Keepin busy...

So I know what grades I'm teaching, FINALLY, 1st and 3rd grade English. Little 'uns. I'll be working with a co-teacher Jessica from America. The last week has been a little frustrating. I'm still not entirely sure what this job is going to entail.  But I shouldn't complain, I'm sure once I get in the classroom things will start falling in to place. We have one meeting tomorrow as a dept and then a week break for Eid, 1st grade orientation the following Saturday and then students on September 5th. So for this next week I will just be working to get prepared for the students (and drawing in my free time). I found a great coffee shop near work that's open during Ramadan so I'll probably be spending a fair amount of time there this week. To be honest, I am looking forward to the end of Ramadan so that I can start getting a feel for what Amman is normally like (and so that I can start finding places that are open during the day). Mostly I've just been working, attending meetings, and re-adjusting my sleep schedule. And sweating... lots of sweating.
Rollin and I are settled into our new apartment and it is great! I'm really enjoying it. It's spacious and comfortable and our landlord has been super helpful with everything. Anyway, I had a chunk of pictures on my camera so I figured I'd dump them here:

Of course I'm still taking pictures of stray cats.

James, Carly and I went on a journey to buy teaching supplies. Naturally when we found the place it was closed because of Ramadan.

More stairs. There was an old lady chillin' at the bottom of these. These alleys and staircases practically take you through people's back yards.

There are all sorts of abandoned buildings tucked away.

Tents set up for "Citadel Nights," a nightly event during Ramadan at the Roman ruins. More of that below...

One of the cool things about living in Amman is you'll be walking to buy a bottle of water and look to your left and go "Oh look, ruins from the Roman empire."

Interesting graffiti

A cool house

I think this was a cafe

I was compelled to take this picture. Note that the guy's face is photo shopped on.

We went to a workshop in Abdoun, which is a reeeeeaaaallly nice (ie rich) neighborhood. There are a lot of embassies there so the houses are really fancy. We passed the American embassy and it looked like a freaking fortress. I wanted to get a picture but there were signs everywhere saying not to. Here are a few pics from the bus ride there:

Abdoun bridge. It has another name but I don't know what it is.

We had the worst luck getting a cab from work yesterday and ended up walking for a while. We ended up on a street that had tons of pet bird stores. I saw the scrappiest, angriest parrot that I have ever seen.

Kinda sad really.

When I need a haircut I am definitely coming to this place.

Not sure who would actually hang this in their house.

So my boss Moeen had told us about the Citadel Nights and we had been meaning to go but kept putting it off. Since Ramadan is ending soon James, Carly and I made a point of checking it out last night. It was really cool! Unlike street festivals in the US it was extremely relaxed. There were a lot of people there but it didn't feel crowded. It was pretty quiet and people were just relaxing, talking, eating, smoking hookah and just chillin. The absence of alcohol prob contributed to the laid back atmosphere.

Jabal Al-Qu'la has an amazing view. I definitely need to come back during the day.

Right when we got there these dudes showed up dressed like Romans to give a tour of the ruins. There was one guy explaining the history along the way but I didn't understand any of it.

Spectacular view of the Roman amphitheater. They still do performances here, I HAVE to go.

Amman

Lots of people were sending up Chinese lanterns.

People were climbing all over the ruins. James and I waited until they thinned out and tried to go up  but we got stopped by some guy that worked there. After we walked away more people climbed up. What the eff!?

We got seats for the musical performance.

Arabic music is really cool.

We caught a cab home and our driver got cut off by a Saudi. When he got cut off he said "Saudi! Hamar! Donkey, big donkey!" There are definitely some anti-Saudi sentiments here.

Well, I guess I'm committed now.

So today was a good day. Rollin and I signed a 6 month lease in Jabal Weibdeh! We could have gotten a longer one but we decided to do six months just to be on the safe side. In all likelihood we will be renewing it. It is a really nice apartment. Fully furnished and a good price. We move in tomorrow! Wanna see?

Rollin's room. They are bringing sheets tomorrow.

My room (note the balcony).

Bathroom with washing machine aaand a bidet...

Kitchen. And when I say fully furnished I'm talking pots, pans, utensils, toaster, cleaning supplies, water cooler, iron, TV, satellite, internet, etc. Basically the works.

Dining area

And my favorite, the living room. 

Next week the land lord is going to replace the TV with an LCD big screen  (you KNOW I brought my Nintendo wii) and bring us another couch. Also, don't forget rooftop access with a great view of Jabal Amman, good neighbors, nice garden out front, quiet neighborhood, 20 min walk to work or less than a Dinar taxi ride, plenty of shops nearby, so yeah I'm pretty happy.

I saw an interesting bird this morning:

It made a noise like a crow.

Today's Thursday so... Happy Water Day!!!!

"So fresh and so clean clean!"

Tonight I went to Jabal Amman with Carly and James to celebrate.

 After Iftar people come OUT.

We went to Books @ Cafe, a nice bookstore/ restaurant. We got margherita pizza and lemon mint drinks. Delicious! Really fancy place but a good price. Spectacular view. The bookstore actually had comics but they were really crappy ones like "Supergirl." I almost bought a Batman that looked cool but it was too pricey. If I can just find a good comic shop and figure out what grade I'm teaching I'll be all set.

Then we wandered downtown:

At the end of yet another long, steep staircase.

It was like NYC crowded out here. 

There were street vendors elbow to elbow selling tons of bizarre stuff, lots of shoe stores too. We went to the bootleg DVD store and I got Bored to Death season 2 and Boardwalk Empire season 1. Carly got them to knock 2jd off the price (thanks Carly). I'm definitely going to wander back here in the daytime and get lost for a while. 

There's graffiti in Amman but it's not very good. Usually crude, childish or just messages scrawled in Arabic, but coming up the stairs from downtown I found some cool stencils.

What up Che?

This one gave me a chuckle.

But this was the best.

I've noticed a trend of pictures of Hollywood actors on barbershop signs:

I need to get a flick of the Brad Pitt one. It is TOO much.

To top it off we stopped at the store on the way home and I got a nutty buddy and some 7up.

It's the Ramadan special!

So overall a pretty good day. I've got tomorrow off to settle in to my new place and I start work Saturday for real (Insha Allah). 

I guess I'll throw these pics in too while I'm at it:

View from the window of a different apartment we looked at.

And more stray cats. I'm telling you I've been tripping over these things!

So remember that scene in "Lawrence of Arabia" when Sherif Ali shoots a guy over water? Yeah, i get it now.

So apparently the water company that fills up James and Carly's tanks didn't do such a hot job because we ran out this morning (Jabal Webdeh gets water every Thursday). Luckily their landlord, a super nice guy, was gracious enough to give us some of his water. So when I got back from a workshop today I found James on the roof doing this:

Precious, precious water...

So we can flush... for now. Seriously, after a year here I don't think I will be wasting ANY water.

I "started" work yesterday, in that I showed up and met the principal. Apparently we don't technically start until the 20th (students show up Sept. 4). I still don't know what grade I'm going to teach; but the principal knew who I was so I took that as a good sign. I'm 75% sure that I'll be doing primary school so I went to a PYP (Primary Years Program) workshop today at the girl's school. We did some team building stuff that was a little corny but I got some useful information. I got to meet some of the teachers so that definitely made it worth it. The girl's school is apparently the good school and it is kind of in charge of the boy's school. I ended up walking back to the apartment by myself and got a lot of good pictures so rather than go into all the details of my job (not that I really know much), here are some pictures: 

I love all the alleyways and staircases here. Really has an old world feel.

A mural of Jerash (city in northern Jordan)

Man, this city feels big.

The British Council was turned into a fortress after someone tried to blow up the one in Turkey.

It still looks nice though.

The Roman Ruins I didn't get a picture of before.

Me: "So what kind of movies do they show? Arabic movies?" 

James: "Well the last one I saw advertised was 'Kung-fu Panda 2.'"

Mosques are neat:

I went by this one right before the afternoon prayer. 

The muezzin was doing his sound check, "Allah u Akbar! Allah u Akbar!"

Churches are neat too.

Amman was originally built on 7 hills (Jabal=hill). To get between Jabal Webdeh and Jabal Amman you take a short cut on Al-Mu'tasem St.

"Ok, no problem."

 Al-Mu'tasem St:

Not too bad on the way home, but on the way to work.... oof.

Big construction project (probably Saudis).

This is a HOUSE. I want to live here

And a stray cat:

This one was actually friendly.

James and Carly had two friends and their baby over for lunch and we had Australian meat pies. James said they weren't really authentic but I wouldn't know. Either way they were delicious. For an adventure I think I'll wander downtown to the bootleg DVD store tonight and get "Bored to Death" season 2. Iftar is in half an hour so I'll wait till after so I know they'll be open.