Same difference

Brett really doesn’t like that saying, but it seemed to fit so I'm going to leave it. Obviously Brett and I made it here to Jordan ok (even though the journey is WAY gross) so here are some things that I’ve learned so far:
1. Deodorant is optional.
2. The "no cuts, no butts" rule means nothing to these people. While lines have helped people navigate Disneyland, bathrooms, and pretty much anything with a crowd, they have no place here. People more or less gather in crowds, and they’ll cut in front of you without any warning.
3. Smoking is enjoyed by everyone and prohibited nowhere.
4. Did I mention that lines mean nothing? Well, this goes for the roads too. People drive where they feel like. Those white lines on the road are strictly decoration.
5. If you are driving a car, you are honking a horn. While in America we mainly use the horn when we think some “idiot” on the road has done something wrong, people in Jordan use it for any and every reason. I think this is what they use in place of the lines on the road. They honk to let other cars know they’re there.
6. If you are a white woman, you will be gawked at.
7. Jordanian hotel rooms don’t come with a Holy Bible. (Weird, I know.)
Those are some things I’ve picked up on so far. I’ll make sure to keep up on my findings.



There are a bunch of BYU students here studying Arabic and we met up with one of the couples today. The girl told us a story about how she almost died (literally) from eating something in Syria. That really made me nervous. But, she gave us some great tips on buying and preparing food, so that’s good. We also went to the mall today. (That’s right. There are actually 2 malls here). They had quite a few American stores and a movie theater with American movies. In addition to the american stores and movies there are American restaurants here like Applebee’s, KFC, Carl’s Jr., Popeye’s Chicken, Pizza Hut, Fuddrucker’s, and some others. So although there are a lot of weird things going on here, there are some things that make it less weird.



As far clothing goes, a lot of the women wear the head scarf, but there are a lot that don't. I've seen women wearing Burqa's covering their whole body with small slits for their eyes and gloves covering their hands and I've seen women in jeans and a t-shirt.



Brett is loving his internship. He is going to be doing a presentation about security cooperation between the U.S. and Jordan to some students from Tufts University next week. His boss is really nice and a lot of people have complimented him on his Arabic.


I guess that’s all for now. I haven’t taken any pictures yet (sorry), but when I do I will post them on here.