well, my arabic handwriting skills are pretty sad. i wrote my first essay a couple weeks ago. 2 pages, all in arabic. it wasnt anything groundbreaking, pretty routine. my name is andi, i am from california, blah blah blah... it is mostly so i can learn how to read and write. arabic is really hard to learn. without exaggeration, there are at least 2 or 3 words for almost everything. also, there is formal arabic which is used on the news and in newspapers which i am not learning. unfortunately this is the only form of arabic for which there is a dictionary. i am learning spoken arabic, and the dialect is southern jordanian. written arabic is fun too because only long vowels are written, all short vowels are implied somehow. so yeah, arabic is tough. my english skills are also waning. i am so used to writing phonetically that i spelled hello "hellow" the other week. hmm.
so monday the 17th marked my 100th day in country! i guess the time is just flying by. i have settled into a kind of routine now that makes the time go faster. you know, the kind where the weekend comes before you even know it. not that my weekends are much different than my weeks.
ramadan is going swimmingly. i ate sheep brain the other day. they put it in front of me like it was a special thing, so i couldnt refuse. i was seated at the platter with the sheep's head. this is supposed to be a big honor. i guess all the especially tasty cuts of meat are on the head - like the brain and the cheeks... well, i cant say i am a big fan. it tastes slightly of liver but not as good and the texture is pretty much what you would imagine. so, not repulsive but not great either.
the simpsons have hit the middle east! only, for some reason it is called the shemshoons. it is dubbed in arabic. i havent really watched it yet, but it was on at someone's house at dinner long enough for me to figure out that here duff = juice. boy does homer love his juice! they have really been hyping the show a lot though. other big american tv news here, britany spears reality tv show is coming soon. yippee! at least we only export the best shows. oh, and if the naked chef is on while you are fasting, dont watch it. first, you dont need cooking tips because most of them wont apply here (at least not in the kitchen i have, or shall i say corner with a camp stove), and second it just makes the fast harder. i never noticed how much people eat on tv till now. but, so far as ramadan goes, the hard part is the first week and its over. in fact, ramadan itself is almost over. and my only cheating turns out not to be cheating at all. you see, this week i got strep throat. really a bundle of laughs. just as fun as you might imagine. called the doctor and she told me what antibiotic to buy. in jordan you basically just walk into a pharmacy and tell them what you want. no prescriptions needed. so i ate a bit to keep my stomach from getting upset from the pills. but when my counterpart found out i was sick she came over and brought me soup and told me that it is haram to fast when you are sick.
bakc to ramadan. last night was the big celebration that marked the final revalation of the koran. most people went to mosque until 12 or one in the morning. but, because there are a whole number of things that make it haram for a woman to enter a mosque at a certain time, and because my counterpart was thus prevented from going, i stayed home. she and i hung out and watched tv and chatted and drank tea. it was really nice, and we can do the big mosque celebration next year. by the way, my counterpart and her husband are super excited to host my family when they come. mom and dad, they keep asking when you will be here, so you can be sure to receive the royal treatment. anyway, at the end of this week is eide al fatar, which translates roughly to eve of the breakfast. it marks the end of ramadan and is a three day holiday. i get a few days off and i may finally check out some jordanian sights.
last week i helped my counterpart pick olives from the trees in the yard. then we cracked them open by pounding them with rocks. we have to soak them a bit in water but then she is going to show me how to marinate them. fun stuff. we marinate the green ones and send the black ones off to be made into oil.
it was really cold last week, and the days have been getting increasingly cold and windy. i even had my very first taste of jordanian rain. so picking olives had a fun, bundled up, late autumn harvest feel to it. plus it was just gerat to be outside doing something vaguely active. and the rain smelled awesome. because i live out in the country it had that clean dirt smell that rain in the countryside brings.
center life is fairly nonexistant. i go everyday but no one comes. so i play with my coworkers baby, who is four months old. hes a great baby! patient and never fussy. or i read. a lot. well, i suppose that just about wraps it up. next time i talk to you i will be back in the swing of "normal" life.

man, im hungry. ramadan is amazing. it slows everything down. you go from one day where you are drinking tea and coffee just about every hour to nothing. just like that. bam. all day long you are without the caffiene, sugar, loads of food, and if you are a man the pack or two that you smoke daily. the first couple days are kind of rough. but it is worth it. people spend the days cooking and napping and watching tv. work days are shorter and less intense. and people pray much more often. you are on low power all day long, but then around five pm the sun starts to set. you know you only have about half an hour until you can eat. people start to pace a little and the koran is broadcast from all the loudspeakers at all the mosques. and your eyes barely leave the sky, for fear that the sun would set and you might miss it. it is like waiting for christmas. then all the mosques go slient. this is the most exciting time because you know it is almost time. then, as the sun sets you hear "Allahu Akbar" from the mosques which is the call to prayer, or at least the beginning of it. then you break the fast. but just with a little something because the call to prayer means the men have just two minutes to get to the mosque if they want to go, which they invariably do. so you eat a few dates or a sweet to tide you over. then the men come back from the mosque and everyone sits around and talks and eats and drinks tea and coffee and water. then comes the gatief which are little fried pockets of breat with either cheese or cinnamon and walnuts and coconut inside. they are expecially for ramadan. they are really tasty, but i hear that there have been volunteers who went crazy on the gatief and consequently their pants got too small. after that comes more visiting around town. and everyone is out moving around because they havent really had the energy to do it all day long. and everyone smacks their gum or smokes their cigarettes all over town. its fun. like thanksgiving or something but every day. it feels crazy to attach so much importance to food everyday but i have to say that this is the first time in a while that i have been happy to eat. so far breaking fast has been a treat, except the second day. this particular day all the food was set out for the initial break. dates and cold milk. sounded yummy and i was thirsty. so i grab my milk and take a big swig. what i was met with turned my stomach. it was leban, which is milk that has been turned into yogurt, but not exactly. it isnt thick like yogurt. you chug it. it is sour and honestly tastes a little off to me. i dont care for it when i am expecting it, but when you think it is milk and on an empty stomach... blech. but there is something really satisfying about eating when you are hungry. i cant even really describe it. it is so much better than eating for stress or because you are told you should. it tastes better.
locals wake up at three or four to have a little food to help them till breakfast, but i just stay up till twelve or so and have a little something before i sleep. people are surprised and excited that i am fasting, but would really rather i covered my hair while i do it. and convert to islam while i am at it. but i just insist that i am a christian (ha) and ask them how easy it would be for them to abandon their faith. or i say "en shah allah" which means god willing. the matter is usually dropped. god willing can be used when you are happy to do something or as a complete blow off. i have a lot of free time in ramadan, so i ahve been walking to the local garden and reading. the seventh day and i have been through four books already. anyway, i should go. maybe i can help cook today!

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...