كل شيء ممنوع مرغوب

Well, CASA's new administration at Harvard finally made a decision and we will not be transferred to Cairo at any point during the program. No more information was given to us, but if we decide to go to Cairo on our own, we will need to sever all ties with CASA. I cannot say I am devastated by this decision. A full year in Amman sounds fine to me and much easier than a year in Cairo, but I am still missing out on a valuable part of the CASA experience, and Arabic-study experience in general, by not having the opportunity to study in Egypt, especially at AUC. But, I am just starting to become comfortable with the Jordanian dialect and it would have been frustrating to start all over again in Cairo, not only in terms of language but also all the day-to-day things that we take for granted-- an automatic understanding of the currency and reasonable prices, the layout of the city, knowing what restaurants most likely will not give you food poisoning, etc. Now that I know for sure that I will be studying in Amman for the year I feel like I will be more open to making real friends here and fully embracing a dialect-- something that I have been needing to do for a long time now. 

The program has been getting increasingly difficult and I have not been finding or making the time for many big adventures. But, I did visit a very interesting looking mosque in Ashrafiyya this weekend, Abu Darweesh Mosque:

And some Bashar Al-Assad graffiti I saw walking around Ashrafiyya (not sure what's in his mouth):