Amman

Kyle is in Amman, Jordan for the semester on BYU's Jordan Intensive Arabic Study Abroad!! I am incredibly sad to be away from him but so proud of the work he has accomplished to get to this point (4 semesters of accelerated Arabic). With my extra time, I have felt so blessed to be working a second job at a residential treatment center that I have fallen in love with!


The BYU students live in groups in multiple apartment buildings in the heart of Amman. They walk to the Qasid Institute every day for classes, and then have several hours of homework and are assigned to connect with native Arabic speakers in the community for at least three hours a day. Kyle has met the most amazing people, especially several Syrian refugees with incredible life stories.

This is a sand storm in Amman in the middle of 100+ degree weather. Super gross! They had to wear masks and limit their exposure outdoors for several days.

Kyle has been eating the most delicious fresh foods for pennies in American money. I seriously cannot wait to try that hummus.

The market by the mosque at night.

Not sure what was happening here ;)

This is the city of Jerash, filled with ancient Roman ruins.




I feel so grateful for Kyle's experiences and the growth that people experience from stepping outside of themselves and immersing their lives in a different culture. My favorite thing so far has been hearing about Kyle's new Middle Eastern friends and their stories of love and loss within their families. It has been really difficult to hear the bias our American culture has against Muslims and Middle Easterners in general as people have learned about Kyle's trip. It is nice to be reminded that no individual, group, culture, or area of the world deserves an outsider's judgment because we are all humans who struggle with the same core issues and are striving for the same core meanings in life.

Home

I started thinking about this post one night while I was driving home to my parents' house from school and work. Kyle and I have been somewhat homeless since we returned from DC and we just now moved into a place that is closer to everything and accessible to our work places/internships, so everything is fine now but for a while we were exhausted.

As a result, I've been thinking a lot about our first apartment and what "home" means to me. I'm grateful that I have a loving husband who is always open and malleable to change and who makes everywhere feel like home.

Cheesy but that's how I've been feeling lately ;) Here are some pictures from our first apartment.

The Concrete Jungle

NEW YORK. The city is buzzing with a tangible energy. People flow in and out of Central Park, up and down 5th Avenue, through revolving doors and on and off trains. SoHo, Chelsea, Chinatown, Little Italy, Flatiron District, Financial District, Midtown, Lincoln Square. We thought that Washington had too many neighborhood names, but New Yorkers are defined by where they hail from.

We were on Manhattan the two days that we stayed, with a little dabble in Jersey City (worth it). I cannot wait to go back and spend some time in Brooklyn since we had to pull that off of our list considering the amount of time that we had to visit.

We drove up in the Great East Coast Storm of the Holiday Season (capitalized to emphasize the disaster in news reporters' voices that morning). Aka: a lot of rain and a little snow, but only a few accidents on the main road within a four hour drive.

First we stopped at the 9/11 Memorial north of the Financial District (where we stayed). The memorial was one of the best executed that I have ever experienced: two large gaping waterfalls running into the bottomless ground constructed on the foundation of each destroyed building. It was beautiful.

Then, of course, to Chinatown for dirt cheap pork and chive fried dumplings (4 for $1, but obviously we bought 16), Bloomingdale's for their holiday displays and $100 NYC ornaments, the MACY'S DAY PARADE (Nick Jonas anyone?), Central Park, FAO Schwartz and their giant floor piano and millions of addicting toys (even for adults!), St. Patrick's Cathedral, Rockefeller Center, Grand Central Station, Bryant Park, Times Square, etc. etc. etc. and a million pictures (none of them of us, ha):






St. Patrick's was gorgeous, even in the midst of restoration. There are thousands of candle offerings available, one of my favorite things. I love the physical symbol of quiet prayers that each flame represents.






Setting up the treeeee!




Why is it so entertaining to watch people fall on their butts? This second rink is in Bryant Park- half an ice-skating rink, the other half filled with local shops set up in little greenhouses, so cute.



// We finished up our trip with a drive to Jersey City and a ferry to Ellis Island (pictured below) and Liberty Island.


Jersey on the left, NY on the right. It was butt cold.


All in all, a good amount of NY sampling happened. An amazing city!

FOOD //
Prosperity Dumplings, Chinatown
Halal Chicken Over Rice, Food Cart, Rockefeller Center
Lombardi's Pizza, Little Italy
Carmines Italian Deli, Jersey City