I am finally in Jordan.
Besides forgetting my credit card at home and making Mum drive the one hour trip back to the airport to get it to me just ten minutes before the gate closed, my flight here was quite uneventful. It is kind of strange to think that I am here since I have been planning this study Abroad since I first heard about it over two years ago. But at the same time it seems completely natural to be here. I keep thinking I am in Cairo and that I will recognize where I am as soon as I turn the corner, but then I remember I am in Amman and don't know anything in this city yet.
The city is dirty and noisy and the traffic reminds me of the stampede scene in the Lion King, but I love it. And I am super excited about these next four months. Our first night here the electricity died on us and the second night we had no internet, but both are up and running again.
One of my homework assignments is to talk for two hours in Arabic with the natives here, so today I had my longest conversation ever in Arabic. A friend and I went to the Jordan University to find anyone who would be willing to talk to us. It is a rather intimidating thing; walking up to a complete stranger and trying to start a conversation in a language I am still having a hard time expressing myself in. I suddenly sympathized a lot more with missionaries. But the people here are so friendly and willing to talk. It is true that sometimes they would much rather speak to us in English instead of listening to us butcher their language but those we talked to today were patient and helpful, and it was fun trying to think of questions that would keep the conversation going. We discussed Amman and what people could do here, the differences between Jordan and Norway, the university, their families, basically anything I could think of that I had enough vocab to grasp their meaning. I think I understood about 70 percent of what they said and smiled and nodded at the rest.
I keep forgetting to take pictures because we never do anything particularly touristy... but here are the few I have taken so far:
Besides forgetting my credit card at home and making Mum drive the one hour trip back to the airport to get it to me just ten minutes before the gate closed, my flight here was quite uneventful. It is kind of strange to think that I am here since I have been planning this study Abroad since I first heard about it over two years ago. But at the same time it seems completely natural to be here. I keep thinking I am in Cairo and that I will recognize where I am as soon as I turn the corner, but then I remember I am in Amman and don't know anything in this city yet.
The city is dirty and noisy and the traffic reminds me of the stampede scene in the Lion King, but I love it. And I am super excited about these next four months. Our first night here the electricity died on us and the second night we had no internet, but both are up and running again.
One of my homework assignments is to talk for two hours in Arabic with the natives here, so today I had my longest conversation ever in Arabic. A friend and I went to the Jordan University to find anyone who would be willing to talk to us. It is a rather intimidating thing; walking up to a complete stranger and trying to start a conversation in a language I am still having a hard time expressing myself in. I suddenly sympathized a lot more with missionaries. But the people here are so friendly and willing to talk. It is true that sometimes they would much rather speak to us in English instead of listening to us butcher their language but those we talked to today were patient and helpful, and it was fun trying to think of questions that would keep the conversation going. We discussed Amman and what people could do here, the differences between Jordan and Norway, the university, their families, basically anything I could think of that I had enough vocab to grasp their meaning. I think I understood about 70 percent of what they said and smiled and nodded at the rest.
I keep forgetting to take pictures because we never do anything particularly touristy... but here are the few I have taken so far:
View of Amman
Another view of Amman
The Jordanian flag on what was the tallest free standing flagpole when it was created. It lost this status only a year later when another flagpole was built in Akaba, and today is the fifth tallest freestanding flagpole.
All happy after a successful day of studying Arabic. Chelsea, Lucy, me, and Sarah.
A cat we saw on the way home today. It is eating a bag full of chicken heads.
