On to Jordan

There's a lot to talk about since we last met.  Though I'll admit, some of the craziest things happened today, order prevails and we'll go chronologically.

The pub where J. R. R. Tolkien wrote the
Lord of the Rings trilogy.

That means we're starting with England.  Took the redeye from Logan into Heathrow, and saw Footloose during the flight.  I will say, Virgin Atlantic has excellent amenities.  And the flight was pretty empty, so I had a full row to myself.   Awesome.  So I took a bus out to Oxford, where the wonderful Sabrina Gordon was waiting at the bus station.  It was weird being in England, a) because the weather was worse than in New England and b) because I expected everyone to be speaking a foreign language, and they all spoke English.  I was pretty beat so we got a bite to eat and then took a nap, which was hugely beneficial.  That night we went out to a bar, which was a good time.  We played an olde English version of Catch-phrase, and also briefly saw the Pembroke rugby team drinking and singing together... reminded me a lot of Midd Soccer actually!

Wednesday Sab had a lax game, so I got to spend some quality time with Harrington throwback Emily Sillari, which was really great!  That night, we went to a club, which was a total blast.  My ears are still ringing... 3 days later.  Thursday, Sabrina had a Black Keys concert to go to in London, so I met up with the next great philosopher of our age, Aaron Dockser.  We made dinner with some friends at his apartment and hung out for a while, which was wonderful because we decided that we hadn't seen each other since high school graduation parties... there's something wrong there.  Then it snowed.  Weird that it was snowing in England and not Vermont.  Oh well.

There are very few people who would wake up at 6:30 AM, on 3 hours of sleep, just to make sure that you get to the bus station on time.  Thanks to Sabrina for that one.




Here's another funny airport story for you.  As I'm sitting at the gate, waiting for the plane to Jordan to board, Lisa Coale, a Middlebury girl on the program and in my Arabic class this past fall just happens to walk up - we ended up being 4 rows apart on the same flight.  Then, in the Amman airport, we met another girl (Lily) who was on the flight with us and is doing the same program.  And then the craziness begins.

So, through a long series of connections, I met an extremely nice Jordanian girl who goes to Bryn Mawr named Zaha.  Her family lives about 30km from Amman, and she volunteered her brother to pick me up from the airport.  Jordanians are well known for their hospitality, and I now know why.  Lily, Lisa, and I found Laith (bonus points for unintentional alliteration, "Laith" is Arabic for "lion") at the exit terminal, with a friend Rasha.  Five was to many for a cab, and through a strange series of events, Laith's car had busted both a tire and the spare tire.  We tried various methods of getting away from the airport (trying to board a military-only bus didn't go so well), and eventually Lily and Lisa headed off for their apartments together (I think they live fairly close to each other), while I took off with Laith and Rasha in a cab, searching for an open mechanic who could repair Laith's wheel.

It took a while but we found one, and he then drove us back to Laith's car.  From there we three headed into Amman in search of some falafel, and boy was I happy when we found some.  I've waited a while for authentic falafel - the stuff they call falafel in the US just isn't up to snuff.  I was taught how you're supposed to eat hummus and pita like a Jordanian, which was good!  From there we dropped Rasha off at her car and then headed to Laith's family's home in the city of Salt.  The family was extremely kind to me.  They fed me more food and let me take a shower, which may have been the most refreshing of my life.  It's now 2:15 AM local, and I should probably go to bed because tomorrow (later today?) I move in with my host family.

That's all for now, see you next time.

Stay classy San Diego.