Long Overdue First Impressions, and perhaps some second and third ones too

Salaam my dear friends :)

I've been in Jordan for about a month now, and have failed to keep my promise of keeping a blog on a regular basis. But if you know me well enough, then it shouldn't come as a surprise hehe.

I've already had a few wonderful experiences that I'm eager to share, but including them all in one post might be impossible to read, so I'll do it step by step.

Here goes!

So about a month ago, Amman welcomed me with me the tail end of its brutal winter. Only a week before I arrived, it was snowing! Most apartments aren't equipped with central heating, but instead have these somewhat hazardous propane heaters that can't be left on during the night. I coccooned myself in three blankets the first night, because it didn't occur to me that it might get cold in the Middle East. Since my arrival though, the weather has progressively gotten better, alhamdulillah!

the ugly and dangerous heaters.

Besides trying to cope with the cold, Khaled and I tried to spend some time getting a feel for the city. On my second day, we had a gross shawarma lunch on Madina Munawara St, a main road packed with restaurants. But afterwards we stumbled into the best konafa spot ever. In Jersey, I only ever have konafa once in a blue moon- when I'm in Paterson. And even then, one piece is konafa is a little pricey. But in Amman, a piece of the same size is about 50 cents. And it's so fresh it practically melts in your mouth. Not being used to having amazing and cheap konafa about 5 minutes away, Khaled and I kind of obsessed over it the first couple of weeks, eating much more konafa that we should have. I think we've relaxed a bit, but we're due for another konafa outing very soon. ;)

yummy konafa!

As for the reason I'm in Jordan, Qasid has been nothing short of wonderful. Even though the institute itself only occupies a small space, Qasid is always buzzing with students. There are students hailing from all corners of the globe including England, Switzerland, America, Turkey, and even Korea. Most of the students are studying Modern Standard Arabic, but several are studying Classical Arabic. Khaled and I fall into the latter group. So far, I love my classes. My first class aims to improve my skills in reading, writing, and speaking. My second class delves into classical grammar, specifically by using Al- Aajrumiyyah, a foundational text that seeks to preserve classical Arabic grammar. Studying Arabic at Rutgers was always a challenge because there were so many gaps in my understanding of grammar. This seriously hindered my progress in Arabic to the point of discouraging me to continue with it all. But already in the few weeks that I've been here, I feel that changing. Not only am I beginning to understand the complexities of Arabic grammar, but I'm even starting to love it. One of my favorite things to do is rewrite my notes in a separate notebook, neatly categorizing and color coding them, hehe.

Although studying Arabic and eating konafa consumes most of my time in Amman, I was able to do some traveling outside of the city, which was amazing! And I shall write about that, next time :)

Yumna