Schedule, Speaking, Institute, and Pictures

So, I've had some questions about what a typical day is like for me, so here it is:

6 - Wake up, pray, shower, eat, scriptures
7-9 - Newspaper reading homework (we translate one article well and skim 3-5 articles for information)
10 - Issues class (Dr. Khalid speaks with us and teaches about current events and Jordanian stuff)
11 - Presentation class (we take turns giving a prepared, 3 minute presentation on an assigned topic which we record for later critiquing)
12ish-2ish - Speaking (I usually go to Jordanian University and talk to girls sitting around. I've met a lot of friends and talked about their families, mansaf the Friday family food, marriage celebrations, why i'm studying Arabic, and today how one lady wants to change the social system for girls here)
3-3:30 - Speaking or Writing appointment (Ibrahim listens to my presentation or reads a writing sample and helps me improve)
4 - Dil's class (my professor, we talk about logistics, colloquial stuff, news translations, and pep talks)
5-6:30 - break, email, and dinner
7-9 - homework to prepare for the next day's Issues and Presentation class
9 - Get ready for bed

So there's a lot to do, but the homework load is less than i was expecting. my favorite part of the day is speaking.

This has been a great week. I went to Haneen's house to practice Arabic and then English. Her family fed me an amazing rice and chicken dish, but it wasn't mansaf. I met and talked with a 37 year old freshman today. She smokes, which is looked down upon here if you're a woman, so I thought she'd be interesting to talk with. She was. She's a mom of four, but is getting her degree in social work because she wants to change the social outlook on women. She had so many opinions and ideas on materialism and the West creeping into Arab society, why Americans don't learn about the Middle East when her 4^th grader is learning about Thomas Jefferson right now, and how she thinks 90% of the young generation can't read the Qu'ran because they don't understand the old style of language, Fusha. It was great.

I also went to Institute this week. That was great for getting to know branch members and their stories. Ask Mom for more details, but it was really captivating to listen to Arupa's, a Phillipina, experiences with getting out of a really bad working situation and hear Salim's story with joining the church and his very sad story of how he's come to live in Amman. He was from Jerusalem but was picking up his father from the Amman airport with the 1967 war broke out. He has been separated from his family ever since and is only allowed to go back for one month every year. He skips some years because of the expense. 

Here's some random pics from the week and last weekend.

The black and white Abu Darwish Mosque. I talked to some girls out front. Everyone is so friendly and willing to talk here.

Three of my five roommates, Violeta, Kathlene, and Angie. Everyone thinks the former two are Arab. 

The most amazing place: Fruit Salad. So worth the 4 dinars to have fresh fruit, ice cream, and nuts. MWAH to the inventor of that. We ate here and then Angie and I waited for Jarom and his roommate/TA Randell to come try it out.

Hey, Cuz, s'up thug

Randell, Jarom, Angie, and I walking down Rainbow Street at night. One of  Randell's Coptic friends, Andrew, showed us a couple Christian book stores and I bought a dual language Bible, or, Al-Kitab Al-Muqadisa.