Arabic lessons with Rus, Muhammad the bell boy, and my first bidet

Hello friends and family,

I am finally writing to you from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan! The first morning here I woke up to the call to prayer at 5 am thinking I was back at home and some really exotic ice cream truck was flying by. I've quickly found that the call to prayer is beautiful and interesting....during the day, but at 5 am?? Jeez these guys have it tough. So keeping in mind that I'm sleep deprived like an insomniac don't judge the sludge of experiences I fail to retell to you...After two days of tours, lectures, and cultural immersion I feel as if I have loads to say but I will try to spare you too many details. Lets start with my flight over.
My flight from Montreal to Heathrow was  a pleasant surprise. Seated next to me was a man from Tehran, Iran whose name I caught as "Rus" but could very easily have been something completely different. As I sat next to him I explained to him where I was going and pulled out my Arabic phrase book with novice intentions of exchanging a few words in Farsi. However, as soon as the book came out he took it from my hands and proceeded to give me a 30 minute impromptu Modern Standard Arabic lesson. I quickly learned what it means to be a generous Muslim, and what it means to have no sense of personal space as a Middle Easterner...The experience made me look even more forward to landing in Jordan!
Upon arrival to the Geneva Hotel (our orientation retreat) I was greeted by Muhammad, our bag boy. Muhammad was very bright and outgoung and spoke fantastic English. He told me how he had learned English and about his love for American cinema. He quickly asked me to be a conversational partner with him. He informed me that he would be in the hotel lobby at the same time the next night and that I could practice my Arabic with him in return for English lessons from him. This experience has made me optimistic for future chances to find conversational partners and improve my conversational Arabic.
So when arriving to the hotel per-usual I rushed to check out the bathroom. I have a theory, the theory being that you can tell how your room is based on first inspection of  the bathroom. Our bathroom being any indication...our room is awesome! The next day on the bus I was sitting with my new buddies - named the "back of the bus crew" because of where we sit - and I asked them what the bowl close the the floor the spouted water out was for; "is it to kneel and wash your face with?" I asked. In response I found laughter. Apparently there is this thing called a bidet? You use it to wash your genitals....or as my bud Jamz told me "an exhilarating rush for your butt hole"....thank God I didn't wash my face in there...The Bidet is not an exclusive Middle Eastern thing, its used in many parts of the world, but I felt the need to share my stupid uncultured flaws with all my readers.
Tomorrow I meet my home stay family! I'm so excited! They are a Christian couple with two older sons around the age of 30. I am sharing a bedroom with my current hotel roommate Joe who is a great guy. Joe doesn't even know the Arabic alphabet yet so it seems that I will be the anchor for communication in the next few weeks to month. I'm very nervous to see how everything pans out. Joe and I both brought maple syrup as a gift, and we found out today from the program head Dr. Alison Hodgkins that Jordanians don't get the whole maple syrup thing and can never figure out what to use it with :/...what will I do with all the maple syrup bottles mom?? Dr. Alison kindly offered to take them off my hands but I don't think I'll follow that path.
Well, the "bobk" crew is waitign for me downstairs. We will most likely watch the news updates in Egypt and discuss whether or not these changes are significant whatsoever, try to have a high-brow discussion of Middle Eastern politics but end up flipping to Arabs Got Talent and Arab soaps. Until next time, Ma'salama and may we speak again inshallah.

You're slowly becoming a less oblivious American friend,

Wylie