So keeping up with this blogging business is not easy, especially when I’m working off of a stolen wireless connection courtesy of the people living downstairs (Thank you Haddad family).  This is also the reason why I have no photos for you yet. Trying to make a facebook album nearly left my sister and I in tears after the uploader thing made us wait like an hour and then informed us our upload had failed.  I’m thinking about running up the road to the good ‘ole internet café and trying again, but the place is usually filled with clouds of cigarette smoke that make me a wee bit queezy.

Anywho, I’ve been in Amman, Jordan for almost two weeks but it feels more like two months.  I love this city, but it’s not the most exciting place, especially since I’ve been here a bunch of times already and have done all of the touristy things (Petra, Jerash, Mecca Mall). But there is a list things I look forward doing here every time I visit.  Now most of these are related to eating, but if you know me at all this should come as no surprise. 

1. Chicken Tikka- This is supposed to be an Indian dish but for some reason, I’ve only ever eaten it in Jordan. Tastes amazing with fried bread and garlic
2. Fruit Cocktails in downtown Amman- fresh fruit juice made at little stands on the street. Cleanliness…questionable. Tastiness… incomparable.
3. Turkish bath- I did this for the first time last year and it was awesome. You sit in a sauna and drink iced hibiscus tea followed by soaking in a hot tub until it’s your turn to sit on a hot slab of rock for a massage and a scrub down. The place looks like a big, steamy cave so it’s kind of like an old world spa experience.
4. Weather- Rain doesn’t exist and the perfect breeze is usually blowing.
5. Hummus/Falafel- No matter how many places in Austin have them, it will never taste as good as it does here.  Kismet café needs to get it together.

I could keep going with this, but these are pretty much the top 5 aside from seeing family which is our main motivation for being here anyway.  My aunt and uncle who live on the first floor of our building are basically the funniest people ever and I’m glad I get to see them everyday.

I’m not going to lie though, I’m ready to be in Spain. Two more weeks! More updates soon and hopefully photos!

So it’s 6 am and we’re all awake in our hotel room at the Atlantis Palm in Dubai which is pretty much amazing and the most beautiful thing I have ever seen!

The journey was enjoyable aside from being the only Hussein traveler to be singled out for a special security screening during which I stood barefoot in a holding area while my family laughed at me. Awesome. 

Fourteen hours and two movies later, we were at the Dubai airport which is almost as beautiful as the hotel. I would say the only bad thing about the journey was that Nickelback was on the first thing on the radio on the way to the Palm Island. Gross. 

My goal for the day is to ride the big water slide. Do work.

above photo: taken somewhere in Lebanon on a bus trip last summer

hey girl hey!

So I’ve started this blog to chronicle my summer adventures which are to begin in about a week and a half!  Here is how it shall go… Dubai, UAE–Amman, Jordan–Tripoli, Lebanon–Santander, Spain.  I leave June 8 and will be back August 21.

Until then, I’m living it up in Missouri City (aka Da Mo), which has proven to be pretty adventurous in itself thanks to trespassing at the neighborhood pool with my partner in crime and discovering cool places to hang out in (gasp!) Houston, a city I have always thought of as inherently lame because I grew up here. My goal is to hit up all of my favorite restaurants before I leave (Japaneiro’s, Amazon Grill-check). Interspersed among eating and sun bathing has been family and friend time which I will miss greatly during my 6 weeks of study abroad in Spain.

Stay tuned for funny anecdotes about middle eastern culture and awkward moments with my host family in Spain!