Chicken and Rice and Everything Nice!

Hello Friends, Family, and anyone else reading this blog!

 I cannot believe that I have already been here for a month! Time has begun to really fly, and I am loving Jordan. Since I have now been here for quite a while, I have gotten used to the different customs and traditions here and I feel (and fear) that I have been somewhat misrepresenting my current school. Even though everything that I have said is entirely true, I have not been quite fair in sharing all of the the mumtaz (excellent) things that have been going on over here! I have even developed a soft spot in my heart for the differences in discipline and uniform :)

 Last week I had my first hip-hop class which was actually really fun! When I got to the dance studio, they were already practicing and everyone looked really professional and into it. For that reason, I thought to myself, "oh gosh, what on earth did I get myself into..."
But no worries, all of the girls are super nice and jokey, and the instructor is really cool! He has his own dance group which is going to audition for the Arab version of Britain's got Talent, or The X Factor. We are currently working on a routine that is really fun and can go with many different songs and beats.

Golf is challenging, although my shots are getting longer by the week! My french is also being improved and tested since the golf instructor only speaks French and Arabic! That makes it really fun - and I have learned many new vocabulary words.

 Just like at Castilleja, King's has regular assemblies and speakers. Alansbo3 Almaddee (last week) the actor, Rob Campbell came and spoke to us about how he became a full time actor and talked about some of his favorite roles that he has played. This was particularly  interesting for the kids who are in the school play because this year they are putting on 'The Crucible,' and Mr. Campbell has been in that play before.

My classes are getting more and more interesting now that the review part of the year is finished, and today I had 2 tests and an oral french presentation that took up the entire class period! (Casti style :))
Arabic is actually going really well also! I now know 8 letters, and many conversational things. My teacher is pretty awesome and he teaches us really useful phrases.

Even the lunches seem to be improving! Today we had this AMAZING cupcake thingie... oh my gosh, it was so delicious! I am also becoming obsessed with the laban (yogurt) here as well as these wonderful pita sandwiches that everybody makes. What you do is you take a pita, put some sliced meat and some cheese inside it, and then put it in the Panini maker. Oh my goodness, it is so unbelievably good! All of you must try it immediately!

 The people here, both at King's and throughout Jordan have been so friendly and welcoming, that I am really starting to feel at home. Assdiqaee (my friends - basically everyone at King's) are just super nice, and they even humor me by letting me try out using (and typically pronouncing horribly wrong) Arabic words, as well as riding around on a scooter that one of my friends bought! Btw, I am so getting one next weekend! Although the weekends are rather empty, this weekend I did some community service and volunteered at Rwwad, a education center in downtown Amman.  I helped an 8th grade boy with his English homework, and it really gave me a new sense of how difficult English is, and how lucky I am to be a native speaker! There was also a class of adults who were learning English as a second language so we sat in on part of their class, which was interesting since they were learning some things (although they were much more advanced) that I am currently learning in Arabic. Some of the Arabic speaking kids who went also read Arabic books to the younger kids and helped them with reading skills. It was a really amazing experience and I will certainly be going back later on in the term!

I am sorry that I have not been writing very frequently, but I will try and up the number of blogs that I write per week. I have just been busy with activities and hanging out with friends, and I have neglected my blogging duties :) I miss all of you and I will try to write again soon!

Kat