My take on Jordan..

It is still March 12th in Canada! I have two more hours to publish this post! It is March break and I have been busy with the kids :)

Hmmm what to say, what to say! I have not read any other blogs today so I will not copy cat anyone.

Before 1998 Jordan was just a random country to me, I had never set foot in Jordan...Ok this is a lie I did spend a night in Amman when we too our first flight to Canada 20 something years ago! But it doesn’t count.

I married hubby, half of his family is in Jordan so naturally it became our yearly vacation spot, along with Syria.

On my first visit to Amman I fell in love with it! I did not know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised that it had lots of stores and brands I was used to, not as much as it does now! But after spending few weeks in Syria Amman was like Toronto! I loved how you can go to places and feel like you are in a western country, and go to other places and feel like you are in a different exotic world AKA downtown Amman, I love downtown Amman, it is a fun adventure!
I loved the Aqaba, it was very quite and serene! I loved the Dead Sea, Wadi rum, and all the historical places we got to visit in Jordan, I still have not been to Petra though!! (Annoying hubby! (*&^&%$#@QW$%R%&*))

In Jordan I felt that I belonged! Being a Palestinian in Lebanon was hell! In Jordan I was not any different from the rest, everyone talks the same way I do, and our family is called by our name, not the falastiniyi! *&^^%%$$! It felt more like home than anywhere else I lived in!

I enjoyed living in Jordan! The six months I got to live there were unforgettable! I loved every minute of it, except when I was crossing the streets and waiting for a taxi!

I will leave you with pictures of some of my favourite times in Amman. I have more pictures of our trips to 3ajloon and um qais I would like to share but they are on my other computer...I will leave them for the next blog for Jordan day! Enjoy...:)

Having lunch with friends at Macdonald's

At Dreampark

The Farm...so peaceful! Except for the dogs barking...!

At the Farm feeding the goats

Riding the horse in the Aqaba

At the Aqaba

Party at Wadi Rum

Cookie party! My yummy cookies!

snow in Amman

Dancing at the deadsea

Friday prayers, I loved the mosque in front of our house

Eid prayer..my baby is praying with them

some blah blah

Finally Eid is over and the kids are back at school. I hated Ramadan school hours...now we are back to normal...More mommy time for me...yippy!

Yesterday we spent the day at the Marriott at the Dead Sea. It was so much fun. I could not swim but I got a message and got to sit around sipping on a pina colada and enjoying myself. Of course we got there too late so we could not get a tan. O well!!

We stayed there until 12 am...there was a dancer and it was fun...Zozo drove the dancer crazy last year, he was following her all over the place while she was dancing and during her break. This year he was better he only danced with her few times...so cute!

It is annoying how everyone here is so into everything foreign. Everyone brags about their kids going to American, British and other foreign named school...what is up with that? Some people I have spoken with brag that their kids live in Jordan and Egypt and do not speak any Arabic. I do not see anything good about this...why are we so impressed with everything foreign.
At many stores you find all sorts of books and toys that teach English hard to find Arabic ones. I looked all over the place for a work book that has Arabic letters you trace, but I did not find any. I wanted to buy Arabic DVD’s for the kids, but there are so few.

I hope and pray that leapfrog makes Arabic cartridges for the leapster game; I wish I wish I wish!

Everyone frowns upon us for putting Zozo in an Arabic school. They may be right since he is having some issues, but the school is great. When they dealt with some of Ziad’s behavioural and academicals issues they dealt with them as good as they would have in Canada. The whole school is involved and working as a team to help him overcome the problems he is facing...I am very impressed! I did not expect this from a school in Jordan. I actually heard lots of bad stories about schools neglecting children and causing them to hate school.

Ok I know the last paragraphs have nothing to do with what my post started out like. But since this was the main topic we were discussing while argeeling and drinking bad American coffee last night at the Dead Sea, I thought I’d throw that in there.

Eid Mubarak

Eid mubarak!!!

Yippy Ramadan is over...I love it when it is 29 days instead of 30....we all sat near the TV with the windows open last to hear if it is Eid or one more day of fasting...we had a jumping up and down party when they announced Eid ...I love Ramadan...but it gets to me near the end. The waking up early for suhor (hubby not me) and the dehydration and all...

Anyways...I just wanted to shout a quick happy Eid...Eid Mubarak to everyone who reads my blog!

We bought the kids dishdashes and white hats to wear in the morning...it was different and they loved them!! Hubby and Zozo went to Eid prayers....I wanted to go but got lazy....the masjid is right across the street so I could see them praying. The prayer was done right in the middle of the street...cool eh?

I have so much to post about...Ok not so much just two things...but I am so busy with hubby and all...and yippy I got Vonage to work, so now I can call Canada and my newly found best friend (I will be posting about this soon) in the US as much as I want...Without breaking the bank.

So much for a short post!

sho badik?

Isn’t it enough that I see them on the streets wherever I go...They are taking away my precious change that I need for taxis. Now they are bothering me at home!! Nothing be3abi 3eenhom! You think I will give them 1JD and they will 7elon 3ani! Nope! Bel3aks they betma3oo feeni aktar! From now on I will not give any beggar more than 5 or 10 kroosh! No more Ms generous! I have had enough of them!!

Today I was sitting peacefully sipping on a cup of coffee! Ok yeh I am not fasting because I did not sleep all night due to my baby being sick. At 9am my head was pounding like crazy so I decided I will break my fast and give someone poor 1JD. Someone knocked on the door. I opened the door thinking it is my mother in law or my sister in law’s maid. Oops it was a woman holding a paper saying that someone in her family is in the hospital and needing surgery or whatever! So I gave her 1JD. She made me feel bad about how bad his case is...ok I did not believe her but I did want to give a maskeen money because of my broken fast. Then she asked me if I have any clothes I do not need. I did actually have some clothes my kids have outgrown so I collected them and gave her a bag full of clothes. She talked and blah blah blah...I ended up giving her another dinar. So that is 3JD in less than five minutes plus a bag full of clothes from old navy, Gymboree and children’s place. These clothes are worth at least $150 all almost new bought from Canada few months ago. But nooo it is not enough...She wanted to read my palm and take the 7elwan. Three other women came up...to tell you the truth I got scared at the point... She asked me to get a thread... to break a si7r or whatever...she did say some accurate things when she read my palm so I was shocked about that...but then again “kathab elmonajemoon walaw sadako”..I went in closed the door and called the 7ares to come kick them out. I am never opening the door for these people... Allah gave us plenty Alhamdulillah and I would love to give to the needy...but someone who is really in need does not do this...ya3ni 3an jad uuf!

This is my third post venting about this...I really did not expect it to be this bad here. So tell me when someone stops you on the street or comes to your home, how much do you give them??

I am not used to giving less than $1...because in Canada $1 does not buy much. But here 1JD can buy few things. I mean I feel silly giving someone 25 kirsch...But then again a taxi driver gets about that much for a good distance...so it should be more than enough for beggars eh?

so far , so not good...(warning complaining ahead...enter at own risk)

So Ramadan in an Arabic country is not really that different than it is back at home!! This is my conclusion so far! I have had iftar by myself almost everyday. It does not feel so ramdani...the only thing that reminds me that it is Ramadan is the amount of cars parked in front of the masjid. So I guess more people pray at the masjid in Ramadan.

But really this is not any different than Ramadan in Canada. Since I got married Ramadan started being different; especially because the first few years of our marriage my husband did not fast.

When I was living at home with my parents Ramadan had a different feel...I guess it does not matter where you are. It is the people around you that make it special. My parents had people over in Ramadan at least 3 times a week. And we were invited to people’s house at least 2 times a week. And on days we did eat alone, it was the six of us; so really it did not feel lonely at all.

Even after getting married we still had iftar with my family and friends few times a week. On Saturday we used to rent a hall with seven or ten other families and we each brought one dish and we ate iftar together. Those were fun iftars...the men went for tarawe7 prayers after eating while us ladies sat around chatted and munched on yummy Arabic sweets!!

In Canada during Ramadan I can wear whatever I want without hearing idiots telling me how I should and should not dress...if I am not fasting for any reason I can still eat wherever I want. If I am at the mall and get thirsty I can buy a bottle of water and drink it without anyone looking at me and estagfering Allah.

I really thought it would be different here...but it is not! Maybe if hubby was here we would be invited to places and do more things after iftar...but I don’t know...so far so not good! So tell me, what is so special about Ramadan here?? Am I missing something?? And btw the atayef here! Yuck! My mom makes them a million and ten times better!

some blah blah , and blogger meeting

Five days down ....25 more to go...or maybe 24??

Now that I am used to fasting it is actually ok and maybe just maybe I will be able to lose some weight...I am not asking for much just five pounds to start me off and after Ramadan I will join a gym inshallah and lose those annoying 10lb once and for all...yes I know I have been talking about those 10lb since I started blogging...yes I have not lost them...stop shaking your head...I lost my will power , it is those stupid chocolate and mansafs and the no gym thing..Although I did go for a walk in the morning once since I came to Amman! But then Ramadan came! I can stop blaming Tim Horton’s on my lack of weight loss..Mmmm speaking of Timmy’s I can defiantly use a nice medium double double and a nice whole-wheat bagel with cream cheese! Ok ok...stop thinking of food; it is only 7:30 am...bas 3an jad I can definitely use a cup of coffee just about now!

The reason I came to blog this morning so I can tell you guys about meeting some bloggers last night. It is always fun to meet bloggers! This is another reason I like it here! There are few other people I would love to meet here.

So last night sweet Kinzi picked me up after the kids went to sleep...ok my curious Zozo got up to see who rang the bell. We sat and chit chatted until he fell asleep! May I say again how much I hate fire works!

We went to Salam’s house, which is gorgeous btw and looks like a picture in a magazine...good job Salam! We found mama bean already there, it is always nice to see mama bean she is a sweetie! A bit later Hayat came; she is super cute and funny! We talked, ate yummy cheesecake and chocolate cake...and had American coffee, which I have been missing! Note to self...buy a coffee maker...Thank you Salam, everything was delicious and it was fun meeting you all...

It was a fun night! I like blogger meetings! When we were leaving Kinzi, mama bean and I went into the elevator. We started complaining about how slow the elevator is! Five minutes (ok maybe less) later we realized that we forgot to press the button to go down...OOPS!

Mr. El3atal was waiting for mama bean downstairs so I got to put a face to the blog! He looks exactly like the picture on his blog...he did not know me since he does not read my blog, but I always read his so it was nice for me to put a face to the blog writer.

Eggs

I wonder how long it will take my kids to get sick of eggs... if I see one more egg I am going to jump off the balcony....ok maybe not..but sheesh!

I made yummy pasta, which they love, they had a bit and then they wanted to eat beeda...

I made batata and beed... (Potatoes and eggs) ...they each had one bite and they asked for plain beeda..

I made spicy rice with meat today and it was delish, but after eating just a bit, they asked me to make them beeda...

I do not know why I galeb 7ali! They want eggs for breakfast, lunch and dinner. So from now on, I will not cook anything except for eggs! In a bit my kids will turn in chickens!

The other thing they can not have enough of, is labnah

I so love having the 7ares around. When we are out of eggs and labnah, I call him and he goes to buy us more. And today I found out that the store close by delivers, how cool is that! A girl could get used to this, what am I going to do when I go back to Canada? Hubby complains whenever I call him from work to buy me things, and the grocery store is on his way home, ya3ni what is the big deal??

Speaking of my kids, Ziad is starting to speak some Arabic. He sounds so cute saying them. Now when he wants juice he says ana badi ashrab aseer...

grrrrrrrrrrr...............

Sometimes it is unbelievable what happens in Jordan and other Arabic countries. People are worth nothing. Unless you have a name or are related to someone with big shot name you will not get a just and fair treatment. Look at what happened to a fellow blogger dear who-sane’s dad. You can read the unbelievable account of what his father had to go through here if you have not already. I am in shock and feel horrible for who-sane and his family and mostly I feel horrible for what his dad had to suffer on the hands of sick, pathetic, heartless humans that call themselves nurses and doctors. I thought that was the noblest field one can get into! I pray that abu who-sane recovers and that Allah punishes those heartless scumbags soon... I do not believe that in the whole hospital there was not one decent person that owns a heart!!

I pray that no one else ever has to deal with them and be treated like this..no one, no one deserves such treatment! I would love to ring these nurses' and doctors', and especially that lazy receptionist's worthless necks...

Guess what...guess what...

Today I got to meet the famous Kinzi and Mamabean...:o)

They came over and it was very nice meeting them...:o)

unfortunatly they could not stay long:o( but still it was nice to sit with them and chat without the computer and the net in the middle...

and Kinzi thank you so much for the frames..they are adorable!!

why??

I do not get some guys in Jordan and the middle east in general...

Why would a young man stop a woman(cute none the less :p) wearing wedding rings, with two kids who he has already inquired about and found out they are her own kids,then ask for her phone number???

I just do not get it!! Really it makes no sense at all! Does it??

internet providers...

I need to get an interent connection to my place...right now I am "borrowing" my sister in law's wireless internet ...but it is so annoying..it disconnects alot. I need to get get broadband connection here so I can set up vonage...when we get the stupid device...but this is a vent all on it's own...annoying people!

It really sucks not having a yellow pages directory...when I go back home remind me to kiss that little book...I never knew how useful having it is...ok I did know how usueful it is , but I took it for granted! well not anymore! and that canada411.ca, it rocks! So how do people in amman find services? I know we look at the newspaper..but man that takes forever..and you may not find an ad you need...or is there a directory for Amman that I have not discovered ye?

Ok so back to the internet connection thing...who is your internet provider...are they good...does the server go down at all? how do I sign up? and how long does it take to set it up?

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that there are not many birds in Amman? At home when I’m up early I hear a lot of bird songs, churb churb...This morning I was up since 6:15 am and we were downstairs waiting for my youngest son’s bus where there are few trees at the entrance and did not run into any birds not even one churb...where are the birds?

Also there are no flies!!!! Or beetles...I have forgotten the screen door open all day and not even one fly came inside and no beetles and other nasties dropped in like they would in Canada! Now I like that! But I’m so jinxing myself, I’ll bet as soon I publish this I’ll find a fly! But I do have lots and lots of ants! They are so annoying! But I guess they are less annoying that flies and other bugs...So I’ll take ants over others bugs any day.

In other news...I took the kids to dream park? in Amman mall this weekend...they had a blast. I promised I’ll take them every Friday if we are not going to a farm or something else with my sister in law. I love the streets on Fridays! The streets were not too busy and we were able to walk to the mall without any stress. Of course Bilal got tired, but it was ok. He was good and held my hand the whole time and did not do his annoying lay on the ground so mommy can not make me hold her hand bit.

We are so going to be screwed when our long distance bill comes. We are waiting for our Vonage device to come. We got 2 for my sister in law last year for her son so he can talk with his fiancé while he was living in Saudi while she was in Jordan in order to cut long distance calls, at the end it cost over 700JD and they did not used it!

So now one is in Saudi Arabia and one is here in Jordan. hubby's nephew's wife's family have the one in Jordan and they do not want to give it to us! I asked his wife for it and she did not bring it, even though she is in the building visiting the neighbours everyday. We have deactivated it last year so the device is useless to them, but she won’t give it to me...I do not get some people!! So now we are waiting for the one in Saudi Arabia. Hopefully she will send it soon.

When we get it we can talk as much as we can. We get unlimited calls for $40 month so we will be able to talk to hours. Right now we are being dingy and making our phone conversations quick and to the point, and still talking for 40-60min a day. I hope the device would get here ASAP! I will need to get a land line and a good DSL connection.

what I do not love about Amman

Ok so the list may be a tad long...but it is things I can get used to eventually because I am really liking it here...

The sidewalks!! Remember that sidewalk on that I complained about the other day..The narrowest sidewalk in the world with a pole in the middle..Well yesterday I noticed that there are plants sticking out from the house attached to it, making it even harder to walk on!! I wanted to rip those darned flowers and plants off!

The no hot water all day long thing...I do not like washing my face with cold water in the morning. And I can not just jump in the shower, I have to turn the buttons on and wait for 30min...although I do remember how it was even worse in Lebanon 20 some years ago...we had to go get wood from the store across the hmmm a tiny teeny hill and my dad would start the fire to heat the water for showers...OMG now that was horrible..

The no water pressure! Showers are not fun here...my poor hair! My kids can not take a bath here; it would take a year to fill the bathtub to a decent amount of water.

Waiting for a taxi! I hate just standing there waiting for one. Although Ziad loves it! He loves calling for a taxi!:)

The steps on the sidewalks...

The ants in my apartment! I even found one on my bed yesterday!

The constant stares from guys...sometimes I get the urge to get out my mirror and check if I have grown another head...but so far no one has been rude so I guess it is not too bad.

The tiny washing machines, how the heck am I supposed to wash our bed spreads? Even the twin ones are too huge for the washing machine...

No Tim Horton’s coffee...where the heck is there a place that sells American coffee around here? I am dying for a cup!

How school starts so early! The bus picks Ziad up at 6:30-6:50 and they start at 7:30. Gosh I can not wait until Friday so I can sleep in! In Canada they started at 8:55, now that is more like it *yawn*

Walmart! I do not care about the blah blah blah around it...I love going in there and finding everything I need and do not need for the house and the kids.

How people just drop by without calling first...

Ok that is it for now...

I just remembered one more thing I like about Amman...

The kid’s school bus stops at the building door, in Canada there was a meeting place so all the kids in the neighbourhood would gather there. It was such a hassle to wait for Ziad’s bus especially crossing the icy side street with Bolbol in his heavy snow suit and boots to get there...it was not far but it was such a hassle. I was so happy when he switched to morning class and started coming home in a taxi that stopped downstairs and the driver buzzed me.

wow! what a rip off!

Seriously it is so sad how you have to keep your eyes and ears open all the times! Today we decided to take a walk and buy some bread from the gardens..It wall went well...I took bilal sans stroller, and he was not too bad. We crossed the streets without many problems yippy!
After buying bread on the way back we passed the DVD store, we went in to look for an Arabic DVD for the kids; we found bug life and went to pay for it. It was for 1.5JD. I got 1JD out then noticed that I do not have a ½ JD so I got a 5JD out on the table. The guy took the 5JD and put it in the register, and then he took the 1JD and asked if I have a ½ JD!! Holly crap, do I look that stupid??? It is a good thing I was carrying bolbol and not busy running after him so I noticed what he did! He looked like such a nice guy...tsk tsk and I’d say it was an honest mistake but it was so freaking obvious it is was not!

Other than that I enjoyed out walk and found a bakery with nice whole wheat bread that is not too thick!:)

O and today I registered bilal in preschool and I made a friend! She lives close by and her son is few days older than Bilal...she is about my age so I am happy.

O O O O O , while talking to the girl at the school, one of the teachers; I mentioned that I have another son that is 6yr. And she was surprised and asked how old I am. She thought I was 24/25. I love that girl!

Things I like about Amman-other blah blahs

The family get togethers....they are great...even when we are not invited out to dinner by one of hubby’s uncles and just sitting at one of his sisters’ places drinking coffee and argeeling it is still fun.

Maids! I do not have one yet, but I am using my sister in law’s maids as babysitters. So I have been able to go out kids free! Enjoying adult conversations, eating good foods and argeelah...I am also able to wear my sooo cute few inches too high shoes outings since I am not chasing after my kids.

Ziad is able to go play outside on his own without me standing on the side. All the neighbours are in a love/hate relation with him. He is a cutie and does the cutest things. But when he gets mad he is very loud. We are working on that.

The constant chaos all over! I am sick of the quietness we had in Saskatoon. Just like hubby says, when you look out the window you see meet 3ars in front of you.

Having neighbours pass you and drop the salaam, and coming over for juice (since I’m still nervous about the coffee thing)

How everything is open late and the street are so full even late at night.

The 7ares at the building. I just call him and he goes to buy me whatever. Ok so I have not been using him much. So far I only asked him to get me some manaeesh. But it is the fact that I know he is there if I ever need someone to go out and buy me something! I love it, love it, love it! Of course he ignores my phone call sometimes, so I just send him Zozo, and he does not take no or later for an answer!

Ok I had more, but I forgot them now. I’ll talk about something else.

Today zozo started school. He looked so cute in his school outfit. We were going to go with my sister in law. But we were out late the night before so she overslept. We took a taxi. It was a good thing. It was so busy by the school! She would not have been able to park. I decided to walk to a preschool I always see close to the school to register Bolbol after I dropped zozo up...but I lost my way and could not find it...but I found a taxi and he knew masjid elwefaq...phew! So I did not have to do too much explaining.

Zozo was done school at 10:00. So like an idiot I waited until 10:30 and went down to wait for him. Bolbol actually got sick of sitting outside. I am thankful we have a nice gated entrance! We waited until 11:40! Good thing we were outside because the bus almost missed our building but we waved and he came! We are supposed to wait for him from 6:30am tomorrow! KILL ME NOW!

On a happy note, my kids fell asleep at 8:35 and 9:00 today...I feel like I’m in a dream!
O, today we went to visit my mother in law in khalda...I am so proud of myself...I gave the driver good direction and it cost .600JD. After a while we left and took another taxi, and I think the guys ripped me off! It cost 1.100JD! But I gave him good directions. He just took the long way! Grrrrrrrrrrrrr......screw him!

I am missing Canadian coffee! I want a cup so bad. Yesterday we were at the inter continental having dinner, and you would think they would have Canadian/America/german whatever you want to call it coffee, but to my dismay they did not....I want Tim Hortons! But I’ll settle for anything! Waaaaahhhh...

I just fixed my space bar a minute ago! Yippy! This is why I have not been blogging much. Typing with a screwed up space bar is not easy! If you want to know what happened to my space bar, I will tell you. Just ask...ok ok you do not have to beg! Few days ago while I was doing my hair while my poor laptop was sitting on the bed behind me and bolbol being a tad too quite on the bed a crime happened! For some reason my three year old monster decided that it would be cool to take the laptop keyboard keys off! He had the B,/,[\, del and spacebar buttons out and working towards the rest! OMG my brand new laptop looked very sad! Thankfully I was able to put them back after figuring out how it works, but the spacebar was not easy! And I have been having a heck of a time typing in the past few days! But not I took it out and put back in and it works! I can push anywhere on it and it works not just in the center! Gosh I am just too smart and just did not know it!

One last thing, I am starting to hate, hate hate fireworks!

taking a stroll

Few weeks or maybe months ago MQabbani had a picture of a bus in Amman. The picture was of a handicapped spot on the bus. I honestly thought it was hilarious! And I said that on my comment to him. I got attacked by someone about how heartless and stupid I was to laugh about this, and how two handicapped people would not have been able to graduated from Amman university if it was not for being able go get around on a wheel chair blah blah blah.

Now I am all for people being able to having easy access regardless of their disabilities. Coming from Canada the sight of individuals young and old on a wheels chair is a normal sight. I admire them for beating their disability and living their life as normal. And I admire our government for making it a law to make easy access to those individuals. You will hardly ever see a public place without ramp. Side walks are wide and smooth without a tree or a pole standing in the middle. So really when I laughed at the picture I was not laughing about the handicapped spot. I was laughing because I can not see how a person in a wheelchair is able to get from his/her home to get to this nice spot made especially for them on the bus!

I dread taking my son out in his stroller. Just a day or so ago we went to C Town and decided that getting a taxi will not be easy..Especially when I gave him the address! I would have paid him triple the meter but I really did not want to wait and see.

So we decided to walk...there were no sidewalk so we walked on the street...then we wanted to cross the street...right in front of the place we are supposed to cross there are 2 broken poles so we have to get on the street a foot away from the crossing place..We crossed safely alhamdoullah...one lady AKA bitch did not stop and almost hit us sheesh! Well anyways we made it to the “sidewalk” on the gardens....we are happily walking then ooops we come upon the first set of stairs, no problem they are wide enough I can get the stroller over both steps..Then we resume happily walk again....but we come to another set of stairs...but this time there are three narrow steps....oy oy oy..How are we going to do it??! But wlad el7alal ktar and a guy helped me get the stroller up while an idiot who was there first didn’t move a muscle to help...screw him! Then we finally get to the crossing place..Yippy! You have to jump on the street and force cars to stop; you can stand there for a while if you do not force them to stop. It is a marked crossing area for Allah’s sake! So we cross both sides of the street safely but oops! There is the narrowest side walks I have ever seen.And to make it worse there is a freaking pole in the middle of it! Thankfully the street was not busy and we walked this small stretch on the street. On the side road leading from the gardens to our house we walked on the street because what do you know! The famous olive trees were in the middle of the sidewalk took up the whole sidewalk, but it was ok because it is not a busy street!

It was a huge ordeal! It was just a five minute walk! It was this hard on me with a small stroller! Imagine how much harder it would be for a person on a wheel chair...now I am sure those individuals that person was talking about got a ride to the university and did not take the bus!

a wedding in amman

Phew...the wedding is over! It was great, the bride was beautiful, the groom was sweet, the place was nice and more importantly I looked good! Ok not really, I felt so fat and was not crazy about my hair..But it is ok...my shoes were super cute and so high but not as uncomfortable as they looked!

On Thursday there was a henna party at the groom’s house in Irbid. It was cool actually. My exposure to Jordan has been to Amman elgharbeya. Here everyone is just too westernized; you might even forget you are in an Arabic country sometimes! It was nice to see real Jordanian traditions and very simple people living in a very simple house surrounded by fields. I totally loved it!

I hate how everyone always has to find something bad to say about other’s weddings. Don’t they know about karma, people will criticize their weddings even more? I saw how much work my sister in law and her daughter put into the wedding. Everything was perfect. The hotel was nice, the food was great, and the music was awesome! The only thing is that it is an outdoor wedding so we got cold, but really it is not their fault that it was a cold night, and you can not control the weather, and when dancing you really do not feel the cold at all. They had a shami 3aradah, which was very nice.

I would have had more fun if my kids were not so annoying! Ziad drove his cousin and her husband crazy. He wanted to dance with them, chit chat and blah blah. And then when I was so into dancing he goes off and comes back all wet because he decided to walk in the pool. OMG, I wanted to shoot him. His pants, shoes, socks and part of his shirt were soaked. His solution was to dry his pants with some of the paper towel in the bathroom. O that will take care of the problem. For the first time ever I wished for those air dryers in the bathroom. He got a big timeout on the sofa inside the hotel.

Some people just had to find something to criticize. And they talked none stop about an umbrella and a sword groom’s family were dancing with. They were colourfully decorated. They said it was old fashioned and made the wedding look backward, da’a ademeh. I thought was very interesting! I wanted to know what the umbrella represented but I was too embarrassed to ask the groom’s sisters. If anyone can shed some light on it, I’d appreciated it. When Arabs become too westernized that any eastern tradition is frowned upon, it gets to be very pathetic and sad. I`ve seen how much Canadians love to come to our wedding, and are very interested by anything eastern we do. I loved going to my friend`s Indian wedding because it was very very traditional without much western influence.

Arabic coffee

This is so embarrassing! I do not know how to make arabic coffee! It was ok in Canada, because everyone just drank Canadian coffee, but here it is a different story!

I have at least 5 sets of coffee cups in this apartment! My mother in law got me coffee. So I can not use the sorry I do not have Arabic coffee and cups excuse now!

I am too embarrassed to ask people how to do it! I guess just put water, boil it and put the coffee and some sugar...bas how much coffee? lets hope I do not get any visitors anytime soon!

Ok you can stop laughing now!!

Chilling in Amman

Chilling in Amman..
We are finally here in, beautiful Amman...where there is never any silence, day and night. I still do not get the honking thing! I see people honking, but there is no reason for it...I guess they are just too used to hitting the steering wheel...o well...I really do not mind it...I do not like silence. We live near the world’s loudest mosque! I love the sound of Athan, but the fajr athan. I wish they would lower the mics a bit!

Our flights were ok like I said...the most tiring was the short one from Abu Dhabi to Amman. I was ready to die, I did not care how gross my hair looked, how my makeup is not perfect, and all I wanted was to get home and sleeep! I kept on nodding off, but zozo, who slept most of the 6hrs in UAE, was wide away on the plane and kept on wanting to chit chat with me, uggh!
So finally we made it to Amman, the visa thing was easy, the guys were very friendly, the porter was very helpful, but he guilted me in paying him 5JD and $5. Hubby’s sisters, mother, brother and nephew met us there. But we missed them and my annoying phone would not work, so we stood on the side and waiting for few minutes, why does this always happen to us! Last year they were at the wrong terminal...they are very sweet, and very helpful!

The apartment is nice, and it has everything pretty much. A lot of storage! Something I hated about our place in Saskatoon! I actually had fun unpacking because the possibilities of where to put everything was endless! It is also very spacious and lots of light come in during the day!
I just had my first ooops! I wanted to give the kids a “bath”. They undressed and got into the bath top when I remembered that I had to turn the water heater on! To make it even worse, we do not have any solar (I think that is what it is called) so we have to get some tomorrow. The kids would not get out of the bathtub without some water, so I gave them the quickest cool “bath”...oops!

Now the kids are sleeping and it is only 12is? I guess I should go to bed too. We are going to checkout Zozo’s school tomorrow! Then to lunch at my mother in laws! O and I got a mobile...yippy! I’ve been feeling so horrible without a phone; my cell from Canada would not work here! Although it worked great in Abu Dhabi! O well..And I got the wireless internet from my sister in law’s home downstairs. So yeh now I have a phone and the internet, so people can call me or email me like a normal person:)

I am so tired, I unpacked everything today, it took forever! Last time I went to bed at 11:30 after 36 hr of no sleep. Annoying bolbol woke up at 2am and i had to stay up with him, finally at almost 6am he went to sleep and so did i. I was so tired i apparently missed my phone alarm which is the most annoying thing ever! At 11am I heard this bird, and I’m thinking there are no birds in my dream where is that bird sound coming from. It was the door bell. Hubby’s niece, who is a cutie, brought us manaeesh. I could not go back to sleep, even though I really wanted to. And now I am so tired, but I do not feel like sleeping...I will probably be out before I finish the few soorahs I read before falling asleep every night. O well!

Bye Bye Canada, Hello Amman

This is my last day in Canada…waaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh….I am going to miss driving, decent side walks, and o so much more!

Tomorrow at 10:20 am we will leave Toronto to Abu Dhabi, then from Abu Dhabi to Amman. A freaking 14hrs flight, then waiting at the airport for 6hr, and then I guess it is another 3hr flight to Amman. I am going to be dead. I hope the kids will be ok! I got them new DVD’s and Leapster games , lots of markers and colouring books, so that should keep them busy for few hours on the plane. We will meet my cousin in UAE so I am sure the six hr wait will go fast.

So next time I blog it will be from Amman inshallah! I hope I can get online quick! I will need high speed to set up Vonage so we can call Canada as much as we want without breaking the bank :) you now how much I blah blah blah, well actually it is hubby that talks too much on the phone…

I am all packed; my bags are actually not too heavy! One more bag makes a huge difference! I can even take my favourite cereal with me! Ok maybe not, but I do have plenty of room in my bags!

I am looking forward to meeting some of the bloggers in Amman! Yippy!