anne’s birthday

My birthday fell on a very busy week. The day before I left my first village, my co-trainees & I were taken to a beautiful ancient ruin city-- post to follow later. It was there that I was busy making sure a little girl’s sandal was put back on and I slammed my head into a two-thousand year old arch. D’oh! I’m fine I said and convinced myself it was true. 

I packed all my things, said goodbye to the family I had lived with- really lived with-  eaten three meals a day with, drank 10 cups of tea a day with, played and cleaned with, and slept alongside for the last 6 weeks. They didn’t even laugh too much at all my horrible mistakes mumbling Arabic. Saying goodbye was rough. I met my new family, sped off to the University for a center day, and didn’t think much of my head hurting until I returned home to a serious dizzy spell and random waves of nausea. 

The medical officer doesn’t take chances and had me go to a hospital in Amman. It was decided that I would have an MRI done and stay the night in the city so that she could check me again in the morning, mostly because of the unresolved stomach issues. 

The MRI was torture. They thought it would be relaxing to put huge headphones on, that clanked on the face mask and piped in loud Arabic music. This music did not drown out the massive, machine gun like sounds the machine made. But, I’m proud to say that although I had to start over briefly a few times, I finally kept my eyes closed the entire 15 minutes of torture and was able to yell in Arabic, “Finished? Is it going to be a little bit more or a long time?” This was while I had my face caged and was enclosed with about 6 inches of breathing room in a white plastic tube. They would answer in English, “10 minutes... 8 minutes... 4 minutes. Stop kicking or it will take longer... 2 minutes.”Panic attack! 


My MRI was fine. I had a disc in my neck that looked slightly off but since it did not hurt, we decided it was fine. But my stomach issues continued and I would later find out that I most likely had Giardia. Alhamdu’lilah (thank God) for our medical officer, Laurene! She is amazing. I thought I had packed my strong immune system but this is the 2nd time I’ve needed antibiotics during pre-service. 

But I have to say, between the MRI & the Friday I will always remember as "the long squat," I had a fantastic birthday! I had wifi at the hotel the night before and a few family members called me. Dave knew we would be apart so he had given me my card early, with bi-lingual instructions not to open it until Wednesday. When I got back to my village, my new classmates had made me a card, gave me a notebook with a picture of a birthday cake on it, & we ate oreo cookies. My old village called and sang to me- telling me they had planned to come in person but did not because I had gone to the hospital out of town. How sweet is that?

My host family also went over-the-top to make me feel special. Not only did they bake me a cake, but they made flan, and then they gave me a Jordanian scarf. It was a really beautiful day! 

{not my idea of a good time}

{hotel room. mirror in arabic is mariah (carey)}

{u.s hotel::bible, middle east hotel::prayer rug}

{wait a second}

{my school bday party}

My pre-birthday week in cartoon. By co-trainee, Carly:

{the arch incident}

{at the hospital in amman}

{at the peace corps office}

{bringing movies back to my village}

{part of my gift from dave}

{vanilla & chocolate cake and flan. yes & yes}

{blurry but beautiful host mother}

{turducken’s jordanian counterpart, batoota}

{host nephew}

{one of my seven host sisters & my abu}

{my new shmag. i love it!}

{turducken wanna-be’s}

During the middle of the night, one of our goats gave birth to two babies, and since the mom had some issues, my family brought them in and we let them join us around the soba- a small gas heater. Most families do not have couches & chairs in the villages, but farshas on the floor. My family does have couches but since winter is upon us, we usually sit on the farshas so we can be closer to the soba. 


This is also where we eat together, as well as drink tea, talk, and watch television. My family often watches a news stream that plays patriotic videos & music. Whenever my permanent site village pops up, they sing along to the song. It’s really cute.

{my village- olive trees}

{our goats}

{view from the back porch}

{new kid on the block}

{awesome host dad bottle feeding}

{don’t cry. batoota’s on milk clean-up}

{soba and baby goat}

{this is how you spell pfizer in arabic}

and then anne had to leave

Anne has changed training villages. It is very uncommon to change host families or villages but sometimes it happens. This is a big adjustment but there is only about a month left and much of that time is at a conference and site visit, and the new family is wonderful too. We had other posts but this one gets to jump the line. Anne really loved her host family, teacher, and fellow trainees, but we’re looking forward.

We present a farewell to Anne’s old village:

{best without taste}

{life in the big city}

{the goats that stare at men}

{how many PCTs does it take?}

{if we practice until 9pm, we need coffee}

{once mosquitoes kept me up all night, eating my face}

{best purchase in jordan to date}

{good read}

{random desert beauty from buse windows}

{farshas piled on top of cars}

{falafel shop ladies}

{small town sunsets}

anne’s village

Anne lives with a family, above a fertilizer store, in one of the two special education training villages. Arabic classes are from 8/9am to 1pm, lunch with our families 1-3 pm, class 3-5pm, and then more family time (this involves lots of good food and visits to other family members in the village) and hopefully some studying. It is awesome. She is usually greeted at the door and when she wakes up by the three kids- ages 3, 5, and 6 yelling, "Anne! Anne! Anne! " 


Here is a peek into her small village life:

{anne’s family lives in one of the middle buildings}

{kindergarden where we have class, awesome people}

{rooster out the front door}

{we heart the roosters}

{fellow trainee chatting with boys}

{the kings of jordan watch over us in class}

{fellow trainee}

{visual aids, verbs}

{part of the arabic alphabet}

{everybody loves a role play}

{our toilet at school}

{the view from the bathroom}

{the uncle’s house and his sheep}

{trainees and teacher walking home}

{anne’s shadow- crossing the street, followed by a herd of sheep, a donkey & two shepherds}

{even christians cover for muslim funerals}

{the goats}

{dusty walks}

{anne with host mom/sister- they did my makeup for Eid}

{host brothers in my room- they love headlamp}

{host brother & sister in the kitchen}

{adorableness}