white kaffiyyehs, posters of the king, and of course danced. The dancing, though, was one of my favorite things I have seen so far. No practice, just dancing because you feel happy. Only the men do it, though, but it's still so much fun to watch. If these guys went to Turlington at UF, they would beat the Step Team off in an instant. Step Team rehearses... these guys don't need rehearsal, they have it born in them. And supposedly the smaller village you are from, the better you can dipka. And people from Amman (the capital) apparently can't dipka at all. I wish I could watch that everyday; it makes me very happy. That's something I would like to bring back to UF.

Speaking of dancing, we went downtown to Amman on Thursday night, and went to a bar type place with a man performing songs. The guy at had his shirt unbuttoned and showed off his "appealing" hairy chest... how long will it take for him to realize.... not even Jordanian girls like that! But his music was good and the venue was relaxing. Then we started to go to some of the most popular Jordanian clubs, but they were very expensive, so we decided not to. Every place we went, all I had to do was flash my American passport and the would usher me in. Even if they had age restrictions, they didn't care. But Katie recommended this place with no cover... which was a little bit shady. In fact, it was pretty gross. The Jordanians we were with were pretty disgusted by it, and I definitely did not enjoy it. Packed with ruddy tourists--I would have appreciated something that Jordanians frequent, but eh, malish...

On Saturday Katie and I went to the ancient Roman ruins at Jerash... Very interesting but they're so huge, I tired quickly. We saw a Scottish bagpiper... well no, he was a Jordanian bagpiper, but dressed in Scottish clothing? I'm not sure WHY he was there, but kids started dancing and I broke out the video camera. I love the dancing!
We also got up close and personal with some Jordanian wildlife: giant millipedes (watch where you sit!), more of those giant lizards who looked like they were from Jurassic Park, and then we made friends with a snake. The snake quickly went back into the bushes, then slowly poked its head back out... and STARED AT US! Stop staring! We've had enough Jordanians stare, now there's a Jordanian snake staring at us! "Are they British, are they German tourists?" it wondered. "Can they get me an American visa?" Why did it stare? A bit disturbing.

Tomorrow we leave for Dubai! Yay, one of the most expensive cities in the world! At least with their modgepodge population, I won't get stared at... I hope.

Some differences...

2006-05-16T03:02:00.000-07:00

Everyone here is so nice. Someone just came into the office and asked if I wanted anything to eat. Yesterday, we visited the former secretary of the Civil Development Center and she locked the door and turned off the lights while me, katie and 4 others sat around and gossiped while she made us cheese sandwiches (on flatbread of course). Every now and then the door handle would turn, but it was locked so we all turned silent. One of the guys talking with us is a deaf man who is basically the "office boy" of the center. He is soooo social tho and really nice. He's friends with everyone and arguably the most popular man on campus.
The former secretary of the Center(who now works in the school of dentistry)took Katie and me into an empty office to take off her hijab and show us her new highlights and straightened hair. She said she wishes she didn't have to wear it because she wants to show off her new look.
We also shopped around downtown Irbid and that was quite interesting... it was sort of like Chinatown in NY for me (esp the part where no one speaks English). Many people stared! One guy tripped across the pavement because he was staring, lol. C'mon guys, whitey can't be that unusual... whenever we see people staring my sister and i sing "take a pictureeeee".
The wedding was lots of fun, despite the fact that many people didn't understand me. We danced (they drag you onto the dancefloor) and do the dipka. Women celebrate in a different room than the men. The bride was very beautiful, and descended in a clear elevator (which some girls informed me was not traditional). The bride and groom wanted to take pictures with us tho and that was a little awkward. And the groom said after this they are moving to California where he will teach and work on his PhD. Overall, it was very enjoyable.

I made a list of a few things in Jordan that I find difficult to get used to:
-50,000 greetings. When you meet someone you have to ask them "how are you" in about 50 different ways, so greetings take a very long time.
-you can't flush toilet paper. you have to put it in the trash can... ugh.
-horn honking=worse than ny... but apparently people honk in many ways: celebratory honk, taxiavailability honk, and of course the getouttamyway honk.
-King Abdullah and Hussein photographs EVERYWHERE even tho King Hussein has been deceased since 1998, everyone loves the royalty here and there is great amounts of pride, so there's a lot of photos (billboards, in busses, on computers, etc)
-Spoons are a different shape... Katie doesn't believe me but they are tapered in the opposite direction (kind of hard to explain)
-Almost everyone smokes (in fact there is a guy smoking right next to me right now) and they know that it's bad for you but they do it anyway. This trip is taking 50 years off my life... and it just smells bad.
-Clothes of course... i learned how to put on the hijab the other day!
-call to prayer: if you live near a mosque you hear the call to prayer 5 times (at least) every day and it is quite loud, but it kind of fades into the background because it is melodic.
-food: funny cheese, flatbread, and tissues instead of napkins or paper towels.

i think some people were talking in arabic in the hallway last night bc i couldn't sleep and i had a dream about the taxi driver without his nephew.

Everyone was supposed to go to see Lord of War (nicholas cage) and i'm being told right now that they had to cancel it because it was not censored.
first there was a kiss and many conservative girls left (they tried to turn the sound off... as if that would do any good)
then some guy came and put a book in front the projector during any scenes he did not approve of (which varied from a woman in a bikini to a short dress to a man and woman touching... things which probably wouldn't normally be edited out).
Tomorrow's movie is Ice Age 2... which shouldn't be too bad.
I ALMOST taught Katie's english class the word tool during class today bc we were talking about slangs like poser and stuff but my sister said it used to mean something else (dictionary.com it if you want) so i couldn't teach it... but really, that definition is not in usage anymore, right?

troy

2006-05-15T00:09:00.000-07:00

i thought specifically lindsey and julie would like this one:
so i went to my sister's tutor (mais) house for dinner, and mais told me this story about her cousin lina (who is a little ditzy). they all went into the capital city amman to see the movie troy. at the very end of the movie, her sister was crying and her brother was very depressed (bc the whole city is burning and everyone is being killed). As the credits rolled, lina sat up straight and said in a frustrated tone "i just really want to know: who is that pretty girl who died in the end?"

yes, lina.

that's brad pitt.

dead sea fun!

2006-05-14T04:15:00.000-07:00

woke up on thursday morning with barely any sleep and my sister dragged me to the center with her. there are many nice people that work there, but I realized how useless my 10 credits of Arabic are. They only speak colloquial here and foosha (standard) is what the news writes in. so MANY of the words I say are not commonly used here. I'm extremely grateful that many people speak English very well.
the dress of the women varies. I think I'm going to wear jeans, modest shirts and running shoes every day.
after work, which included many awkward introductions, we took the bus to amman (which wasn't bad at all). then we took a bus from amman to madaba which included shoving our way to the front (my sister said watch out for getting grabbed) and jumping on (and off) the bus while it was still moving. many people stared at us on the bus bc i guess 2 whitey girls isn't really common. excuse me sir, do you have a staring problem? unfortunately i couldn't say that because it is not appropriate to talk to men. at the university it's ok, but it is still hard to get used to not saying bless you in arabic when a man sneezes in madaba. we stayed with a really nice peace corps couple in their apt.
the next day we woke up early and went to mt. nebo (where moses looked over the mountain and showed everyone the promised land (Israel) and then died. it was really pleasant and had beautiful views. there were these giant lizards that were running around (like bearded dragons?) and they kind of freaked me out.
we then went to jesus' baptism site, which is VERY close to the Israeli border (armed guard to make sure you don't swim across). we touched the water of the Jordan river, yay now we're blessed! (just as well since I'm not going to church this week)
Then we headed over as guests of some other peace corps to the dead sea Marriott, which was quite luxurious. 5 pools plus private beach to the dead sea (where we floated for a bit and then got mud masks!!!) that is the life I would like to have everyday, and the pc volunteers tried to convince me they did that every week. I don't think I've been far enough from the US to fully appreciate that tho, but it was still a lot of fun. but the salt burns your eyes!!!

Saturday we went to the church of st. george's where there's this crazy miracle hand painting of the virgin mary. look at this third blue hand at the bottom of the picture which apparently mysteriously appeared there one day. there's also a really big map of the holy land. then we went home and chilled.

today (Sunday) katie has work so I am here again. and people keep talking to me. but they are all very nice, so it's ok. we were invited to a wedding in one guy's village tomorrow and we are going to dinner at katie's tutor's house tonight.

come fly with me...

2006-05-11T01:38:00.000-07:00

I hope I can remember everything since I haven't had a computer since I arrived in Jordan. and i'm writing this as people in the office are talking to me, so i'm pretty distracted and it might not be too coherent. Flew to New York at 10am, had an 10 hr layover, so I checked in my baggage and hung out at my Grandma's house for awhile. Very nice, since I didn't have to wait around in JFK. Went Back at 6pm for my 8:01 flight. British Airways was sooo nice. Maybe I thought it was since I haven't been on an international flight before, but maybe I liked it because I had three seats to myself for the overnight flight. Heathrow was ok, but I know terminal 3 inside and out tho bc I had so much waiting time. I even fell asleep a couple times, tho I'm not sure for how long. One woman approached me and asked me if I was American. She was in awe and was just asking "is it different there? I would like to go there so badly" in her cockney British accent…FINALLY, I got on my Royal Jordanian flight, which was not too bad, (2 seats to myself… I think the airline people think I smell but I won't complain). Then I arrived in jordan. the passport people gave me no problems, but baggage took forever to arrive. finally I met my sister who handed me an itinerary and "welcome packet" :a little overwhelming after all of those flights and no sleep. Then introduced me to the taxi driver and his nephew. We took the taxi back to her apt (a 2 hr trip). the driver was very talkative, but nice. We had a checkpoint stop, where the police took the ids of the driver and his nephew, but not our ids. About 1/2 way thru the trip I really had to pee. I mean not one of those, I should go to the bathroom; one of those shifting around in your seat to find the best spot times. my sister told me to wait, there were no stops along the way. we were sooooooooo close to the university (I could see the entrance in the distance) and there was another checkpoint. this time they took the ids again and took awhile longer. I had to get out of the car and walk around, my sister yelled at the police to go faster, and they replied "one minute" which really does not mean one minute. with the university within sight, I decided to walk, but I saw the police asking the nephew (mohammed) some questions. then the officer opened the door, took his arm and began handcuffing him, upon which we were all confused. this was NOT what i needed. the driver then told me to get into the car and he would drive me, and as we sped off the police said to wait, but we finally got to a bathroom and i finally moved all of my stuff into my sister's room. what an interesting start to the trip... my sister assured me that those things never happened here but i'm not so sure.
right before we went to bed my sister and i asked each other in disbelief... "did mohammed just get arrested ?"
driving in Jordan, people make up their own rules.
there basically are no rules… passing is extremely common, and it is also common for people to pull over and yell across the street for something like coffee. dogs also roam the highways and chase cars. our taxi driver honked at some dogs but didn't appear to be slowing down. prophet Mohammed was a cat person, so the quran says no to dogs.

jack bauer carries a man purse

2006-05-08T19:12:00.000-07:00

so i'm getting ready for my sleep patterns to be screwed up and i'm going to be awake for quite awhile tonight.
7:30 am flight to jfk should be delightful... you'd have to be crazy to wake up that early, which kinda makes me wonder about who i'll be sitting next to me on the plane...
already starting to miss gainesville, and i'll probably miss longwood too, but i am really looking forward to my pilgrimages to both holylands (israel & ireland) as well as jordan, uk, and uae.
dwyane wade is the only person who really cares about basketball on the miami heat; he deserves to be on a championship team. there's 5:55 left but the heat don't deserve to win this game.
trying to fit 1/3 year into one piece of luggage is quite challenging

ANYWAY, if you feel like catching up on my goings-on, take a gander at this site.
emails would be greatly appreciated! phone calls, though, not so much... text messages in case of emergency (like if julie and joakim need an extra bridesmaid). :-)