Welcome to the Lowest Part of the World

Today we went to the Dead Sea, which is the lowest part in the world (obviously not under water, but on the surface. So... that's cool. Before that we stopped at a Greek Orthodox church and got yelled at like three times for doing everyday normal things like talking or crossing our legs on a bench. I don't know, Arabs, man, Arabs. That's all I have to say for that. It wasn't really that exciting until we went to the other room and they started talking about other areas and the movement of them. Then we stopped at another place which the ruins were closed and couldn't get in because they were restoring them. But the view was really pretty so that was good. We also stopped at this Mosaic place that got mentally disabled people and like women and give them jobs by teaching them to make the Mosaic art pieces. Everything was so pretty I wanted to buy one but it was so expensive. While driving to the dead sea we stopped on this little hill and our van driver turned off the car as we were going up the hill and instead of rolling backwards we were slowing going forward. Like voodoo magic, I don't even know what was happening but it was really impressive. And at last, we got to the DEAD SEA! I was beyond excited. Of course, I got really motion sick in the van we were on, as Arab drivers are insane, but I made it there alive, so that is always a plus. We all got ready and ran down there and got in the water. All you can do is float and it was a REALLY weird feeling. So weird. Like I didn't even know what to do. And then we like practically rolled around in mud. IT WAS AWESOME! Like you totally take it from this place and rub it all over you and it exfoliates your skin and then you go wash it off in the really salty water and its supposed to be really great for you. The only problem was that the water is so salty that nothing can live in that ocean and that everything floats. But if you go under then you can't come back up. Which is totally freaky. That means if you have any open wounds or little cuts it'll sting like crazy. And guess what? I got some water in my hair and it ran down my face and some got in my left eye and I was dying. DYING. It was awful and so painful. I like booked it out of the water to rinse my eye out and some random guy just started spraying me with a hose. It was weird too but helped, so what can I do? But overall it was a really cool experience and we spent like an hour and a half down in the sea. Then we headed over to the pools, because we were at a Holiday Inn and played around for a while. We decided to eat dinner there and a group of 4 of us went up and ordered and got us a table big enough for us all. Everyone got their food for the most part except me. I was like ok, whatever. But then another 4 came and ordered and all but 1 of them got their food. Again, before me. So then I was a little ticked off. That was when all hell broke lose and nobody was getting anything they ordered, and it took years upon years, and there were 3 of us waiting for food. Eventually one of them got their food and after our ISA director went and yelled at the staff 5 times and still me and this other guy didn't have our food (me waiting for mine over an hour. It was now 8:30) she flat out told them that if we didn't get our food within the next five minutes we would all get up and leave without paying. Guess what? They brought our food out. Greaaaat. And they made me pay for it all and everything. So we complained to the front desk but they seriously did nothing. One girl told them I needed my money (she's so sweet and protective its adorable) and the guy was totally like no but we'll give you more food. I told him no that I didn't want their service anymore but besides that, they did nothing. So after a really awesome day hanging out at the Dead Sea and pools it turned into a mess. But its whatever, not that big of a deal. The only problem now is that I hadn't eaten for like 8 hours since lunch because my dinner took forever, therefor I have a splitting headache. It's seriously so bad. Ugh. 

But MOM, I totally stole some sand from the beach. You better love me now. 

And, my first day of classes were fine, but I'm so behind in Arabic and its really embarrassing. Like one guy told me that I really shouldn't be in that level. He wan't mean or rude about it and I didn't take it personally, but I agree. I know literally nothing. I mean, yes, I know more than the level 1 class, but I should be in the level 2 class not the 3rd. But again, whatever. I'll make it work and figure things out. So we'll see where it takes me. 

xoxoxox

(I didn't actually take any of these pictures, they came from somebody else in our group because I refused to take my camera down by the water)

Gee, Why Don't You Just 'Notice the Teeth'

We had to be out of our apartments and in a taxi by 9:30. And for some slightly jet lagged students, it wasn't awful, but definitely not ideal. We started our adventure alone having to tell the drivers where to go. Today, our taxi driving was wonderful. We heard us speaking English and spoke to us in Arabic, which the other girl in my cab didn't know any. So it was a difficult task. He spoke very, very, very broken English so was able to talk a little bit. Otherwise we just kind of nodded along. Sometimes we get really cranky taxi drivers and its not very fun. But for the most part, they really like to engage in conversations, whether in English or Arabic (which the Arabic comes from the other students who know a lot more). Its really cool to talk to the people here. Most of them are really friendly. Like our taxi driver today wanted us to stop to get "Ashai wa nana" (how you would pronounce it, not Arabic writing) which is tea with mint but we told no its was okay. It was really sweet and funny at the same time. We drove to some ancient ruins which was pretty fascinating. We saw the Temple of Hercules (but I mean, nothing compares to seeing the things in Greece, but I still appreciate it here) and there was also a first century church and Umayyad Mosque that I can't remember for the life of me how old it was. Pretty old though. Fairly sure its the 8th Century when it was built. The top, of course, has been rebuilt. I wish I could record everything they say because its so hard to remember the names and details, especially with the Arabic names. Our tour guide person kept getting these calls and he kept apologizing and he told us, no joke, that it was because he had two wives. Yeah, yeah, of course you have two wives that call you all the time and interrupt the tours. Man, like I want two wives. But these Arabs, seriously they answer the phone like no matter what. After that we went into a very small tiny museum which was just alright. Like i said, its hard to beat Greece and their huge museums filled to the brim. It was smoldering out today, at least for me. And I know everyone says "oh its fine, its a dry heat" but that is a lie. I mean, yes its dry, but that does not make it any better. Not. At. All. I was probably a little dehydrated though but after that we walked down to a restaurant where I had some delicious hummus and pita and drank tons of water. That took up all morning and we had to go straight to the apartments to catch a taxi to our University. So we got there and they showed us around. The university is built on a hill so it really sucks walking up and down it to get from one place to another. And the times we have classes changes, so its really weird. Like our Arabic class is weird. We all have Israeli Conflicts at the same time every day Sunday-Thursday, but my Arabic class, the intermediate 201 class has it Sunday-Tuesday from 1:25-4 (SO LONG!) and then Wednesday and Thursday from 8:30-11:05. I don't get it at all, but its whatever. And then from 11:15-1:20 every day we have our other class. So weird. I wish that ours was more in the morning so we got out and get to see more things later in the day, since its harder to plan things with a time crunch in the morning along with sleeping in. But oh well. It is what it is. After that we had to find our way back home after getting off the bus, but it wasn't awful. Then we went to this coffee/hookah place and hung out together playing cards. They didn't have food though and by the time we finished I was starving. Oh, and by the way, I still haven't smoked hookah nor do I plan to. Just a friendly reminder since that totally isn't my thing. Everyone else does it except one other girl in my group, so I guess we're kind of like the loners for it. Maybe we're weird for it, but hey, I'm just not feeling it. But then I wandered around to get food and then got a Falafel sandwich again and then had some Baklava (or Block of lava thing going on if Marina is reading this) and then I got Kilafel or something similar that word, not entirely sure, which is like baked cheese on the bottom and like phyla (not sure if that is how you spell it) dough on top that is like crunchy. It sounds weird but its actually made with sugar so its really sweet and so delicious. Kind of a weird texture. Then I ran back to the room and ate and now I'm writing this and getting ready for bed since my first day of school is tomorrow. WHAT? On the third day we like have run around and I don't even know whats going on. So wonderful. And its so hot. I'm dying. 

ANDDDD I didn't realize my memory card on my camera is so samll or the pictures take up tons of room or whatever, I don't care, so I have to upload to my computer and since I'm paranoid that if I delete them from my camera and they are only on my computer my computer will crash and I will lose them. Therefore, after that confusing sentence, I uploaded them to facebook, and now the element of surprise will be gone. Oh well. 

So that's cool. And I mean, I guess that's all that I have for today. 

So maa'salam

xoxox

Hercules Temple (for Mom and Bryan, its not very exciting as the things in Greece...)

 The Old Mosque

 The ceiling of the mosque was made out of pine trees which is really cool. Its very beautiful inside and is very interesting since I've already seen cool things in Greece this is a big difference, so much more exciting for me than Hercules temple.

This is Hercules hand and in the top right is part of his elbow

This cracked us all up. In the museum at the temple they had something about the teeth. The whole big paragraph was about the fossils of teeth and there were two different signs since there was one with horse teeth and another with like rhinos or something. Then literally right next to the other signs was this one that says "Notice the teeth". Huh, really? I never really would have gotten that out of that whole speil about fossilizing teeth and the evidence of it. Who would have guessed?

My First Full Day

Well today was pretty good. It wasn't very exciting during the morning since I was the first one up and nobody really got up until a lot later. But its casual. So at 4pm we got on a taxi and went to a mosque. It was really interesting to be in in one and I got to wear the robe from Jordan, since its required. I already love it here and its my first full day. I loved to be able to experience the culture that way. The whole city is so amazing. The Mosque was very small compared to what I thought it would be, but over all a great experience. I was so excited to be able to see it. After that we were there we got on a taxi and went into town. Well, more like city. We live by a bunch of markets, but it definitely isn't like the heart of the city. We went to so many different places that I can't even tell you the names. One was a women's environmentally safe place that was really cool and all the money goes to the women. I had the most delicious hummus sandwich with falafel in it. So. Tasty. We left like this Jordanian tourist place thing with a restaurant and a coffee place. Our site manager took us to this weird rooftop thing and all that was on the top were two guys just hanging out and the cutest cat ever. And we get to the top are a ton of pigeons just chilling and I'm like what the heck? So they put a pigeon on my head. ON MY HEAD! What?? It was so weird and random. But hey, I was sold. 

Then we went and had something to drink, I had lemon with mint and it was like blended. It was so good too! I'm dying, everything is so freaking tasty. 

But I'm so tired and have to get up early tomorrow so I'm heading to bed now. 

Maa'Salam.

And Good Morning Amman!

 As most of you know, the Islamic culture and religion, they have to pray at least 5 times a day. That means starting at 4 in the morning. So what does that mean? I woke up. And I'm a bit tired but not enough that I could go back to sleep. So instead, I'm doing nothing and then got on Facebook to talk with my Momma. Hopefully I'll be sneaking off to bed soon. 

But when they pray its really cool. I know the mosque is kind of close, but not that close. Its really loud and I don't know if someone is like praying into a microphone or its like a CD but its cool to hear. And you know, since the whole 5 times a day rule applies I get to hear it a lot. So its pretty interesting. Well, except when it wakes me up at 4. Oh well. First day. 

I was so exhausted last night that I was asleep by like 11 and thought for sure I'd sleep straight through the night. Nope. Instead I woke up at 1 in the morning and then as said, 4. It is 4:30am here, which means its 6:30pm Washington time. I'm not converting that for any of my non Washington readers... Sorry. 

I thought my first post would be really exciting but it wasn't. Like I was just too tired. Kind of disappointed. 

So my schedule today is at 4pm we go see as mosque and then walk around the market for a few hours. So that'll be fun. And then tomorrow we start really early so that kind of sucks, but it is what it is. And THEN I START CLASSES! 

Oh Lord, I need to get into Arabic 3. Everyone else though is seeming to be taking Arabic 1 so that sucks I won't know anyone, but then again we'll have the elective class together, which is good. 

So last night only 3 of my roommates were there. So we walked downstairs to go to the market and then just as we got out the van pulled up with our other 2. So convenient. So our site manager (one of them) Ghadeer took us to a tiny grocery store that really didn't have anything. But oh well. Some girl bought a case of water thats only like 6 and they were like lets all switch who buys the case so we can just drink the water, but I'm like I don't drink as much as they do so it sucks for me. But then we went to this little restaurant where I got something that I can't remember the name for the life of me. But it was like this baked bread with potatoes on it. It was quite tasty actually. And large. I couldn't even eat the whole thing and I also got a water there so it cost me like 3.50 in US dollars. Not bad, I must say. I'll post a picture of it later. 

But that is it for now. 

So Maa'salam!

I'm Alive!

Hello world!

I have safely arrived in Jordan. My computer is being weird and changing everything to Arabic since I am connected to an Arabic wifi thing. That's what i assume at least, so I apologize if these come out weird. I will 

.try to fix it.Not sure if I can though...It's putting my periods in weird spots. I don't like it

It will be what it will be though.

So my flights were actually really good. Long and tiring, but good. I went from Washington to Washington D.C. and had a whole row to myself! A WHOLE ROW! What? So cool. And then I sat by some really nice Austrian kid flying from D.C. to Vienna who woke me up to get my food which was cool since i wouldn't have gotten it otherwise. It was cute and I got lucky. And then to Jordan (jwoiajelaiwur excitement!) I was on this cute little jumper plane thing and it was exciting. I rode a bus onto the tarmac and it was pretty sweet dudes. It was a pretty short flight, and I was so happy to be done with flying. And I thought flying was awkward and bad... 

So I got to the airport and got my Visa super quick and then thought they lost my luggage since i was waiting for it for forty five minutes. I almost died. So I met one of my site managers and a guy drove me to Amman. Its 40 minutes away from the airport and the ride was awkward, as everyone knows how bad I am at meeting new people. It was the longest 40 minutes of my life, I think. And it was SO hot. Like seriously, I'm dying. Thank GOD we have air conditioning in our rooms at the apartment. I'm going to melt.

And then I got to the apartment and was worried and its so cute! AND HUGE! Like seriously, its 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths. Like its legit. And the buildings around us are so cool and there are shops everywhere like five minutes away. I'm so stoked!  

And a girl was here before me so I was all worried but shes super cool so I'm rooming with her and we have our OWN bathroom. So lucky. So yeah, I'm excited. I've yet to meet any other people, they aren't here yet, but oh well. It's casual. 

I feel like i should go buy some food for tomorrow at some point today, but I don't know when things close and I'm not hungry now so don't feel up to it.Oh well. 

I'm going to finish putting my odds and ends things away. 

Enjoy some magical pictures. 

Oh and I feel fine from the plane! I did a bunch of cleansing and stuff.

This is my bedroom! So cute

My bathroom 

Cute little kitchen with balcony

Off our second balcony

Little living room area

Oh Lord.

So today is Saturday, 18 May. Do y'all know what that means? That means I leave next Saturday, 25 May. A week. ONE WEEK!
What does that mean for the upcoming week? Oh you know, just chaos and panic. No big deal or anything. And heaven forbid I do anything fun with my life. Nope, instead I'm packing all week long. ALL WEEK LONG! (- thanks Mom...)
But I mean, I guess she knows best, so I'll go for it. Stress. And I'll have to be doing a nice little health cleanse before I go, since anyone who doesn't know this, just be prepared for this news I'm going to share. And it's something that I call "Airplane Madness" and I'll just define that real quick...

Airplane Madness: (n.) The act of Melea getting sick (sick as in stuffy nose, headache, blowing snot everywhere, sore throat from draining snot, etc.) every single time she rides on an airplane, no matter the length of time, although with longer flights, the worse it progresses.

And there you go. Ta-da! Wonderful. And that my friends, is exactly why I'll be doing my cleanse. And especially Friday. Airborn everywhere, ever day, forever. And I don't know, like a bunch of voodoo magic of some sort. Whatever the witch doctors might call for.
And right now, that is my only concern. I feel as though I feel kind of funky, but that may just be being paranoid. Which is bad, right? Like that might just make me 'feel' sick when I'm really not and then I'll get airplane madness. And it'll be bad. Awful. Horrid. You know the rest.

But I'm excited for Jordan! Party!
Except not really, it'll be like yeah, school, Arabic, homework, get some sleep, don't get sick, stop being sick. Yadayadayadddaaaa.
So that's cool.
Just thought I'd share.

xoxo
Melea

Need to Work on my Arabic...

Waaa!!
T-minus 13 days before I leave for Amman, Jordan. And I'm still freaking out. Not so much, but it still is happening, aha. I've pretty much got everything I need, which first of, thank goodness, and second off, is great.
I'm rusty in Arabic due to not having a great teacher, so I'm kind of self teaching at this point, but I seriously need to get into Arabic 3. I can do this though! Study, study, study!
I'm so SO excited though! I'm going to miss everyone here but this trip is going to take me far. I can just feel it! Things in my life are good.
So yes, I'm stoked!
And meow.