Sunday, July 4, 2010

Day 3

Last night we walked to a place called The Doors - named after the actual band.  Its menu had pictures of Jim Morrison and names of sandwiches and things after their songs.  I had the Doors sandwich - chicken, mushroom and cheese.  Just what you'd expect, right? :)  The best part was this delicious lemonade and mint drink we all ordered.


Today was the first day of Arabic class.  They split our group into 2, one beginner and one more advanced.  I am in the beginner group.  We have a wonderful instructor named Doctora Salwa (I'm sure that isn't spelled right).  She has been a teacher for many years and was very direct with us.  She taught us four of the alphabet letters - short and long vowels and some vocabulary words.  Jolanda has my workbook right now, but I will post a picture of our work.  We have our first quiz on Tuesday!  Luckily, everyone is very excited about learning the language and we have been practicing all day since the class.

After class, we toured the "American corner" where we can do work, look at books, watch dvds and use the computer.  There are two other "corner" rooms - Italy and Korea.  The corners help build bridges between cultures and diffuse stereotypes.  They are used often with different classes in the university.  After the tour, we had coffee with one of the student advisors from the language center.

The university requires us to have a student ID, so we had to get our pictures taken at the photography shop.  We will get an ID to use at the gate, which had a lot of security.

Today's lunch was another chicken wrap for only .50 JD!  Jolanda and I also bought a falafel wrap for another .50 JD.  I am sure this sandwich shop will be a staple since it was so cheap.n  I bought 4 cans of diet coke to take back to the hotel because I ordered one at breakfast for 2.750 JD - about $4 in American money!  I know, I know...bad habit, but it tasted so good!

We decided to use the pool today.  After a brief disussion on etiquette, we felt it was ok for us to wear our modest swimming suits without t-shirts because it is an international hotel.  We are always aware of what may or may not insult the people of Jordan and we want to make sure we are doing what is culturally ok.  The pool felt fantastic!
 
Next stop is dinner at a place called Wild Jordan.  We have a few meetings tomorrow and we must get some of our own meetings set up.  I have some work to do!

Hope all is well with everyone!  Remember to think of me 8 hours ahead of you!

1 comment:

  1. Hi, Sarah!
    It is so good to hear how things are going! Love the pictures, and experiences you are sharing! You are being very good keeping everyone posted along the way! Good girl! Keep it up! Karen

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