We have made many friends in Irbid. Roula is the wife Dr. Zaidon Al muhasin. She has been incredibly hospitable -- having us for dinner, bringing us a meal, and taking us swimming. Last Friday, Areen, Roula's oldest daughter took us shopping in Amman. It was a day filled with adventure and girl bonding experiences. We walked from the university to the bus station. It was about a 15 minute walk. It only cost 1.7 JD to take a bus to Amman. That is about $2.42 and it takes about an hour to get there. Some things here are so cheap. Everywhere we went people wanted to give us rides but we were very careful to only take marked cabs. I really don't think we were in any danger, it’s just that many people are poor and want to earn money. So once we arrived in Amman we found a couple of taxis to take us to the mall. The neighborhoods in Amman were much grander than anything I have seen yet-- big Mediterranean-style houses with well groomed yards. The mall is similar to an American mall except the food court is way better. It had a ton of choices for both fast food and sit down dining. There are also more souvenir type shops. So after going to the bathroom - incredibly clean-- there are workers who stay in the bathroom around the clock and make sure every stall is clean before you enter it. Next we ate lunch. Over here the big meal is lunch and you have it around 1 or 2 pm. I like the schedule. People often rest when it is really hot and then everyone is out in the evenings. For lunch I had grilled chicken on pita. It was made in front of my eyes over hot coals. After lunch we were energized for shopping. We probably spent a good 5 hours straight shopping. We mostly bought souvenirs. We finished our shopping with some delicious ice cream. I got pistachio. Arene said it was Arabic ice cream. We found cabs to take us back to the bus station. There were no busses going to Irbid so we found 2 cabs that drove us all the way to Irbid. It was 10 JD for each cab—less than 5 dollars a person. There are police at the bus stations who check every cab leaving the bus station. It all seemed relatively safe although when were trying to find the cabs to drive us home we were again approached by many men speaking Arabic and gesturing with their hands. Kaitlyn just jumped into the fray and started pointing at two cab drivers and saying “YOU TAKE US TO IRBID FOR 10 JD, YES?” Sometimes she really surprises me. So we made it home around midnight. It was really a lot of fun.