Fun at the mall during Eid

We are currently on break from school during the Eid Al-Adha.  It shall be nine days of sleeping in, traveling to Petra and maybe the Dead Sea, and basically enjoying ourselves.  Today we ventured to the mall to be silly and window shop.  It seemed everyone else had the same idea too. 

Mel being silly trying on fluffy hats.  I just couldn't resist.

Rob posing next to the an Eid Al-Adha sheep. 

While turkeys are our Thanksgiving mascot, sheep are the mascot for Eid Al-Adha. 

Thanksgiving in the Middle East

Thursday, being Thanksgiving, we decided to go all out.  We invited two fellow students to attend our grand feast as well.  To start, they had Butterball turkeys!  Can you believe it?  Butterballs in the Middle East.  Who would have thought it?!?  Next on the list of must-haves...mashed potatoes.  This being easy, as potatoes are readily available.  I just had to seek out the butter and already had milk on hand.  Our other sides included but were not limited to corn, green beans, Arabic salad, and deviled eggs!  YUMMO! 

Pregame feast festivites began with making sure we had enough pots, plates, and serving dishes to cook the feast.  Turns out, we had to get creative on a few things or maybe wash something here or there, but we made it work.  I wasn't about to go out and buy something just for a dinner party. 

After defrosting the turkey in the fridge for the alotted 2 1/2 days, we woke up Thanksgiving day to a still frozen turkey.  No worries, this happened last year, so we made a water bath.  Note to self, just defrost the darn thing for 2 extra days just in case.  SIGH! 

 

Seasoning, buttering, and basting was next.  Then we wait. 

After much checking, basting, and preparation of the sides, it was done! 

Our guests provided fabulous deviled eggs made from scratch, Arabic salad, and red wine. 

The table set and it was time to chow down. 

After all was said and done, I was so thankful to be able to provide a filling meal to new friends and my wonderful husband.  It was so great to be able to have a little bit of home so far away.  We all overstuffed ourselves but were pleasantly happy afterwards.  I can't believe we had room for dessert afterwards, homemade banana bread with ice cream. 

I hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving day.  I for one am very thankful for my loving family and friends.  Gobble Gobble!!!

Surprise

The hubby said he was going out for water and returned with these. 

Such a wonderful surprise, I smiled from ear to ear all day long!  I am so blessed with such a thoughtful man.

Wild Jordan

This weekend we ventured out into Jebel Amman to find Wild Jordan.  An organic cafe with wonderful views of the city, we found it to be a breath of fresh air. 

 

I had the hummus sandwich, something totally Jordanian. 

Rob had the lean burger, so Rob.  I had to laugh. 

Three floors of amazing views.  We shall return again for some coffee or tea to just enjoy the ambiance.

Santa in Jordan

On our usual weekend trip to the grocery store located in the Mecca Mall, I turned to my right and saw Santa had arrived in Jordan!  I was so excited I almost did a dance. 

The lovely skiing Santa shown above was located outside of a shop filled with Christmas paraphernalia. I was in heaven! They had trees, ornaments, manger scenes, and just about anything Christmas like needed. How I love the holiday! Funny how even in Jordan they put out the decorations even before Thanksgiving is over.

Now I am off to the grocery to find my Butterball turkey for our Thanksgiving feast! Can you believe they actually have Butterball turkeys here?

Surprises - good and bad

So today was full of surprises; good, bad, and thankfully no ugly.  We shall start with the good and hopefully learn from the bad. 

Earlier today, we decided it was time to figure out how our propane gas canister attached to the stove knowing the time was probably near to have it replaced.  The only catch was the tools to figure this out were not included in our furnished apartment.  Go figure.  So Amin, our trusty friend, had taken Rob on a boys night out a week or two ago to get a wrench for this purpose.  But of course, not until today, did we realize the handles were too long to get it into the small cramped space to unhook the canister.  Alas, we needed something with small handles.  On our way to the small tool shop around the corner from our apartment, keep in mind, small meaning half the size of a one car garage, we found what we needed.  Since everyone has the same issue at one time or another, I am sure it is a popular tool.  Anyway, as we finished up our purchase, we got curious as to what other shops were in the same complex and bam, our first surprise.

We came upon the cutest coffee/tea shop ever!  And it is within walking distance of the house!  Once we ventured inside, we were ushered up to the "family area".  Keep in mind, the sexes are very segregated.  So if you were a group of women, a couple, or a family, you would be shown up to the "family area".  While the rowdy groups of men were kept in the main area to be...men.   The upstairs was cozy and even had playing cards at each table.  So Rob and I drank tea and played Go Fish.  It was great. 

Later that day we decided to explore the Jebel Webda area to look for apartments.  After walking around looking for posted for rent signs, we made a few calls, and have an appointment tomorrow to look at a place.  Another pleasant surprise. 

As it turned later and colder, we headed home for dinner.  I, for one, was starving and ready to cook our usual baked chicken with carrots, brown rice, and side salad.  This is when the bad surprise came...  As I prepared everything, loaded it into the stove, and set the timer, I noticed something was amiss.  The flames for the brown rice were not as high as usual.  Hmmmm, maybe I didn't turn it up enough, I thought to myself.  As I turned it from high to low, there was no change.  Strange...  Now my mind started going, crap, do we have a leak in our gas canister?  Did Rob unhook it and forget to hook it back up?  Surely the place won't catch on fire if that happened.  Surely...  Well it didn't thank goodness.  But it did seem we were out of gas.  (sigh)  Of course, this is the only time of the day when the canister truck isn't circling the neighborhood with it's ridiculous jingle blaring.   So now with a 1/5 cooked meal and a hungry husband on my hands, I had to think fast...Arax.  This being Rob's favorite sandwich shop in Amman, I knew he would go for dinner out.  Well, he didn't really have much choice given the circumstances but we made it work. 

At least it was two good surprises out of three.  Hopefully tomorrow we will go three for three. 

Sidewalks

Watch out for that...bolt! What? A bolt? Oh yes, indeed. I ask myself, why would there be a set of four bolts sticking up in the sidewalk between the school and our bus station... Unfortunately, this I cannot answer.

Exhibit A

Rob and I continuously laugh to ourselves at the oddities we find here. Oh, and they have sawed off poles too. I guess there was maybe a pole there for one reason or another and they decided it wasn't needed. Maybe a yield to pedestrians sign and since no one followed it, they just took it out?

Exhibit B and C

I feel bad for anyone that is on the phone, texting, or just not paying attention when walking here. Falling down could result in not only some bad scrapes but also a really big tetanus shot.

Cup and a cake

This weekend I was craving something from home...something sweet, warm, and had good memories attached.  Cupcakes came to mind.  The only catch was, I didn't have a cupcake tin.  Our furnished apartment came with cooking pots and even a round cake tin but alas not a cupcake tin.  So now I was on the hunt.  I was able to pick up a 6 cup tin, measuring cup, and measuring spoons at the store next to school for a really good deal. Obviously a woman did not previously live in our apartment, as these are staples in every woman's kitchen.

So now the baking was on!

I got out my brand new tin to butter and flour it.  This of course being the good ole way since cupcake liners don't exist here in Jordan.  Well, I am sure they do exist but I sure as heck couldn't find them!  Mind you I checked three grocery stores...

I diligently measured out my oil.  Keep in mind, they didn't have vegetable oil so I went with sunflower oil.  They had olive oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, and peanut oil.  I figured sunflower was the closest match.  It wasn't bad.  Note the measuring cup uses the metric system and I had to measure in ml not cups.  Strange but hey, when in Rome, you know? 

I realized I didn't have a large bowl to mix everything in, so why not use a pot?  It worked wonderfully.  Mixing by hand for 3 minutes was a little tiring but hey, they were worth every second.

After baking the appropriate time on level 4, because of course my oven doesn't have a tempature gauge just levels 1-5, they were done.  I guess I overfilled them a little but hey, who's complaining.

After all was said and done, they were perfect!  Sweet and most comforting.  I even used the rest of the batter to make a cake to share with the ladies at school.  Cake for breakfast is the BEST!

YUMMO!!!!

Biking the Dead Sea

When we heard about bike riding around the Dead Sea countryside from a good friend, we didn’t really know what to expect. The biking group provided the bikes and safety equipment, but both Rob and I haven’t ridden bikes in years. So when we arrived it took some time to get back into the swing of things but soon thereafter we were pros.

The ride began on meandering roads through the countryside with the mountains in the distance. We passed by rural folk herding their sheep and goats, living just as you imagined with just the necessities. No 7-11 or Gap in these parts. It was so quiet and peaceful; I didn’t want the ride to end.

After taking a few turns, we headed back to the main road and down to the Dead Sea itself. As I got closer, I could smell the salt in the air. For a moment, it reminded me of the ocean at home. Although here, there were no waves, only ripples. I guess it was the difference of a sea versus the ocean. As the sun went down, the view over the sea was amazing. I couldn’t stop taking pictures, as the next one just seemed so much better than the last.

Once the bikes were loaded up in the bus, we headed to our BBQ location on top of the lookout mountain over the Dead Sea. The walk up to the site was a little precarious, but totally worth it once we arrived. In the distance you could make out the lights of the West Bank. Our phones started ringing with text messages welcoming us to Palestine. It was strange but made us smile at the same time.

The Bike Rush hosts got right to work with making a huge fire, starting the grill, and preparing the food. We were to have a traditional Arabic BBQ of beef and chicken kabobs, a salad of cucumbers and tomatoes in a lemon dressing, and hummus with pita bread. The food, I have to say, was amazing and both Rob and I stuffed ourselves to the gills.

While our food was digesting, we drank tea and were serenaded by two locals with lovely traditional Arabic music. Rob even recognized a few songs.

 

As I stared into the firelight, I couldn’t help but smile to myself. This is what traveling to the Middle East is all about…a new adventure ended with great music, filling food and of course tea.

Friday Sook

Yesterday we ventured to the Friday Sook located in the old bus station on the edges of Jebel Webda.  I had heard from the ladies at Qasid, this was the place to go for good deals on clothing, shoes, and the like.  I was not disappointed!  We arrived at 10am to a crowded and festive collage of winter clothing.  Everywhere I turned there was a rack of clothing to sift through or a man (or sometimes his son) yelling the cost of thier wares.  2 dinar the bearded man yells...5 dinar for all shoes the young man's son belts out...1 dinar for anything on this rack a young twenty-something man bellows.  I, of course, kept my focus on the task at hand (to find more warm winter clothing) while Rob kept a close eye on the surroundings.  After all was said and done, we came home with some great finds, 2 shirts for Rob (each 2 dinar), me 2 sweaters (one J.Crew for 3 dinar), and a long sleeve shirt.  We will probably return later in the month once the wintertime really sets in.  I have a feeling it is going to be a cold one this year.

Bring on snow, says the Floridian!

As you can see there are rows and rows of clothing.  Some vendors go vertical too.

The cutest snow boots ever for 3 dinar.  Too bad they are size 4.  I shall be on the lookout for another pair in my size next time.

I was pleasantly surprised to find a lot of name brands within the mix...J.Crew, Old Navy, Polo, Nautica. 

I'm Ready

Tomorrow we venture into two unknown areas of Jordan. The first being the Friday Sook. The hub is not so excited about shopping in the morning (I was told the best time to go) but alas, we will be there bright and early. This sook is sort of a Goodwill type market outdoors the size of a Wal-Mart parking lot. Of course there will be a lot of picking through, but once you find that "thing" you just must have, it is worth it. I shall be prepared for winter by the end of the trip.


Afterwards we will venture down to the Dead Sea with a biking group for the afternoon. I am really excited as this will be our first outdoors trip in Jordan and also my first time to the Dead Sea. The plan is to ride around the sea (not all the way around) and up to the panoramic area for a BBQ and some arabic music. I haven't rode a bike in a while, but I figure it will come back to me lickity split.

Happy weekend everyone!

Welcome Autumn!

Water

Dealing with water here in Jordan has very eye opening. I guess while at home in the states I took water in its different forms for granted. When I wanted hot water for my shower, I just turned the knob to "H". When I wanted something to drink, I just turned on the faucet. When I wanted to flush, I always knew the water would be there in the tank to fill it up again.

These things are not to be taken for granted here. The water does get turned off in the city, as does the power on occasion. Each apartment is hooked up to water tanks either situated on the roof of your apartment building or in the basement. Sometimes people are blessed with two tanks. Depending on how you are set up, they are either filled automatically from the city or you have to call someone to do it. We are blessed with the first. The water here, although okay to bathe with or cook with, should not be your source of drinking water. For that, you must buy bottled water. Water here is sold in large 2 liter bottles, shaped unlike the 2 liter bottles at home. They are tall, thin, and sold in 6 packs. Every few days we make the trek up to the local mini-mart to buy our 6 pack of 2 liter bottles. It is amazing how much we go through each week. As you can imagine they are quite heavy, so the handsome husband does most of the lifting. As for bathing, we have to switch on the water heater for at least 25 minutes before taking a shower, washing dishes, or running a load of clothing in hot water. Don't think about flushing, washing hands, or anything water related while someone is in the shower unless you want to hear yelling and screaming. I guess that part is the same in the states. he he But the worst is when you run out of water while in the shower. It happened to Rob while he was in Irbid but thankfully not here yet. I have had the water go out in another situation...let's just say I make sure there is always water in the toilet tank before going now. Better safe than sorry.

It is funny how when you first arrive the restrictions seem strange at first; you may complain or be put in an embarrassing situation. But you survive, adapt, and learn.

Living abroad has opened my eyes to the little things in life, I for one, took for granted.

I think you mean...

Don't know if broasted is the same as roasted but if anything, it is quick!  Maybe it is like roasted and broiled all in one?  Further investigation is required.

Let there be heat

Last night we were blessed with unexpected visitors. Rob's friend and family from Irbid were in town and decided to drop by. Of course, I ran around the house straightening, cleaning what I could, and changing into something a little more respectable. I was of course already decked out in my fleece pants and hat; remember we don't have the heat turned on in the apartment yet.


It was funny because the first thing they said once they sat down was "Boy it is cold in here". haha I let Rob explain how we decided we weren't going to turn on the heat just yet and just buddle up. They of course looked at each other like we were crazy... But after a few minutes they questioned why we hadn't used the AC.

Our wall AC unit (Don't freak out, it is in C so it isn't 24 degrees F)

The AC, we asked? I think it only blows cold air. Not that we need any more cold air in our icebox apartment. No, they said, I think it has a heater option. After playing with the remote control for a few minutes, we found out it indeed did have a heater function!!! Hallelujah!!!!

I love having a remote for the AC/Heating unit. 

I am now sitting in a toasty living room and loving it. Thank you Amin and family, you have made our week!!!

Landbridges

Thank goodness there is such a thing as a landbridge here in Jordan because crossing the street at times can be ridiculous!  Plus at times they have fences with what looks like spikes on the top to deter you from running across 6 lanes of traffic.  You would be surprised how many people run across and do not seem afraid at all.  I mean seriously!  Crossing Southside or Blanding during rush hour is just not my cup of tea.

Our Subway Landbridge on the way to school

If you don't know what a landbridge is, it is basically a walkway above the street so you can cross without being hit by a car.  

Note the fence.  Sorry this one doesn't sport the spikes.  But they do exist.  I can't make that sort of thing up...I'm not that good.

We were down in the balad this afternoon and I saw a guy get "tapped" by a car.  I say tapped because the car was probably going only 3 miles per hour, if even that.  But still, it knocked him back a little and he wasn't so happy.  I guess he shouldn't have walked out into oncoming traffic? 

Thankfully Rob, my ever cautious hubby, always makes sure we either take the landbridge or look both ways not just once but twice, just in case.  Then we RUN across, which ever one is going faster at the time pulling the other along.  Better safe than sorry.

Pop this

What's up with the throw back pop tops?  If you can't tell, these are the "pop and peal" type of tops.  Circa 1970 maybe?  It isn't like the new technology doesn't exisit or maybe it is that they just kept all the older cans and shipped them off to the Middle East?  Well maybe they did...  haha   Just kidding. 

I guess the old factories here in the region are still set up with the old way.  I have to say I miss the popping sound of opening a new can of soda.  Strange how you could miss such a sound.

The Weather

We awoke today to 47 degrees Fahrenheit with blustering wind and rain. Let’s just say it wasn’t the best way to wake up. So we decided today was a pack in day. We read books, studied, watched TV until the satellite went out of commission due to the high winds, ate chicken noodle soup, drank hot tea, and I made beef stew for dinner. I have to say warm comfort food does the body good.


Now remember, we live in a concrete building filled with tile floors with no heat. So we both stayed comfy in our fleece pants, sweatshirts, me bundled in my throw blanket, and by afternoon we dug out our hats. We were a sight to see. Note no pictures will be accompanying this blog, we will just let your imagination go wild.

We are hoping this is just an anomaly and the mild fall weather will return later in the week. One can only hope…

Beauty in all the oddest places

Sometimes you find things in the oddest places.

On the way to school, we found this beauty!  We were crossing the street to a concrete and dirt pile area and this caught my eye.

Who would have thought this could grow in such a random place.  But I guess when there is a will, there is a way.

We found this beauty growing on a vine outside of our apartment building.  Notice the tiny flowers inside making up the larger flower.  Mother nature creates such simple elegance.