Starting to reflect as I reach the end

Syria didn’t happen, again, but hopefully Dana tomorrow.

Fridays in Amman are usually pretty quiet. Even more so when it is the first World Cup game. Everyone at is at home, coffee shops or in bars, glued to the TVs. I wanted to rent a car tonight, but I can’t go until 9 because everyone is out watching the game. I spent most of the day recovering from last night. I don’t know why I felt so ill. I didn’t drink that much. But luckily I didn’t puke in the fast, little red car with the Iranian-Jordanian driver. Good thing I have one more Friday next week…

• I completed the 108 required hours for my internship! And I will be working most of next week at the World Congress of Middle Eastern Studies. My boss was proud of the work I completed. It feels good….

• Zarqawi is dead. I wasn’t planning on going to Zarqa today, since I went twice last week. But now I am extra glad it was already out of my system.

• I really like the way weddings are done in this country. Bag pipes are a necessity for any wedding, and I like the walking in clapping and dancing with friends and families. Caravaning to and from the ceremony is also a nice tradition in this part of the world. Cars and mini busses packed with friends and family, driving around and beeping. It’s nice, except when I am walking down the street and they get stuck in traffic and keep beeping.

• I like living in my neighborhood. I will miss it. Everything is right there. People drive around and sell gas from trucks, playing special music. Once or twice a week there is a man that sells fruit and veggies from the back of his truck, and he drives around announcing various special prices, before parking nearby. I recently learned that there is a “junk man” who collects random appliances and old furniture. Since I have been home at strange hours now that school is out, I discovered a new sound in the afternoons: s a man with a harmonica who sells packages of tissues. Not tiny travel-public bathroom packs, but family packs you keep in the living room. I haven’t noticed anyone buying them, but they certainly notice is annoying loud chords.