Sweet treats!

School yesterday was pretty rough again. It’s not the misery that it was the first few days, now it is more just varying degrees of unpleasantness. Every day that I get home, it takes me a while to unwind and de-stress and start taking an interest again in the city around me. I’m only going to stay until I feel like I’ve seen my fill of Jordan and then I’m gone. I don’t feel at all motivated to put in more effort, like I did as a missionary working for something much more valuable.

Outside of babysitting, I have been having the time of my life walking the streets, eating new foods and slowly meeting people and making friends. Taking a walk around town and trying to see all that I can see is the best part of my day. Even though I’ve been here for a few weeks now, I still haven’t gotten used to it to the point that I’m not staring as I walk. There is still too much to take in!

Today I found a sweet shop! I had actually passed the shop several times, but the only things I saw in the window were these orange, stringy bar things, that I assumed were fish. They are actually creamy, cheesy creations, and are pretty good. It’s kind of like cheese cake, but a little less sweet, with a crunchy, cheesy covering.

I also got a few other things in the sweet shop: some baklava, some nut-cake thing and a few cookies that taste just like Russian tea cakes. Those were my favorite. The guy working there actually spoke English really well, so it wasn’t as hard as it normally is to purchase something.

People keep telling me if I don’t haggle the prices, I will get ripped off, and maybe I have been and I just don’t know it, but most of the people that ring me up seem to be very generous. For example, sweet-shop-man didn’t have any change for my bill, so he handed me a plate of goodies and asked me to wait while he went to another shop to get change. He told me to keep the entire plate after he returned and didn’t charge me for it. Falafel-man let me try some fried vegetable balls while I was waiting for my sandwich and tossed some extra in my bag before I left. Shawarma-man gave me the sandwich for half the listed price, after I asked him for some help to figure out the cash. I wouldn’t dare approach them to talk if I wasn’t actually a customer, but when I interact with the men, they are all very kind.

Can you tell my biggest interest here is the food??

This morning, Hakim, a man that works at the Orthodox Church’s gift shop next to the chapel, took us to the police station to apply for our work visas. He has lived in Madaba his whole life and was telling us a little about it as we walked. He has given each of us teachers Arabic nicknames. Mine is Nargish, which means a special kind of rose that grows in the mountains. He actually got kind of annoyed at me when he found out I had been to the sweet shop down the street. He told me there was a much better sweet shop with better prices that I should have gone to. He said to consult with him first anytime I want to buy something.

In the evenings, I have been reading “Lone Survivor” the past few days (thanks Sean!) by Marcus Luttrell, about his experiences as a Navy SEAL in Afghanistan. His story is very painful and looks into the face of terrorism. It is kind of an odd sensation to read about such hatred when I’m very close to where it happened, but with people that are instead being very kind to me, and want me to teach them my language. There is still so much about the war in Afghanistan that I don't understand, but I can't help but feeling that there are good and bad people everywhere. 

I feel very grateful that I could come here and have these experiences. Jordan is a great place, but at the same time, I feel very patriotic and proud to be an American. The United States is the best country in the world! I’m glad that’s where I get to go after my adventures here.

Here goes another week!