Jordanian things

It rained yesterday. And by rained I mean it barely sprinkled. But water fell from the sky and I felt it. Ergo it rained in Jordan and I am inexplicably excited by this.

We had a scavenger hunt around Amman yesterday. They split us into 4 groups and we had to go to different places according to clues they gave us. It was fun, but we spent a lot of money on taxis which was kind of lame. I'm sure they factored it in when they gave us our stipends, but oh well. We went to a cafe in downtown, the national art museum, the citadel (ROMAN RUINS FTW), and finally to a cool-looking mosque. It rained while we were at the mosque. After that we all regrouped at a restaurant off Rainbow Street called The Bakehouse. It was an American-style pancake house. It was awesome. Except they lacked bacon and it made me sad. But I ate an omelette for the first time in years. It was stuffed with veggies so I probably couldn't taste the egg so much. I hate eggs, but all three of the meals we could choose from (they'd already arranged it since 40+ people would be there) came with either an omelette or stuffed scrambled eggs, so I chanced it. I won't jump at the chance to get an omelette again, but it wasn't awful. The citadel was pretty epic. We didn't spend a lot of time there because we wanted to win the scavenger hunt (come to find out there were no winners) but now I know how to get there and it only costs 2 JD to get in, so it can easily be done later. I definitely need to go back though because there's all kinds of fun stuff. I am a nerd. Although I really think that nothing can beat Olympos at this point. Except maybe if I go see a show of some kind in the amphitheatre. That would be epic.

So as far as Amman itself goes, I really like it. It's definitely not walking-friendly and you pretty much need to take taxis to get anywhere (or probably buses if we could figure out the system, but they start to fail after sundown anyway so it's sometimes not worth it). But it's a huge city with a lot of history and a lot of people. And crazy drivers. Somehow I can see myself living here in the future. Not that I particularly want to, but I could do it. (As opposed to Ifrane or Chambéry, for example.) It would be a lot easier in the future too because I could dress better too. The problem right now is that Qasid, where we have class, is a very conservative environment, so we have to be pretty covered (eg sleeves past the elbows and skirts/pants past the knees). Elsewhere in the city it's acceptable to wear less. I've seen some Jordanian women wearing less than some of us. And of course I feel like a tool wearing long skirts that I hate wearing anyway and in huge airy tunic tops. Oh well, whatever. Needless to say most of the girls are a little annoyed that we can wear pretty much what they told us is not acceptable and that some of us all left at home. Meh.

I'm also annoyed with myself for having left my metal water bottle at home. I didn't bring it because you can't drink the tap water here. Except you can buy two liter bottles of water really cheaply AND there's boiled/filtered water here in our building. So a ton of people brought their water bottles with them and are refilling from there. I bought one right before I came but left it at home and thinking I couldn't use it. :( Except I went to a supermarket here last week and got a water bottle that was attached to a 6-pack of flavored milk in a box. Don't ask. So I have a water bottle now. Doesn't hurt to have two, I guess. But hey, only 7 weeks til I go home so I can be reunited with my other one soon enough. =P

(So I was in the middle of typing this and then got distracted. I forgot where else I was going, so now you just get this and I will maybe continue later.)

Photos! Finally!