We're Here!

After long hours of traveling, we have arrived in Amman. We are staying at a nice hotel; it is a Howard Johnson. Amman looks nicer than Cairo so far, and the Fulbright office said they have an apartment in mind for us. So, on Sunday we'll start orientation and learn everything we need to know :) Some exciting news for us is that a couple that we know from U of A and Glorietta will also be in Amman while we're here. They are also studying Arabic at the same university as Jason. We'll have friends! I'll update more when we get a chance.

We're in Tucson!

We just arrived in Tucson last night, to see family/friends and get winter clothes out of storage. Kyle's first birthday party was this morning, and it was a lot of fun. Ellie's face lit up when she first saw Kyle, and it was neat to see him walking around. I won the "guess how many cheerios are in the bottle" game. :) Jason and I just went to our storage unit to get clothes and various other things out. Since it is jam-packed with stuff, we ended up just grabbing what we could get at, so not everything we wanted was obtainable. Luckily a lot of our clothes were in the front. We'll just have to buy whatever else we need.

We'll be here until Tuesday, and hopefully we can see everyone!

Trip to Tucson

Plans have changed, we will be coming up to Tucson the weekend of the 26th instead. Which means, we can go to Kyle's first birthday party! Also, we are flying out of Phoenix, so it means less driving for us, since we will not be returning to Havasu. So, we hope to see everyone then :)

Disneyland pics

Ellie with her Mickey Mouse glasses
Bryson (What a smile!)
Cousins on the carousel

Pictures from Egypt!!

Us at the pyramids
Ellie eating an ice cream cone ON the ice cream cart
Our friends from the drink store next to the hotel

The Happiest Place on Earth

We arrived in Phoenix safely on Saturday; only to leave on Sunday to go to Disneyland. What a culture change!! Although exhausting (hello jet lag!), it was a lot of fun. It was quality family time, especially with the Porters; Jason finally met our nephew Bryson (or Isis as Ellie calls him). We'll be in Arizona for 3 weeks more!

Here We Come!

We leave in the morning to fly back to Arizona. The last week has really flown by. The hotel staff is really sad to see Ellie go (they don't really care about Jason and I). This place has become like our home and although we are very ready to return to the US, we are a little sad to leave. Our life here has been very relaxed, no real responsibilities, besides Jason showing up for class. Jason and I play cards together every night since we don't have a television, and that has been a nice change. But, we are ready to see our friends and family.

We are planning on coming to Tucson around August 19th (so Nichole, don't come to Havasu that weekend). Hopefully we can see everyone then. Email me or post a comment if you want to be included in the tour :)

The top 10 ways you know you are in Cairo

10. Everyone else in the restaurant is smoking, but no one is drinking alcohal

9. You enter a shop to buy a pair of shoes, and you end up sitting and drinking their cup of tea

8. You start hording small bills as you need them for taxi fares ("Sorry, no change. I'll just take your 20.")

7. Your teacher tells you that a favorite sport in Cairo is "Chasing after the bus"

6. Every taxi that comes across you walking down the street stops and honks until you wave them away

5. Every building has about 25 satelite dishes on the roof

4. People follow you down the street trying to sell you cherries/mint/limes/kleenex/flowers

3. Crossing the street is like a game of frogger

2. You tell time by the calls to prayer (oh, there he goes... time for Ellie to go to bed!)

1. It is almost 100 degrees out and everyone is wearing long sleeves and pants!