Football, litter and pyramids...

So much has happened in the last five days!! No time to list it all, but here's the highlights:

- Arrived in Cairo at 11pm the night of the MASSIVE World Cup qualifying football (aka soccer) match between Egypt and Algeria which was IN CAIRO. It was absolutely insane. Kids hanging out of car windows holding flags, standstill traffic because the youth were crowding the streets, horns blaring... Long story short, the traffic was sooo bad that I couldn't even get to my hotel. The cab driver only spoke Arabic, but I was really glad that my Jordanian dialect was easily understood. He found me a cheap hotel outside the madness. I stayed awake, somewhat terrified, until 2 am listening to the riots outside. Thank goodness that Egypt won, otherwise I have no idea what could have happened.

- Spent all day Sunday by myself waiting for the NU students to arrive. Spent four hours at the Egyptian Museum, pouring through room after room full of incredible artifacts. Tons of tombs, mummies... Everything. It was really interesting. I couldn't believe how some of the large pieces were even transported to the Museum, and the animal mummies (crocodiles, birds, dogs, cats)were really bizarre.

Spent way too much on a much needed American dinner in the Nile Hilton. I promised myself I wouldn't pay for any Arab food because I need a little bit of a break from that. But it was nice to see the great view of the Nile from the top floor of the hotel downtown. Of course, I had already checked into our hostel nearby, which was surprisingly nice considering that it was only 15 dollars a day. Great free internet.

- Monday was a great packed day; the NU group had arrived from Chicago on Sunday night. Andrew and I got up in time to head over to the Egyptian Museum for the early afternoon; I had told him it was a must-see. So, we headed over, and I showed him around the overwhelming number of artifacts. It was essentially the Louvre, but only of Ancient Egypt.

NEXT was the great part. We met up with the rest of the group to try to see the pyramids at sunset. Giza is only a 20 minute cab ride away, but once we arrived, the gate was due to close in 15 minutes. We went to a horse tour place that promised us to arrive before it closed. We hopped on horses, and literally began to trot/canter/gallop to the gate. Little boys, literally no more than 6 or 7 year old boys, ran with our horses to the gate. Unfortunately, we didn't make it in time, and we had to haggle with the horse company owner. Apparently, there's a way to see the pyramids from outside the wall perimeters from essentially giant sand dunes in the Sahara.

So, walking/trotting with the horses, whose boys let the more experienced riders take the reins themselves, we saw the pyramids. It was amazing. I miss riding SO much. It's impossible to find riding like this in the states; no stable would take on the liability of having inexperienced, unhelmeted riders take the reins. The little boys screamed at us to "Yalla!", essentially the Arab equivalent of GET GOING!. It was hilarious. But I got to trot, and even gallop, my horse a little bit. She was a little testy, but it was way too much fun to care.

So, the next day, we woke up somewhat early and went to the market in the Islamic quarter. We first walked around the tourist section, but everything was essentially cheap-made souvenirs that we had no desire to bargain for. So, we went to the real market: stores full of live chickens, butchers slicing open freshly butchered cows, and cheap felafel and other Middle Eastern foods. We didn't buy anything there either, but it was definitely an experience. And only emphasized further my strong desire for vegetarianism. I have been eating way too much meat off the bone in the Middle East. It's super healthy that so many things are cooked in the home here, but I'm pretty sure the emphasis on lots of meat and tons of oil counteracts any healthiness.

More to come!

Just an update

Nothing to exciting to update about... Lots of homework...

Oh, however, my motherboard (isn't that something only in bad sci fi movies?) in my computer crashed. Hopefully, through a series of lucky circumstances and some hard work from three wonderful people, I'll have another computer by this weekend. There IS a Mac re-sale store here with a genius bar, however, since it takes a whole month to ship in parts from Dubai, it was too big of a bargain to try to get it fixed here.

WHICH, having a computer is somewhat essential because I have my massive 10 page research paper ALL IN ARABIC due next week before my trip to Cairo. YIKES! Hopefully, it'll be fine.... I'm probably going to spend all day at an internet cafe doing research. I'm focusing on the conflict in France over Muslim women's clothing (the niqab, the "burkini" and the hijab) and whether the French truly feel that it isn't "French" to wear these types of clothing.

But without a computer, I probably am around more mentally at home. I've been heading to bed by 11 because it's FREEZING here now. Well, freezing is in the 50s and 60s. But when it's raining and you don't have sufficient winter clothes, it feels much much colder. Central heating just isn't happening here... I'm not sure if it's not cold enough yet or what, but the buildings are definitely much colder than they probably should be.

So, nothing exciting.... I'll be back in Springfield on Dec. 20th. So exciting!

In procrastination...

So, I'm in the middle of reading this article about Afghanistan elections (الانتخابات افغانستان), but I needed some distraction, so I thought I'd blog for a quick second...

Nothing too exciting this week, classes, the usual. In the language and culture program, one of the students caught swine flu, so they get a few days off class, but we intense immersion kids have to power through thursday and sunday of class. I'm still not used to having class Sunday-Thursday, and I still get confused when friends in the States are enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon because that's 11 pm here when I'm trying to get my homework ready for my second day of class.

But I'm getting excited for my trip to Egypt in two and a half weeks. We'll be there competing in the International Model Arab League conference. Our delegation did pretty well at nationals in April this year, so hopefully this goes well too. I'm really excited for a week of pyramids and talking in ENGLISH!! Yay!

Wadi Mujab: Absolutely incredible!

Sorry that it's been so long to post! Midterms took up a ton of time last week, and things finally started to slow up. I haven't really had much exciting to write about because I've been doing homework practically 24/7. But, here's a few notes:

- Last Saturday, went to visit the Ajloun Castle, which was really sweet. Did a little hiking in a nature preserve there and visited a homemade soap factory.

- Last night, we enjoyed a lovely way too all-American bar at the Marriott here. I devoured a Caesar salad and some amazing cheese fries, and caught up on a little baseball. It was really great.

- BUT TODAY I HAD WHAT I'M ASSUMING WILL THE CLIMAX OF MY LIFE. It was incredible. Wadi Mujab is essentially this canyon with a low river running through it. But a better description is that this was nature's inspiration for the modern water park. Natural water slides, an amazing waterfall and cave within... It was a really strenuous, occasionally treacherous, 3 hour hike, but it was incredible. It was about an hour away from Amman. As we drive by, a massive body of water suddenly appears on our right: you always notice water in a desert. And our cab driver casually told us to say hello to Israel. Right there. And the Dead Sea. Just right there. It was amazing.

So, once we get to Wadi Mujab, we wait awhile, since this is the last weekend it's open before the flood season (hopefully! we need water!) and it might start getting cold. AKA, maybe below 75. Probably not. :) So, once our group is up, we all put on life vests, and then we're just pointed to hike. Luckily, one of the girls in our group had done this a few times before, but honestly, otherwise, it would have been a lot more dangerous. There are a few helpers for some tricky spots when you're hiking/scrambling upstream, but mostly, you're on your own. The water started out at mid calf but at points was chest level. It was amazing. Best hike I've ever done.

The water slides were cool on the way down, and there was even a solid 15 ft jump that I did into the water below. It was intense, but great.

I wish I had pictures! Bringing a camera, or anything, on this hike is nearly impossible because of the water. We left everything in the taxis before, and hiked in shorts or bathing suit bottoms and Tevas or sneakers.

In a few weeks, I'll be traveling to Cairo for the International Model Arab League conference for a week. Should be exciting! I'll post more later.

Jordan's pretty calm...

But as my oh-so-clever program likes to remind us all the time "It's stuck between Iraq and a hard place." hahahaha.

Not so funny. But you get the idea. However, it's interesting because, with recent drama in Israel ( here) and with the majority of Jordanians being of Palestinian lineage, many of them still having refugee relatives, the situation here has been a little tense. Now, it's still really safe, but today there were demonstrations planned for all over the city against the situation in Jerusalem. We were advised after call to pray at noon until a little after to avoid the streets.

However, all was fine, and a friend and I went out for local ice cream today to sit and catch up. She had Nutella ice cream, while I had chocolate cake. It was glorious. Especially with the beautifully sunny high 70s weather. I'm sooooooooo not jealous of Chicago weather right now. But it rained for the first time since I've been here two days ago. It was so fun, and such a novelty!

Class are fine... Kinda easy, yet time consuming, which is frustrating. However, as I realized with my full 15 minute conversation with my taxi driver today, I'm definitely improving in my speaking. Now, I just need to only speak Arabic with my host family. With my host mother being an Arabic as a Second Language teacher, it's always SO tempting to just slip into English. But I'm trying to get better!

In other news, in just over a month, I should (if NU gets its finances together) be heading over to Cairo for the International Model Arab League conference, which should be so exciting! A small group of NU students are flying from all over (Chicago, London, Morocco) to compete, and I can't wait!

Yay for Vacation on the Mediterranean!

It's been way too long!!

I know it's been much much much too long since I last posted... Life has been very busy.

After an incredibly exciting and amazing vacation, which I have to share in person, I'm back to school in Amman. Since Ramadan is over, there's a lot a lot more class. I now spend 25 hours a week in class, which is absolutely absurd for the only 16 credit hours I'm getting from here...

But hopefully, my Arabic been improving. I found internet access (well... sort of borrowing from a neighbor) in my house, so now communication is much much easier! My Skype name is trishakfaulkner if you're ever on-line.

I'm currently sitting in a lovely establishment called "Things & Wings" They apparently don't value their wings like we do, but their Buffalo Chicken Sandwich is to die for. Although I'm still craving a D'arcy's horseshoe...

So, about the food here... Yeah, I've always kinda known that I hate Middle Eastern food with a passion. I mean, I like hummus and most everything my host mom cooks is good, but I'll prefer a McDonalds hamburger or a good penne pesto over Maglubeh or Kebbeh any day.

Jordan is very very different post Ramadan. All of the food places are open, which is so nice, but the campus is PACKED. It's hard to get around with the tons of people getting around, but it's still better than how depressing it was before.

Also, I joined a gym, which is really nice and destressing. It's kinda far away, but luckily my friend lives in a house across the street from me and we carpool a lot.

Taxi drivers here are still horrendous, but not as bad as my vacation. As my friend in class said yesterday, many, not all, but most, taxi drivers are totally chilling in that deepest ring of hell with Hitler.