Hello friends and family. My apologies for the lapse in blogging. To recap, Brian and I had a wonderful little Christmas together, and it was special to spend our first Christmas together just he & I. I cooked an almost identical meal to what my family was having so I felt close to home that way! We had so many gifts under our tree to open -- love our families and thank you for being so, so generous to us!
Things are pretty good here. I've started a "social club" so-to-speak. There are a few spouses of guys in Brian's office that are here and not working like me, so each week we get together and do something fun together. It gets us out of the house and engaged with other women in our same boat. It's funny - we all seem to have the same exact trials and tribulations! So far we've gone out to lunch, coffee, etc, but as the weather improves we will be spending time out and about in Amman, the Dead Sea, etc...
So...corn. Jordanians have a weird obsession with corn, and I just feel like I need to mention this phenomenon. I've never seen so much corn in my LIFE. At the grocery store, they have 5x as much canned corn on the shelves as they do all the other canned veggies combined. They also sell hot corn in the grocery store. And on the side of the roads. And at the mall. And right outside the video store. And...well, you get my drift. I'm tempted to get this corn and see if it really warrants this much attention.
Speaking of the grocery store, here are 2 pictures that I snapped at our local Safeway. The first is "Mutmeg".....AKA Nutmeg to you and I. This is Janglish, folks, when Jordanians are speaking or writing in English and it's just a little bit wrong. God love them for trying, but it does provide me with entertainment. The other is a type of soup that I will never, ever eat. The ingredient list on the back was NOT helpful in determining what kind of soup it really is but I'm assuming it's some type of chicken and leek...but it still makes me laugh !
In other news, we are 1 week in with a new dog. We've added to our family with a doberman puppy named Petra. For those who may not know, Petra is the most visited tourist site in Jordan and is considered a Jordanian national treasure.
It's been an interesting and stressful few days for us, her and Susie. They have a tenuous friendship right now but seems to be improving daily. We are also working on the housebreaking part which is quite possibly one of the grossest things I've ever dealt with! Attached is a picture of her with Susie and Brian. She is already Susie's size at 6 months, and we think she'll probably double in size once full grown. At least Brian will never have to worry about me going on any walks when I've got her with me!! Jordanians hate dogs and are scared to death of them...even when they are calmly walking by our side on a leash, we encounter pretty ridiculous reactions from neighbors. Oh well, to each their own, and once upon a time I was one of those haters!
Believe that's all for now -- I will be home in March for a beloved cousin's wedding and I couldn't be more excited to head back to wonderful USA for a few weeks! Chipotle will be my first stop...if you know me at all, you know this is pretty obvious.
Happy New Year!
