Do I really live here?

Jordan is full of surprises.  For example, I sat down in my new apartment to write this blog, and the chair collapsed under me.  It knocked me into the tile window sill and now I’ve got a mighty fine bruise developing.  It looked like a solid chair.  Didn’t see that coming.

Most of the surprises, however, are not so physical.  First, I was disappointed months ago that I would not get a homestay, which included forced Arabic conversation with a family simply by proximity.  Then, I found I would doubly disappointed to find out that not only had they given me an apartment, but I was completely alone in it, so I couldn’t even practice with a classmate.  Felt like a chair collapsed under me and that hadn’t even happened yet.  Thousands of dollars already spent, and I was already losing out on opportunities.  Sigh.

Then, I get here, and Jordan did the surprise thing again. 

I love this apartment.  My apartment is bigger than the one I had when I was first married, and, I hear, compared to the other places people were given, it’s a palace.  It sits on a giant balcony with a view of the city.  Not going to help in the language department, but I love it.  Then, I meet my landlord.  Turns out she lives below me, and has two of my fellow students with her.  She has me over to dinner, and then she takes me shopping to the grocery store…and it’s like I get the homestay, with all the privacy.  How could this be better???

Speaking of grocery shopping, it was just…humbling.  Even though R., the awesome landlord, went with me, and helped me shop, I couldn’t really ask for anything myself.  Al Kitaab, the textbook we have been working out of the last two years, does not have any food items!  However, I can tell you all about the United Nations.  This is far more important than eating, for sure.  So the basics need a ton of work, and I’m going to have to get brave and stop using English anymore.  I hate sounding like an idiot, but I need to man up and do it anyway. 

The whole shopping experience was reminiscent of teaching my kids how to buy stuff, complete with the mental admonition of … count your money out!  Don’t just hand it to him to figure out!  Rene asked me if I’d figured out the money, and I told her I had the dollars figured, but I’d figure out the piasters (cents) out at home.  She kind of rolled her eyes at me.  That woman is a saint.  I don’t know how I got so lucky.

These are the denominations.  I collected pennies as a kid, and still have all the collection.  Foreign money is just as cool.  The American change on the left is for size reference.  The pennies are the same color, and then the nickels are all together.  I’m not 100% sure what the top one’s are next to the quarters.  The back of them has a ½. So maybe it’s a half a piaster.  I’ll ask tomorrow.

So, here is my apartment.  I love that there is hardly any carpet and I have tons of tile.  The sand is probably really brutal on carpet…I’ve only seen area rugs.  I have plenty of space.  The only thing I wish I had is a dryer.  No one has them in Amman, or the Middle East for that matter.  There isn’t room, and the air is so dry that it doesn’t matter anyway; it just takes a long time to get your clothes dry.

 I live in the wealthy part of town, so there is little to no crime here.  Even so, Rene warned me of the thieving Egyptians, and how I should lock both my entry door that leads up some stairs to the balcony, and then also my apartment door.  It was odd to run into unfamiliar bigotry.  I know it’s everywhere, but still…

By way of house keys, I was a little taken aback.  The normal looking one locks my entrance stairs.  But at the top of those stairs, you’re out in open air on the balcony before you get to my apartment key.  That looks like a key from when I was a kid and had a locking diary.  But…she feels it’s safe, and I trust her.  She is such a nice woman.  It’s like having a grandma away from home.

Lastly, the water situation is a little odd.  Jordan is the 3^rd driest nation in the world.  So there is strict water control.  You get your water from the government once a week.  If you run out, it’s hundreds of JD to replace it.  

I love this city.  I hope everyone I love gets to come here at least once in their life.