Daily Life

So I haven't been writing about a lot of things that I've been doing because they seem really normal and everyday to me, but it occurred to me that most of ya'll probably have no idea what a normal day is for me here. Weekends are different, but I'm starting to get into a schoolday routine.

My school week is Sunday through Thursday. I wake up around 6:30 every morning. My host mom is usually up helping Yazan get ready for school, and most of the time she gets breakfast out for me - if not, I get it out for myself. We have bread with yogurt, cheese, olives, zattar, and sometimes fuul or eggs as well. Around 7:15 I leave to catch the bus to school with Kris, another girl in my program who lives in the neighborhood. We have to walk down to a big street a little ways below our apartments in order to flag down the bus, which is basically just a van with the route written on it in Arabic. They're called services, they're privately owned, and they just run specific routes constantly. We just go down and wave one down, like waving down a taxi, and it takes us to school, stopping occasionally to pick up more people. During Ramadan, the trip took a really long time because a lot of the buses would wait at one of the circles to try to get enough people to fill it, but not many people were going to UJ because it wasn't open yet. Now that classes are in session, though, it only takes 15 or 20 minutes.

From 8 to 10:30 or 11 everyday, I have my Arabic class. Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday I have two hours of Modern Standard and then an hour of colloquial, and Monday and Wednesday we have two and a half hours of Modern Standard. It can be kind of a lot, and I always feel a little overwhelmed when we leave, but I think I'm learning. There are only four of us in the class, so we all get to talk a lot, which is really nice, but it does mean that the teacher can kind of pick on you if you don't know what's going on.

On Sunday and Tuesday, I have to go to my internship (with the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature - more on that later) around 12 or 1. I've been going to get lunch near campus beforehand with one of the other girls from my class, but I think I'm going to start going directly to Jabal Amman - the area where my internship is - and exploring the places to eat there instead. (I had really good shwarma there yesterday). I've been going to RSCN on Thursdays as well, but in the future I think I'm just going to go then if there's something specific that needs doing, to give me more time and to cut taxi costs. I'm there until 4, so I get home around 4:30.

Monday and Wednesday, I have another class in the afternoon, so I go to lunch with friends around 11 and hang out in the computer lab (like I am now) until I have to leave for class around 1:30. The class is from 2-3:30, but the building is really far away. The class is the Environment and the Politics of Water, and it's a combination of scientific discussion of hydrology and a political discussion of water shortage in this region. It's all really interesting, though some of the science seemed a little basic. We're definitely getting just one perspective of the political situation - Israel stole all the water, and now they're giving it to the settlers and not letting the Palestinians have any, and isn't their lifestyle so extravegantly wasteful of water? - but as long as you keep that in mind most of the information is at least useful, and defintely does provide a good idea of the Jordanian viewpoint. Sometimes I go to the computer lab afterward, or else just go straight home. I take a different bus to get home. The final destination for this one is Zarqa, another city near Amman, so I have to explain to the control (the guy who takes your money and figures out where the bus needs to stop) that I want to get off in Arjan, which can be difficult.

I started meeting with a peer tutor last week, so far just Mondays at 4. We try to talk as much as possible in Arabic, and she says she's going to show me to all her favorite hidden places in downtown sometime. We're both really busy, so it's a little hard to plan meetings, but (insha'allah) we're meeting again this afternoon.

Every other Monday, I have an internship class (I'm dong it for credit) at 5:15. It lasts till at least 6:30 usually, so I don't get home until around 7. When I get home, Niveen usually has food ready. Depending on what time it is, whether Hamada is coming home soon and who has already eaten, I may eat by myself, with just the kids, or with the whole family. After dinner I study, play with the kids, watch TV, and just hang out in the house. Usually around 7, we'll have something else to eat - sometimes chips and chocolate bars from the little store next door, sometimes apples and grapes, sometimes cucumbers and carrots.

Sometimes in the evening I go out with friends to a bar or cafe. Kris and I hang out a lot, which means we can share a taxi (there isn't really anything to do within walking distance of Arjan). We have a couple drinks, or smoke some arghilah, or get something to eat (and I like to watch football, which is available at most places we go), all very chill and laid back - Amman is not really a party town. My weeknight curfew is 11, so I'm back and in bed in time to get at least a little sleep before I have to get up and do it all again.