King Hussain Cancer Center

Today we got to tour the King Hussain Cancer Center. Its right across the street from the university. The previous King of Jordan died of cancer...thus the cancer center named after him. It was like night and day from the university hospital. Still not quite like America...but oh my gosh it was amazing. It smelt totally normal. Even kind of fresh. And they had technology. And the walls were clean. It was cool. They had a telle something (communication) room (I cant remember what its called) where they have video conferences but its like way more technological than that. They can send tissue slides and the person in the other country can look at it through a microscope just as if it was right under their own microscope...and they can do all sorts of cool stuff with other cancer centers like St Jude’s and stuff. I dont know if I'm describing that correctly or making sense... But its like the only cancer center in the middle east. Its hard because in this culture you dont really talk about terminal illness. Like the patients at the university hospital who have cancer dont even know they have it. The doctors call it CA in front of the patient so they wont know. I always feel kind of sad... But I guess they just dont want to know. Usually there’s like one person in the family who is aloud to know and they decide if they’ll tell everyone.

Yesterday was so amazing. We went to the students house for dinner. Her family was so nice and beautiful. The girls all had their hair down and uncovered and they were dressed in normal clothes (not all the coverings...). We couldn’t take pictures of the family because only family and woman can see them like that but they were soo nice. The food was AMAZING! I had three servings. This amazing rice mixture with moist chicken and all sorts of spices and nuts. The best was this little thing...I dont know exactly what was inside it but it was wrapped in grape leaves and soaked in olive oil. So good. Most meals have a side of this half sour cream half yogurt type thing that I love. You can eat it with veggies, or soup, or fruit. I put it on everything. After dinner I asked about popular Jordanian music... They brought out music and danced for us and then they made us all get up and dance and we had a big dance party. The mom video taped it. Then her little brothers showed us how the men dance. They wave this little beaded string thing and do cool footwork. It was SO fun. They were such a nice family. I think it was a nice house. It wasn’t like high class (the toilet was a "squatter" and there wasn’t any toilet paper...) but it was still pretty nice. The other day we drove by a refugee camp. Pretty much everyone I’ve met here is Palestinian...I dont think there’s very many true Jordanians in the city... Most Palestinians came to Jordan. The refugee camps still exist but they aren’t tents or anything...they have buildings but it just looks like slums. The houses are a lot closer together and there’s lots of trash and it just looks worse then any of the neighborhoods I’ve seen. But the house we went to last night just seemed average. By house I mean weird apartment looking thing. I dont know how to describe it... it reminds me of when we went to brazil. yah, a lot like that. So we had lots of fun last night!

I thought I had a picture of the refugee camps but I couldnt find it... heres kind of a dirty street...

You can skip the next part if you want...
So my cool story from the other night is kind of long and I realized it would only really be exciting for me. Monday night we went to a party for the ward. The missionaries for our branch here are actually the district (the district is like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, etc) presidents The Cooks, and they got released so there was a farewell party for them. There were a lot of really important people at the party, it wasn’t really a church thing. I made a lot of friends! But there was a Bedouin man at the party and I talked to him. I was proud of myself because he was there with two women and they just kind of stood in the corner and didnt know anyone there and I just HAD to meet them so I walked up and said marhaba (hello)! We both tried to talk to each other in the few words we knew of each others language and it was fun. So you probably dont know what a Bedouin man is... Its the traditional Jordanian. They live out in the desert and wear these cool outfits. Most people live in the city but there are still the traditional Jordanians out in the desert. I had learned about them in a tour book. Its a popular tourist thing to go and stay the night in the desert with a Bedouin village. Bedouins are famous for their hospitality. They live by the desert code that you dont turn people away and you give everything you have to your guests. I think thats why all Jordanians are so nice to their guests as well...its in their roots. But there was an American girl with them at the party and she was from the peace corp. She explained that the man was the head of an organization for children with special needs in their village. The Cooks donate to it (i.e. the church...) and so thats how they knew them. They drove all the way from Petra!! that’s like 4 hours, just to be at the party. But they didnt know anyone. The women in the group kept hugging me and telling me they loved me. It was funny. They said I looked Arabic. It actually happened a few times at the party. Its official, in every country I have been to someone has said I look like Im from there... except maybe Switzerland... But anyway, I took a picture with them so I'll show you later. The girl from the peace corp said she was surprised he was so friendly with me. I guess the more traditional men arent very comfortable interacting with women socially. Men and women are pretty separate. I usually interact with the more affluent people of Jordan... But it was a cool experience and this letter just really isnt doing it justice... Oh and they invited me to come to their village. I probably wont, but I got invited... So google Bedouins if you want.

ok... long letter. Love you!!! I still have a million more cool things I learn everyday. Its just so crazy how different everything is here. But I love it. I miss you!!
love Karen