The Palace

October 15-31. Part 1

I'm still alive! And sorry for the two-week radio silence. My laptop said goodbye to me and it took longer than expected to back up all my data and get a new laptop. After some complications, I managed to get everything sorted out and I'm back online now. Since I don't have enough time to tell you every detail of the past two weeks, I will only share the essentials and divide the remaining reports into 3 parts: Apartment, Amman & Internship. Yallah!

Apartment

October 15 finally arrives: we move into our new apartment. Jud, our landlady, welcomes us warmly and allows us to leave our luggage in the apartment in the afternoon while the maid does a basic cleaning. After a long day of lectures, we can finally enter our "own" four walls in the evening. However, everything still feels a bit strange. Compared to our previous accommodations, the huge rooms with high ceilings and luxurious furniture seem disproportionate. Our voices echo through the long hallway and the oversized kitchen, and the walk from the large living area to the back rooms feels like a little stroll. After dividing our rooms, we make an effort to fill them with various lamps and decorative items that we find in different places in the apartment. In the end, I am really satisfied and feel comfortable in my small and cozy room. One thing we notice late in the evening: it's quiet here. Unusual quietness. For the first time in Amman. What could actually be a reason to relax feels somehow still unsettled in this moment. And I miss our pigeons, guys, whose observation has become a familiar habit in the past few days.

However, the next morning we can hear familiar sounds again: the small mini-vans that sell gas bottles with a familiar melody are touring our new neighborhood as well. For the first time, this melody has a calming effect on me. And in the next few days, we are getting more and more used to our little villa. On our first Sunday, the first problem arises: we have no water. The cause is quickly found: the toilet flush in one of our bathrooms (yes, we actually have 4 toilets) is constantly running and quietly emptied the two water tanks on our rooftop terrace that are intended for our apartment. Fortunately, there is an emergency tank, so we can still shower for the next two days before there is water again on Tuesday evening. We have now understood the principle of laundry day: for 24 hours every week (Tuesday evening to Wednesday evening), the Jordanian government opens the water pipes and continuously pumps water so that you can use as much as you want. Wednesday evening marks the end of the water party, and for the rest of the week, you have to manage with the water from the tanks placed on every rooftop. So, we will obediently follow this and use the washing machine and dishwasher mainly on Wednesdays.

Just a few days after moving in, we have our first party in our apartment to celebrate Rebecca's birthday. Filled with people and life, our spacious apartment makes much more sense. At least for us. For our neighbors, not so much, as they knock on our door sometime after midnight and complain about the noise. Not exactly a suitable start, which is why Rebecca humbly apologizes to our landlady the next day on our behalf. She then explains to us that in addition to excessive noise, it is also not customary in Amman to let your neighbors participate in the joy you are experiencing. Everything happens behind closed doors and windows. We take this to heart and make sure to keep our blinds mostly closed. Of course, we still want to have joy.

Another thing we have noticed in the past few days: the weather change. With the time change that we have also experienced here in Jordan, a different season is approaching. Even though the sun still shines warmly during the day, it gets very cold quickly in the evening. And we can already feel that in our palace (the nickname given to our apartment by a fellow student who was with us on Rebecca's birthday): I have actually unpacked my wool socks in the evening because my feet started to freeze. I don't want to know how our apartment will turn into an ice chamber when it gets really cold.