They can’t touch me!

I love running and I have since I was a little kid. It’s just the way I am. Well, partly due to the fact that my dad loves running too. So, as I have explained before, people don’t run outside here in Jordan, especially women, and so I have been running on a treadmill or elliptical for the extent of my time here (it sucks sometimes…okay, always!). Well, the other week I got a chance to take a drive to the desert with a friend and I asked him to drop me off, measure 10 km (about 6 miles), and pick me up at the end. Let me tell you, running through the desert is probably one of the coolest things that I have ever done. Literally, you are just pure running with nothing around you and just the wind and sun on your face and your ear buds in your ear, you literally embody every song that comes on. For me, the last song that came on, and at this point I was absolutely dying (running in the desert will do that to you), was O Saya. For those of you that have watched Slumdog Millionare (it’s a movie), you will know exactly what I am talking about. There are some words to it, but it is the sounds and the beat that really drives you. And, to run through the desert, and finish to that song just full on sprinting, arms out, as I saw my friends car in the distance was like something out of a dream! For those of you that run, if you ever get the chance to run in the desert, even if for only one mile, do it. And, when you do it, don’t listen to top 40 songs, listen to songs like O Saya, or songs with amazing beats like African tribal songs. It’s the feeling that counts and honestly, you will have the best run of your life!

Here’s the link!

“No more malfouf!”

As many of you know, I have a live-in maid here in Jordan. Well, this has been something that is incredibly interesting and sometimes difficult to navigate because she speaks no English and very limited Arabic. However, be that as it may, we have become somewhat of friends (secretly of course) because it has come to my attention that she really detests my host sister, who orders her around, and feels a bit of the same way towards my host mother as well. Talk about an awkward situation right? Anyway, so as I have been living in Jordan for over two months now, I have tried a lot of different food and loved it all, well, almost all of it. I hate malfouf. Let me explain to you what malfouf is: stuffed (with rice) cabbage leaves dipped in lemon. Everyone loves them, except me and my maid. So, I come home from an extremely long day this past week only to find that my mother has laid out a dinner plate for me (this is common) and it is packed full with malfouf. Mind you, when you eat malfouf, you eat at least like 15 so you can imagine my disgust. However, telling anyone, especially your host mother, that you do not like something that they have maid is a big “no no” because, it doesn’t come off that you don’t like the actual food that they have prepared, but that you don’t like their cooking. So, you can see my predicament. I dutifully heated up the malfouf in the microwave, both mine and the maids, and we sat down at the table to eat. I’m telling you I was ready to die. However, because of my alliance and new friendship, we devised a plan. She would cough or do something to distract my mother as I quickly slipped the malfouf under the table into a waiting bag. We did this for both of our plates and only ended up eating around 4 each. All I can say is, we must have looked so freaking funny because we were desperate not to eat the malfouf so were becoming quite creative with our distractions as the dinner went on! Basically, all in all, we escaped most of the malfouf and ended up sneaking back into the kitchen later that night to make grilled cheese sandwiches!

 

 

Oh the places you’ll go!

“Gym Dynamic”

As I mentioned in a few earlier posts, I joined a gym here in Amman because people don’t really run outside and especially not women. Since I signed up at the gym I have gone nearly everyday after classes and honestly it is just a big sigh of relief to be able to work out while I’m here. Today, however, I went to the gym right after I woke up and ate breakfast, so around 12 PM, and I was faced with a completely different dynamic. There were only women there. Now, when I first signed up for the gym, I was told that it was women only from 6 AM-1 PM everyday and then co-ed after that. But, being as I never went before 1 PM, it never really crossed my mind except today when I went into the gym and saw my first ever Jordanian woman in shorts! Of course they were not like short American shorts, but it was a start! So I decided to go for a run on the treadmill and such, following my personal trainer’s instructions for the day (which is free in Jordan, pretty snazzy!), and then a little while later a woman walks up and says to me in Arabic, “It is 5 minutes to 1 PM.” Now, me being in my own little world at this point and on an adrenaline high, I respond with, “Oh yeah? Is the world going to end then?” Yeah…you can imagine that joking and sarcasm doesn’t translate well because she just stood and looked at me, dumbfounded and mouth agape for a moment before she quickly explained that the men were about to be let into the gym space and if I would be more comfortable leaving, I should do so now. Yup I get the idiot award for the day. Furthermore, as if I hadn’t made enough of a fool of myself at the gym that day, after working out and showering I proceeded to walk back to my locker dressed in a towel when the locker room girl (I have no idea what to call her besides this because all she does is monitor the locker room and see if we need anything) told me that there were changing rooms over in the corner that I could use to change to which I responded, um…I’m American, we just show it all…yup, I was on a roll today. Thank god one of the female personal trainers was in the room and just burst out laughing at this point and eased the awkward silence that I’m sure would have ensued!

“Walking Group”

So, I have found that getting close to my host family in such a short period of time is extremely advantageous! It turns out that my host uncle is one of the leaders of a walking group in Amman that basically walks between 7-9 km (about 4-6 miles) three times a week and basically you get to see the sights of Amman while exercising and meeting new people. It was amazing! I went today with a few of the girls from our college group and we had a blast just walking around Amman, today it was around Abdun (a wealthier part of Amman) and we got to wear our signature yellow (reflective) vests! We’ve decided that we are going to try to walk with them every week in order to get in hiking shape for all of our hiking excursions over mid-semester and spring break!

Running down a dream!

The best part of my day: going for a run!

If you are a runner, you will completely understand this next part. I have now been in Amman for about a week and a half or so and with all the chaos and confusion, I have not had time to work out. As I mentioned before, it is quite difficult to work out in Amman because it is not okay for women to run outside. Anyway, I went to the gym today, got on the treadmill and literally ran away all of my problems. I have not fully worked out in about a month, but the next time that I looked down at the dashboard on my treadmill, I’d been running for an hour and a half! Let me just remind you that women have to be fully covered at the gym so I was literally dripping in sweat! But, it was the best run of my life. As a runner, these are the kind of runs that happen once in a very long time. My conclusion, I need to work out more. I was bouncing with each step that I took walking back to my house (yes, cliché and corny I know, but also very true).