The Children's Museum- Jordan

Well, our weekend trip to Petra got cancelled due to bus issues.  So, today after Hailee's soccer practice we took the kids to The Children's Museum.  What a great museum!  The kids had a blast playing and checking out all the fun exhibits.  We were there for two hours and didn't even make it through all of the fun exhibits.  Bonus- as a teacher, the family and I were given a discount of 1 JD (that's less than 1.50 USD) per person)!  Afterwards we went by the mall to grab some groceries and get a "taste of home".  Options at the mall include KFC, McDonald's, Hardee's, Quizno's, Burger King, Buffalo Wings and Rings, Pizza Hut, and many more.  We love trying new foods from various cultures, but sometimes some good ol' greasy American style fast food is needed :)

The museum was lots of fun.. we'll definitely be visiting again soon!

Auto Museum (Pakistani art), on our way to the Children's Museum

Charlee loved this bee game

making flour

grocery shopping (yes, I told her to stop trying to eat plastic, lol)

camouflage wall

making electricity

space exploration

construction zone

Hailee giving the weather forecast

news reporter

So fun!

working hard for her money ;)

Daddy in jail at the police station exhibit.. haha!

Apartment Living/Weekend Fun

Probably the most difficult part of the transition for the girls is apartment living. Don't get me wrong, they are doing great and they don't complain about it at all.   But, it's  obviously tough to go from living in the great outdoors in Colorado to an apartment in the city.  Can it be done?  Of course!  It just means we have to be creative and do as much outside of the flat (aka apartment) as possible. We do a lot of walking during the evenings and are always out and about on the weekends.

This weekend was no different.  We started the weekend celebrating the birthday of a very dear friend from Brazil  (Brasil is actually the correct spelling).  We got a babysitter for the girls, and it was nice to still be close by- the party was on the rooftop terrace of our building. 

The next day Bill left early for his bike ride. He joined a good friend and the Cycling Jordan group. They rode 80 miles to Al Azraq, and then caught a bus back to Amman. To say he loves his rides would be an understatement.  He's gotten to meet some great people, and what a great way to take in a new country. The sights he gets to see are pretty phenomenal!

















While he was gone on his bike ride, I decided to take the girls to a soccer complex that was hosting "Fun Friday". The girls had such a great time!  When we arrived they went straight to face painting, where the lady not only painted their faces put also painted their nails, and put those colored hair pieces in their hair.  They then were able to enjoy bouncy houses, soccer, and much more. Lots of smiles and laughter :)
























Today, we went out for breakfast and after Bill took Hailee to soccer practice, we went to the Embassy Bazaar with a friend.  Inside each embassy had a booth set up with authentic products from their country, and outside each country represented had a food booth. There was so much to choose from, but both Bill and I went with sausage sandwiches from the Netherlands. The girls?  They were so excited to get All-American Beef hot dogs, lol. We had fun chatting with the ladies working the booth, one of which was from Colorado! 

Sometimes keeping busy is hard work.. but, it's a heck of a lot of fun!!!

We're bacckkkkk!!!

We're back!  Honestly, I have a really good excuse this time for my delay in blog posts.  Bill found us a much better internet provider today, but lately we have had horrible internet service! Imagine it is the year 1996. Dial up internet. Except worse.  Seriously.  I timed a Facebook post the other night and it took 18 minutes. Insane!  So you can see why there was no way in BLEEP I was going to attempt a blog post.

This may also have contributed to why I had such a rough couple days last week.  It started with a few text messages received early morning from various family members. You know the type..I miss you, I miss the girls, etc.  Followed by a stressful day at work.  Followed by hearing from expat friends about families and friends coming to visit and realizing that the likelihood of our family coming to visit is slim to none.  All of this combined with the fact that I couldn't Skype or Facetime anyone back home b/c of our crappy internet made for a difficult end to the week. In fact, I am sure it was the feeling of being cut off from the family and not being able to be in touch when I needed to be.  We are somewhat used to being away from the family for long durations of time. There were multiple years where we were the only ones living in Colorado (Bill's son and family are there now) and we only got home to see our CA family once, at most twice a year.  However, if I really needed to get home I could jump on a plane and be there in a matter of hours.  Whatever the case, I've moved past this, and although I still miss the family and friends back home, we know we will truly appreciate and value the time we will have together this summer. Errr... after touring Europe, spending a few days in New York, and.. you get the picture ;-)

So, what's going on here in Jordan? We are settling in. Getting used to being here, and are starting to get routines in place.  Also planning some fun trips,because as you may remember it is our dream to see the world and share it with the girls.  Next weekend we will be visiting some of the Jordan tourist sites through the awesome efforts of the social committee at school.  We are headed to Aqaba, Wadi Rum, and Petra- oh, and camping overnight.  Should be quite the adventure!

The following week is the Eid holiday. We are off to the island of Cyprus for 5 days/4 nights, again organized through the school social committee. A fantastic price we just couldn't pass up! Looking forward to some beach and pool time.. relaxation! We are also planning our Christmas break trip- Italy to celebrate our 10 year anniversary! So excited about all that we have coming up. The other day I was thinking about my childhood, and how different my kid's childhoods are.  The first time I left the state of CA I was 17 and that was only to nearby Nevada.  By December, Hailee will have visited 5 countries, and Charlee 4. Who would've thought??

To end this post, I thought I'd mention a few differences (the not so obvious ones b/c obviously there are differences living in another country and different culture)

-8.10.12 is October 8, 2012 not August 10, 2012

-Metric system (Seriously America, why do we have to be so difficult?  Everyone else in the world uses metric. Why again do we use two systems??).  My issue is I used it so rarely in the states I have to train my brain to 'think' in metric. 

-When women greet each other, we kiss on both cheeks.  Guys often do the same.

- Driving is crazy. I'm not even sure why there are lines painted on the roads because no one actually uses them. Oh, and honking.  Everyone honks, all the time. No really-all. the. time.  Just to let you know they are there?  

-Most stores other than grocery are closed until 2 on Fridays b/c of Friday prayer. (Great time to do grocery shopping)

- Candy and soda- cheap!!  (not great news for weight loss, but definitely for the wallet) Still trying to figure out why I can buy 3 Snickers for less than 1 USD.  Same with soda.  It really doesn't make any sense.

-Delivery. Almost everyone delivers.  You can have McDonalds, KFC, full course dinners, dessert, even breakfast delivered. Quite nice for those nights when you just don't feel like cooking!  

- Utilities bills and cell phone coverage is also pretty cheap.. compared to what I paid in the states.  I prepay our cell phones.  Grand total of my cell phone this month, 10 JD, less than 15 USD and I had minutes left over.

- Butt sprayer.  I don't know the official name for it, but you know what I'm talking about and I still find it very awkward.  We have them at work, and we are supposed to throw the toilet paper we use in the trash, so that means you really need to use this foreign, strange contraption.. and well, I'm going to leave it at that, lol.

- I lost 1 kilo last week (2.2 lbs). Despite the ice cream and snickers I ate over the weekend.  Brilliant!  (a word I use quite frequently now.. I blame it on my British colleagues ;)

Also, send us mail!!  It would be fantastic to walk in to work and have mail from family and friends back home. Postcards, cards, pictures would be fab, anything really. We just want to hear from you...and love getting 'snail' mail. Seriously, go write us a letter. 

Amy Nelson & Family
International Academy- Amman
PO Box 144255 Amman 11814 Jordan

We'll be waiting for that letter ;-)