Random Jordan-ness

So this is just kinda  post that updates on the whole weird conglomeration that is Jordan. Some of these pictures are from the very beginning of the semester and each has a fun story that is so unique and awesomely Jordanian. 

So the first example is the Toll House cookie house. It's in a super fancy mall called (no joke) Taj Mall and basically a cookie costs about the same as a normal lunch for me. Since we had a large group, we did the whole get a discount with the 2 dozen cookies thing. It was pretty fun. It was also awkward because it was like our second week here and no one really knew one another yet. 

Keith, Christina and Eryn

So want to see what a $2 cookie looks like? (it's a normal palm size cookie...not even a huge one!) 

However, it was delicious and we were able to experience a Jordanian hang out night. (Seriously...people go to places like this and hang out there and that's their entertainment for the night.)

Another Jordanian thing (although it's also a Middle Eastern thing) is a shawerma. I've mentioned it before but man, they're good! It's basically a pita rolled up with (either) pickles or tomatoes, a sauce and meat (either chicken or lamb/beef combo). The Lebanese/Israeli way of having it is also by shoving french fries in it too. I always get weird looks when I ask them to put it in my shawerma. It's good!

So there are two places near our apartment. The one we like the most is called A'lia. It's yummy! Here's a pic of their shawerma: 

And my handsome hubby eating it. :D

However tasty our local one may be, our favorite is still (and with good reason) Reems Shawerma on 2nd circle. It's famous (like..seriously everyone asks if you've been there) and it's open 24/7. Super tasty and simple and there's always a line. I finally got a pic when we were there during the day (around 3 pm mind you) and we still had to wait like 20 minutes to get our food. 

The sign!

And what Reem's looks like. It's TINY. As in just a place to order and receive the food and then you eat it around the corner or wherever. 

In addition to yummy real food, they have something here called Fruit Salad which is AMAZING. Also located at second circle (in fact when we went here that night we stopped by Reems beforehand for dinner and this was dessert)

When we got there we found that we had run into the couples from our group and so we joined them for some dessert. It's a good thing we did. Even with 4 of us it was hard to finish this one dish: 

It was SO good!!! Nutella, fruit of all kinds and a dessert custard/ice cream/weird thing on the bottom. 

We shared it with the Garvins. I promise I don't promise we don't always hang out with only them, they just happened to be the ones we got food with. :D (and London is HIGHLY) photogenic. :D

So every Sunday I go with Drew and the wives to a French Catholic orphanage. While there Drew, LB (Dil's wife) and Leanne work with the younger kids. Joy, Carrie, Bristyl, Eryn and I all tutor some of the older girls in English. 

I originally didn't go but they needed someone to speak arabic and I really wanted an opportunity like this so we went. I love it! It's so funny trying to explain english grammar...in arabic by explaining what part of arabic grammar it is. I have a much greater appreciation for Dil now. I tutor Dima in grammar and Ghazal in English pronunciation and reading. 

I got a cool picture of Drew playing with the kids. :) They're great. 

Another fun thing is that Drew is learning to cook things!!! He's actually really good at making pizza and decided to try and make it here. We were even able to find beef pepperoni! I can have pepperoni again! Yay!!! 

Since Drew's gotten so good at it, he sells it to the students sometimes for lunch as a hobby. He loves making pizza and I'm not complaining when he makes lunch/dinner. 

We've also learned how to make tortillas and that's been a super yummy experiment where we can eat quesadillas again!

Yay for weird food cravings when you're abroad!!!! (Mexican food and orange soda...so WEIRD)

So Jordan's similar to Jerusalem in the sense that there are a TON of cats everywhere. Dogs aren't allowed in people's houses because they're considered unclean in Islam (i.e. if you have a dog in your house you can't pray and that causes issues) however, cats are fine. But the thing is that here they don't really spay or neuter pets and so there's quite a large feral cat population. It's not uncommon to find one jump out of the dumpster when you go to put in trash. 

Well one day my friend Christina (actually one of the ones in the picture up there) found a kitten in the middle of the road. He was tiny and actually didn't run away when she went to pick him up/pet him. So she decided to take him home and now we have Bissa! Our little adopted kitty that's going to go to Ustaath Faadi's house when we leave. He's super fun to play with and is a nice kitty. 

So one thing I love about the fall here is that there are olive trees everywhere! I took this beautiful picture while waiting for the bus to return to Amman from when I went to district conference. How gorgeous!!!! And olive oil is great. Even if I still won't eat olives or pickles. Blech (But mom I now eat tomatoes!!!) 

So that's some random Jordan-ness in a nutshell. I'll post more when Drew and I get back. We leave for the big trip to Petra, Wadi Rum, and Aqaba tomorrow and I'm super excited!!!!!