One month

In one month, I will start classes at BYU.  I can’t wait.  BYU is one of my favorite places.  My parents raised me on stories of their adventures at the Y.  I spent my childhood waiting to get there.  I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to work in Ohio over the summer and to study in Amman, Jordan this semester, but I’ll be glad to be back.  However, it’s not over yet; before I return to BYU I’m going to…

1.     Take 3 Finals

2.     Take a test over the phone in an Oral Proficiancy Interview

3.     Pack everything, clean the apartment

4.     Say goodbye to my friends here

5.     Take a bus across the border into the West Bank

6.     Spend 10 days on a whirlwind tour of Palestine

7.     Fly from Tel Aviv to Dayton, OH

8.     Christmas with my family

9.     See my Ohio friends

10.  Visit my old workplace, visit Museums, See Tintin

11.  Fly to Seattle for Heather’s wedding

12. Spend a few days with my roommate Dana

13. Go to a NYE in Seattle!

14. Spend a few days with my other roommate Dana

15. Fly to Provo, find my apartment, set up camp

So here is a story that I read a while back.  I loved it because it reminds me how valuable education is and how lucky I am to have these opportunities. 

Indoor Smores

What else are we going to do with a gas heater, hilal marshmellows, Nutella, and digestive crackers?

Petra!

I haven't really blogged about anything in Jordan, but Petra is the thing that deserves blogging the most.  So here are the pictures...

These little boys were trying to sell us postcards.  I thought the little suit jacket was just adorable.  When I told them that I didn't have any money with me, they told me to ask my husband.  Another group of kids just smiled and said "No money, no problems!

Dana and I in front of the Treasury.  

If you look really hard, you can see four of our friends on the mountain across from us waving.

One of the men working climbed up this obelisk just to have a nice rest.  

Seth sacrificing me to the gods.

The group.  Even though this picture looks super dangerous, there was a ledge right below us.

Oh Jeremy.

My favorite picture.  Coby spotted the marrieds coming and couldn't hold back his disgust.

A cave for two.

This is my roommate Dana.  She is beautiful, talented, smart.  Oh yeah.  And she loves eating lunch on perilous cliffs. 

On top of the castle in Kerak

From the hotel.  I just think this is so cool.  I love seeing the devotion to religion and the importance it has on everyone's lives.

And on our way back, we got to enjoy the sunset.

The trip was incredible.  I loved spending time with everyone, and I got to do so many cool things, like ride on a camel.  Petra was breathtaking.  The views are incredible, and its amazing that there is so much carved out of the mountains.

After we got back from Petra, a group of us went to a playground to hang out in Wadi Musa.  At night, cars of Shabab or youth drive around to play music and look at the foreigners.  One car stopped, and three guys came out.  Our gallant young men herded us and sat us on the bench like we were in time-out.  We sat quietly, avoiding eye contact while our guys talked to the shabab.  After a while, we slipped away to sit behind a giant boulder, out of eyesight of the shabab.  Their music was still playing, so we started dancing.  We were far enough that we could barely hear the music, so we just laughed at ourselves.  Then, suddenly, we heard music coming from a cell phone.  We looked around a realized that behind a different boulder, two guys had been smoking... and watching us dance like idiots.  We screamed and crawled over each other to get away as quickly as possible.  When we returned to the group we could not stop laughing.  Inshallah, we made those boys' night.

You Better Believe I Just Figured Out How to Embed Things

Hudson - Against The Grain from Dropbear on Vimeo.

We're Back!

Also, this almost happened to us.

Its raining in Amman!  Its such a surprise, and its so refreshing to see real clouds instead of dust clouds.  We're heading off on our big vacation to Petra and Wadi Rum.  I could not be more excited for a break.

Holy crap, it's November.

When did that happen?

Why I love my roommates

D- "He's bootylicious" 

S- "...What?"

Jo- "Wait are you serious?  Why are you looking at his butt?"

D- "How can you not see it?  Its just sticking out there"

Je- "I have noticed things are a little thicker down there"

D- "I didn't mean in a good way or anything"

The State of My Room. Plus Abdulli's

I've lived in several apartments during the past few years.  Although I was never the cleanest roommate, I always stopped to tidy my room before things got too bad.  For some reason, the tidying part is not happening.  There's just something so nasty about this apartment that makes me feel fine with messing it up.  How messy did it get?  This messy...

This isn't my fault.  As my kind roommate explained, my dresser obviously got violently ill and vomited all my clothes.  Unfortunately, I have no excuse for this one.

In other news, I've been to this old clothing suq the past two weeks.  I found this gem.  I was really tempted...

http://365q.ca/

Ten Things That Made Last Friday Magical

1.  I know that I haven’t put up any pictures yet, but you should know that Amman is one of the most beautiful cities in the world.  This morning, I woke up early. I was about to get back into bed, when I looked outside and realized that the sun was rising. I think that morning is my favorite time of day.

2.  Today is Fast Friday

3.  I took a shower today.  You do not realize how nice clean hair is until you’ve gone for days without showering,

4.  As I said, Amman is gorgeous.  One of my favorite parts of Friday’s is driving to church watching out the window at this beautiful city.

5.  Today, they split the Amman branch into two, creating the third branch in Jordan.

6.  While I was waiting after church, some of my friends and I started singing hymns together.  Even though I have no skill, I really love singing, and it’s become one of the highlights of church for me.  The best part?  Ustaaz Dil joined in for a song

7.  Listening to Jack Johnson will making banana pancakes, and then…

8.  Eating breakfast for dinner with the boys downstairs.

9. Playing Arabic scrabble, and winning because the random letters I put down meant, “he stands on one foot”

10.  I finally listened to General Conference!

I really miss this girl so much

And I feel a little incomplete without this girl

Being with both of them is the best.

I guess I also love these two :)

All the kids is the best

Pretty much, my family rocks, and I miss them a ton

 But I kinda miss her the most

I almost die from missing everyone

You cannot protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness.

Jonathon Safron Foer

How to answer the telephone

Click here

Cincinnati

I'm leaving Ohio pretty soon.  This summer was nothing like I expected it to be, but it was still fun.  I lucked out by making some really great friends here.

One of those really great friends is Sammie Ann.  At the beginning of the summer, we got it into our heads to that thrift-shopping in downtown Dayton would be the best thing in the world.  At the end of July, she drove me home from the airport, and we decided that Cincinnati is a much classier city.  Yesterday, we finally went our adventure.

I printed off directions from Google Maps to a Salvation Army in the heart of Cincinnati.  Not all of the streets were in the spot that we expected them to be.  Fortunately, we're pretty street saavy girls, and we found the address.  However, it was a super sketchy part of town, and we were to scared to even stop the car.  So we kept driving until we found a parking garage under a very nice hotel.  With our thrifting dreams shattered, we wandered around Cincinnati for an hour until we found a place that was open, not a bar, and within our price range: "Al Amir's." Sammie has "American tastes," but she still tried baclava, falafel, and chicken shwarma. We enjoyed our food outside while listening to a bluegrass band.  We were just so proud of ourselves for having such an enjoyable adventure.  I'm going to miss this place.

Sometimes I think Nicole is writing about my life

"I'm embarrassed to say that my eyes actually filled with tears... though as is often the case, the tears sprung from older, more obscure regrets I had delayed thinking about, which the gift, or loan, of a stranger's furniture had somehow unsettled."

My bestest friends

I'm a sucker for this stuff

"If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?"

-Stephen Levine

Conrad Siever

NOT IN THAT wasted garden
Where bodies are drawn into grass
That feeds no flocks, and into evergreens
That bear no fruit—
There where along the shaded walks
Vain sighs are heard,
And vainer dreams are dreamed
Of close communion with departed souls—
But here under the apple tree
I loved and watched and pruned
With gnarled hands
In the long, long years;
Here under the roots of this northern-spy
To move in the chemic change and circle of life,
Into the soil and into the flesh of the tree,
And into the living epitaphs
Of redder apples! 

Forever and Ever

So before I left for college last August, I stayed up all night packing and making 2 am donut runs with friends.  While we were talking, we started talking about our parents' marriages.  Friend #1's parents just tolerate each other.  Friend #2 said his parents aren't in love anymore.    On the other hand, as all my friends know, my parents are very much into each other.  However, even they fight often and sometimes I wonder why they married.  A month ago, my mom told me that people only marry when they are sick of the dating scene.


Our conversation has stayed with me.  Because all of my friends parents are still together, I assumed they all had happy marriages, but after our conversation, I realized many people are no longer in love.  They stick together because they covenanted to be together forever and ever.  For example, the mother who I nannied for this summer would blame every single problem on her husband, even if she was obviously to blame.  I've slowly given up hope in marriage.


During my weekly phone-call with my parents, marriage came up, and for the first time I expressed my concerns.  I expected my mom to make complain about marriage, but instead she helped me understand a lot of things.  She pointed out all the couples who we know that are still in love, and we talked about how they keep their marriages strong.  Thanks parents, for helping me understand :)

Day of Rage

This is incredible