Oh the complications...

So today I had the "joy" of extending my visa for Jordan. When you come into the country they give you a one month visa, that then you are supposed to check in with the police station before a month and they will extend your visa. However I forgot and went over a couple weeks, so I had to go and pay a fine.

So this is how it went yesterday the bus driver for the school was nice enough to come with me to attempt to renew my visa. I paid the fine and actually this very nice man put my passport on top of the stack because someone told them I had family coming into town. However then we tried to find the next office we were supposed to go to and after walking in about 5 circles. Apparently it is not easy to understand what your job is here. We finally found the right place, the man asked me about 3 questions and told me to leave because I could not prove that I had a place of residence here.

So I went back today with my host sister... we did everything they wanted and got the fingerprints, by the way Jordan now has a blood test and fingerprints from me... We got to the last step where all the man had to do was stamp my passport and he looked at the receipt that said I paid my fine yesterday, and told me I had to go pay my fine today. It has to be the same day. Well that was back on the other side of the building, and the smallest room with the most people. We asked them if I could just pay the 1 and a half JD for the day, but they wanted us to fill out another paper and wait in line for this which had about 20 people in front of us. We got really frusterated and then the man yelled at my host sister, and I was really really lost for a while until about 10 minutes later we ended up with my passport stamped and went back to see the same guy that kept refusing me and he finally finally put the stamp in my passport so that now I could stay for 3 months in Jordan.

It may not seem complicated, but we were both exausted afterwards and also very frusterated. If I could just get my visa for Sudan none of this would be a problem, but such is life :)

Ramadan Pictures

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/08/ramadan_2009.html

A day full of adventures!

Today was not just any normal day I got to do two things that in I was in America they would seem pretty normal. I went to the hospital, and the grocery store.

Don't worry no one is dieing, my youngest host sister's hands and feet were swollen. I told them all they needed was either benedryl or steroid cream as I have a friend that had something very similar to it. Yet we went on an adventure. First we went to the doctor, but the doctor decided he did not want to work today so he did not come in. So then we had to go to the hospital. They told us to go to the children's area of the hospital and because my host Dad is in the military they saw us very quickly. However all they said was we dont know go see another doctor at the other end of the hospital. We went over there and the doctor that we wanted to see was talking on his phone and said he could not see us until after a lecture that had not even started. My host Mom does not take no very easily, so in the end she got her way and we were seen right away. They prescribed her steroid cream, and said it may be a virus infection we do not really know. The hostpital itself would probably make you sicker that you were when you first came. Just being there made me feel dirty! There were about 10 people in every room and it was a lot of fun! Then we had to go get the prescription at the other end of the hospital. I had lots of fun, and realized I hope I never have to go to the hospital in this country, however I am sure there are worse.

The grocery store was an adventure as well :) I have been to grocery stores before, just not during Ramadan when everyone is trying to buy everything in the store. It was also more of a local grocery store then I usually go to. You know how your mother told you to never go to the grocery store when you are hungry. Well everyone was hungry and everyone was buying a months worth of food. Or so it seemed. However people thought I was Arab since I was there so that was kind of fun :) I saw some pretty fun stuff as well, didn't go near the meat section though so I do not know about that area.

Funny how the simplest things are now the most complicated, it gets easier and not so surpising the longer you are here though.

Whats for dinner?

I have had a lot of questions about what kind of food I am eating or what are traditional dishes, So I thought I would show you. This is as traditional as you can get for Jordan it is called Mansef and yes that is a lamb head, well skull in the middle of the platter. Around it are the rest of the parts of the lamb nothing is wasted in Jordan. You eat this from the platter with your hands/ bread and they pour kind of liquid yogurt over it. It is very very good and there is always plenty of food!

This is a traditional dessert, called Kanafe. I am not too fond of it but it can be really good. It has a coconut wrapping and a chewy inside I really have no idea what it is made of. Of course it has pistachios on top which is a delicacy and very expensive, yet loved by all. Even the Arab ice cream has pistachios in it. Good thing they have American ice cream too I still prefer it to the desserts they have here.

There are lots of other dishes as well but these are the most traditional! In Arabic lets eat is Sahtain!

Let the games begin!

One of the things that I brought with me on this trip was a bag full of school supplies. Once my host family realized this they started looking to see what I had. I bought a bunch of games to play with my class. Of course all educational. One in particular that they really liked was Rummikub. I think part of the reasoning is that it is numbers which are much easier to translate taking away one part of the difficulty of speaking a different language as your first language. Dont get me wrong my whole host family speaks amazing English, just when you are playing a game you probably do not want to play Scrabble.

Every night now everyone wants to play Rummikub and they get really into it and very competitive. It is really fun and I can play it totally in Arabic now which is always helpful. As one of my host sisters said after we played the first time this game is very very very very very nice! Even the youngest has fun and tries to play usually she needs help but she is not bad either. I love the fact that this culture is so focused on family that the entire family can come around the table and play the same game day after day.

While I am waiting

So while I am waiting for my visa I found something to do. My host Mom is a pricipal at a preschool/ kindergarten I went there when I was here before. I went today with 26 little people and 4 adults in a bus (more like a van) to a kids play area. I ended up teaching the class most of the day. Then I got asked if I could cover for a lead teacher tomorrow. Wow these jobs just jump at me. Can you imagine being able to just walk into a daycare in the US? Or any place that kids are then taking care of them the next day by yourself when you do not even speak their language. It is ok though cause my 9 year old host sister can translate :P Should be an interesting day. I wish I had pictures but my camera is harban (still not working/ no charger) Sorry you will just have to imagine kids pilled on top of each other. The play area was much like a play area at a McDonalds in the states.

I'll keep you posted :)

Observations...

It is interesting coming back to a country that I have been to before. How quickly you think things are normal and the things that you forget about being different. Some of the differences that I forgot about are:

• Toilet paper is a luxury.


• There is not enough water to take a shower every day.


• When you go out you dress up even just to go to the store.


• Cars will not stop for you so you better run!


• People really want you to be able to speak Arabic and will help any way they can.


• Time is an interesting concept: yes the party starts at 6, no we will not leave till about 6:30.


• Street signs are just for looks and no one knows what you are talking about when you say some street name.


• When there is no school you stay up till about 3am and wake up around noon.

Other cultural differences make more sense to me now. I am more willing to dress even more modestly then before, maybe because there are not as many Americans that I am hanging out with. You do not go out at night you stay in and spend time with the family.

It is wierd though everyone still tells me welcome to the country or "Ahlan wa Sahlan" I am wondering at what point I will not look so American or if I can do that...

I tried wearing hijab or head covering the other day and my host sister said that maybe I should not wear hijab. I am too white :) gotta get working on that tan...