Return To Underland

I promised my husband that after I graduated from college this summer's end that I would return to Jordan no later than a few days after the date. My graduation ceremony was August 6th; I left for Jordan August 8th. Just as before, the trip to my new home had to be exactly as chaotic as the last one. Instead of a sudden blizzard in StLouis, I was grounded for nearly 2 hours by Chicago O'Hare because of thunderstorms at the airport. A more boring flight there never was. Since we arrived so late, once I got to the International Terminal 5 at O'Hare, everything but the RJ counter was closed, including the currency exchange I'd planned to use to convert my $ to Dinar since the Immigration checkpoint at Queen Alia only takes dinar for visa purchases. The line to get in the security gate was 20 minutes long. When traveling, I always happen to meet the most interesting people. This was no exception. The first person to speak more than a few words to me was a older woman on her way to Turkey to visit her daughter who was teaching English in the capital. From there she would leave with her daughter to India for 5 weeks for travel and a Buddhist retreat. She got to asking about me, and my itinerary and husband, etc. It is here that I note that for some reason even strangers seem to trust me with intimate or no-so-obvious details about their life. This lady shared with me, on the topic of relationships, that she was in contact with someone she also met on the internet and would meet in Hawaii after her India trip. That the individual owned half the real estate in Kuai, and that this business person was a woman. She said it with apprehension of course, looking into my face to register my reaction to her announcement. I know she was probably expecting a reprimand or something since we already covered my religious beliefs, but as my husband knows and will just have to deal with, I have no problem with homosexuality. I wished her the best, rushed through security and made it on the plane just as they were working on final boarding.


Of course once I get on I have to negotiate for a seat and luckily ended up next to a nice Californian woman whose final destination would be Cairo to meet up with her mother. Another interesting person, Ma'a was Filipino origin and a nurse who advised me against the Ambien I was prepared to take. Sleeping was hard, but plenty of movies and my Mp3 player kept me in decent spirits. The first thing I noticed before even landing in the country was a strange form of censoring by the Jordanian airline of its movies. In the West, we censor what we consider swear words or sexual innuendos. Apparently here the phrases ("Oh god"  or "jerks" are swears/inapropriate in movies here LOL) The food, normally the quality of a low-grade MRE was alright this time, although I did not partake in the breakfast served us before we landed, since last time I was unable to eat the food at the restaurant my family-in law took me to after I arrived in April. When I arrived at Queen Alia, I was lucky enough to have remembered my previous ordeal at Immigration and headed a repeat off at the pass. I exchanged all my cash at the bank kiosk (I had totalted $97, it exchanged to $63. Gah!!) I took care of my visa, bypassed the creepy man by the escalator who resembled the former creepy man by the escalator, and a nice cart man (looking to make a dinar of course) offered to help me with my 6 suitcases/bags. Took forever to find my luggage, but made it through the last security checkpoint and into Shadi's open arms where he once again presented me with flowers (this time also remembering my tender penchant for Daisies, the friendliest flower) As it turns out, Shadi's brothers and Uncle were waiting for us near the airport and we completely missed them. We'd catch up at the gas station to get aseer fuaka (fruit juice) to break fast since we would still be driving at maghrib. Babba Hassan swore at every bad driver as usual and we made it to Ramtha before 8pm. Meeting my new brothers-in law was as awkward as I'd imagined (Ashraf and Rakan are naturally awkward people, Rakan less so)

The first individual I wished to see was very prettily sitting next to Thamer, apparently awaiting my arrival. Firdaus, my dowry kitten, is 2 months and a runt of the litter, and the most adorable thing since Faten. She already loves her momma :D Iftar was a type of unfried kibbeh (a meat pie of sorts) and we all chilled on the roof under the tent and stars. I passed out halfway through due to jetlag and the most comfortable cool wind whipping through the tent. I slept till suhoor, ate a nice meal of arab favorites, and retired back to the roof to sleep till 10am. I never want to sleep anywhere else but a roof in Jordan :) During the day we fasted, prayed, read Quran and hung with family trying to beat the heat. Iftar today was my favorite Magloobeh made for me and Arabic lemonade. Tonight we will shop for a hookah and wander the streets of Ramtha now that its cool in the desert. Ramadan here so far has been beautiful.