New apartment....calls for a housewarming party! "SPLASH!"

After being in Jordan for a total of 4 months and living in 3 different apartments, I have now moved into apt #4. This living situation is quite bejenin though!

I am living on the other side of Yarmouk, which is quieter, but now I am much closer to the bus station I take to work. Instead of cabbing it there daily, I can save the 75 piasters and walk. I also enjoy my neighbors. They have 5 or 6 kids who are always out and about playing football, a very friendly family.

Oh and no more curfew. I can stay out until the weeeee hours of the night, if I please. Not that I will have anything exciting to do besides drink coffee, but you know it's the principle of the matter.

I am living with my friend Michael a fellow American (pictured above). He's originally from Ohio, but has been living in NYC and France for the last few years. Kiteer bejenin! Hhaha He is working at the Irbid Chamber of Commerce, financed through USAID, explanation for how we met, at a USAID event at my college of course. We are also taking Arabic classes together.

Hoping that we will motivate each other to study more and speak Arabic around the house, insha'allah.

In the new place I have a nice BIG kitchen with a connected living/dining room. We both have our own "master" bedrooms, with king size beds and we each have our own full bathrooms. Yeah I know ballin'! We will be featured on an episode of MTV Arabia Cribs soon. I hope they don't mind that my room is both a bedroom and atrium, ha.

Last weekend we had a housewarming party to commemorate our union in this flat. The best part was that this party was the perfect reason to invite all our friends from Amman up to Irbid.

We had a healthy turnout of guests both "Ammaneys" and "Irbidaweys" which made for an interesting and entertaining mix. Most transportation to and from Irbid ends at 7pm, so the majority of our guests stayed the night, thus turning our flat into a hostel. People were sleeping on every flat surface of the place -- beds, couches, chairs, and the floors. Wish I had a picture of that. We even ran out of water from having the toilet flushed about 100 times in one night, ha!















The morning after, we yellahed on a mezza for breakfast. The weather was so nice that we ate outside on our porch.

Khalas, so happy in my new place! I think Michael and I will make a good team. And it's decided, we will have to open up the hostel for business at least once a month!