Birthdays and Snow Days

Though I should be doing homework right now, something about the snow falling outside the windows of Books@Cafe just keeps me from being productive. 

This was my first birthday surprise - a day early on the 26th, thanks to the absolutely wonderful and loving Donna & Terry Harrigan :-)  Love you Mum and Dad!

First of all, last Monday, February 27th, 2012 was my 21st Birthday! And I wasn't the only one.  Farah - a CIEE and American University classmate  - turned 21 too! It was also Stephen Busch's Birthday - he is one of the CIEE program directors. 

I had a wonderful abroad birthday.  When I came into the CIEE office after my morning class, I opened the door to a sudden chorus of "Happy Birthday" first in english, then in arabic, but the 20 some students and dozen or so staff members present; complete with lighters waving (we lacked candles) and Dr. Najeh adding some dance moves to the singing.

After being thoroughly embarrassed, I sat down to do my homework only to be dragged into the back by Rasha to sing Happy Birthday to Stephen - and eat cake!  CIEE had ordered two giant cakes for the occasion, one strawberry and one nutella! Deeeelicous.

The rest of the school day was relatively normal.  I had a test in MSA, and was serenaded again along with Farah in my Contemporary Arab Women Writer's class.  That evening, I went to dinner with a bunch of friends downtown at Jafra.

The Birthday Girls!

Then we all went to Gerard's on Rainbow street to get ice cream, and ended up at Books@Cafe for the rest of the night.  It was a quite marvelous time :)  I'm lucky to have so many friends here who have been so welcoming.  Throughout the day (and the next day, thanks to Jordanian Time) my day was made continually brighter by the many warm wishes of family and friends back home.  Thank you all for helping make my birthday an amazing day!

Last but not least, I finally receive my birthday express mail envelope from my parents on the 29th.  It was an experience dealing with the postage bureaucracy, but when I finally had my package in hand, well worth it.   

Game Informer, chocolate, and tons of cards.  What more could a girl want?

Now...I present to you, dear readers, Snowpocalypse 2.0: Amman, Jordan edition!

The snow is actually a lot worse in most of the City; due to the many different elevations in Amman (the city is built essentially on a series of mountains/hills) it is warmer in some parts than others.  I have friends who said there was as much as three or four inches on the ground where they were! In Jabal Amman we didn't get quite that much; but as I type it is still snowing.  My theory is that all of the Washingtonians studying here in Jordan brought the Snowpocalypse of 2010 with us!  It might not be the meteorological explanation, but, Jordan hasn't seen snow like this in a decade.  It is also, thus far, the best rainy season Jordan has had in a decade.

As the taxi was taking me to Books@Cafe, I noticed some people throwing snowballs at some of the larger circles.  Now all we have to do is spread the word on facebook, and set up a Dupont-esque Snowball fight here in Amman! Then the analogy to Snowpocalypse will be complete.