Truth

Truth

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

The Last Supper

I am planning a few more posts before I ship off for the United States on Saturday. Here are pictures from the last program dinner as well as a blog post. The first picture is of a dance performance from some program people, the second is one of my landlords and I.



This post is a simple one, a list of what I will miss and what I won't miss (but will probably end up missing...in spite of myself). Ellen Cormier did a similar thing with her blog about Copenhagen. I suggest you all check it out, even though she is no longer blogging.

Here is the list:

The best:
  • Desert Roses: My last blog showed pictures of flowers. There is nothing like finding roses and other flowers in the middle of a desert. My apartment is surrounded by a lovely garden, and that I will truly miss.
  • My Friends: I'm going to miss my flat mates quite a bit. We traveled together, cooked together, and studied together. They became great friends and I look forward to seeing them in the near future.
  • My Landlords: My land lord is a wise-cracking, technology-fixing, and all around hilarious man. My land lady makes the most delicious meals and even though my body will thank me for not stuffing myself silly, I'll still feel melancholy.
  • Street Cats: Their funny to see around, especially "our" cat Poopy, who always stays around our apartment.
  • Location: Jordan is so close to amazing locations: Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria...as well as awesome places inside the country. The US has cool stuff, but you can't go to Lebanon in less than three hours.
  • Arabs and Arabic: This is truly my language-I love it, I love constantly trying to understand, and I love the frustration. Also, the people here are beyond kind.
  • Amman: Amman has its rough spots (read: it has no sidewalks), but I fear I have taken advantage of the idea that I can hop in a cab and get to a nice coffee shop where hookah and Turkish coffees are both cheap and good.
  • My Arabic teachers: They have been so helpful, I owe so much to them.
  • My Jordanian/Palestinian friends: I had the best peer tutors-they were understanding, curious, were not afraid to speak to me in Arabic, and showed me my favorite restaurant in Amman. I am not good at goodbyes, though.
  • Volunteering: I had a great opportunity to volunteer with Collateral Repair Project (this will be my next blog entry, so stay tuned to learn about this organization and how to donate)
The worst:
  • The distance: Being far away from those I love is too hard.
  • Traffic: The traffic here is insane: too fast, too congested, ect. I miss traffic laws.
  • Cigarette smoke: enough said
  • Easy internet access: For those who tried to Skype with me, you know how bad my internet connection is. It is unreliable to the point of being unreasonable.
  • Expensive fruit/clothes: I love to eat healthy, but fruit here is just too expensive. I also love shopping, but the clothes....eh I ended up buying them anyway. Woops.
  • Modesty: I am by no means a very revealing dresser, but I miss a good skirt and a nice summer dress. Which leads me to my next comment...
  • Cat Calls/Harassment: I firmly believe that a woman does not "cause" harassment. I am not a white elephant walking down the street, I am just a lady with blond hair. Apparently those both cause staring. Some guys are just ridiculous, others are crude and should be ashamed of themselves. Oh well.
  • NescafĂ©: Instant coffee is just so wrong
  • UJ Campus: I love learning, I hate this campus. The bathrooms are disgusting and it is an overpopulated place. The food is also terrible.
  • Street cats: I have conflicted feelings about them. They are both amusing, but sad because they have to live in such sad circumstances. A simple catch, neuter, and release program would do so much for this city.
Anyways! See you all soon.

Salam,
Liz

p.s. Dan, don't worry, I have not forgotten about you.

2 comments:

  1. Haha don't worry I didn't think you did :P

    I really liked this blog post. I see you went with the classic "best/worst" template. I found it quite touching when you described the huge moral dilemma posed by street cats... I must admit I got a little misty when I read it. Well done!

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  2. Also, clever title.

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