Eid, Camel sacrifices, and more!!!

Eid was fun. A bunch of us went down to Petra and chilled out, hiked a bit, ate some pizza, enjoyed the luxury of the Movenpick (just for a meal and ice cream, can't afford anything else), and watched animals be sold and taken to slaughter. Josh had a nice video feed of a camel being slaughtered (the norm is a goat or sheep, camels are expensive), and I am still recovering! They slashed its neck with a big knife, slitting its windpipe, then proceeded to hack off its neck....the noises that a camel makes when its being killed will haunt me forever.
It's cold in Safi. COLD! I'm wearing a JACKET. This wasn't supposed to happen here. Not at 1500+ feet below sea level. In the desert. Arg.
I put up new curtains in my front room. Now my neighbors can't watch me as I move from room to room. I can also excericize in my front room, which is much better. I love my daily workout!! I feel great, I'm slowly losing the fat, and I have an excuse to shower every day! But I don't, cause Jordan has a water shortage.
I just saw a picture of Majeda's fiancee, whom she has met only once, for about two hours. He's actually not bad looking. And he's not as old as I thought he'd be. In fact, he's probably not much older than Majeda. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. I read in Vanity Fair (I love VF!) that its a Islamic practice for men to marry the spinsters in their family (Majeda is marrying her cousin. It's normal here. Yes, that's a first cousins. It's totally normal). And at well over 32, Majeda is definitely considered a spinster.
I met with the Special Education School this morning. They're apparently getting a PCV next fall and are soooo excited. I hope the PC pulls through for them. They're looking for a house (if it's a boy, cause a girl can just live with me) already, they asked if I knew any details, and I, of course, am without details.
I also met the reps from Habitat for Humanity. It's been a big morning. I was invited to partake in a women's health conference/workshop thing later this month, too. Very exciting.
Oh, and there is a herd of goats in my volleyball court.
Damn those goats!!!
They are cute, though.

The BBC did a program on bluegrass music a few days ago. It was awesome.

My fingers are numb.

The embassies are still closed.

No attacks yet!!

Majeda's family killed their goat that I named Winston. (After Mr. Churchill) And ate him. Made him into Maglooba. Poor Winston.

I'm thinking about returning to vegetarianism.

I think the lady who runs this center is trying to get me to leave, but I'm pretending not to understand. Actually, I don't need to pretend. I don't understand her. My friend Andi read a good quote about the Middle East in a book recently: "The great and only comfort about being a woman here is that one can always pretend to be more stupid than one is and no one is surprised." I should find the author of that.

I'm currently reading Irving's "A Widow For One Year," and it's amazing. Thanks mom.

Random foreign Jordanian just walked in. Acted like he knew me. (by foreign I mean he is obviously not from Safi, by appearance and dress and accent) Weird.

Oh, if anyone's wondering, none of the Jordanians I've spoken with seem to care much at all about Iran's nuclear plans.

They are very concerned about the price of cigarettes, though. They just raised the price from 85 cents to JD1.10. Craziness.

Ok, I think that's all the nonsense I can type for the day.

Thanks for all the emails!! It was especially nice to hear from Brian, Jonna and my sister. Sorry I didn't get any replies off, I promise I will next time I'm online!