There, Somewhere Else, then Back Again

In the time since my previous update, I have had an incredible amount of adventure (of course, recorded through my precious Nikon D80). On April 10^th, I made my way to Jordan, to visit my family on my mother's side. This was the first time I had met any of them. This was an interesting experiment in nature vs nurture--although some behaviours I had learned from my mother would be mirrored by her siblings, cousins, nieces, and nephews, nothing prepared me for the extent to which I am similar to my family. One aunt in particular is so incredibly similar to me that I have decided I must be her clone.

On to a pictographic narration!

	A display of Jordanian English (source: Queen Alia Airport)
	The levels of a mall in the vicinity of my aunt's house
	One of my cousins' wife and two of their six children
	The bunny (Ernoubi) that I fell in love with and an aunt-in-law!
	Delicious food (makluba) one of my cousins made
	Mmm... almonds
	Two of my uncles with very characteristic facial expressions
	Kuku the parrot, who speaks only when being ignored, and who dances when I whistle at him
	Another uncle talking to my mother on the phone
	Crazy landscapes seen while driving to the Dead Sea
	And more...
	A camel at the dead sea
	Sunlight at the Dead Sea
	One of my cousins at the Dead Sea
	Me, having fallen into the Dead Sea
	Skin-healing mud at the Dead Sea
	All this is the Dead Sea
	A pond(?) above Istanbul
	Mountains above Switzerland
	Some random person's farm. I should let them know I took a picture of their place...
	Pretty airplane shadow!

Anyway, that was a fun trip. I was really happy to see my relatives and be in an Arabic-speaking country for once. I think I really improved my Arabic during the time as well as became connected with a family from which I had been alienated for 21 years. They were so generous and so incredibly kind to me. I haven't received so many gifts in my life--everything from clothes and make-up to not-so-inexpensive jewellery. They even plucked my eyebrows and my aunties cooked me the most delicious food I've had in my life. God, I would kill for some of those pickles...

I had a really horrible experience upon returning, however. While packing, I checked my ticket, which said I was allowed 2 pieces of luggage of 20 kg each. However, when I arrived at the Queen Ali'a Airport, the people behind the ticket counter said I was only allowed one piece of luggage and that I had to pay $250 (approximately 300 franks including the airport's monetary conversion fees) in overage charges. After lots of pleading, crying, and stuff, they didn't budge, and I had to give them the money. Also, when I arrived in Switzerland, they had broken the handle off my new piece of luggage. That was a huge mar on my trip, but overall I was really happy to go to Jordan.

And getting back into normal life, this is what I cooked today:




That is all for now.

Love,
Asma

Homesickness, Mark II

I just got back from Boston, and I'm feeling down in the dumps again. Chocolate covered coffee beans do help, but it's too late at night and I'm ill. I haven't managed to do my homework for tomorrow yet. I don't think I'm going to finish it in time. My visit to Boston went really well. I was toured around Boston University, and I'm pretty psyched to go there for graduate school. I'm also really looking forward to living with my brother in August. I really miss him a lot. He introduced me to “Munchkin” while I was down there, which is a pretty awesome card game, similar to D&D without the role-playing or storyline. He also bought me a yomega x-brain yoyo (four-clutch), and him and my sister treated me to a haircut and a burger. And now... I'm all alone in my messy room. Just sitting here, not doing anything important, not accomplishing anything, just being a massively depressed loser.