i have been following the news about hurricane katrina. the limited news i got here was horrifying. my heart goes out to the people there. i almost wish i was at home so i could go do something to help. the news here has really fallen off though, so any updates you could send would be appreciated.
so, on my own end, there is a bunch of news since it has been so long since i wrote. last week we had our first big visit to Amman. i visited the red crescent (part of the international community of the red cross). afterward, we all met for a reception at the embassy. the embassy here is crazy. i suppose it is really what you might expect an embassy in the middle east to look like. i cant publish pictures of it, ever. because i cant take pictures of it, ever. so, yeah. it was basically mixing with a bunch of embassy and local ministry officials. for those of you who know how i feel about people, and large important seeming groups of them, you can imagine my nightmare. but, it was a fun weekend, like a vacation kind of.
today officially marks my end of training. i am just hours away from swearing in as a full volunteer and being whisked off to my permanent site! the training was somewhat like my training for the berkeley free clinic, but more intense and tied up in government type bureaucracy. phew! i took my final language exam and scored an intermediate mid, for those of you who know anything about language proficiency. it was enough to not be a problem. so soon i will be in my beautiful little village (yes!) but far away from my fellow trainees and our trainers (oh jebus). the stir crazy nights start about now. but it will really be great to be able to breathe and move around on my own without considering how my host family wants me to be at that exact second. dont get me wrong, they were great, but i am no good at being under someone elses roof. they gave me a goodbye weighing and were really pleased that i managed to gain some weight on my already sticklike frame...
so, here is the update on the strange tv experiences i have had here recently: last nights overabundance of viagara adds, watching farenheit 9/11 with arabic subtitles on al jazeera, and a new video. this one was a palestinian singer. the video was basically real news clips of palestine. funerals and men shooting guns and peace marches and bodies, and crying people. it was fully disturbing. also, last night i saw an al arabia commercial in which two cartoon men are sitting on a bench. one gets a text message, reads it gasps and runs away. the other one stays, but gets bombed... i guess he should have had al arabia news sent to him on his nokia... it was a pretty morbid commercial i thought.
i feel like there is more to say, but i am rushed. oh yeah! i can officially receive packages and all sorts of mail now because i have my own address!!! thats it for now, dont want to be late getting to my own swearing in!