Time for An Update

Evidently this blog serves as a great antidote to insomnia. Tonight my sister said, "You need to update your blog. It's what I read when I'm up late at night. " Oh. Well, then. Please let me put you to sleep with more tales of my post-college bumming.

No, wait. Let me put you to sleep with a defense of my post-college bumming. I have talked a lot on here about my what I don't do and it seems to have left at least one reader with the impression that I really don't do anything. Um, Hello, At Least One Reader, did you miss this post? Yeah, it appears you did. I am busy these days!

I mean, when was the last time updated? Yeah. I can't even answer that because I have been so absorbed in My Life and Doing Stuff that I haven't even thought of this poor little blog.

In case you care, this is what I have been up to the last several weeks:

Dubai.



Beach parties (in Dubai).


I don't have pictures from the second beach party. Hm.

Wandering around Dubai. Bur Dubai, to be more specific. Here's a cool sign I found:


Big prize for anyone who can tell me what the heck that center-right picture means.

Going to malls (in Dubai). Like Dubai Mall:





Dating a Brazilian of exceeding hotness (in Dubai).
















Hah! And you were expecting a picture.


Spending money in Dubai:


Taken from the Metro. Oh, Metro, one day I will devote a post or two solely to your lovely presence. If only the taxis between Dubai and Sharjah were as cost-effective as you.


Transcribing interviews for one of my former professors.
No pictures of this, obviously.

Socializing like a freakin fiend.
(Totally have photo evidence, but completely out of hard drive space to prove it.)

And, most time-consumingly, planning out my future. Suddenly the What To Do fog is clearing and I am gearing up to Move The Heck On. Probably to Jordan.
Hey! Speaking of Jordan! I found a blog! But I think I've posted it before. Ah well. I shall post anyway because it is one of the few happy things I wrote while in Amman:


Today was a good day.

It started last night at 11 PM when, after a long and tiring day battling the city, I fell asleep. I woke up this morning shortly before 9, but lay in bed dozing for another hour.

Class was a little boring, but I love my teacher, the challenge of the language, and my group members. So, overall, not so bad.

I then spent a good deal of time on Facebook and successfully uploaded 15 pictures. YES.

I also sent off my CV to the Amideast office in Muscat, where I hope to be teaching English this fall. And learning to scuba dive, and eating lots of Omani food.

But then, while waiting for an empty cab to pass by, this Jordanian guy did instead. Not even my threat to call the police could get him to stop tailing me, so I ducked into a store and spent a dinar on cookies. Hey, getting chased takes a lot of you. Especially when it’s the fourth time in a week.

I felt better again when I got to the mall. The grocery store there was amazing. So amazing I nearly cried.

When I got home, I cooked myself the best meal I’ve had all month. I’m so glad my dad taught me how to sauté onions.

This evening I watched Rachel Ray, and then turned to MTV and watched True Life, Punk’d, and this show I’d never heard of called Taquita and Kaui.

And now I’m here in the comfort of my living room, the fan keeping me cool and the incessant booming of fireworks and honks of carhorns indicating the celebrations taking place all over the city.

I haven’t written much about my daily life in Amman because the few times I’ve sat down to write, all that’s come out of me are bitter observations about crappy internet and creepy men. And those are not the things I enjoy writing about. I already have those documented in emails and vivid memories. Here, I want to talk about how today brought another clear blue sky and more kind taxi drivers.
That I haven’t seen the cockroach in 3 whole days!
That I have a bag of Turkish raisins on my table.
And that tomorrow is the start of a weekend.

Maybe Sunday I’ll have an upbeat post about life in Amman. Right now, I’m just going to savor it.


Did I ever tell you about that cockroach? Or, it turns out, those THREE cockroaches? Well, there was a cockroach that used to spend its nights roaming our kitchen countertops. My roommate got hold of some poison and charged me with the task of ending its nighttime jaunts. I guess if you're fearless enough to flip off Jordanian men in SUVs, you can handle a cockroach. It's not like he's going to chase you down the street. I mean, he's already in your kitchen. Several days later, I still hadn't seen the little bugger (*whew* I really hate killing things, especially cockroaches. Men In Black will do that to you.). And then one afternoon, I awoke to a vile smell and a cockroach lying on its back beneath one of the dining room chairs.

Roommate:Hey, uh, would you mind cleaning that up? I don't want to touch it.

Oh goody! Because I can't wait!

Uh, sure. Thanks for killing him. But, uh, why is he in the dining room?

Roommate: I got a little carried away in the kitchen and I guess the fumes got this guy too.

Too?!

Turns out, it actually got THREE. Two in the kitchen (one she didn't see because it was under the cupboards) and the third in the dining room.

Yeah, so, cockroaches, Jordanian men--I can handle anything. Even dirty skeezy good-for-nothing pond-scum human traffickers. Yep. I hope to be doing an internship with the IOM helping victims of trafficking. I haven't even applied yet so I am totally jumping the gun BUT...no--wait. No but. Just jumping the gun with my fingers crossed.

Oh yeah, and I didn't even mention my 6 AM workout class. THREE TIMES A WEEK. Yeah. And also, that I haven't been hooked on a TV show in a whole MONTH, nor have I read any books. I just got Catching Fire and have not opened it because I have transcribing to do and a cover letter to write. Take THAT, post-college bumming!

So there you have it. A solid defense, complete with visual aids.

If you are still awake, I hope you are very impressed.