عندي أسرة!

So, I moved into my homestay family this week and they are awesome! They are quite multilingual and speak English, Spanish, Arabic, and a bit of French. The mother is from Spain and they have spent a few years in France, as the father was a general in the Jordanian military, and travelled a lot. They have been very nice and welcoming, and maybe a little bit crazy too. I’m not sure what I expected from my couple of days at my homestay family, and this was definitely not it, but it has been great! Today, we drove to السلط and basically climbed down and mountain and then back up to hunt small birds. On our drive, you could see Palestine from across the reservoir. It was very rocky terrain, and I was clearly not dressed for the occasion, but it was well worth the effort. Never before have I shot a gun or ate a little bird, but I guess I will be having quite a few firsts here.

In other news, I have encountered the range of the wonderfully dependable Amman bus system. And when I say system, I mean that there is no system. Sometimes they remember to stop, and sometimes they just don’t. However, it is a nice way to save some نقود.

Interesting Observation 1: Probably about 95% of the women at the university wear hijabs, which is not consistent with the rest of the population. My host sister works at another university and said that she is one of two women on the campus that does not wear a hijab. I’m not sure if this means that more religious or traditional women are educated, or if it has something to do with a more structured personality type that is more likely to pursue higher education, or some other reason altogether. I’ll have to do some investigation.

Interesting Observation 2: If it snows, or it might snow, or someone thinks it might snow, the entire city shuts down. Today, classes were cancelled because they were calling for snow. When my roommate took a taxi back from her interview, her driver exclaimed that the city would be white all week! So, I get excited and start to make plans of hot chocolate making and cake baking and sledding and then I look at the weather. Turns out it is 39 degrees with a high of 51 degrees, with a forecast of rain. Oh well, we still got out of class today, so it is a three day weekend!

High Point: Our snow day!
Low Point: Having 8 am class.