Dinner Parties are Great

To celebrate moving into our new place, Aimee and I decided to invite people over for a dinner party! Little did we know it would end up being about 20 people in our apartment, sharing laughter and food :o) I roasted 5 chickens, yes 5! but don't worry, they are much smaller here and let me tell you, the chicken in Jordan tastes so much better than the chicken in the U.S. It doesn't have any hormones/chemicals/persevatives etc. so it actually tastes like chicken! Aimee made wonderful lentil soup and then we had food donations from many guest. Chi brought his homemade fried rice which was fantastic, I made fatoosh salad (a local dish), Nadine made a chocolate mousse pie from scratch, Muhammad's wife brought hummus, and we had plenty of sweets, cookies, etc. Yum!! Everyone enjoyed the food and took time to talk, get to know each other. Then the music started and people wanted to dance. All different cultures are represented in the group from Hungarian to Taiwanese to Korean to Polish to Colombian to American to Jordanian to Iraqi and more so the dancing was quite a cross-cultural experience. Interesting to note: everyone in the group loved Michael Jackson and there was quite a bit of support for ABBA. :o) After the dancing had finished up, people moved into a game of Charades, one of my favorites! Hilarious to watch people act out movie titles and even funnier to try and guess. I had to try and act out "The Truman Show".....I got the group to get the word 'show' and was attempting Truman by trying to do the pledge of allegiance, then, my team screamed out the name of the movie and we got the point!! Very exciting I must say. Also, it was girls against guys, and the girls won!

Besides having a blast with people at home, I also have had some awesome days at work. It's easy to forget that the kids I am working with have seen so much in their short lifetimes. It's an honor to work with them and to be able to provide them a time to express themselves, laugh/cry, enjoy their peers, and to enjoy music. I am trying to do the best that I can with the resources I have so hopefully, that will continue to go well. Yesterday, during a music experience, one of my jokesters started to talk about a dream he had and got into some graphic details....it was truly powerful and so good for him to finally start talking about these things. Really an amazing moment. Sorry to be vague but I don't want to put too much personal information up about the kids because they are clients, privacy is important. However, it is great to be able to share a little bit with you about what I am doing here.

Continuing on with my update, hehe, I wanted you to know that I officially have a nickname here in Jordan. I have been playing soccer the last two Fridays with a group from the conservatory, also a mixed group of folks, and it's been a ton of fun. I was complemented by the symphony conductor on the use of both my feet to make strong shots at the goal, woohoo! But anyway, he (and a lot of my clients) have a tough time remembering my name; therefore, he has decided to call me Indiana Jones because it is two words and I guess I remind him of the girl in the movie. hmmmm.......but anyway, the name seems to have stuck and more and more people are referring to me as Indiana, or Jones, or the whole name :o) I'm pretty sure that will just be a Jordan thing, I am quite fond of my actual name.

Been a long week but a good one. The move is definitely a good one and I am really starting to feel like this is my home, at least for the next 10 months. I'll keep you updated on the coming events! Talk to you soon, xoxo