"The Hay" <-- where I'm at!

Al-hamdoulillah I’ve arrived safe and sound in Amman. The flight was delayed out of Dubai so we didn’t arrive until 11am. The delay was for two reasons, (1) apparently some people were no-shows, (2) there was a fight between two groups of arab men at the boarding gate next to ours at Dubai International, everyone wanted to see what would happen so boarding was a little late – couldn’t make out any of the dispute since it was all in Arabic, but it was very… Animated. Anyway, once on board the plane despite having a window seat, I was happily surprised when I realized that the flight was undersold and that no one would be sitting next to me. My joy was short-lived however; a Chinese lady who was allocated a perfectly good seat at the front decided that she would take up my extra seat because there was a baby that was annoying her. She also wanted to talk the entire trip which was most frustrating – all I wanted to do was sleep, and failing that read my book! Additionally her English was really bad, so I found myself nodding a lot because I had no idea what she was saying and didn’t want to seem rude, which left me with a shocking headache! Couple that with the Arab in front of me who help hawking up his spit really loudly and what else is there to say but…Al-hamdoulillah.

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The adhan is going off at the moment (maghrib) – subhan’Allah it is so beautiful. I can’t wait to hear it at fajr insha’allah, what a way to wake up! So as you can guess I’m not far from the mosque – in fact my apartment is at the bottom of a small hill, the mosque is at the top! I’m very close to a little supermarket (which is way overpriced), a phone shop (for credit), two fruit and veg shops, and apparently only a 15min walk to where my classes will be! I’m loving it! SMS’d one of the girls I know here when I arrived, and was invited for lunch at the zawiya. Had curried lamb and salad, sweets and tea – it was really good. Not so impressed with the short walk there during which I had to step over the bodies of some sheep (or goats, I couldn’t tell) that were being killed, skinned and chopped up in the street! There was so much blood. Thankfully I couldn’t really smell it. But later, walking home it started to rain really heavily (it hailed to), and the blood was everywhere, and the smell was so strong. Ewww… Don’t know if I can eat meat for a little while…

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There is a small goat that lives across the road to the zawiya. When you pass by it puts its little hoofs in the wall and keeps a watchful eye – quite cute really, I wonder if it bites…

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I’ve unpacked, made my bed (problem with my fitted sheet, apparently I have a king-single and my fitted sheet is for a standard single blah!), bought some food. Tried out the ADSL to find its not working – have to do something about it in the morning. Going proper shopping tomorrow insha’allah (like food and other necessities – apparently safeway is open, and maybe C-Town too).

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I’m feeling a little funny at the moment. I feel really off balance. When I’m sitting still or standing I feel like I’m rocking – I’ve even felt like I am going to fall face down when sitting. It’s quite strange, I first noticed it in Dubai. Maybe its just because I haven’t slept properly since I left. I’m sure that this freezing cold is not helping… Al-hamdoulillah.

So sleepy. Hope everyone is doing well. Much love.

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First morning - finally the ADSL is working. The gas truck has been doing happy laps around the area with it's ice cream truck music blaring - I can't help but laugh. It's 7.30am. My bed is harder than the floor, my back is out and I'm famished. Just turned the burner on so I can have hot water in my shower in half-an-hour. Very excited about shopping. Mmmmm food!
Oh and it's good to hear Khadija is missing me. Eid Mubarak to those celebrating on Friday.

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Ma'a Salama