Living Each Day

Happy Friday! Here, the weekends are on Fridays and Saturdays, so we had the day off from classes and it was blissfully blissful. We slept in until a whopping 10:30am (although apparently everyone else slept until 3pm and we really missed out) and travelled down to the gym, extremely excited to swim in the pool... Only to get there to find locked doors. Thus, we dragged our sweating selves (it was VERY hot out so no worries, the calories you were all concerned about were well lost within our 10 minute walk) back to our dorms and ate fruit, finished our homework for the weekend and napped. Oh! And we fixed our toilet (which hasn't been flushing properly) after an extremely interesting endeavor to unclog it using water bottles and spoons as chopstick tools. We are nothing but resourceful up here on the top floor. Around five, we all met back up to go into the city for dinner. Again, we stopped at B-12 just for drinks and some chill-out/happy, fun time. I had Guava juice. It was wonderfully amazing. After enjoying our fruity deliciousness, we followed Zach (who was a part of last year's trip and is our expert guide) to a Yemeni restaurant where we bumped into about the 1,000th person in Jordan who remembers Zach and loves him dearly. He was our waiter and was as kind as they come. We got to sit barefooted on a beautiful rugged floor lined with pillows. Cultural in many countries, I really loved experiencing this tradition. If you don't know me...I have this weird love for floors. Oftentimes at home, I sleep better on the floor than in my own bed. Also, being barefoot is probably one of my favorite things. Feels so right. Anyway! The food was absolutely perfect. We had soup, salad and rice with lamb. It was magnificent. I'm going to run out of proper descriptive words for the food here much too soon. I can honestly say that as I counted down to Jordan in these past few months, being able to live on a Middle Eastern diet was pretty high up there on the list of things I was vividly dreaming about. Nothing has disappointed, let me tell you. It was also an incredible amount of fun to talk and laugh and take pictures of us all talking...and laughing. My vocabulary dwindles with lack of sleep, it's fine. 

After filling our stomachs with food that defines perfection, we did some exploring on the streets of Irbid, all of us denying our hearts and saying no to the occasional child and elderly beggars that grace the sidewalks. Personally, I just don't look at them. Waed and Muhammad have told us that most of them are attempting to scam us in order to get money. Americans are particularly vulnerable. However, I have such a love for children AND the elderly that I should really just leave or something. Most of me doesn't care if I'm being scammed...I just want to give them my money and all of my possessions...and a hug. If they'll smile. The sarcastic part of me (approximately 75% of what Vanessa is made of) wants to turn to them and beg back...because that sarcastic portion of my being finds it quite ironic that they think I have money to give. Guys, asif from the bottom of my qalb, but I don't. *Giggles at own joke* (Don't judge me, I'm exhausted) Eventually, we ended up going to the Donuts Factory, an imitation of Dunkin Donuts, only with better options. I had a scoop of expresso ice cream and it was just wondrous. We then returned to B-12 and half of us left from there to catch our bus...the other half stayed and got a taxi; we didn't just abandon the rest of our group after voting them off the island or anything, promise. The bus drive took almost an hour because of traffic, but we had some stimulating conversation and made waving friends with the small child in the car next to us. It was great, actually. To wrap up the night and what feels like an insanely long/rambly blog (my apologies) we went over to Waed and Muhammad's apartment (mostly for our own happy benefit, but partly to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Muhammed!) Hooray, mini celebration! It was of course moomtaztic and now we are here. :)

A word (paragraph) about life: In general, these days in Jordan have been absolutely the most gratifying experience I have ever been graced with. In the beginning, I felt that this opportunity was critical to my knowledge and well-being. From the first mentioning of a potential trip to Jordan in September of 2012, I wanted this chance to see the world I was and am so in love with. I did not care at all about the challenges, academic and monetary. I did not listen to the people who said I was foolish for envisioning such a privileged experience for myself. And somehow, I have ended up here with the most intelligent and influential people you could dare to find. While I knew how incredible this time would be, I didn't expect it to be the little things...or the little moments of complete happiness that happen so often in a single day, that would make me feel so well-fitted. It's being a part of a life that wasn't once mine and now simply is. I so often say that I like to be a part of other's stories...However, I never really consider my own. And Jordan has certainly been etched into mine in a way that will be a part of all future words and chapters. Life is cruel, but damn. The good times are good. I just thought I'd attempt to express how real every moment here is and how happy it makes me feel that I get to have this time spent in absolute fulfillment. Perhaps I will be able to eventually accomplish my ultimate desire to work in the medical field in the Middle East. Perhaps not. I have no idea what is going to happen, but I am absolutely, purely...living each day. :) Assalamu Alaykum.