Despite the fact that we are already a couple of weeks in to the program, i think i should start at the beginning. Having through a variety of circumstances for which i was mostly to blame, i spent the first couple of days in Amman alone and without my bag, which means i had basically the clothes on my back,along with my passport and luckily my money. The experience of being entirely self reliant in an utterly new place was something very new to me. I have almost always had nearby some sort of moral and usually material support my entire life. Even in the first days of NYU, things were structured and in any case, everyone had a common language. For the first two I two days here, I was satying in the poor, downtown area of Amman, where the ambient culture and lifestyle was compltely different from anything i had experienced. That said, I cannot claim to have dealt with things completely alone. On the first day, i was wandering around looking for clothes and getting to know the district, and was immediately befriended by a couple local shop keepers. One of those was a handicrafts maker named hagop, who blows and paints small glass ornaments and souvenirs. He also speaks excellent English, and for all my talk to wanting immersion arabic, in the situation i was in, it as a relief. Hagop is one of the kindest, most sincere men you will ever met. When in a moment of weakness i tried to place all the blame on the driver for losing my bag, he politely but firmly told me it was my bag, and therefore my responsibility. That said, it also offended his sense of Jordanian hospitality that the bag wasn't e returned to my hotel after it seemed the driver would have found it. Anyway, Hagop showed me the area, taught me the basics of the bargaining ("you must be strong with these people") that is the key to getting decent prices as well as respect in the downtown souqs. When I left for the upper middle class areas of the program, I bought a beautiful little candle holder from him, and despite my triple refusal, eventually accepted a small glass ornament as a gift. Having sat and talked with him as he painstakingly painted each detail of the design for hours, I deeply appreciated the gift. I plan on visiting Hagop frequently this trip, and he said i should come and bahka al arabia so he can correct the arabic i learn in class.