Touring, Mariah, Dancing, Marbles, and Ishars

So here is the last week. Sorry it is a novel, read it in chunks, BUT you have to read it BEFORE you can look at the pictures!

Saturday the 9th and Sunday the 10th Recap:

This weekend was really fun. On Saturday we went to Jerash and Ajloun, Jerash is an old Roman city. It was on of the Decapolis and it is really well preserved. I tried to read a lot about it the night before too. It really began being popular when the Emporer, Hadrian, decided to start living there in the winters. They built him a huge arch to welcome him and that is the first thing you see when you pull up. Then you walk through that to the Hippodrome. There they use to have chariot races and stuff. It held about 15,000 people. They actually put on a little show with chariot races, roman soldiers, peasants, etc. It was really fun and we got to see and learn a little bit about how the Roman army use to work. Jerash also has two big theaters. The acoustics are really cool. If you stand in the middle, in the right spot, and talk normally, everything echoes back to you really loud. It is hard to explain, but if you ever get the chance try it and then you will understand. Jerash also had an old fountain, a temple for Zeus and Artemis, an oval plaza, another arch, a cathedral, a mosque, a little museum, and just a lot of really old neat looking stuff. Ask me about the spoon and the pillars when I come home and I will tell you about that.
Then we headed to Ajloun, a castle built on top of a monestary by Arabs. I got a little confused, but I think if was build during the time of the Crusades and was always controlled by Arabic people. It is one of the highest points in Jordan (I think) and we could see the Sea of Galilee way far in the distance. It was fun to walk around and see all the different styles of arches in one building. Everywhere we go people want to take pictures with us. It is really weird. At least in the city people just stare, but when we go touring we are mobbed by people who say “You are beautiful. Can I take picture?” Like everywhere. I just don’t understand who would be like “I am at a thousand year old monument and I think I would like to have my picture here with some random American girls. Yes, that will be the picture I want to remember my trip by, one full of people I don’t know.” It is beyond me, but whatever pleases them. I do like having some of the pictures of the random people who want my picture so I guess it is kind of the same.
Sunday is really Monday here so no church, but it was a holiday because the Pope was here. Somehow we were able to get tickets to go. Elaine told us we had to wear skirts or dresses because it is the Pope, but we were the only ones there all dressed up and we looked ridiculous. Also she said we had to get there really early, originally she wanted us to leave at 4am, but luckily we didn’t leave until 6am. We were still some of the first people there. I’m pretty sure we could have left at like 8 and been fine. We made friends with the Jordanian Catholics in front of us. They were obsessed with my hair and my eyes. Then they told me I looked like Mariah Carey. I said “Umm…No, she is half black.” Anyway we sat forever, in the sun (so result = sunburned), until the pope came. When he was driving around the track in his little Popemobile it was like a party, well it was a party … the whole time. People were waving flags from different countries, clapping and cheering, and singing the song that they wrote for the event which goes “Benidicto (clap clap clap _ clapclap) Benvenuto (repeat claps) Benidicto (claps) Benvenuto (claps) in Jordania.” I will sing it for you when I come home if I can remember it. I have officially had catholic mass with the pope. Not many people can say that. It was kind of cool because he talked about the importance of families, the role of women, and the “covenant of marriage.” He also blessed the middle east to have peace.
After Papa we went out to eat at a little breakfast restaurant called Abu Jabara. The menu picture is from there. It is really good and we just stuff our faces with all the hummus, falafel, tomato, and bread that we can. Then we went over to Elaine’s house and made cookies for her and Sonja and Samiha for mothers’ day. I tried to call home and I was really confused because no one answered. Now I remember that everyone is in Arizona.

Monday the 11th:
Today we were back in the hospital again. The students have a really big exam this and next week. They get a patient and then one at a time have to go into a room with two clinical instructors and tell them everything about the patient, history, physical findings, diagnosis, pathology, physiology, signs and symptoms, medications, side effects, etc. So our instructor was doing that and most of the students were either studying or slacking off. The boys are really nice to us and we get along with them really well, but the girls either don’t speak English well enough or they constantly want to test us (at least in this clinical group, Tuesday/Thursday is a different story). It gets really annoying. Anyway, today I was corrected on how to properly wash my hands, to which I said “It doesn’t really matter if you do in the order that the textbook says (general, wrists, palms, thumbs, fingers, general, etc), as long as you are washing your hands … which you aren’t.” I didn’t really say that, but I wanted to.
Tonight we went to a open house for the couple missionaries, the Cooks, at the church. It was about as fun as church functions are in the US, but the food was really good and we left early, so not much different then how I do things at home. The great achievement of the whole evening was being able to take a taxi to the church and being able to take a taxi home and actually arrive at our destinations and on time. I am feeling quite proud of myself that I didn’t get lost, but that might all change when we have to do the whole thing over again on Friday.
Tomorrow we are going to the hospital and then we are going to Sammie’s (my roommates) student’s house for dinner. Her name is Duaa, but she goes by DooDoo. We are really excited to be exposed to some real Jordanian home cooking. It will definitely be interesting. Wednesday we have to fend for ourselves and Thursday we are going to Mysam’s house for dinner. Mansef, the national dish. That is just how it is here. Everyone invites you over for dinner, including the stranger lady on the street who gave us directions and then talked to us for 5 minutes.

Tuesday 12th:
Today we were at the hospital again and it was rough. All the students were stressed out about their exams so they just sat in the room studying and there wasn’t much for us to do, but after our break I pulled up my bootstraps and got to work and made it a little better. After clinical we went to Duaa’s and it was so nice. Duaa is my awesome roommate Sammi’s student (Sammi told me she hoped one day her name could grace the wall of my blog and I said mishmooshkela or no problem). We had something that I think is called oozie. It was marinated chicken served on top of rice that had vegetables, beef, tomatoes, and spices. It was SO GOOD. Then you also put “salad” (or tomatoes and cucumbers), yogurt, and this other sauce that was white and had cucumbers in it. You kind of mixed it all together into a beautiful masterpiece and ate it. It was the best meal we’ve had in Jordan. They also gave us “dawali,” which I thought was an Indian costume party, but I guess it is rice and stuff rolled up in grape leaves. For dessert we had watermelon. Then we sat and talked and then they made us dance with them. First DooDoo’s little sister (18) showed us how. We were all amazed she could move her hips like Shakira. Then they were like “Now we all dance!” We tried to protest, but it didn’t work. They taught us how to loosen up our hips and shoulders, but mostly laughed at our feeble attempts. Before we could dance they had to close all the windows and shut the door so that no one would see, and because we were in their home they could take off their “ishars” or head coverings. They are all so beautiful. We had a really good time and a loft of fun.
Tomorrow we get to go to the King Hussein Cancer Center. It is supposed to be really advanced, so that will be different than the hospital we work in here. It should be really cool. I am excited.

Wednesday 13th:
We spent the morning at the hospital. Mornings aren’t too bad because we stay busy with bed making and vitals. There were some patients there who remembered us from Monday and they really like us. One lady gave me a kiss on the cheek. Then she proceeded to ask me if I was married, no, so she told me that I should find a husband in Jordan. She wants us to go visit her when we go to the dead sea and later I was standing in the hallway when she came up behind me and gave me a pinch on my cheek, like a grandmother would. Another patient offered us chocolate when we changed her sheets. That is kind of common though.
After our morning we went to the King Hussein Cancer Center. It was a really nice hospital. It is the 6th best cancer hospital in the world, but it is kind of subjective because they are very picky with who they treat so their statistics are a little skewed, but it was still a whole new world compared to where we are working. It was completely westernized. People were in scrubs, they had monitors, electronic beds, everything that we have in the states. Not only did they have toilettes instead of “squatters,” but they actually had toilette paper which is unheard of AND toilette paper dispensers which is pretty much unfathomable. It was really good for us to see that not all hospitals in Jordan are archaic like the one we are in, but that is why Elaine wanted us there. What’s the point of going to Jordan if we are working in a hospital just like the ones at home?
Then we had quite the adventure. So our washing machine is broken, aka I’m pretty sure WE broke it, aka the door wont shut and if we try to use it our kitchen floods. So we were off to find a laundry (I was informed it is not a Laundromat because they wash the clothes for you). There is supposed to be one close to our house so I packed up all my dirty clothes and four of us set off in the hot sun. We found a dry cleaner/laundry but they said it was 1JD per item and 300 fils for socks. That may not mean much to you but I will tell you that it would probably cost at least 40JD to do my laundry or $60. We decided to wash our clothes by hand in the bath tub. That will be fun.
We went over to Elaine’s for dinner and on the way back stopped at the bread store that we go to all the time. The people there speak very little English and every time we come in we know a little more Arabic and they get really excited to hear all of the new things we can say. As we were wandering around, mind you the bread store is probably about as big as my bedroom at home, a worker kept handing me different treats to try. First it was a thick breadstickish thing with sesame seeds. Before I could finish it he came and took it away from me and handed me a skinny breadstick that had a lot of spices baked into it. Then he took that out of my hand and replaced it a cookie (I finished that one). And finally he gave me some bread ring thing with spices, I can’t describe it. It was especially funny because he only gave everyone else the first thick breadstick and I was the only one who got to try multiple treats. After that we walked the rest of the way home and the 14 year old boys who were in the street outside of our house threw marbles at us. It is the first time that has happened but it was an interesting end to a pretty good day.
Also it is no longer perfect weather. It has started to be a little too warm. Probably a good temperature for laying out in the sun, but too hot to be trekking around with heavy bags of laundry in long pants and ¾ length shirts, and walking uphill both ways everywhere you go. I finally understand the meaning of that saying and I was surprised to find out that it can be true.
Tomorrow is hospital, soccer game, Mysam’s house, MENSAF!!!!!!!!!! I am very very excited.

Thursday 14th:
Well, no Mensaf, but that is ok, we will get it another time. So morning at the hospital, regular as normal. I’m usually on the 6th floor but today we were moved to the 4th. That is pretty much as exciting as it gets.
Then the adventure started. First we started the trek with a bus ride, well two bus rides and a “van” taxi. We The bus rides were okay, pretty jammed, but we got off of the second one and were just standing on the corner. Mind you the girls pretty much told us it was a bad part of town and it looked like a little New York alley or something. Mysam told us she called a special taxi that was a van so it would fit all of us (us being 7 BYU nursing students, Mysam, and 3 other UJ nursing students). So this big van pulls up and we were heading over there. Then we open the door and there was only one back seat for three people and then this big humpish fake seat behind the driver. There were 8 of us crammed in the back and 3 got in the front seat. Halfway to Mysam’s those of us on the humpish seat started to notice that it was getting pretty warm. We soon put it together that seeing that the front of the van was completely flat we were definitely sitting on the engine. Also we weighed the van down so much that the mud flaps were dragging, it had fur interior, all the handles were broken, and we couldn’t move. We were laughing pretty hard.
We finally got there and went into her beautiful home. It is pretty far away from the city so there were open fields of olive trees and the houses weren’t all next to each other. After awhile we sat down to the table. Her mother brought out this huge dish of dawali, pickle looking things, chicken, more yogurt cucumber, and bread. I don’t remember what anything was called. During the meal Sammie picked up a mysterious looking piece of chicken. She put it on her plate and Sima said “That is chicken neck.” We were all laughing inside because it was obvious she didn’t want to eat it. Then at the end of the meal I looked down at the bones on my plate and moved one and it was totally a vertebrae! I was pretty grossed out, but if I didn’t notice it when I was eating it then it must have been fine. After the meal they asked “can you have goats milk?” We said sure we will try it. It looked completely normal. Little did we know it was anything but. I took a little taste. It was completely fermented goat’s milk and probably one of the grossest things I have ever tried. The idea of it still makes me cringe. Other than that dinner was still really good, but I think I liked Duaa’s better. We ate way too much. Then Mysam’s dad came home and another girl had taken her ishar off so she needed to put it back on. We asked if we could watch how she did it and she said sure no problem. Then Mysam came down with a whole armful of ishars and we ended up all putting them on. It was pretty hilarious and the moms were taking tons of pictures. We headed out into her back yard and took some pictures next to the olive trees and with the kittens she had. It turned out to be a lot of fun and we headed back to the university in a van taxi that was a little bigger than the one we had come in (luckily).

See you next week!