29 May

Same stuff, different day.

Culture/Languages Notes:

• The Arabic Language can be very flowery with greetings and expressions. For example, saying hello. Most of the time I hear a simple "marHaba", which can be responded with "marHaba", "marHabtein" (literally two "marHaba"), "maraaHib (many "marHaba"), or "ahlein", depending on what kind of person you are. Muslims often greet each other with "As-salaamu 3aleikum" (peace be upon you), which is responded with "wa 3aleikum us-salaam" (and upon you, peace). However you CAN respond "wa 3aleikum us-salaam wa raHmatullahi wa barakaatuh" (and upon you, peace and mercy of God and His blessings) if you're so inclined.
• Another example is saying good morning. The simple and common way is "SabaaH al-xeir" (good morning) which is responded with "SabaaH an-nuur" (bright morning). You could say "SabaaH al-wurd" ([have a] morning of flowers), or perhaps "SabaaH al-xeiraat wal-leiraat" ([have a] morning of goodness and money). If you're particularly religious you can say "SabbaHakum Allah bil-xeir" (God has brightened you with goodness) and respond with "Allah yuSabbiHuka bi-anwar in-nabbi" (God brightens you with the lights of the Prophet).
• Also there's expressions in many different situations. When someone goes to sleep or wakes up there's specific expressions and responses. When people spoke of eating or are eating, or when someone is sick or tired, there's expressions ("you're sick? salaamtak"\"Allah yasalmak"). When entering a home, preparing to leave a home, actually leaving a home, when traveling and returning from travel, when someone just got a haircut or showered, etc.
• Building floors/levels are counted differently here. Here, the floor in which you enter is either the 1st floor or the Ground Floor, and the floor above is either the 2nd floor or the 1st floor.
• Water conservation is an issue when living in Jordan. After all, this country is the 3rd most water scarce in the world, and the refugees haven't exactly helped. As a result, each apartment and building has a water ration allocated each week (although I forgot our ration, we haven't had problems yet). But it means that whenever showering, or washing clothes, or doing dishes, we have to be conscious about how much water we use and for what purposes.

My attempt at making Tabbouleh (without bulghur). I put far too much lemon juice, and that overpowered the taste of literally everything else. Next time: less lemon juice, less parsley, more tomatoes and cucumber.