out of range

It is very interesting when you live with a neo-con. No further questions about that, please. It's just interesting. Especially when that said neo-con is frightened of saying anything to offend anyone. He's not voting, though, so that's okay. Speaking of voting, I just ordered my absentee ballot yesterday, so I am bein a good Amerikan from abroadness.

It turns out that we cannot get internet in the apartment--at all. Two companies require a year contract as well as intense involvement from our landlord, and one does not cover our single block! It looks like I will have to be skyping in code to discuss issues such as Judaism or Israel. No privacy at that café, it's a shame. I might try to figure out how much the internet connected through my mobile costs, but it sounds slow and I might need to buy a new phone--at which point it would not be worth it to me. Today we went to every potential ISP in Amman, and none of them gave us a thumbs up.

However, on a good note, I accompanied Andrew on an adventure to find a needle and thread for his awesome grunge shirt that he wanted to fix up, and we ended up getting sent from store to store until we found what we needed. Who knew we had a shoemaker, a tailor, and a button/thread/needle store so close to our apartment? The woman in the last store was this old lady, very sweet, and spoke English really well with an adorable accent. I need to find a grandma here in Amman because I miss my grandmas too much! I call them at least once a week, but like I said, calling anyone from my Skype is like talking in a crowded café, in fact, it is talking in a crowded café.

Listening to the soundtrack from A Clockwork Orange, very nice! I should be doing some work, as I already have some. I will be meeting with the language coordinator tomorrow to discuss moving up to level 2 of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). If they are just working from we-know-the-alphabet-so-we-are-going-to-start-learning-real-Arabic, then I fit. If they are starting with more, then I don't. Just easy as pie!

So I was invited to go to Syria for Eid, which is after Ramadan. I don't think I'm going to go because I don't think that there is enough time to really feel it. I'd want to spend about 5 days in Syria, at least, just to not feel too rushed. Oh, by the way, for those of you who don't know my style of travel, I don't go with map or guidebook. I go and ask people where something I've heard of is located, wander, and get advice from other travelers. Plus, I don't want to see everything. Just enough. If I see everything, I've failed. It means I've rushed, squeezed, and did not really soak it in. Sure, if I've been there for a long period of time, I should see everything. But one or two days in a city, that's gotta have some downtime in it or it's not time well spent. Downtime on a bench in a park, sitting in a busy place and watching people pass and do their daily routine, not in a closed room.

I feel this post is long enough. Finalizing schedule/internship for the rest of the week, getting into my classes, and perhaps preparing my stuff for next semester so that I don't forget to do it later. Until next time,

--Ibrahim