Amman

We have been in Amman a week now. The time has flown by. Of all the places we have traveled Amman seems to have the least English spoken, which makes it more difficult to get around but makes us eager to start classes and jump in to learning Arabic. We found an apartment for the Kopkes right away just 2 blocks away from the team and a few days later found ours about 3 blocks in the other direction down the hill. The neighborhood Jabal Hussein in far more quaint, quiet and homey than i was expecting. The neighborhood is a big hill with main roads surrounding it. those roads, we call the strip and have most everything we could need. At night the strip feels like a carnival with street vendors and crowds. The falafel, schwarma and knaffe abound. Inside the neighborhood is a grid of streets with apartment buildings up to four stories. Barber shops, fruit stands and "ducanns" corner stores with cokes, chips and ice cream are interspersed between are on the bottom floors of buildings. Kids are playing in the streets especially in the evenings. Nearly everyone says hi as we walk by.

Our apartment is on the bottom floor but because the hill is so steep the back has a great view of the next neighborhood over. I never get tired of looking out the window. We have 2 bedrooms, 1.5 bath, kitchen, a living room and another living room for receiving guests (with air conditioning). The bed is firm but we are getting used to it. We are getting used to not flushing the toilet paper not drinking the water. We have a water subscription that delivers canisters of drinking water. The locals say that this is a hot summer but it does not compare to Oklahoma. The heat maxes at 95 is but is dry and always has a breeze. I'm used to a "heat index" but instead there is a "wind chill". The evenings cool down and feel great. Inside the apartment feels great with the windows open and a fan on.


Though the neighborhood is quieter than i had expected there are sounds to get used to. Daily and propane truck drives by that sounds like the ice cream man. There is a fruit truck that has a militant sounding track on repeat screaming the names of fruits and veggies. A man wanders the streets with cotton candy sliding up and down a harmonica-like instrument. Another man walks the streets yelling something like "Mordecai"... i think he wants to buy things to resell. A man bangs a wrench on a cart to a repeating beat as he walks by. Of course the call to prayer sounds 5 times a day, sometimes it sounds cool, sometimes creepy.

We have been out to see our school. We have gone to some of the larger stores in other areas of town to stock up on goods for our houses. One was like a Wal-mart Supercenter. Almost everything we could want or need was there... yoga mats, snickers ice cream bars and Bulls Eye Barbeque Sauce. I was surprised to see how many imports were available. They may not be in our daily budget but are there for a craving. I have been running twice to "Sport City" with Drew. Sport City is a park/man-made forest in town that has trails for running and areas for picnicking. It feels like we are trail running in Colorado.

School starts next Monday. We are excited for the week of rest. We have been cleaning and setting up our house for the last few days. Our apartment is furnished with furniture and some kitchenware. All of the dishes were grimey and needed elbow pain scrubbing.

Time with the team has been has been great. They have been showing us around, helping set up, translating leases, etc. I can't imagine doing this without them. Their arabic is impressive. Its hard to imagine that we will be at that level at the end of the semester.

The dust of my heart is settling. The stress of packing and tying up all the loose ends, the grief of leaving a wealth of friends and family, jet lag, and the shock of newness of culture and language are clearing up. I look forward to the rhythm of school and team life. The Middle East will soon feel like home...