Amman's Wildlife

Subhan’allah finally a day off! I can’t take six days in a row… On Sunday there will only be two weeks left of this quarter and it seems that they are trying to cram as many complicated concepts as possible into what little time remains. So yeah, I really don’t like اعْراب. And no, there are sill no mid-term marks – apparently they’ll be given on Saturday. I’ve been sick again Al-hamdoulillah. Caught the second round of the flu for the season, kindly transferred to me by one of my flatmates… Getting over I now, but I have the most disgusting cough… Al-hamdoulillah. I’m hoping it’ll start to warm up soon since we’re almost into Spring.

The wonderful thing I have learned about learning Arabic is that you completely lose your English language skills. The other night I wrote the word “cat” in my notes spelt “K-A-T”, of course I realized my error, use the white out to erase it and then write it again…and again, and again… It took four white-outs for me to successfully write “C-A-T”. Unfortunately that is not the only example. I am however, taking solace in the fact that it is not just me suffering from this odd disorder – one of my flatmates is just as bad!

So yeah, end of the quarter… Thinking I’m off to Syria with one of my flatmates (the other is off to meet her husband in Turkey for the break) and another two sisters insha’allah. We need to go to extend our visas – normally you can get an extension for another three months (after your first three) but unfortunately for us we’ll have overstayed our visas before the next quarter finishes. And since we no that we won’t have time to go during the quarter, we decided to go in the break instead insha’allah… I’m really looking forward to it – although not the wait on the boarder, apparently with an American/Canadian/Aussie/British passport the wait can be upto and beyond 6 hours depending on the mood of Syrian customs… We are currently in the planning phase, we’re thinking either bus to Jerash then cab to Syria or just getting a cab all the way to Syria… Much cheaper to get the bus, but more chance of issues being women traveling “alone” and all. Anyway we’ll see. If one of the other girls comes we’ll have a private driver from the area – which would be nice… Hmmm…

Now you’ll all be delighted to know that my contacts finally arrived! Yes I only waited three months for the Jordanian Postal Service to work it all out! So anyway, I took the day off school on Monday because I was really unwell and was blissfully napping when my phone rang (9am). Answered the phone and it was a gentleman from customs who convieniently spoke no English. So in my broken Arabic I deciphered that he was actually calling my from Customs and that there was a parcel for me and that I had to pick it up before 2pm or it would “be sent back”! Quite annoyed I got up and went downtown to the post office to retrieve my parcel. Get there and, like last time was told to go to room A. In room A there were two men who were shuffling papers around apparently looking for one with my name on it. One of the men looks up and says “there’s nothing here for you, go to room C”. So I told him, “I’ve just come from room C, please check again.” So he checks again, and lo and behold my little slip of paper is found (you just had to hear the pronunciation of my surname), he smiles sheepishly and demands my passport, marvels briefly at the fact I’m from Australia, then directs me into room D. In room D there’s no one… So I wait… and wait… and wait… And then finally a customs officer comes, then calls in three of his friends, all smoking – did I mention I was sick? – and tells me to open the parcel. I open it, I pull out my contacts. One of the (non-customs) men takes out one of the smaller boxes and decides that he wants to open it – i.e. take the contacts out – while I’m trying to explain to the customs officer just what contacts are, I’m trying to think about how to ask the guy to please stop opening the box. So the customs officer also marvels at the fact I’m Australian (and so obviously a convert) and then he says that if I didn’t come today to get the contacts he would have charged me a tax because APPARENTLY THE CONTACTS HAD BEEN SITTING THERE FOR THREE WEEKS! Just waiting innocently to be collected. Then he tells me that they had tried to call sooo many times but never received an answer, so I was fortunate that he was so nice that he wouldn’t charge me a tax. So then he directs me to room E (minus the package, they kept that with them) and I gave my passport to yet another man who looked at my passport and the slip of paper filled in by the first officer and stamped it. He then directed me back to room D where once again there is no one. So I wait… and wait… and wait… Then the customs officer and his friends return (still smoking) and he takes my papers and checks them. Then he tells me “This is my country and you are our guests so no tax for you”, to which his friend replies, “No, this is her country and we are guests” reference of course to the fact that I’m a westerner and that the west owns everything – I didn’t feel the need to clarify that Australia wasn’t part of America. So they laughed manically for a short while, finally give me my package and said I could leave. BLAH! Not how I wanted to spend my sick day. Plus all the cigarette smoke made me feel so much worse. But anyway, al-hamdoulillah I now have my contacts *yay*

Two other points of interest, both are related to animals.

Two nights ago I was walking hoe from seerah class and attempting to walk up a hill while eating banana cake under my niqab, when this little kitten ran out miaowing and running around my feet (really unusual, all the cats here are scared of people because they are treated badly). So anyway, I pat it a little and it started licking my fingers that I was eating the banana cake with. So I gave it a little cake and walked on. It ate the cake and ran after me. So I fed it more cake. It ate and then ran after me again. So anyway, it followed us all the way home (about 1.5km) and ate all my cake! It was such a cute little thing – got class again tonight, wonder if I’ll see it again… Wonder if I’ll get banana cake again!

The other animal story is not so cute… Prior to leaving home to go to seerah class, I was pinning my hijab in the bathroom – now all bathrooms and kitchens here have drains in the middle of the floor so you can squeejy them, like mopping but you don’t have a mop you have what looks like a car windscreen wiper minus the foamy bit to pushy dirty water around with for a bit. So anyway, I’m pinning my hijab and I can hear squeaking – neep, neep neep neep – I’m thinking, there are mice somewhere, must be outside, I continue to pin my hijab. The squeaking gets louder so I turn around and my bathroom drain pops up, so I immediately step on it to push it back down and there is resistance under my foot. I screamed and ran out of the bathroom. THERE ARE MICE IN OUR DRAINS! Now on’t get me wrong, I like mice, in fact my mice I had as a kid had babies and I loved them, but for some reason, mice that live in sewer-like drains I just can’t deal with. So anyway, now there is mouse-poison all over the house – I can’t wait to move… Did I mention I’m moving place – three weeks to go!

So In other news, we (flatmates and I) decided that we would invest in a blender, which we purchased today. I’m in love. No more spending 2 hours chopping parsley and mint for tabouli… If only I could find red chilli I could make sambal… I miss having real chilli in food.

Still waiting on Umm Rabi’ to get a landline! Unless you’re coming to join me get a wriggle on woman!

Getting excited to come home… I know, three more months…

Ma'a salama

Fancy-pants-ing Around Amman (well kind of)...

Salam all.

Enjoying another long weekend – not because of snow al-hamdoulillah. This is our last double weekend – considering that there is only 3 weeks left of the course and we don’t have that much homework at all for Sunday, it’s not to bad.

So as you can probably guess, the snow that was predicted did not eventuate – there was a little accompanied by a lot of hail and rain. The pics below are of the fog in the morning when we were walking to class – visibility was really low, the bread shop didn’t even open so I went hungry (no breakfast L).

So the week has been relatively normal, just studying and whatnot… Class has been more relaxed since the mid-term, apparently everything from now to the end is more revision… We haven’t got our marks back for the mid-term yet, but when asked about it the teachers don’t sound very positive at all – some (I think most) are considering a resit, especially the students here on scholarship because their marks go back to their unis. Anyway, we’ll see, probably get them back on Sunday.

So yesterday afternoon I decided that we (i.e. my flatmates and I) were going out for a little party to celebrate the end of the mid-terms (actually it was just an excuse to do something other than be at home). So we went to Abdoun Circle – known as the “mummy’s boy area” of Amman (well that’s what our teacher said anyway). It’s basically a really wealthy area with lots of restaurants, clubs, and cafes (most serve liquor) where the trendy-set chillax. Oh and lots of Jordanian boys drive around in their parents fancy cars making a lot of noise – pretty much like the city (in Sydney) is on a Friday or Saturday night…

So anyway, we dressed up, which was a feat being that it was so cold we still needed to be wearing layers of thermals (I know it’s hard to imagine, but it’s true) and went to dinner at a really nice Thai restaurant – where the beef red curry tasted just like Thai Hutt in Bankstown, but the sizzling chicken was heaps better. Initially we were going to have Italian, but we couldn’t find the place – which I’m kind of happy about because I can make pasta and pizza at home. After dinner, we went to a place called Gerard’s which had about 30 flavours of ice cream (I got tiramisu and strawberry cheese cake) as well as some awesome crepes filled with nutella (of which I had one). They did coffee and whatnot, but when crepes are on offer…

When we were leaving Gerard’s, and were walking up to find a cab, I mentioned (maybe a little to loudly) what one of my flatmates looked like she was our Aunty (she was wearing more conservative clothing and she’s a little older) and she was taking us out in an attempt to marry us off. Apparently most of the Jordanians in Abdoun speak good enough English to understand, even though my accent because I said it as we passed by a table of young blokes in another restaurant who seemed to think my comment was hilariously funny. Quite embarrassing – as I’m not sure that they would have understood the sarcasm. Our way home was not a fabulous adventure, our cab driver insisted on speeding through Amman like a maniac, and he was literally falling asleep at the wheel – every time he looked like he was going to nod off (i.e. eyelids were drooping and head dropped a little) I started to cough really loudly. So I guess your wondering why we didn’t just get out and find another cab? Just look back to my first or second post in Amman about waiting for cabs and you’ll figure it out. Anyway, we got home safely Al-hamdoulillah, didn’t sleep till really late, so I’m a little tired today…

Umm KJ: I was looking at photos of one of my flatmates nieces and subhan’allah she looks exactly like KJ (about 6months younger though). Same eyes, nose (I know the NOSE!) and lips subhan’allah it’s almost freaky. The little one has a Fijian daddy and an Indian mummy – I always told you KJ looked Fijian-Indian. Where by the way are my photos?

I’m actually looking forward to my visit home for Ramadan now – even though its months away, this term has really flown subhan’allah and I’m sure the next one is going to be exactly the same. Anyway, time to eat J.

Ma’a salama.

Update.

Salam all,

Again it’s been awhile – apologies, but there isn’t really that much to tell. We had our exam yesterday, which was a giant ball of madness wrapped in insanity. 4 HOURS! That’s how long it took me to finish. I forgot the most basic stuff (verb conjugations – I kept mixing past and present tense) which really bugged me because I had it down, I just could not remember them properly for the life of me… But other than that I think it went ok, not great, ok. Definitely not HD material…

So now that the exam is over and I have some time to relax (yeah right) we are supposed to be expecting heavy snow again tomorrow night, at least that’s what the teacher’s are reporting… *joy* I’ve checked online weather reports and there is no mention of snow, just rain – and I’m not feeling it in the taps yet, maybe in the morning… We’ll see.

The sky was so clear tonight masha’allah. Walking back from a gathering this evening all the stars were out, there was a hint of warmth in the air left over from the day, and the moon was so bright – the middle of this week is the white days, so its almost full. It was really beautiful masha’allah, I really wish we had a balcony big enough to sit on…

Actually it’s been really hard to get back into the swing of things since the uber-extended snow weekend. I’m really felling drained – probably because I’ve become the biggest study-junkie nerd ever. Really, all I do is study, all the time, it’s scary. I have to get back into my routine and I really need to catch up on my vocab insha’allah.

Anyway, so we went fruit shopping again on Friday, which was a lovely adventure. The cab driver took us on this really long drive to the middle of nowhere – when we saw the sign for Jerash we realized that he wasn’t just going the long way, but the WRONG way, which was kind of scary. So we (forcefully) told him to go to the place we wanted and he complied – although made a big show of being all cranky about it – like it was our fault. Anyway, so we got to the market and the fruit was good and cheap and that’s all that matters. Insha’allah tomorrow, along with memorizing two presentations I’ll be trying my hand at tabouli.

Went to the dentist after the exam for a check up – dental is soo cheap here, 5JD (A$10) for the check up. I was really impressed with the dentist to, masha’allah, she was really good. While I was a the dentist, there was obviously some very important person in one of the rooms, because there were about seven big, burly security men (who looked like secret police, or their equivalent) and a photographer (he had a really big professional camera) waiting outside one of the consult rooms, and outside the centre there were soldiers and regular police (all armed with very large guns) – quite odd, although I am getting more used to seeing men in uniforms with big guns in most public places. So, my visit to the dentist earned me a trip to Safeway (because it’s across the road) and I finally found kecap manis *yay* (but still no red chilli) food will actually have taste now!

So as you can tell, there isn’t much to tell. I’ll let y’all know hot I went in the exam (maybe) when we get them back insha’allah. In the meantime, please all make du’a for Allah swt to expand my brain’s capacity to retain information…

Insha’allah everyone is well.

Ma’a salama

Not much to share...

Salam all.

Made it back to AbdAli for fruit and veg today, al-hamdouillah no dramas (possibly curtesy of the niqab?). Tried to do a bit of study but not been to successful. There is exactly one week until our second set of mid-terms. I did my oral exam the other day and was praised with "ah'santi"! My first ever in class - I should explain, it's like the highest level of praise given in our classes and rare to get so I was happy al-hamdoulillah... My presentation was 11mins long! Subhan'allah! And yes Miss T, you featured, my whole class know all about you now lol.

There was obviously a wedding in the Hay today, because there have been about 15 cars doing happy laps since 11am tooting like maniacs... Still haven't stopped. Apparently to celebrate a wedding here you need to constantly fire weapons into the air (has been going on intermittantly since lunch, still hasn't stopped)... I didn't want to go out once that started... As they say "what goes up must come down"... It's a strange way to celebrate anything when you think about it...

So at the moment I'm hungry - its dinner time - supposed to be having Paki-food again *yum* I think I need to befriend some Jordanian women so I can convince them to cook for me...

The snow sill has not melted, everywhere you walk there are large clumps of blackened ice - looks like styrofoam. I've fallen over so many times on the ice in the mornings... Such a dag.

My brother is off on a long holiday before uni goes back and Dad is travelling to atm so I'd appreciate if you could add their safe return to your du'a insha'allah... And as usual I'll ask for you to remember me in your du'a. :)

Anyway, off to study and cook - so much vocab to finish off insha'allah.

For those who keep asking for my return date, I'm ot actually sure when it will be, but my best guess is late June/mid-July...

Missing everyone.

Ma'a salama.