bugs. lets talk about them. since my arrival in Jordan, i have had 2 memorable bug experiences. first, let me say that when your shoes sit outside all night, check them before you put them on! lets just say that if you dont look inside your shoe before you shove your foot in it, you may just find, oh i dont know, a big dead cockroach inside that you have unknowingly trampled to deat. eew. needless to say, my shoes sleep inside my house now. my other fun bug story is this. the other night was gorgeous here so i decided at about ten pm to go sit outside my house and watch the stars come up over the mountain. i like to watch the sky starting at sunset, because everything moves unbelievably fast. really, if you blink during sunset you might miss it. and the moon and stars come up over the mountain like gangbusters. it almost feels like you can literally watch the earth turning which is comforting in the sense that it makes me feel like my time here will fly by like nothing. anyway, i was outside, and of course the light wasnt on because that would ruin the night sky. so i sit for a good while in the dark and then go back inside. next day at around nine in the morning i go outside to go to work and i go to where i was sitting the night before because i had left my water bottle. and what is there to greet me but a giant scorpion. it was dead, and it looked to have been stepped on. now, i live behind a big wall and the only creatures behind that wall that are big enought to squish a scorpion are people, and i am the only particular person who goes to this area of the yard. so, i stepped on it without knoing it was there. in the dark. in flip flops. again, gross. so those are my fun bug stories. oh, and my new favorite bedtime game is hunt the mosquitos. endless hours of fun.
so, i have been at my site for two weeks now. in that time i have been tutoring 6th grade girls in english and giving 2 exercise classes a day for the women. if anyone wants to pass on some good indoor exercises, please do. i want to keep it interesting. but my exercise class will be grinding to a temporary halt in the next couple fo days, as ramadan is almost here. ramadan is the holy month for islam. its timing is based on the cycles of the moon, so it changes every year. noone really knows when ramadan is until the night before it starts. exciting stuff. it is considered haram (religiously forbidden)for anything to pass your lips in daylight hours: food, water, cigs, all of it. people fast and pray all day, and then at sunset have big feasts together. i myself intend to fast, and am not worried about the food so much as the water. but i can stay up drinking all night if i want to. water that is. aside from anticipating ramadan life in the village is fairly slow and quiet. i have been to 2 nights of a wedding here (weddings often last for three days), as well as 2 engagement parties. i have eaten mansef with my hands, and apparently my technique is like that of prince hassan. standard practice is to eat it with sort of a fist, and i tend to use my fingertips i guess. what can i say. i love it in my village! no rocks have been thrown yet either. a little boy came running up to my my first week. i braced for what i thought was the inevitable, but when he got to me and opened his had it was a chocolate for me! such a refreshing change. in my village i can go out walking alone, even in the evening, and talk to whomever i feel inclined. well, i guess conversation with men is limited to greetings only thus far, but at least i can make eye contact and say hello without people thinking me a harlot. i got an arabic tutor and i expect her to kick my but as a teacher. already i have homework, written in script. it wouldnt be so bad, i can read script, but this is handwritten. like trying to read cursive when all you know is newsprint. she is really nice though. it is funn, and only some of you will understand this, but she looks just like a reeves. you know david reeves' family? she could drop right into it, lookswise.
ooh, the other day on the road i passed a group of three camels. they were lose and kind of wandering by themselves. i think that is standard. anyway, one was black, one was brown and one was white. maybe next time i will take a picture. they looked as thought they were in the middle of a dispute or something. i think someone was about to get spit on.
i have been thinking about home a whole lot lately. i miss all you guys. but i think i can settle in where i am fairly nicely for a couple years. i am feeling pretty good about it all. lately i have been going through a spell of insomnia. maybe it is because my pillow is made of styrpfoam and hard as a rock, i dont know. anyway, when i cant sleep i turn on the tv and watch movies. this last week i watched back to the future three and bad girls. for those of you who dont know, there is a western movie set just outside my hometown. both of these movies were filmed there. i could totally recognize the place. i used to drive by it everyday. also, you know the kid in back to the future who says "hey mister, mister eastwood, heres your gun"? i went to school with that kid. it was kind of surreal to watch home from jordan. i mean, more so than to see pictures of sf, because those are expected. but my little home town?
before i go, congratulations laurie! you totally deserved it.
and with that i am off. i will let you all know how ramadan fasting goes. if anyone feels inclined to send letters, toss some pictures in too. i put some pictures from home up on my wall and i would love to have more. oh, and no worries about content, noone comes in my house, as it is a studio and, well, you guys know my housekeeping skills...