F-F-Fucking Freezing
We moved into our apartment yesterday, and it was snowing! Amman, where we were staying, had been about 10C (51F), which was reasonable, with occasional drizzles (the moisture is exceptional for this part of the country, and it will make the spring really good for crops and a greener landscape). Al Karak, where we are living, is about an hour and a half away from Amman, and is at a higher elevation. So, it was snowing when we got here.
Our apartment has central heating, which is an exception for Jordan (most people only have propane space heaters). Subsequently, ours wasn’t turned on when we arrived. The building was sooooo cold, and it took forever to get the heat going. So, all night it was just freezing. I just got into the mindset of a camping trip, all bundled up sitting by the heater and getting warm until I went to bed.
Anyways, today it is better. The house is nearly filled with heat, the sun is out, and the snow that fell is starting to melt, which is nice. The snow is a rare occasion for Jordan. The last time there was weather like this in Jordan was three or four years ago. It will be warmer again within a week or two, once this weather is passed through. We’re just lucky to have been here when it came.
We have a telephone and a television (we’re working on getting the antenna hooked up), but we probably won’t have much internet in the house. We can get a scratch card (which is used just like a phone card) to use with the phone line for the internet, but it will be limited. So, for internet access we’ll probably have to use the computer labs at the university. We’re literally living on campus, which is pretty neat. We haven’t gotten a chance to explore the area, but it looks pretty nice.
Our house was furnished with big sacks of Turkish coffee, Arabic tea, and sugar, and they gave us small coffee and tea cups. These things are staples of life here, aside from bread and hummus. The bread is incredible, with the hummus. It is super cheap, too (0.50 JD for 2 kilo of bread). So this is what we’re subsisting on, in addition to all the stuff that we bought at C-Town (the supermarket) in Amman, until we get our feet on the ground.
Learning the language is going fine. Every day I work on it a little bit, practicing reading words from books, signs or whatever I can. I’m determined to have it “mastered” before I come back. Also, I’m developing plans to write a paper/article while I’m here which I can get published in some journal, which would be sweet. I’ll need to hook up with some faculty member(s), either here or in the states, to work with me, but it will be a cool opportunity to do some research and it will give me something to do.
On Friday afternoon I got to go with Ken (one of the other Fulbright researchers in Amman) to the gym (it was called the “Power Hut”) to work out for a little bit. I ran for an hour on the treadmill and did some weights, which felt good, since I hadn’t run since we left Ohio on Sunday. Ken’s a really cool guy. He was telling me about this running group in Amman called the “Hashemite Hash House Harriers”. Some of you might have heard of the group. After doing some research, they're apparently all over the world, as a "drinking club with a running club". They’re mostly all Americans who are in Jordan, for whatever reason, who get together once a week, go running, and then cook some food and drink beer. Apparently, they’re pretty crazy. I have big plans to hook up with them at least a couple times. Friday evening, got to go out to dinner with the head of the Jordanian Fulbright program and some of the other new researchers at a really nice Lebanese restaurant. It was delicious, of course.
That’s sort of what life is like right now. Things move so much slower here than in the states. You’re lucky if you get 5 things done in a day. But that’s just the way the culture is. Things will move a lot quicker once we get acquainted with the area. Until then, I’m just hanging out, reading (“doing research”) and eating bread and hummus.
Our apartment has central heating, which is an exception for Jordan (most people only have propane space heaters). Subsequently, ours wasn’t turned on when we arrived. The building was sooooo cold, and it took forever to get the heat going. So, all night it was just freezing. I just got into the mindset of a camping trip, all bundled up sitting by the heater and getting warm until I went to bed.
Anyways, today it is better. The house is nearly filled with heat, the sun is out, and the snow that fell is starting to melt, which is nice. The snow is a rare occasion for Jordan. The last time there was weather like this in Jordan was three or four years ago. It will be warmer again within a week or two, once this weather is passed through. We’re just lucky to have been here when it came.
We have a telephone and a television (we’re working on getting the antenna hooked up), but we probably won’t have much internet in the house. We can get a scratch card (which is used just like a phone card) to use with the phone line for the internet, but it will be limited. So, for internet access we’ll probably have to use the computer labs at the university. We’re literally living on campus, which is pretty neat. We haven’t gotten a chance to explore the area, but it looks pretty nice.
Our house was furnished with big sacks of Turkish coffee, Arabic tea, and sugar, and they gave us small coffee and tea cups. These things are staples of life here, aside from bread and hummus. The bread is incredible, with the hummus. It is super cheap, too (0.50 JD for 2 kilo of bread). So this is what we’re subsisting on, in addition to all the stuff that we bought at C-Town (the supermarket) in Amman, until we get our feet on the ground.
Learning the language is going fine. Every day I work on it a little bit, practicing reading words from books, signs or whatever I can. I’m determined to have it “mastered” before I come back. Also, I’m developing plans to write a paper/article while I’m here which I can get published in some journal, which would be sweet. I’ll need to hook up with some faculty member(s), either here or in the states, to work with me, but it will be a cool opportunity to do some research and it will give me something to do.
On Friday afternoon I got to go with Ken (one of the other Fulbright researchers in Amman) to the gym (it was called the “Power Hut”) to work out for a little bit. I ran for an hour on the treadmill and did some weights, which felt good, since I hadn’t run since we left Ohio on Sunday. Ken’s a really cool guy. He was telling me about this running group in Amman called the “Hashemite Hash House Harriers”. Some of you might have heard of the group. After doing some research, they're apparently all over the world, as a "drinking club with a running club". They’re mostly all Americans who are in Jordan, for whatever reason, who get together once a week, go running, and then cook some food and drink beer. Apparently, they’re pretty crazy. I have big plans to hook up with them at least a couple times. Friday evening, got to go out to dinner with the head of the Jordanian Fulbright program and some of the other new researchers at a really nice Lebanese restaurant. It was delicious, of course.
That’s sort of what life is like right now. Things move so much slower here than in the states. You’re lucky if you get 5 things done in a day. But that’s just the way the culture is. Things will move a lot quicker once we get acquainted with the area. Until then, I’m just hanging out, reading (“doing research”) and eating bread and hummus.
posted by Aaron Berdanier at 8:19 PM Permalink
