Petra!

Petra is absolutely amazing!
It is an ancient city that was carved out of rock in the 6th century. it seems like people usually associate petra with the treasury which is only one of the many buildings in the city. the treasury is definately the coolest, but there is so much more than that!. . it's like 1000 times cooler than mount rushmore! also if you climb like 850 steps you get to the monastery which is also amazing. the whole city is awesome, and you should all go see it! words can not describe the immaculately carved buildings, tombs, and shrines. it's awesome.

amazing detail


monastery


tombs


tombs


the treasury


also the treasury


some carvings. those are legs and part of a camel.


some more tombs

family!

okay, so i'm done with my midterms and they went very well! i'm happy with all the results i've recieved so far, and now i have a week long break! since the last time i posted my sister noelle came to jordan to visit me. i was not expecting her at all. what a suprise! she will be here for a month visiting fam and hanging with me until she goes to starts school in miami in january.
at any rate, the week long break is called eid al adha which is a muslim holiday commemorating abraham's willingness to sacrfice his son ishmael to god. luckiillly god intervened and had abraham sacrifice a ram instead. you can read all about it on wikipedia if you want to. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eid_al-Adha
so, this means i have a week off of school. thank you abraham.
me and my sister are going to go to jerusalem with my friend Ibrahim which coincidentally is the arabic name for abraham!
I'm leaving tomorrow morning bright and early. I'll post pictures when i get back.
here are some pics of the last few days. i went to sahab with noelle to hang with some fam.


this is a picture of my cousin alaa. he's 18, and he really wants to come to america. i'm going to try to get him a visa. he's a sweetheart. he's really shy, but he's like my favorite cousin. i really really want him to come to the U.S.! i hope you read this dad.

this is a picture of my dad's younger brother rashad and his two kids medo (9) (muhammad) and runda (2)...medo is really sick. i'm not sure what's wrong with him, but it makes me really sad. runda is also afraid of us...she only likes us when we play peek a boo or throw her up in the air...so we do a lot of that. she also cries alot. constant reminder of why i don't want children.


This is a picture of me and sito feisal. I usually call him mr. feisal and he calls me mr. jamil. he only has one tooth. six years ago he had 3. at any rate, he's my great uncle, and he is hilarious! he always pretends to call obama and he told me that he went to elementary school with him. he also told me to tell my dad that abu abdallah died...so i was being really empathetic and then when i got home today and told my dad, my dad started laughing and told me that abu abdallah is a fictional character that feisal used to tell my dad stories about when he was little.

this is a picture of some man chilling on the phone in sahab.


this is my aunt ilham and her son alaa and daughter jomana. everyone calls jomana an elephant which is sad, but apparently normal...they have another brother hamoud, but he like runs around in the streets all the time and bosses everyone around.


me and my dad's brothers rashad and eyad. <3

christine acting a fool

okay, so i will do a detailed roommate post later when i have more time, but in the meantime enjoy this video. i couldn't wait to post it.
this is my roommate christine one night before we went out. she didn't know i was recording her...


Also, I'm busy with midterms right now, but i should be posting a lot after that!
i miss you all very much.
xoxo
jamila.

وادي رم Wadi Rum

In Arabic, Wadi means Valley and, the interwebz says that Rum is Aramaic for elevated.
Wadi Rum is the biggest valley in Jordan. It's in the southern part of the country, and most people know about it becasue it's where Brit. Commander T.E. Lawrence led the Arab Armies in the Arab Revolt against the Otto. Empire in 1917-1918. Apparently it was one of T.E. Lawrence's favorite places in the world. I don't blame him. it's insanely beautiful...

The site is featured in The Transformers, Lawrence of Arabia. Apparently in Red Planet, Wadi Rum was the surface of the moon.


Our program took us on a 3 hour camel ride through the valley. we slept in tents at a bedouin camp, and in the morning we took jeeps back across the desert. enjoy these pics


Here is a panorama picture that I stole from the internet, because none of my pictures are very good. There were no clouds when i was there, and at night the stars were absolutely amazing. like better than in Yankton. (click on this pic to make it big)


This is a Picture of Some of the Rock Formations...
(note: the area with these formations in 720 sq. km...which is about 450 square miles...it was a really long camel ride...we took a lot of breaks to climb the granite/sandstone rock formations. they were really easy to climb and the views were phenomenal.



This is the tent that I stayed in. My roommate was a girl from Macalester, Kaitlin Roh. I hadn't talked to her in a while so it was nice to catch up.
Also..this place was like a "bedouin camp" it's a really touristy place, but the Bedouin inhabit Wadi Rum and tourism is their primary source of income



The sunset at Wadi Rum. Beautiful!



Sand with camel footprints.
walking in the sand felt amazing. it was so soft.


This is my camel...i called him Paul. I named him after the the protagonist in the movie/film Dune, because Wadi Rum sort of looks like what i imagine Arrakis would look like. it was also really hot and i wanted water all the time...which happens in Dune. the cool kids made fun of me when i explained that if we walked in rhythmic patterns the sand-worms would come after us, but i had a lot of fun pretending i was on Arrakis.




A bunch of the guys during one of our breaks...we went back through wadi rum in the back of these trucks...it was crazy. there aren't exactly roads in the middle of the desert, and being in the back of trucks for 4 hours was kind of crazy. these guys look pretty happy though.



Here is a piture of me and my friends. we look happy here, but after four hours, we all kind of looked like hell.

جبل القلعة Amman Citadel

A while ago, after class I went to the Amman Citadel with some of my friends. it actually took us like half an hour to find a cab driver who knew where we wanted to go because none of us knew how to say citadel in Arabic. At any rate, the Amman Citadel is beautiful. We spent hours wondering around the amazing ruins and enjoying the breathtaking views from the top of the fortification walls.


some ruins and amman in the background


view of amman complete with roman amphitheater.

temple of hercules

again

the sign. now i know how to say citadel in arabic!

Ummayad Mosque

Byzantine Church

delicious food.

sorry that i haven't posted in so long. i've been busy with school, and i haven't had much time, but here i'll try to get updated, because i know that you are all dying to know what i'm up to.


This is what my aunt made me for dinner one night when i stayed with her. i was so excited. it's absolutely delicious. they are stuffed grape leaves! it's one of my favorite foods, but i don't eat it very often because it takes a long time to make. it was so amazing, and i even got the leftovers!

alright, i have to go though. i'm going to meet two of my friends at a restaurant called Hashim by my house. it's one of the most famous restaurants in amman. they have delicious falafel, hummus, foul, and tea. it's amazing and super cheap. me and my roommates find ourselves at hashim's often after a night out.
aight, i have to go, but i'll do a post about hashim sometime. i swear i won't turn this into a food blog, but just know that the food here rules, and is really vegan friendly!

poisoned

ahh, i think i've been poisoned. i don't know what i ate, but i feel terrible. my roommate, and a whole bunch of other people on my program are sick too...i think our program fed us something toxic. anyway, for some reason i went to class today...it was terrible. i've spent the rest of the day skyping laura and laying in bed. :( I feel awful...kind of like this bear.
Hope I'm better by tomorrow!!!
in the meantime, sick-jamila would appreciate calls from america more today than on most dayz.

getting medz.

Okay, so getting medicine today was quite an insane experience. First, I tried to go to a couple pharmacies to ask them for some medz, but they told me i needed a prescription...I enlisted the aid of of Ummo (uncle) Rashad who met me at the University of Jordan at noon. We walked to Al-Isra' hospital where I spoke to a woman who told me she couldn't give me a prescription, but she knew a guy who could. we took a cab to this office building to meet this guy, but he wasn't there. We were told he would be back between 4 and 6. we didn't want to wait around for 4 hours so we left and had coffee at the city mall and went to a pharmacy. The pharmacy people told us to go to istishari hospital because they have the medicine. we went there and they directed us to another hospital in Shmeisani. I was exhausted by the time we got to this hospital, and then some doctor guy told me they didn't have these drugs in jordan at all...and i was like...are you kidding me? i've been running around this city all day, and now you telling me you don't have the medicine i need. i was so annoyed...i felt like i was on a really lame scavenger hunt. ugh, that guy sucked, but my Ummo Rashad was not about to give up. He opened some sort of secret door at the hospital where these two guys were chilling smoking cigarettes. apparently my uncle knew one of the guys so we chilled there for a while and my uncle filled him in on my situation. my uncle told me he has friends like this at all the hospitals. this guy spoke english which was nice. he made some phone calls and it seemed like i was going to be able to get my medicine, even though the other doctor told me they didn't have it in Jordan. i gave this guy my insurance card...and he looked at me like i was an idiot...and he's like no. you don't need this. go outside and there is a building and on the second floor is dr. mahmoud abu someone, and he will give you the recipe...and i was like okay this sounds super sketchy, but whatevs. give me the recipe...anyway, i roll over to this guy's "office" and chat with him for a while. he was pretty cool. he didn't really ask me much about medical issues, he randomly asked me if i was depressed. and i was like. no?...anyway, he gave me a prescription and it was marked like "special" and "danger" ahahah. which i thought was hilarious. i took it to the pharmacy...and 6 hours after my journey started, i had my medicine! i really wish i would have taken a pic of my prescription before i filled it because the guy at the pharmacy wouldn't give it back to me, and it was really funny. oh well. The Dr. gave me his cell phone number, and he was like, "call me if you need anything." if i get anything else, I will take a picture. anyway, after that i got coffee with my uncle again. overall, crazy exhausting, hilarious day. my ummo rashad is great. he's the bomb, like tick tick.

Figs for the road تين

So...I recently found out that I have a new set of local followers so I need to be more cautious about what I say...ha.

at any rate, Amman is a really chill city. everyone loves to hang and people are really relaxed here. generally, people are really calm and way less stressed out than Americans. Everyone seems disinterested in time and efficiency. it's really great, although, if you are in a hurry, you are probably screwed. for example, it took me 6 hours to get my medicine today...

When I got my phone here, it took me like an hour to figure out the cell phone logistics with my dad translating everything for me, but my aunt and uncle were annoyed that I was sorry for making them wait...my uncle told me...time is no problem in Jordan.
Also, if you walk quickly here people think you're weird...or they know you are a foreigner.
At restaurants, people hang out...the bill doesn't arrive as soon as you finish eating...the waiter doesn't necessarily come to your table immediately...you don't feel like you are being kicked out of a restaurant when you finish your food...

When my aunt and uncle were dropping me off in Amman, our trip took 3 hours, because we just hung out the whole trip. Its only like a 50 mile drive, but we stopped about every ten miles to chill...We made so many new friends along the way, and my family didn't seem in any rush to get me to Amman or to get back home. Along the highways in Jordan, there are a lot of people selling things. fruit, vegetables, tissues, decorations, jewelry, sim cards...most things. we stopped once to get juice... later we stopped to get some figs...figs make an excellent snack for the road. Here are some pictures of the fig experience.


here is the fig stand on the side of the highway. that guy was really nice!


delicious!

oh the exception to being super chill is when people drive. everyone honks all the time. it's ridiculous. it works though. i'm a little scared when i get into cars, but i'm starting to get used to it.

البحر الميت -Dead Sea

So this post is long overdue, but I've been busy catching up...On our first day of orientation we went to the dead sea and listened to some really long lectures about Jordan...typical orientation stuff...long and boring. it was really overwhelming because no one knew anyone. it was basically exactly like the first day of college orientation except instead of just what's your name/where are you from...we asked what's your name?/where are you from?/where do you go to school?/and what do you study?....Too many questions...I never remember anything about anyone...Anywya. I ended up having a lot of fun. I met some really cool people.. we got to swim in the dead sea and hang out at a really fancy hotel all day.
Enjoy these pics!


here's the dead sea. i'm on the jordan side...across the sea is the West Bank. It was beautiful at night!


Here is a picture of the chilling that took place after we swam in the dead sea.


This is a picture of a part of the dead sea spa hotel.

And, here is a picture of Anneka, Mara at the hotel. i can't remember that guys name... i have a feeling it's either gary or dave.

ahh worst day

okay so it's only 10:28 and i already think it's like the worst day ever. i hope it gets better.
i woke up at 7:30 this morning because i had class at nine...
i took a cab to class and when i got there i found myself wondering around this giganto campus trying to find my class. it wasn't in the room it was supposed to be in so i wondered around to every other room on my schedule. it was really hot and i was like walking back and forth among buildings trying to get anywhere...to top it off, i left my phone at my apartment so i couldn't call anyone, and i don't know anyone in my class anyway. after 2 hours of tryiing to find my class, i took a cab back home...my taxi driver wouldn't listen to me and decided he knew where i lived better than i did so we drove around forever and i ended up having to pay way more than i should have for my taxi ride...i finally just got out and decided to walk the rest of the way...then everyone stared at me because i couldn't help, but cry. i can't believe i missed my first class. i'm so pissed. attendance in Jordan is really really important. it is at Macalester too, but seriously....i missed the first day of class.
ughhhhhhh

Here are some bad pics of my new school.
there are 38,000 students at the University of Jordan....Macalester has under 2,000.

the colgate guy

sooo,
the other weekend i went out with my roommates and some of our friends... we ended up going to this club called La Calle on rainbow street. we met some pretty cool Jordanian guys that we hung out with. we realized that they are super wealthy after they took us to some VIP club in their really fancy cars. one of them, the colgate guy, won some sort of contest....apparently he has the best smile in jordan....he is on billboards for colgate. hahaha. my roomate hooked up with him...

my apartment

here are some pictures of my new apartment. it's super nice! we also have like a garden around our house with a lime tree, a fig tree, and a whole bunch of other plants. it's beautiful. we also have a pet turtle in our backyard.


this is our kitchen.


this is our patio that goes all the way around our house. it's so nice. sometimes i eat breakfast out here...i also skype out here often. it's beautiful.


this is our guest living room....


this is our non guest living room?


anddd this is my room.


this is the dining room and you can kind of see our office/study area in the background.

we also have another cute little sitting area, but the internet decided i've gone over my uploading photo capacity for now sooo you will have to wait. also, the garden is beautiful!

Sharouk

here is a picture of my cousin sharouk. she's 15 i think...which means last time i saw her she was 9. she's a total sweetheart. she calls me all the time and askes when i'm going to be able to visit her. she's the bomb, and she loves to hang.
i keep telling her that she's not allowed to get married before i do...i bet she will though. people marry really young here.

overwhelmed

okay. so i'm super overwhelmed. i think i'm really bad at making friends, and i'm kind of sad....i really miss my friends from home, and i miss macalester...and the kbl

at the University of Jordan everyone just stares at me because i look like an idiot becasue i never know what i'm doing....i also can't communicate with anyone here...it's terrible. i can talk to people but they can immediately tell i'm a foreigner...it makes doing anything way more intense than it needs to be.

we've started classes, and i don't really know how they work yet. we had 300 pages of reading for one day and we only had one day to do it all. i'm pretty sure i'm the only one who did it, and i'm stressed out because i feel like i was doing all that reading and i had no time to study for my arabic classes or sleep. ahhh

after class today, i hung out with this girl Mara who is pretty cool. she could basically tell i was like really overwhelmed so we got coffee and chatted for a while. she's doing a home stay though, so i don't know how often I'll get to hang out with her.

I think things will get better as i adjust to things, but the first few days of class have been really stressful. i hope people here like me. i try to be nice.

Also, the internet has decided not to let me upload any pictures today...:(

So my Dad has 4 siblings that live in Jordan.
3 bros: Muhammad, Eiad, and Rashad
1 sis: Maha
So far I’ve seen Maha’s family and Muhammad’s Family.
Here are some updates/intros on my aunts/uncles/cousins/etc….that I haven’t seen in 6 plus years.

So my dad’s brother Muhammad is married to Merriam…they have 8 kids, but since I’ve seen them their kids are all grown up, andMerriam and Muhammad are grandparents,.

Aight. Here’s the break down.

Layla ((27), the oldest is married to Allah, a photographer who she met at work. They live somewhere in Irbid with their two kids: Zayna (2) and Nadia (1 month) everyone seems to call the newborn Nadoush….people love nicknames here.


Here is a picture of Leila drinking some juice at Maha’s house. You can see a little bit of Nadia in the corner. Leila speaks English pretty well, and sometimes sends me text messages. Like this one.



Here are some pics of her fam!

This is her daughter Zayna. She's two years old.


This is Nadia. she is one month old. everyone calls her Nadoush. i don't know why. but i'll roll with it.


And here is a picture of Leila, Allah, Zayna, and a monkey. Zayna was really afraid of this stuffed monkey for some reason.