A much better weekend

So after the awful, no good week, I needed something good to happen. As luck would have it, I had a rather awesome weekend which made up for what had happened previously. My roommates and I had decided to have a taco night that Friday. It was just what the doctor ordered. 

We all pitched in, and it was fantastic! Ashley had a bit of fun making the cake and it kinda came out interesting...

It was supposed to be a pineapple...it did taste delicious though. 

We all put our stuff on the table and chowed down to tacos. Just remembering it makes my mouth water. All of us kept making Cafe Rio comments the whole time. 

The whole spread

A closeup of my burrito/taco hybrid

After that wonderful spread, the next day I went to Wasd al-Balad to meet up with a friend and to do some errands. It was a very successful trip and I was able to find a nice duffle bag for 5 JD, a nice dress for the same price and a couple of pairs of swim shorts. (One for me and one for a friend for our Wadi Mujib trip-more on that later!)

After that, I decided to get most of my souvenier/gift shopping done. One great thing about going abroad is that it makes some great gifts. However, it also means that I need to get creative after a while.

Al-Husseini Mosque at the center of downtown

My friend's shop

After shopping, I was talking with my friend, the shop owner, Muhammad. He then invited Allison and I to Iftar. It was neat to finally get to do Iftar in the Balad and we got to hear some of his amazing stories. He used to be a translator for US forces in Iraq and at one point was part of a special operations group from Jordan. He's had some interesting life experiences, that's for su

Muhammad!!

After Iftar, Allison and I were heading to a friend's to pick up something when we passed by Habibeh. EVERYONE says that you HAVE to go to the one in Wasd al Balad because it's the original and the best. Well, whenever we've gone past before, it was PACKED and the line went waaay out onto the street. This time, however, it was a reasonable line os we decided to get some dessert. Neither of us is a big knafa fan (I know, gasp!) but we both love Warabat. So we grabbed some of that and ate it outside. It was delicious. 

The goods

The location

After dessert, we headed over to Rachel's place. She lives in Weibdeh, so close to Wasd al Balad, but up an ENORMOUS set of hills. Thankfully we took the servicé taxi up. The view from her place was gorgeous. 

We had made the trek to pick up a certain package. You see, Rachel was leaving the country soon and couldn't take it. She had been walking outside when this poor, dirty little kitten ran away from boys who were throwing rocks at her, and just started mewing at Rachel until she picked her up. 

Already that week Rachel had seen 2 cats get killed by cars, and she was so little so she decided to take her in. However, because of her time restraints, she couldn't keep her that long. She was getting worried about taking her when my roommates and I decided to take her in. 

Ashley will be here for another 3-4 months and I'm here for another 3 weeks. So...we got a kitten. Her name is Amira and she's an adorable little monster. 

Play?

Allison freaking out over having a kitten

Zonk

Toy?

She's rather active, but fun to be around. And other than the fact that I'm apparently HIGHLY allergic to her, I'm good as long as she doesn't go in my room. I knew my dad and brother were allergic, but I've never had a reaction to a cat before. I just spent a few days at Emily's place in Portland in February and her cat Mal didn't bother me one bit. Whatever, she's here to stay for a bit. And she's adorable. 

Passing out after chasing something.