List in progress:

ya3teek el-3afiye
mashallah
na3iman
ya2burni
nowwarti
itfudl

-------(okay, well the next three can be translated but they lose the distinct Arabic flavor)
inshallah
3adi
yallah
y3ni

In Jordan, knowing someone in a high position elevated you. You were cool enough to be valued by someone awesome. But here. even in friendship you are competition. Somehow if your best friend is a paper tiger you think it makes you look bad, because you're always comparing yourself to what you could or should be instead of just being who you are ( Read more... )

sense of time in office ( Read more... )

"She's fine but we'd rather have you." This is what Mejdy was really saying on the inside. He probably said, more exactly, "She's good. No good. We want just you." I let myself straighten just a little taller. Teaching is not a competition. Teaching is...aw hell, call it like it is: I feel like I've won the popularity contest. "Where Julie?" ( Read more... )

I had a few of the Sudanese guys over for dinner - the ones that I teach here in the same area where I live. They are just such sweethearts. It's beyond my capabilities to explain how enthusastic they are about interactions, how ready their smiles are, or how I never know what to say even though they want to hear everything and anything ( Read more... )

“Why are you here?” people ask me incredulously, when I tell them I will start medical school next fall ( Read more... )

Although I use this more like a journal than a blog, (believe it or not) I actually have wonderful conversations on a daily basis that are just too good for me to be able to capture them here.  Honestly, I hate writing.  The problem is, I have a multitude of (I believe) useful observations about living here.  One lengthy conversation (which is an ( Read more... )

As I sit, listening to the flicker of the flames in the oven as they cook my giant, 22lb turkey, I'm so glad I took today off to cook :)

"The correlation between fuel prices and spooning is very high"  - my roomate Biff ( Read more... )

It's a very strange feeling to have a midnight-10am election watching party, get pumped by our president's speechmaking skills, and exit the building to the broad daylight of approaching noon.

And then we jubilously skipped and giggled a 15-min walk in serious-faced Amman, where I'm told on normal days that they know I'm American by how happy my ( Read more... )