This has been the week of the malls and learning that Jordanians love malls probably even more than Americans do. Bitool (my Arabic issues class teacher) says that it is sad that the Jordanian people love the mall more than they love museums or cultural things. I know this to be true. The museum of Jordan is free for everyone who goes there right now (it only barely opened and parts are still closed off). We went last Saturday to the Jordan National Museum near downtown Amman and it was completely empty. It is a world class museum with lots of amazing things, but nevertheless, it is completely empty. We were the only people there except for the security and museum staff. It was an awesome place to tour though. The museum moves chronologically through the history of Jordan from very early prehistory to modern times. They have exhibits from ancient Mesopotamia, bedouin tribes, ancient Biblical times, Greek times, Roman times, Islamic times, Byzantine times, and modern times. All they had for modern times was displays of how they do archeological digging mixed with clips from Indiana Jones and Transformers (both have scenes where they show parts of Petra). The prehistory stuff was amazing - they had the oldest human figurine statue-like things that have even been discovered. Then, there was lots of pottery, rock drawings, basketry, etc. All that was followed by the metal ages - the age of copper, brass, steel, etc. All with their different weapons, arts, customs, traditions, etc. All the best pictures I could take of my expedition to the museum with a brief description of each are posted on Facebook, so look there if you want a taste of the experience. I could easily have spent days in the museum, but being hungry is a powerful motivation to move through the exhibits quickly.

After leaving the museum, we walked to Wast al-Balad and ate one of the most famous restaurants in all of Jordan - Hashem's. The falafel and the hummus at that place was simply out of this world, there can be no comparison. Also they just brought everything fresh on huge platters so you could pick exactly what you wanted and make sandwiches. I found the best was to stuff pickles, falafel, and tomatoes into pita bread and then dip it into hummus for each and every bite. Picture the best meal ever and times it by quite a bit and you get my experience at Hashem's. I will definitely be going back at some point (when I'm not drowning in homework but more on that later). After eating, we went to the Mecca of all movie stores, Hammouda's. They have everything, and I mean everything (including Work and the Glory - of all things). Their store has three different levels and every nook and cranny is lined with movies and each for like $1.50 or so only. It was like stepping into paradise seeing what I could get there. It is a good thing I don't have buckets of free time (or free space) or I would be bringing home 100's of new additions to my collection. As it is, I will probably be bringing home a fair few (Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain America 2, lots of Disney movies in Arabic, and I will be hunting through the whole store to find Better Off Dead as well). I will find other souvenirs to bring home as well so don't worry about that. But life wouldn't be complete without some extra movies, just saying.

The other "tourist" thing I did this week was to visit many of the malls of Amman. I saw the Muchtar Mall, the Taj Mall (get it?), the City Mall, and the Mecca Mall. Again, Arabs love their malls. They are crowded and bigger than any mall that I have seen in the states - 5 or 6 floors with hundreds of stores or shops or restaurants. Muchtar Mall is a lower middle class mall. It has a Carrefour (a French WalMart type of store) and then every floor is operated by the same company with a different of department per floor. Nothing too great or exciting. City Mall is more of a American middle class mall and I mean American - Papa John's, Burger King, Popeyes, movie theater, etc. And then shops from all over the world - American, Italian, French, Russian, etc. All middle class level though so nothing too fancy so picture a mall full of Aeropostales or American Eagles and there you go. The Taj Mall is the crowning shipping center of Amman. It is the mall of the rich and famous - Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Armani, PF Chang's, fancy French bistros, the classiest of the classy in shops and foods of the world including a 3d imax theater on the top floor. I also had the best churro of my life in this mall - it was filled with Nutella then dipped in dark chocolate a couple times and then drizzled with white and milk chocolate. Delicious beyond compare and also my week's supply of chocolate or sugar. There was also a lovely balcony on the top floor to with a nice view of the city. I was out of my element in that mall, getting one or two things might have blown my entire life's savings. It was a beautiful mall but one that I cannot afford. Mecca Mall was just simply huge. It was the biggest mall I have ever seen in my entire life. It had everything you could ever want in life in one gigantic, behemoth of a building. Put Arizona Mills combined with Superstition Springs combined with Tempe Marketplace and San Tan and you might get close the size of this mall (and it was about 5 or 6 stories at least). So much stuff! I didn't know Jordanians loved shopping so much, I had no idea. But they might even beat out America for that fact of life.

Speaking about America, with yesterday being 9/11. We decided to go have some American food and do some American things to remember our great country and those that died. They have a Fuddrucker's here! We had the most delicious of burgers! Although they cook them like they do in Europe where a well done only comes out a medium to be honest (those that ordered medium rare got meat that look like it was still alive....dark, deep red...so I was glad I chose well done, thanks for telling us your stories of France for that Mom). The guacamole that came with my burger was also very good and just like any you would get with a burger in Arizona. The bacon though was not even close to the same. Beef bacon has nothing on pork bacon. I can understand they don't eat pork, but turkey bacon at least is somewhat of a better texture. Beef bacon is stringy and tough like jerky... I might have pulled that off my sandwich. Also the milkshake was more of sweet cream with vanilla flavoring but it still tasted awesome. Then we came home and watched the 80's classic that is Better Off Dead, one of my favorite movies ever. So many good quotes and opportunities to laugh.

Anyway, that was my tourist or American stuff of the week. Class and homework are seriously taking most of my time during the normal week. It is almost like being back in the MTC but with more freedom on the food we get to eat. We do language learning activities 24/7 and understand a lot of what is going on, but definitely not everything. We are supposed to talk with Arabs for two hours a day out on the street or wherever we meet them. It isn't hard to get the time, but I definitely don't understand everything they say back to me or have the words I wish I had to say back to them. I usually ask them their opinions about class topics that we have the next day. This week we talked, discussed, and debated the Arab Spring. We did Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Jordan, etc. Our group presentation was on the start of the Arab Spring in Tunisia and Egypt. This time our presentation and the discussion that led lasted for a whole hour! I had no idea that I could even get close to doing that in Arabic!!! I know prayers and the Lord are the reason why and I am grateful for that. I really enjoy class discussions and I feel that my Arabic is slowly improving and that I am getting more and more to say. I look forward to going to class everyday and I like that the classes are small and I get the chance to say quite a bit. The two hours goes by pretty fast each day and that is a blessing as well. The translation homework is fun, but usually challenging and leaves you feeling pretty drained. Talking with people is also tiring, so I am always really tired each and every day. Kind of like being on a mission again in that way too.

The people here are the nicest people. They love to talk, all you have to do is ask the right question. They aren't closed and reserved like people are in the States, they are willing to talk and take what limited Arabic you may have and use it help you understand what they want to tell you. Having deep conversations requires a great deal of focus and concentration, but is worth it. Well, tomorrow we head to a bunch of great early Christian sites like Madaba or the place where John the Baptist was beheaded. So expect plenty of pictures and I will write about them next Friday. I love you all and hope you are doing well! Keep on keeping on!