Thanksgiving (sent 11/19/06)

Hello everyone!

It has been a crazy week! As I probably mentioned before, the new overall director of PC-Worldwide came to my town on Friday to see my center and get treated to good old fashioned Jordanian hospitality.

We spent the entire week cleaning the center (didn't teach a single thing all week, but many people commented to me on the cleanliness of the center, even saying they could eat off the floor, so I guess it all worked out) and preparing for the visit. I was coached by everyone in my center to say nice things about the center and out town, so much so that I started telling them all the awful things I would say just to make them mad (it worked)

The day of the director's visit was absolutely gorgeous, perfect weather and bright blue skies (which I'm sure the photgrapher loved!) Abu Aymen made a speech and so did the director, and then we treated him to Mansef. Before letting the guy eat, they dressed him in a shmock (also has like eight hundred other names), the national red and white checked headdress that men here wear. All the Jordanians loved seeing him wear it, and he wore it for the rest of the time that he was in our town. I've never seen this much meat on plates before, I could barely get to the rice! They managed to fit two whole sheep onto three platters. The director and his wife were PCVs in India back in the day, and they seemed to enjoy eating the masef with their hands. It was also Tom (the new Lisa, the new PTO in Jordan) first Mansef experience as well.

At the end of the visit, I managed to score a ride up to Amman with the departing group, so I felt like a celebrity in a convoy of PC vehicles. I had a great night in Amman, getting to see volunteers that I hadn't seen since training, and meet a few of the J9s that I had never met (the group before ours)

This week should be a little tamer, but I am looking forward to going to a big Thanksgiving meal put on by the Mormon church up in Amman. Happy thanksgiving to all of you as well!

Funny stories of the week:

-The fact that there is currently no power in my house, but somehow the FOUR mosques in town still have power to broadcast the call to prayer

-Getting a long speech from a man in a restaraunt about vegetarianism. Apparently it is possible that I don't have any blood, that I am weak, and that I might die. He also wouldn't let me buy any leban (yogurt, a mild obsession of most PCVs in Jordan) telling me it was too expensive for me. Then he charged me half of what he charged everyone else at the table at the end of the meal

-Deciding that we needed to include camels in our class discussions about farm animals

-Brahim, our taxi driver trying to figure out how to send a letter to the states. He has the email address and phone number of someone from "Boston MA" and was asking us if he put those on the envelope if that would be enough. Took us the entire ride from Wadi Musa to our town (about 35 minutes) to tell him that it wouldn't work

-The felafel guy deciding that one PCV only got one sandwich, even though he ordered two. The guy couldn't be convinced to give him two, even though another volunteer got two with no problem.

Love you all and miss you!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Jessica