Thursday, February 23, 2012

Facebook is like a diary I forget that I'm keeping.

I’m not quite sure what prompted me to do this. Actually, I know exactly what prompted me to. The first post in this long list of posts popped up on the side of my Facebook, and while usually I ignore those posts, it kind of struck me. I mean, I posted it before I went to Jordan, before I met anyone there, before I knew anything about the Middle East, before it all happened. And that’s a little weird. So I ended up going through my statuses since then, and making a grand list. It’s strange, seeing life laid out like this, but kind of fascinating at the same time.

And so I present to you, a list of my exchange program related status updates on Facebook from December 21, 2010, to February 23, 2012. It’s a long read, but hey. If you’re up for it :)

December 21, 2010
“semi-finalist for this exchange program scholarship! so excited!”

March 31, 2011
“Will know in the next two weeks whether I'm spending the summer abroad. I don't think I'm going to be able to focus on much of anything else :)”

April 12, 2011
“WILL BE LIVING IN AMMAN, JORDAN THIS SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!”

April 16, 2011
“Countdown to Jordan - 58 Days. Countdown to AP Test - 30 Days. I should put down the Arabic book and pick up the review books.”

May 31, 2011
“Packing for the Middle East is easy to do in advance: none of the shorts and t-shirts I wear here are getting packed, and I'm not planning on wearing any of the long sleeves and long pants here before I leave. Sounds like a plan :)”

June 12, 2011
“In about 12 hours, I'll finally been leaving. It's been 64 days since I got my acceptance letter, I'm so ready for this.”

June 15, 2011
“Leaving for the DC airport in a couple minutes, had some extra time for Facebook. Apparently houses in Jordan don't have street numbers, so mail doesn't work. So, I can send letters home, but not recieve them. BYE! I'LL BE ON A A A PLANE FOR LITERALLY THE NEXT THREE DAYS, WITH THE WAY THE TIME CHANGES WORK. It's insane, actually. But it's fun, I'm loving it so far.”

June 18, 2011
“At the Qasid Institute in Amman, Jordan. My host family is amazing, but they don't speak English at all - I'm learning so much Arabic”

June 30, 2011
“Ana 3ndi wajb kiteer. Ana mish baheb wajb. Laken ana 3ndi al urdun, so life is good :)”

July 1, 2011
“Dear deep dish pizza we're making tomorrow,
Please work despite the fact that we couldn't buy cornmeal in the middle east. There's 25 jordanians expecting pizza from this little adventure. Don't make me regret opting for crust from scratch.
Thanks, see you tomorrow morning,
Diana”

July 2, 2011
“Pizza is success so far. Crust and sauce from scratch are good, hopefully this works. Hopefully the middle east appreciates this.”

July 5, 2011
“Spent the 4th of July in a cafe on "shar3 rainbow," and then went and got schwarma. I feel un-American :)”

July 7, 2011
“Leaving for our weekend trip south tomorrow morning. Supposedly I'm not supposed to post where we're going for security purposes, but honestly, there's only three places where people go in the south of Jordan, and we're going to all of them. Today is our last day with our host families though... I'm horribly sad. I'm going to visit them pretty much everyday when I'm living in the apartments when we get back.”

July 7, 2011
“Our family has declared that we are not sleeping tonight because it is our last night with the host families. I am going back and forth between sobbing and having a good time.”

July 11, 2011
“Yesterday I woke upin Wadi Rum with the beadouins. This morning I woke up in an apartment with a broken washing machine, and the bunch of sketchiness everywhere. Figures. I want my host family back :)”

July 16, 2011
“Protests at the mosque downtown yesterday. Some police used clubs on people, so it was international news. There's rumors of people hurt and dead, but I'm fine. I was at the mosque downtown yesterday, but I wasn't in a protest and I'm fine. Don't worry.”

July 18, 2011
“Arabic teacher is operating on Jordanian time, meaning she's currently one hour late and counting. Rock on, yanni.”

July 21, 2011
“Happiness is...”

July 23, 2011
“Exhaustion. But I never want to come home :)”

July 25, 2011
“When I say home home, I mean Dhahiat al Hussein. When I say home, I mean Tila al Ali. America is just being referred to as "back."”

July 27, 2011
“Woke up, and went to the Jordanian police station to try and pay our way out of getting a blood test because we overstayed our visas and broke the rules. Funny how things work here.”

July 27, 2011
“taxi min shar3 rainbow ila tila al ali, sab3a dinar??? la, shukran, m3salaama.”

(Back in America)

September 25, 2011
“Bidi al-Urdon. It's one of those days.”

October 22, 2011
“I wish that I could still use this as a reason to be tired: "I made a trip fi al-balaad and lost a small Asian girl in the fruit market and had a taxi driver who wouldn't take me home the right way, and now I'm out of shai and the hamaam is broken again and ya haraam, there goes the door handle again, and I just spent fifteen minutes stuck in the elevator with some random kid wearing boxers on his head, holding up a firecracker discussing some sort of bomb with another kind wearing a pink hijab. And then I just wanted to sit on the roof but there was some creepy kid asking whether boxer man's wife had a boyfriend, and then I wanted to go to bed but there was a fan that kept threatening to fall on my mattress, and I was just exhausted." Tisba'ala khair, world. If only I'd wake up in Tila'a al Ali tomorrow morning.”

October 28, 2011
” Priority list for the weekend: NSLI-Y app, NSLI-Y app, NSLI-Y app.”

October 29, 2011
“Sooo... anybody want to edit my NSLI-Y essays?”

October 30, 2011
“"Why do you want to study Arabic?" Why WOULDN'T anybody want to study Arabic? :) If only I could make that my entire essay.”

November 21, 2011
“Bidi al-urdon... it's one of those days.”

November 28, 2011
“Looking for full-ride scholarships for exchange programs. Found one that's two years, and somehow my mother likes that one more than the one that's just one academic year. Strange world...”

November 29, 2011
“" Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence." Oh, how I love personal statements for applications...”

December 20, 2011
“Looking through all of my Arabic books instead of doing homework :)”

December 23, 2011
“Driving out to Pennsylvania for Christmas, and then back to Chicago for New Year's with all my habibtis”

December 28, 2011
“Remember that night in Til3 al-Ali when we were joking about having a reunion for New Year's? I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE ALL COMING TOMORROW! Ba7ebek, bishofik mbukra!!!!”

December 31, 2011
“New Year's with the best people ever... And I bought pita, so life is good :)”

January 21, 2012
“NSLI-Y Interview! :)”

February 22, 2012
“Compulsively checking my email every 50 minutes :)”

February 23, 2012
“Dear UWC National Committee,
Please just tell us already :)
Thanks,
Diana”

February 23, 2012
“Got an interview for UWC! :)”

Strange, this Facebook thing. Status updates… hm… strange.

And so now, I wait. To hear about whether I get to go on NSLI-Y again. To hear about when my interview is for the UWCs, and then to hear whether I get to go to a UWC. But for these sorts of things, I suppose it’s worth it J

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