Pencils Down

I took my final exam yesterday and it went very well. I feel that I've learned a great deal of Arabic this term, but my brain has been reduced to mush and I am very happy to be at the beginning of a three week break. We just moved into a new apartment yesterday and we are slowly unpacking and settling into our new home. The last place was great. The apartment itself was very nice and the handyman was very friendly and helpful. I really can't say enough about how great he was. The main issue was noise. Waking up from a dead sleep to loud, unexplicable banging sounds was not a regular occurrence, but happened frequently enough to be quite annoying.

The area we have moved to is called Jebel Al-Webdeh. Amman was originally built on seven hills and Jebel Al-Webdeh is one of them. The surrounding hills are a bit higher and shelter us from some of the cold winds, making it a few degrees warmer than our last place. Our new neighborhood is older and quieter, which is nice for someone who enjoys studying and sleeping. It is only a twenty minute walk to downtown. Downtown or the Balad as it's known here is super busy, but a great place to buy just about anything and is also home to a number of good restaurants, cafes, and the post office. It's also a great place to people watch!

We are planning to take a week long trip to Syria beginning Thursday morning. Our great friend Derar has put us in touch with one of his friends who will be helping us while we are in Damascus and his family will be able to help us out while we are in Aleppo. We feel very lucky to have such a great friend who can help us out like this. I am very excited and curious to see what Syria is like and looking forward to meeting and speaking with new people. Hopefully they will be as kind and patient as the people here in Jordan.

We plan to come back in time to spend Christmas here and explore our new neighborhood. We look forward to speaking with loved ones via Skype on Christmas.