jafra

Sorry for the disjointed blog you are about to read
there is this little hole in the wall restaurant (literally, it is in this hole in the wall- there is this alley that dead ends into stairs. You go up the stairs and this restaurant appears!) The name of this place is Jafra. I just found it a few months ago, and on my first adventure up the stairs I knew that it would be one of my favorite places to hang out in Amman. Tonight I was able to take my new room mate (who is a lot of fun, by the way) and some of the people she has met here to Jafra. It was fun to see them take the place in, to see the people around them (all drinking tea, smoking shisha and laughing together). The food was great (as always) and it was a fun night.
It reminded me of how much I love living in the MIddle East- I love this culture of family and really valuing time together. I miss it so much when I am not around it. But, sometimes it is hard to be in the midst of it- like at my 2 hour arabic lesson today where I cringed while pecking out letters to make words- worse than a kindergartner.
Tonight, we had supper with a guy who is on an "around the world trip" by land (that is, he is driving, training or such as much as possible) and it was great to hear his stories about traveling for the last 4 months (over 30 countries in 4 months). As I sat and listened I wanted so much to ask if he wanted a travel partner :) And I thought about my desire to live among the poor and how a year long vacation would be so extravagant. And then I thought about how I love to adventurate, and how I want to see the world.....
I hate it when you know that your dreams will require you to give up something that you love, something that is so cool (like a round the world trip) - I wish the new earth would come so we could travel as much as we want!