Tuesday, May 25, 2010

oh arabic. you never stop making me laugh.

so todays "hafle" or party was a success. people came, ate, socialized and left. lots of fun. my favorite part though would probably have to be my language mishap. this is HILARIOUS.

get this, so this guy who i had never met was going to first come by our house to see where it is so that he could go pick up his family then bring them back here. So when i went to arrange where to meet him, "drive to dahleeah circle, uturn, i'll meet you at the regency hotel" he agreed. So Josh and I headed out there together to get this guy. Anyhow, he was like, so i recognize you, what are you wearing? now this is a natural question for someone to ask who has never met. but because i was giving him directions i didn't at first really understand. plus he had cars in the background and was speaking 90 to nothin' in a heavy palestinian accent! so i was like...um, i don't know if i understand, but ...now heres the funny part...i said in arabic, "whatever you'd like!"

bahahahhahahahahahha.

"what will you be wearing?"
"well, sir, whatever you'd like"


oh the joys of arabic.

don't worry. i quickly realized what i'd said and after many apologies and laughter i explained to him I hadn't understood and that I was wearing black and green. hahahah.

Monday, May 24, 2010

happy independence day jordan!

So, last Friday we were invited to share a meal with a family. Friday is the holy day here. It is also family day. So it’s normally a grand event to be invited on this day because you are meeting EVERYONE and you don’t stop eating.
So after we met everyone, Aunts, Uncles, grandkids, cousins, etc we watched about an hour of a car parade. That was fun. Apparently, my friend was riding in the white van. Good to know.
Secondly, we invited them to come to our house. So turns out tomorrow, we’ll be hosting roughly 15 Palestinians who don’t know any English in our home and we’re pretty darn excited about it! This family is great. Granted it will probably be hilarious considering the following that has already taken place: below is a guide to how to plan an Arab party.

1. Make sure you order SIX pizzas and ask for NOORMAN. He’s legit. He drove all the way out to our house today just to deliver us a menu. Gotta love Noorman.

2. Be sure you can speak Arabic. When communicating to a family member…I’m still not sure who he said he was or how he was related, be sure you do not agree to anything you don’t understand. For example, he called me at 10 o’clock tonight and said “I’m almost at your house!” dude. No. it’s night. We’re busy. Plus we’re girls. Not okay. See you tomorrow.

3. make sure you pick up your phone the first time they call. If you ever try to screen then you can expect 15-20 calls in the span of 5 minutes until you give in.

4. make sure arabs like pizza. We’ll find out tomorrow.

5. Make sure that you look on the calendar before inviting a massive amount of people over. Tomorrow, it so happens, is Jordan’s Independence Day. So that’s exciting. Go Jordan! Eat your American pizza now!

6. more to come as the party unfolds tomorrow

Thursday, May 6, 2010

questions

so yesterday while i was in a taxi, we hit another car. fun times. i was okay. my roommate and i laughed about it when i got home because the taxi hit a parked car that had people in it. haha. everyone was fine...

here are a few questions i've decided to ask God when I get to heaven:

1. how many men above the age of 18 do NOT have a mustache in Jordan? I'd guess about 4%. This could be FACT.

2. how many people ate last year's thanksgiving meal with just one tooth? (this one is actually a question my roommate wants to know).

3. how many feral cats are roaming my neighborhood on in average daily basis?

if you know the answers to any of these, i won't have to wait til heaven. :)

Sunday, May 2, 2010

BellyDance Lessons

What a crazy and overall great week!

I was able to go to the camp twice to visit friends! I played dress up most of the time in their burqa's, attempted to belly dance...i'm terrible at it p.s....and ate LOTS of food and held adorable little new Arab babies!

On top of that, last night a bunch of friends and I went out to eat at this place where you can dress up like Bedouins. There was also a wedding going on with some pretty fancy decorations, dangerous fireworks (not surprising), and of course Lebanese PROFESSIONAL belly dancers. Over all, a great night.


Yes, the above picture is Andrew, Mimi, myself, and my roommate..who yes, does have a mustache.



This is how I try to convice my friends that i really can't belly dance..seriously.



Supha and her neice!!!! I love this girl so so so so much!


Playing dressup with Supha's mom's clothes. hah



Who doesn't love a pair of good, stuffed, sheep?


Labenese Belly Dancers and their fear of fireworks...


Sweet Micah and his gun!