We woke up, excited about Christmas Eve, for two reasons. Kate was going to the police station armed with her residence permit to finally get it stamped into her passport, then later, we were having a Christmas party for all our friends.
Kate arrived at the police station, which was quite crowded and, after some time managed to speak to the right person about the visa. She was very disappointed to be told that first she must go to the ministry of interior to get the work permit, despite being told by the university that the residence permit she had been issued should be enough to get the residence visa stamped into her passport.
This process has been frustrating for Kate, who normally likes to know exactly is going to happen, in what order and what she needs to bring, but no one has been able to tell her these things. The communication & organisation at the university is not very good and Kate will need to learn to adapt, if she is to avoid pulling all her hair out!
Kate came back and we began preparations for the party. Kate's mum had made lots of mince pies, with homemade mincemeat, since it is not available here. We also had mulled fruit juice, not wine, since some of the party guests would be Muslims. Kate made some amazing penguins with olives, cream cheese and carrots, which a friend of ours had spotted on a Facebook page. Isaiah went around telling everyone, "These penguins are from Facebook.", even though he has no idea what Facebook is.
We had a lot of fun playing "pin the nose on the snowman", "guess how many sweets are in the kettle", "guess what's in the socks" and of course, the chocolate game. All of these games were new to our Jordanian friends.
It was a great opportunity for us to strengthen our friendships, and also, some of our friends met each other for the first time.
