Arriving in Jordan

I made it to Jordan alive today after two really long flights. Luckily I met another family on the same flights as I, a Jordanian mother and her two daughters going back to Amman. She knew some English and was incredibly patient with me in trying to understand my shaky Modern Standard Arabic. It was just nice to have a friendly travel buddy. I met up with two other Middlebury students in Paris and all of us continued on to Amman. I ended up sitting with another girl from our program from Tufts who is very sweet and just as excited and anxious as me.

First thing I noticed when I stepped out of the airport was how different it smelled. And the dust. The three of us spilt a cab to our apartments, and I am very grateful we did because the colloquial Arabic spoken by the cab driver is way over my head. After I was shown my room and went down and met some Jordanian students who are studying at the German University here. They are very hospitable and eager to show us all around and help us settle in. They introduced our landlady to us as their mother and kept saying that we are all family here. Fareh and Mjdd (I apologize for the total guess on spelling) made me a turkey and cheese sandwich and tea and really wanted me to try their hashish. They're taking us to the mall tomorrow to buy phones and towels and food. I am more nervous than I was about the pledge now because our new friends really want to talk with us in English and  because my Arabic is so rusty (and my Amiyya non-existent!). We have a placement exam tomorrow and our first day of orientation. We all feel silly here because the girls dress however they want...they are also totally living the high life: you can call down to the desk and send money in the elevator and the guard for our building will go out and buy the stuff you ask for (even though all the shops we could ever need are really close by!). Our apartments are like hotel rooms! I'll have to get used to using the toilet without toilet paper, cooking on a  sketchy portable burner and buying water though. More tomorrow, my roommate and I really should be getting to bed!