Wadi Rum

Our guide, Sallam, writing our names in Arabic in the sand, the red dessert, camels at sunset, the bridge.

Wadi Rum is where Lawrence of Arabia lived. The contrast in the rocks and dessert is amazing. We spent the day with our guide touring the area by jeep. In the evening we camped in a Bedouin camp. It was a great cultural experience!

Arab Woman Today Networking Conference

This week was the annual networking conference held by Arab Woman Today ministries. This years conference was titled Prosperous Women Promoting Progress. The main topic was about the social welfare of women in the Middle East and North Africa. Because of school I was only able to attend the first evening and last afternoon. I was blessed to be able to hear about these women's ministries in their countries. The women were from Sudan, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Iraq.

The first picture is Julianna. She is my "across the hall" neighbor. She sings with a Christian group and led the worship the first evening. The next photo is Ruba, director of Arab Woman Today.

Taxi Driver

I found a taxi diver that will pick me up every morning and take me to school. His name is Mousa. He is very kind and not too intrusive into my life. But since he takes me to school everyday, we have started conversing a little bit. He always asks if it is OK for him to ask me questions and he gives me the option not to answer if I don't want to, which is nice. He had a fender bender while taking me to school yesterday. It was pouring rain and he had to get me another taxi (which is very hard in the rain!) and he was late for a meeting he had at the University. I now have the opportunity to tell him that I prayed for him after the accident, so maybe it will open up spiritual conversations. He has a degree in computer science and is looking for that type of work.

I have started a collection of candy that taxi drivers give me. I'm not sure why they give me candy, but yesterday I got a whole chocolate bar! This is not good for my figure!

Snow Day!!!

In the mornings I set my alarm for 1 hour before I have to start getting dressed in order to turn on the heat to the water so that I can have a hot shower. Rather than staying up and having my quiet time or exercising, I reset my alarm and go back to sleep. Sometimes, the heat does not come on and the building janitor has to flip the switch to the boiler in the basement, but it still takes about 45 minutes to heat. Today was one such morning, so I had a quick cold shower and got ready for school. My taxi driver called and said he was not coming because it was snowing outside. I opened my blinds and it was snowing....hard! So we have a snow day from school. Amman is like Texas, if it is snowing, everything shuts down! So I went up to the roof, took these pictures, had the janitor flip the switch to my boiler to warm up my place a little and prepare to study for the day.