Life in a Palace

Dear friends, I have now moved in to my home stay.

It is a palace.

When I saw the house, I was shocked. I had heard that it was a big house and that the family I would be living with was quite wealthy, and their home is in Sweileh (one of the richest—and poorest—areas in Amman), but I was not prepared for what I saw.

It is a four story house. The family that I live with lives on the main floor, which is large in itself. The mother’s sister lives in the basement. Supposedly a Kuwaiti guy lives on the third floor, but the door is always locked from the outside.

And I and two other Americans live on the fourth floor. We have two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a washer, a huge living room, a balcony, a computer room, and tens of windows to look out of.

Did I mention that the home is built on a large hill? Oh, and we can see the king’s palace from our windows.

Yes, I am spoiled.

I was expecting my homestay to be a miserable experience. I guess I have heard Dil’s philosophy for too long—that you can’t learn Arabic without being miserable. Hey, I experienced it myself, right? I didn’t realize that I could learn Arabic, shower every day, and have a place to be by myself whenever I wanted it.

This is why my homestay is ideal. The people who “technically” live in the house are the sister downstairs and then my “mother” (Basheera) and “father” () and their 30 year old daughter. When I first found out that I would be living with a retired couple with no little children, I was really upset. I requested three main things from my homestay: no smoking (I am allergic), I wanted to be by myself, and I wanted them to have little children.

Well, they don’t smoke, but instead of living by myself, I am actually living with two other people from my program, whereas most other people are in pairs. There are even a couple of girls that are by themselves, and I am not one of them. Like I said, before I saw the house and met the family I was upset.

But, I guess the Lord really does know what He is doing, even when I request otherwise!

I really do feel incredibly blessed and want to thank you all once again for praying for me. The family is also ideal. Like I mentioned before, they are incredibly rich and in addition, also great cooks. Each meal is a delight of Middle Eastern food not before experienced (so much with my diet of pitas and fake nutella that I had at the hotel!).The mother, Basheera, speaks only a little English, and I love talking to her because I understand her Arabic quite well. She is, as my coordinator said, “motherly but not overbearing,” and the only time I get overwhelmed is when she offers me so much food.

I haven’t talked much to the father and the daughter who lives at home, but they always have family visiting them. Right now, for example, their daughter Ruba and her 3-year-old daughter Zaina are visiting from Saudi Arabia. (Side note—Ruba’s husband is half-Turkish and half-Russian, so Zaina has pale skin, blue eyes, and curly red hair. Her mom remarked that she could be my daughter! Oh, and she only speaks English. She is really fun to play with!) And, they always have other family members there as well. Really, I can’t ever tell who is staying in the house and who is just visiting.

I feel that the situation is ideal because, as “homestay” girls, we are always more than welcome to hang out with the family (and work on our Arabic). We take our meals with them and can do anything we want with them. But, if I need some alone time, I have an entire house upstairs where I can go and be alone.

And, I can shower every day (although I only use about 3 minutes of frigid water—I take what I can get!).