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.