The crazy 24 hours

I’m not exactly sure how to make a cohesive blog post from the events that have transpired in the past 24 hours. But I am going to try. It may be jumbled and have no transition, but you are going to have to deal.

Art Fair

Once I got to the top of the Zara center where the Amman Street Art Fair was being held, I realized I found where all the “Western Jordanians” were hiding. I felt overdressed, and quickly removed my cardigan and scarf. The art fair showcased local artists from Amman, and if I had an extra 70-120 JD to spend, I probably would have bought some of the gorgeous prints they had. I did get a fun souvenir bag out of the deal, so it wasn’t a total lost cause.

Arabic Play

Amal gave me a kiss on both cheeks and her perfume lingered for hours after. Amal is my land-mother’s old friend, and they offered to take to a play down at the Hussein Theater. Now this was an experience.

Observations:

1.     As a thespian I was PERTURBED by the lack of respect for the performance! People were coming and going as if it was a movie theater. People were yakking on cell phones and using flash photography. Although this is normal here, I just found it disrespectful.

2.     I only understood words like “happy” “beautiful” “My name is” and “His name is.” WOO Arabic skills.

3.     The fake gunshots in one of the “dream” scenes scared the living daylights out of me. I almost peed my pants. I think the girl who was sitting next to me, who ran out after they were fired, might have.

4.      Apparently the play was bad. Well, I didn’t understand it, so it could have been award winning and I wouldn’t have known the difference.

“Teambuilding”

Well, we were supposed to get students from the university to be our language partners, but well, mine was taken by another Laura W. EVEN THOUGH SHE WAS MINE. So all of the CIEE group spent the day doing lovely “teambuilding” activities, which all my fellow STLFers know quite well.

We had shwarma for lunch, which was quite delicious and a desert that I thought was disgusting. It’s Knefe. It consists of melted cheese with caramelized sugar and phyllo dough on top. I can handle cheese. I definitely can handle phyllo dough. Don’t ever put them together. Blech.

Water

OK. The most awful development in the past 24 hours is that we ran out of water. Turn on the faucet—nothing. Turning on the shower—nothing. Flush the toilet—a little trickle. Oddly enough our kitchen sink still sputters water, so I resigned to washing my hair in the kitchen sink (just like grandma used to do when I was little!) We are also out of drinking water. Tap doesn’t come until Tuesday and drinking water doesn’t come until Monday. So its showers and surreptitiously filling gigantic water bottles at the gym, which is quickly becoming my home away from home.