in Jordan

This will be short, as Mahmoud's computer isn't working quickly and I think he's eager to try a new internet café. Just figured out how to shift the Word file from Arabic to English, and how to say thank you in Arabic and how to read numbers in Arabic and all sorts of things. A productive first few hours here in Jordan.

It's great here – like the desert of Riverside but with olive trees everywhere. People leave me alone – no marriage proposals yet. All the women I see are covered – with at least headscarves and often with burqa. Mahmoud asserts that's fine and I needn't feel uncomfortable, so I'll take his word for it.

It's hot here but not unbearably so. I have an interesting hotel room in an interesting part of downtown – surrounded by great, cheap restaurants and grocery stores. If on my own I probably would have stayed by the university, but this is a good arrangement for me and pretty cheap. Mahmoud's brother, a lawyer, is friends with the owner and he got me a 50% discount! No complaints! I might be able to find cheaper, but they're nice to me and it's good to have the connections like that. And I see lots of Jordanian women and families staying there, which makes me feel better.

We're going to talk about the traveling I should do – I want to go to Petra and some other archaeological sites, and maybe over to Egypt. Mahmoud's been sick so not very energetic, but he can certainly get me pointed in the correct directions. I feel like a total moron for speaking no Arabic, so tonight I'll study up some to at least get by better.

I think Jordan is Middle East-lite, like Ghana is Africa-lite. Nice introduction countries.

We just had a great lunch of the Jordanian dish – something like mensah – with rice and lamb and yogurt sauce. Very yummy!! Sorry Gail, I didn't have my camera to take pictures. I also wanted to take a picture of the street cleaner (would have loved that in the camp) and Mahmoud's brother's window sign "We do not welcome any American products" as protest against war. I was like, um, but I'm an American product. It's an interesting situation.

Wow, I'm really exhausted. I guess three nights with little to no sleep does that to me. I want to stay up at least until like 7 pm and then I can crash hard.

It's just so wild that I can travel a day and be in a TOTALLY different culture and environment. And it's so wild that I’m going to all these places that I've always wanted to. Ah, to be a woman now.