Muslim Woman in Amman

This year I have been working on reading more books. I feel that as a Librarian I need to be more of a reader. When I was a teenager I used to be a big reader then I went to college and was forced to read books that I didn't enjoy so it kind of turned me off of reading. Also fan fiction kinda became my go to reading therefore my book reading has been severely neglected. Now, that I'm a librarian I feel that I need to be better acquainted with a lot of books so that I can help recommend books to my students. When I walked into the school library I saw all these popular books that I didn't know a thing about and all the books I loved as a kid were no longer popular. So, I felt like I was kinda drifting. Which brings me to this years goal of being a more prolific reader. To motivate me I joined the Popsugar Reading Challenge and the Good Reads Around the Year in 52 books challenge. My original goal was to limit myself to only books found in my library but I ended up dev...

I've recently come to realize I am a terrible blogger. I get all gung ho to write and amaze people with my awesomeness but then I fall flat. Because, frankly I am not that awesome. I don't go out much I pretty much go to work come back and veg all day long. Sure every once and a while I go out and do something great and I compose a whole post in my head about my awesome trip. Then I get home and forget about it. Or the great composition in my head doesn't come out onto my keyboard and so it fizzles away. Sometimes when I'm in the shower I get some amazing post idea about education or Jordan and then I come out of the shower and it fizzles away. Another problem I have with my blogging is I want traffic so I want to make posts that people will want to come to. So I write about things that I am really not that into. Or I get so worked up about writing a post that would create traffic that I end up trying too hard and my post falls flat. This is the first post I've ...

My new job is fantastic I love all the books and figuring out how to organize the library. In my short time I have been a school librarian I have learned a few things. I would like to share my list with you. Captain Underpants and Diary of a Wimpy Kid are so popular that I always have a copy needing repair. Hardcover picture books, despite being small, hurt like hell when they fall on your foot. There are always books that need to be checked in. ( I should have thighs of steel by the end of the year from all the squating) Kids no matter how many times you tell them otherwise will always put books back on the shelf instead of in the book drop. The existence, and popularity of Mo Willems, Pete the Cat, and Peter H. Reynolds. We have too many books and not enough shelves. So many books I want to read, but not enough time. The Pinkalicious series is never on the shelf. The books I loved as a child are no longer popular. (Baby Sitters Club, Boxcar Children, Nancy Drew) We hav...

My brother visited from the states and wanted to do a bunch of things in the two weeks he had here. In this time I have done more than I have all summer. We shopped we visited Jerash but most importantly we ate out. My brother has been working as a chef for a number of years and as such is a major foodie. So, naturally we went to a lot of restaurants, Here are the five main restaurants we went to. The first one we went to was Summaga near Ajloun castle. This restaurant is an organic farm to table restaurant. The food was so flavourful and definitely worth the trip. The only downside I had was it took a long time for the food to come out so don't go in starving. It's in the tourist office of Ajloun Castle so you can check out the shopping while you wait for your food. With a great view of Ajloun castle and a rustic decor this restaurant is a great stop if you are in the area. We also went to a place called Ajeen Wraps and More in Abdoun. Great mana'eesh, but for...

Oh my God, it as been a hectic few weeks. My brother came to visit, which meant going all over town to do a whole bunch of things which I'll get to in another post. In the middle of my brother visiting school started, I'm in a new position, LC Specialist (Assistant Librarian), and spent a week trying to figure it all out (still having trouble but it's getting better). Then in the middle of that I came down with a nasty stomach bug that took a few days to clear. Needless to say I've been neglecting a lot of stuff recently. I promised myself to blog every Saturday, that hasn't happened. I promised myself to keep my room clutter free and dust free, My shoes are all over the floor and I haven't dusted in a month. I promised to work on my photography, completely ignored my 30 day challenge for at least a week. Diet and exercise? HAHA! Ya, that went too. On the plus side I visited so many new places in Jordan, had so many different types of food. I love my new jo...

On the first day of the Big Eid (Eid Al-Adha) We went to hang out in Abdali at night. First we went to The Boulevard then we headed back into Abdali Mall to look around. It was a fun night and I would recommend it if you want some place to hang out at with friends and family. The Boulevard is a great place to find a bite to eat. The place is lined with different cafes and restaurants. Plus, they had a ton of play areas for the young ones. There are multiple ways to get into the Boulevard you can either come from one of the street entrances or like us park a in the Mall parking lot and go through it to the Boulevard. We just had diner so we weren't really hungry but we did stop at Four Winters for some ice cream. I had Raspberry Cookie, it was very delicious. It was more tart then sweet so it was a very refreshing dessert. Also watching them make it is super cool. They mix everything together in a Kitchenaid mixer and add dry ice to cool it down, so fog comes out of the...

I have officially been in Jordan for a whole year! In honor of my one year aniversary I would like to reflect on some of the things I love about Jordan. Family While my two brothers, father and niece are all in the states, my sister leaves here with her husband and four kids. I love the men in my family but there is nothing like hanging out with your sister. We have a lot more in common together than me and my brothers. We talk about clothes, shoes, shows and food. We go out for coffee every saturday just to enjoy each other's company. I am truly blessed to have such a great sister. I also get to enjoy my three nieces and nephew. My nephew is 4 and he is absolutely adorable. He recently used my Moogly CAL squares as little blankets for my stuffed tiger. My nieces are just fun to be around. We recently went to a farm in the Jordan Valley to go swimming and we had a blast playing with a beach ball and racing each other across the pool. Family is definitely my top love! ...