This week was quite interesting. I smoked for the very first time in my life J Don’t freak out anyone, I only smoked hubbly bubbly (also called hooka or argilay…not sure if I spelled any of those words correctly). I thought it had a very nice taste, but I only took about 6-7 puffs, so I really didn’t get the full effect. The “full effect,” however, resulted in John turning a very pale shade of green and throwing up, so I think I am satisfied with my few puffs. I did enjoy trying it though. I also really enjoyed visiting with the manager of the English center where I am going to start teaching soon.
Nori has not experienced any dangers this week…that I know of anyways. Last week, she got in the front seat of a taxi (which is haram here for women) alone (which is also ill advised) with no money (which is not ok anywhere in the world)…oh, Nori…After having her hand kissed and being drove around in circles for a few minutes I think she learned her lesson though. And if she didn’t learn her lesson from the ride itself, she certainly did after a scolding from Nabil. We are all trying to get used to the cultural rules. For example, guys are not allowed to enter our home after dark (which is about 6pm), and we cannot enter a guy’s home after dark either. Girls are not allowed out after dark alone. It is also not ok for a girl to be out with just one guy. Actually, girls should not even look guys into the eyes when speaking to them…which is quite strange for me. I had a guy in Safeway (yes, there is a Safeway here) talk to me through Brandon last week. He was speaking to me while looking at Brandon...it was quite strange. With all these rules, it is no wonder that most of the marriages here are arranged. Spending time with the opposite sex is not exactly convenient.
Nori has not experienced any dangers this week…that I know of anyways. Last week, she got in the front seat of a taxi (which is haram here for women) alone (which is also ill advised) with no money (which is not ok anywhere in the world)…oh, Nori…After having her hand kissed and being drove around in circles for a few minutes I think she learned her lesson though. And if she didn’t learn her lesson from the ride itself, she certainly did after a scolding from Nabil. We are all trying to get used to the cultural rules. For example, guys are not allowed to enter our home after dark (which is about 6pm), and we cannot enter a guy’s home after dark either. Girls are not allowed out after dark alone. It is also not ok for a girl to be out with just one guy. Actually, girls should not even look guys into the eyes when speaking to them…which is quite strange for me. I had a guy in Safeway (yes, there is a Safeway here) talk to me through Brandon last week. He was speaking to me while looking at Brandon...it was quite strange. With all these rules, it is no wonder that most of the marriages here are arranged. Spending time with the opposite sex is not exactly convenient.
Salim, one of the most precious children in the third grade class, really encouraged me last week. From the very first week of school, Salim has been such a source of peace for me. One day I was having a really difficult math class when I noticed Salim’s hands folded and head bowed. Another precious boy, Amar, was stitting beside Salim. Amar wanted to tell me that Salim was praying but he could not think of the English word for pray, so instead he just said, “miss kara, salim” and showed me with his hands together praying. Then, to make sure I got the message, he went and asked the teacher how to say pray in English. He came back and joyfully told me, “miss kara, salim pray.” My heart just melted. Salim reminded me where my true peace should come from in that moment.
Lately I have had some stomach difficulties, which is pretty much to be expected. However, I had been doing pretty good avoiding sickness up until this point (aside from a little cold)…I decided to get some medicine this evening after spending most of my day in the bathroom, so hopefully I will improve soon.
I am trying to find ways to make math more hands on and concrete. I hope that I can find some new ideas for the second and third grade classes. Nori helped me think of some ideas for teaching addition to my first graders, so I just need some ideas for the older kids now.
I had a really great Thursday night with Rachel. I am very glad she did not go to Amman this weekend (as she usually does, haha, I am rubbing it in Rachel). After some deep discussion (which I think I really needed), we ate some junk food (chips, ramen, popcorn, etc…which I probably didn’t need, lol), and watched Leap Year, which was quite relaxing.
Ok, so now I’m off to bed, since it is getting quite late…
Well, I could not open my blog to post this last night, so you get one more brief update. This morning the guys came over and John made pancakes (they were quite delicious). Then in the midst of our chill morning, we got a knock at the door. Our neighbor’s home was getting soaked every time I took a shower because apparently my bathtub was not sealed all the way. By the way, my room and bathroom are at the present moment the messiest they have been all year…embarrassing…At least I had removed my underwear from the bathroom moments before they entered, thankfully. While they were here they cleaned out our pipes, which were full of rocks due to rocks in the previous delivery of water (water here is brought weekly from who knows where and placed in giant containers on the roof, which is why you don’t drink it). Anyways, we now have normal water pressure, and hopefully I will not drown my neighbor the next time I take a shower, oops. Now off to a birthday party of one of the teachers. I just called her to find out what I should wear, and she informed me that there would only be girls so I could dress like a, and I quote, “hoochy mama.” In case you are wondering, they do not use this phrase in Jordan—Nori taught Maha this American expression. No worries, I don’t have any clothes that would fall into that category anyways, so I will not be following that directive. I am excited about the party! There is supposed to be lots of Arabic dancing J Until next week.
Well, for another brief update, since I still have not posted this blog…due to sickness this time. After I wrote about hoping to be getting over my slight sickness, I only got sicker. I was feeling quite under the weather the last few days, so I had to miss two days of school. Sadly, my sickness hit the hardest during Maha’s birthday party. I had felt kinda lousy all weekend, but I thought I just ate something bad. However, the unhappy stomach symptom I will leave to your imagination did not go away but only invited friends. After two days of some kind of virus or who knows what, I feel quite recovered today (humdallah—which is like thanks to God). Thanks to Brandon and Rachel for substitute teaching for me! I am glad to be back!
Well, for another brief update, since I still have not posted this blog…due to sickness this time. After I wrote about hoping to be getting over my slight sickness, I only got sicker. I was feeling quite under the weather the last few days, so I had to miss two days of school. Sadly, my sickness hit the hardest during Maha’s birthday party. I had felt kinda lousy all weekend, but I thought I just ate something bad. However, the unhappy stomach symptom I will leave to your imagination did not go away but only invited friends. After two days of some kind of virus or who knows what, I feel quite recovered today (humdallah—which is like thanks to God). Thanks to Brandon and Rachel for substitute teaching for me! I am glad to be back!
