Day 9

An ode to the little things.

The Wash:
After attempting to play with the “washing machine” last night (using woolite that you are supposed to use to hand wash clothes) and having to push a couple buttons to have the washer manually drain the water after rinse cycle, I hung my clothes out to dry. This morning, they were stiff as a Muslim around 6pm during Ramadan and my shirts felt as if they were made of an altogether different material. Oh, dryer, however do I miss thee. Dryer sheets and big automatically draining washing machinesJ, do NOT take them for granted!

The Toilet:
Eventually, there comes a time in every foreigner’s life when Jordanian food digests in the form of water. When that happens, throwing toilet paper into the trash can is just simply unhygienic. To spare everyone the vomititious odor, I thought I would be doing the citizens of this country a favor by flushing…just this once. OH BOY. I would go into detail, but I think you just picture the floor and the look on my face. I have hit the loo well into the double digits today. The solidity of one’s poop is actually a hot topic of conversation here. “So which side are you on? Have you “acclimated” yet or are you still American?” If you want to “acclimate” quickly, I encourage you to eat the fruit. Two peaches and a plum in two days and you’ll be set for life. Guaranteed.

The Shower:
For the past 8 days, I have been wondering why my hair feels as though it has been dunked in oil, even right after the shower. Is it the cab drivers speeding with the open windows making my hair gross? Is it the dry air in Amman making my hair overcompensate with oil? Is it possibly that the idiot didn’t realize that in her shower were two conditioner bottles and no shampoo….for seven mornings? Life is clearer now. And cleaner. On my way to class, I touted my conditioner bottle(s), my soap, my sneakers, my shirt, my shorts and all my books to those accompanying me. Look how cool I am, I’m going to the gym after class. Guffaws. Of course the snickers were merited after walking for an hour around campus with a backpack unfit for a camel and conditioner slowly seeping through the zipper over my books and a towel trampled by the sneakers. Arriving at the gym was a relief until I opened my bag to see my good intentions turn to raspberry swirl madness and realizing that I had no socks. The workout was great, I ran hard, long, and sockless and came back to a high pressure shower in which I spent a good twelve minutes, only to realize in my elation that the drain was intended for a two minute shower and that my accumulation of water had required the presence of three Filipina women frantically mopping up my mess outside the stall as I was reveling in cleanliness.

The Jasmine:
Waking up in the morning with the sun is not exactly my calling. Walking out of my building on the other hand makes everything worth it. I have mentioned to you the jasmine plants in Amman, but the truth is that I am not awake until I have heard the call to prayer and smelled the jasmine. There were kittens playing in the jasmine bushes today and the sun was rising, maintaining a 70 degree, breezy morning and I kept thinking to myself how ludicrously Pleasantville-esque my life seemed at that moment. Right then my cell phone company sent me a text message “Smell the jasmine; eat an olive; welcome to Palestine!”. I smiled as a hailed down a cab. “Where you go?”, “La jama elourandania”, “Taieb (ok)”, “Where you from?” “Ana bait” (I’m home). He laughed.

Otherwise, I'm off to Iftar tonight with a few friends from the program. Hopefully I'll get back in time to sleep a full 7 hours. That would be fantastic. Tomorrow is my last day of class before we go off to Petra! I'll keep you in the loop and hopefully touch upon some points made and questions asked regarding specifics of life here tomorrow.

Maa salaama!