a summary of my first week

So tonight I've decided to compile a list of just some of the myriad of customs, behaviors, etc. I've noticed among Irbidians:

1.
2. Obsession with King Abdullah including the following: posters and murals in cafes, the student union, stores, wah ilakh; bracelets in the "Live Strong" style that say "Long Live the King", oh and not to mention our first Arabic reading with pictures of al malik in diving garb and looking all macho on his motorcycle.
3. Large cow carcuses hanging in glass displays placed along the street- apparently one of my friend first thought they were pigs but then remembered we are in a Muslim country..whoops.
4. Staring. Then again maybe that's just at Westerners.
5. Use of tissues as napkins, paper towels, and toilet paper. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then I think a portrait of the King with a box of Kleenex would say it all.
6. A seemingly intentional inability to comprehend anything spoken in FusHa...I mean seriously, is the word "ma+glottal stop'" really that different from "maee" (water)??
7. A tendency to show Nancy Ajram videos one after another to the point of brainwashing other Arab women to believe that biweekly plastic surgery will transform you into a pop star.
8. An aversion to drinking anything without a straw.
9. Apparently when you ask for "falafel bee batatas" (falafel with french fries) they take you literally. Yes, they actually put the french fries in the pita.

And now, some of the things that are helping me get through some of the culture shock:
1. NUTELLA- there is something so decadent about eating a chocolate sandwich for lunch
2. Shisha...although a Jordanian girl told me today that smoking nargileh is equivalent to choking on 40 cigarettes (then again, Arabs are known to exaggerate).
3. Being able to enjoy walking by rows of giant palm trees on the way to class.
4. My a'ameea teacher's use of song and dance to teach us verb conjugations, but I still don't get the "tee tee tee tee" one.
5. Arabic music in shop windows and random dabke circles in the streets.