1. I joined a soccer team! I’m very excited about this however the season maybe ending soon but for now it is great. I go to a sports club in Abdoun (a very nice area) and I believe practice is 4 times a week. From what I have heard the age range on the team is 16-23. They are all very nice girls and the coach is really nice too. All of them speak English but of course use Arabic the most and then translate to me what to do. It is kind of different since we practice on a tennis court sized “field” which is really more like tennis court flooring…. Different for me since I have not played much on anything but grass and turf. But I’m so happy to be able to play and it’s so great for me right now and also meeting new people.
2. A story: The other night Jamie and I were headed to soccer practice and we found a cab right when we walked out of our apartment. We thought we were lucky because we usually have to walk a little before we can get one. He was very nice and spoke decent English. Right away he needed to do a U-turn to go the opposite way. When he did this there were 2 men walking on the side of the road, he stopped in the middle of his turn because he could not go any further since the walkers were in the way. I remember thinking, “woah! We got close to them.” We waited a couple seconds as the men kept walking so we could complete the turn. When the driver thought they were ahead enough to keep going he accelerated and completed the turn. Okay 1 problem… the men were not out of the way enough yet. WE ENDED UP HITTING THE GUY ON THE OUTSIDE WITH OUR BUMPER! I was watching the whole thing and knew before it happened what we were about to do. The car bumper hit him in the back of the knees, which forced him to sit on the car a little until we stopped. Jamie and I were probably as wide-eyed as we could get! The taxi driver got out of the car, we then saw him showing them were the sidewalk was and how to use it. (yeh right, Jordan has the worst sidewalk system I have seen and no one uses it because there is no point). The guy who got his was okay but very very mad. He seems to exchange some not nice words as they began to argue. Next thing we know the guy who got his turns around and comes back swinging a white paint bucket over his head trying to hit the taxi driver in the head with it! The friend of the guy who got hit stopped him. The only thing better than a video of this would have been a video of us in the back seat saying, “what do we do!” I realized I had my cell phone clenched in my hand but, let’s be real, who was I going to call! Ha. Anyways they kept yelling at each other until every now and then someone would step and try to fight where the friend would step in and stop them. This went on for a while. Finally the friend pushed the hit guy away to just walk away and leave, we thought, “okay its over.” NOPE! Taxi driver all the sudden runs after them! We knew this was our escape. We ran out of the taxi back to our apartment and up the stairs. Audry laughs so hard now when she thinks about us stumbling in out of breath telling her the story. Only a minute later we saw out the window the taxi driver came back to his car and looked for us and then drove away. We thought it was safe to try again, so back out we went. We saw him parked only down the street a little talking to a guy again so we ran the other way and took the long way down to hill to find a different taxi. It was the craziest thing ever. WHO HITS A WALKER!!
3. I took my first taxi ride alone! Okay I was very nervous considering the events from the night before but I had practice and that’s the only way to go! But it turned out fine. The way there was okay, I think he went the long way trying to make me pay more but on the way home I had a very nice guy who lived in New York for a long time who spoke perfect English so that was great.
4. Jamie and I visited Red Cross/Red Crescent hospital the other day. She is a nurse and wanted to volunteer there a couple hours while we are here. They were very nice and welcoming. But on top of her doing her nursing, they asked if we would teach English to AIDS patients there. We were already looking for a way all 5 of us could come together for 1 project so this is a great thing we can all do together. Once a week for an hour.
5. We start Arabic classes Monday. The long awaited classes are now set. We have learned some already and have a better ear for it so I’m ready to get started!
6. I may have my own art class at my school. We had a talk yesterday and they are trying to use me better and make me happier doing what I like. They kind of came up with an idea that I would have my own projects I would work on with kids throughout the day other than the regular art class that they always get. This is going to be interesting. I will be in the same room as before so we will have two classes going on at once. I feel like there might be some awkwardness between the art teacher and me doing different things because we had very very different ideas on how art should be taught and how the kids should be treated. And remember none of the kids speak ANY English so that will be a big challenge for me. Other than the awkwardness I’m really excited about it and keep thinking of projects in my head.
7. We still haven’t gotten our residency cards. This is a crazy thing. However we have made friends with the bus drivers when they take us around. A couple times they have taken us out to eat as well and I think the secret has built a little bond so we have fun with them.
I think that’s all for now. This week has been crazy. We used to look at our calendar and say, “well! Any day will work for that, it’s not like we do anything else.” To now we are thinking, how will we fit in our Marathon training! Now I will have practice 4 days a week, Arabic 1 day, and AIDS English 1 day. As much as I enjoy sitting around and watching movies, I’m going to enjoy being busy!
This is the girls at the Blue Fig restaurant. Yum.
Amman Time
Sounds like you're busy having fun and adventures!
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