Before I came to Jordan I found a family that wanted to host a girl who could help teach their children English. Once I arrived to Amman I was able to call one of my host sisters and she told the taxi driver exactly where to go. It was so simple. I got to their house completely exhausted from the trip, but my mind was racing in circles. Slowly as the whole family came home, I got to meet all six children as well as the mother and father. They are a very beautiful family. I had a wonderful time trying to teach them English and a very challenging time trying to understand their Arabic. It was great for me to be completely surrounded by Arabic all the time and I was given the rare opportunity for a foreigner to see the inside day-to-day life of a local family. I quickly grew in love with several members of the family including their youngest son, Laith, who I tutored in English at least every-other night.
On Friday, financial circumstances changed for me unexpectedly and I decided to see if I could find a place there I could move to that would be cheaper for me. That way I wouldn't have to pay for a taxi everyday. Honestly I was stuck in the middle trying to decided if I really wanted to move from this wonderful Jordanian family what would help me with my spoken Arabic, or if I wanted to move closer to campus where I could walk to campus, but be surrounded by foreigners. Suddenly on Monday, I was informed that circumstances changed on the family's end where I could no longer stay with them. They told me that I could stay at their house until I found an other place to stay.
In the mean while, the first ten days that I was in Jordan, the only people I knew were my host family. We were extremely limited in our communication which made me very lonely. I am an extremely social person, so not being able to connect with people was extremely difficult. Any of my friends who I was able to talk to during that time would testify to that. On Saturday I got tired of being alone, so I decided that the next day at school, I would make friends--and I did.
On Sunday after class I invited a girl to go eat lunch with me and I over heard some other students asking what they should do. I said, "You should go eat with us!" One of the girls quickly replied, "Okay." At the language center, most of the students are only there to study Arabic so we have a lot of extra time. Just as well, most of us came alone or with a only a few other people so we were all excited to meet new people. We had a rather large group at lunch that day. We all shared our different stories and exchanged phone numbers. One of the guys at the table was going to be meeting up with his language exchange partner/friend so Ronia (American from Maryland who comes from Jordanian parents) and I went with him. There we met Rojeh, who has been a complete life saver for me! Afterwards, the four of us hung out the entire evening, and basically everyday since.
The next day after I made these new friends, I was informed that I couldn't stay with my host family any more. Rojeh did a great job at helping me find a place to live and the both Rojeh and Ronia were amazing at helping me figure everything out. I feel so blessed to have such good friends who cared about me so much in such a short amount of time. We found a place very close to the gate that I always use. It makes it really easy for me to get on campus. I have my own room and I have a TV that I can watch Arab shows on so that my ears to be hearing Arabic. Honestly it's nice to have a place where I can get away from everything. My room is like a safe haven from the rest of the world. Whenever it the world just becomes so much, I know know that I have a place where I can go and get away from everything--a place that is simply mine.
I moved out of my host family's house on Tuesday night (the day after I was informed that I had to leave). Rojeh went with me in the taxi to hold it while I was packing my stuff. He wound up having to get another one, but by the time I was packed and ready he was back with one. I quickly throw everything into my suite cases because I couldn't take to long. Laith looked at me and asked me what I was doing. I told him that I had to go. He asked when. When I told him that night, he looked like he wanted to cry. He had told his sister only the day after I arrived that he already loved me. Neveen (the 2nd daughter) told me to call her whenever I wanted to get together and that we could still hang out. My host mom came into the room and I gave her the watch that I hadn't been able to give to the father yet. I brought gifts for all of them from America and I never got the perfect opportunity give it to him. The mom walked back into the room with a brown bag, a bottle of perfume, and a small key chain of the Kaba for me. It was so sweet! I wanted to cry!
I brought all of my stuff to my new place and gathered some stuff to stay the night with Ronia. I didn't want to be alone that night. The next night I stayed at my place alone. It was actually really nice. I rearranged my furniture and put the two beds together. When I woke up the next morning I had a great sense of peace about it. Sometimes things have to change unexpectedly, but I know that it will all work out for the better. This was a major expense that I was not expecting, but in the end I think it's for the best. Now I have a place to go and restore myself and to reflect on everything that I am learning. As I work more and more on my room, I expect I will like how it turns out and it will become my new home.
Well, you go with God Girl! Your adventure is on!
ReplyDeleteLove ya, Teresa