let it snow let it snow let it snow...

Well, the weather outside is…awful
But the…space heater…is so delightful
And if there’s no university to go…
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

All right, so my rendition of “let it snow” may not be making the top of the charts, but I just thought I’d go into song to express my enjoyment at the weather yesterday. Yes, it snowed. In Jordan of all places. We’ve actually been waiting for snow for over 2 weeks now. And the Jordanian reaction to snow…stop everything! Literally, the entire city seems to shut down with the mere mention of it. Schools were cancelled, shops closed. And seriously, it was a light snow that melted before it hit the ground. But, who am I to complain. I experienced my first snow day while in Amman. It was pretty great, did absolutely nothing with it though.

I’ve really been itching to get out of the city of Amman…explore the whole world of Jordan… and beyond. But alas, I spent most of this weekend either in my house or in cafés (hey, the rain was torential…can you blame me?). School was good…some teacher’s decided to not show up. Arabic is pretty much the same. Although we got paired up with Peer Tutors this week (or paid friends as we call them). They are there to help us with our Colloquial, build friendships, yadda yadda yadda… My friend is a really nice guy, willing to take the time to help me understand what he is saying and to strengthen my own language skills. But it’s still hard when I would consider my own vocabulary at about a kindergarten level and my confidence even below that. Then again, that’s why I’m here right.

I think one of this week’s highlights was my attempt at playing football on Thursday. After school, a friend’s home-stay brother (he’s 16) invited us to play football with a couple of his friends. Well, a nice group of about 7 of us Americans joined his larger group of 30 or so Jordanian friends. See, I haven’t played football in about 10 years, and I wasn’t any good then. Well, not much has really changed. I was really excited… got to kick the ball a few times. Although I think it was really more in sympathy from the Jordanians rather than their strategic need for me to in the game. Nonetheless, I had a great time.

Well, I’m hoping to make more of this weekend than the past. We’ll see what final plans get worked up though. It’s weird to think, I’ve been here a month already. It really does go by quickly.

Another pic of my nephew. He know's what he likes...what can ya say!

My host family (from left to right): Kelley - another girl in my program (my host-niece technically), Murad - a 2nd?? cousin (not really sure), and Ammar - host-bro.