Wadi Rum

Our guide, Sallam, writing our names in Arabic in the sand, the red dessert, camels at sunset, the bridge.

Wadi Rum is where Lawrence of Arabia lived. The contrast in the rocks and dessert is amazing. We spent the day with our guide touring the area by jeep. In the evening we camped in a Bedouin camp. It was a great cultural experience!

Arab Woman Today Networking Conference

This week was the annual networking conference held by Arab Woman Today ministries. This years conference was titled Prosperous Women Promoting Progress. The main topic was about the social welfare of women in the Middle East and North Africa. Because of school I was only able to attend the first evening and last afternoon. I was blessed to be able to hear about these women's ministries in their countries. The women were from Sudan, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Iraq.

The first picture is Julianna. She is my "across the hall" neighbor. She sings with a Christian group and led the worship the first evening. The next photo is Ruba, director of Arab Woman Today.

Taxi Driver

I found a taxi diver that will pick me up every morning and take me to school. His name is Mousa. He is very kind and not too intrusive into my life. But since he takes me to school everyday, we have started conversing a little bit. He always asks if it is OK for him to ask me questions and he gives me the option not to answer if I don't want to, which is nice. He had a fender bender while taking me to school yesterday. It was pouring rain and he had to get me another taxi (which is very hard in the rain!) and he was late for a meeting he had at the University. I now have the opportunity to tell him that I prayed for him after the accident, so maybe it will open up spiritual conversations. He has a degree in computer science and is looking for that type of work.

I have started a collection of candy that taxi drivers give me. I'm not sure why they give me candy, but yesterday I got a whole chocolate bar! This is not good for my figure!

Snow Day!!!

In the mornings I set my alarm for 1 hour before I have to start getting dressed in order to turn on the heat to the water so that I can have a hot shower. Rather than staying up and having my quiet time or exercising, I reset my alarm and go back to sleep. Sometimes, the heat does not come on and the building janitor has to flip the switch to the boiler in the basement, but it still takes about 45 minutes to heat. Today was one such morning, so I had a quick cold shower and got ready for school. My taxi driver called and said he was not coming because it was snowing outside. I opened my blinds and it was snowing....hard! So we have a snow day from school. Amman is like Texas, if it is snowing, everything shuts down! So I went up to the roof, took these pictures, had the janitor flip the switch to my boiler to warm up my place a little and prepare to study for the day.

Neighbors

These are my neighbors that you will hear me talk alot about. The first 2 pics are Rawand. She is 5 and as her pictures show she is quite the actress. Next is Raghand. She is 10 and very shy. Last is Rand. She is 12 and does a large part of the translating for her Mom and I!

Obervations II

There are many funny taxi stories I could share, but this one is something that you most likely would not see in the US. I was walking to the store the other day and I saw a taxi pull over and the driver got out. I thought he had stopped to do his afternnoon prayer because I see this quite often. As I passed by I looked over and he had stopped to use the bathroom! Needless to say I was shocked and later learned this happens often. I could see if it was in the countryside, but not in the middle of a city neighborhood!

On my way back from the store I heard a goat. This is not a sound I have heard in my area. There is a small patch of land and gypsies had set-up tents and are living there. I was amazed because I walk to the shopping areas 2-3 times a week and apparently they move in and out quickly. Above are pictures of the gypsy tents.

More Observations...

The Mecca Mall here is bigger than any shopping mall you will find in Dallas. For those of you that worry about my safety, no need. They check car trunks, bags and you go through metal detectors before going into a mall. Well, sometimes they check bags and walk through the detectors. Most people walk around the metal detectors :).

One thing to get used to here is that people smoke anywhere (they don't have non-smoking sections). The taxi drivers are particullary bad about this and I get home with my clothes smelling like smoke. This would not bother me so much if it wasn't such a hassle to wash and dry clothes! The other day my taxi driver stopped for gas, then he stopped for coffee and then for cigarettes. I was beginning to wonder if I was going to get home.

In this culture, the men walk hand in hand and kiss to say hello. I was at Mecca Mall on a Thursday evening, which is their Friday night. The mall was more packed than Stonebriar or Northpark at Christmas. It was weird seeing all the young men walking around arm in arm and hand in hand and the young women doing the same. I guess kids hang out at the malls no matter what country they live in!

I broke all the rules!!

Well, after all the training I have had regarding talking to the taxi drivers in this culture, I broke that rule today. My taxi driver ask where I was from, if I was married, etc. In my defense, his English was hard to understand and he was an older man. Also, I know that they can tell that I am no spring chicken. All that to say, my guard was down and I answered his questions. The jist of one of his questions was would I marry a Jordanian and go back to America. Without even thinking, I said "inshallah" (if God wills it)...in my mind meaning "no". Well, I guess it had a different meaning to him and he now wants me to come to his house for dinner and meet his 4 sons that are engineers! The situations that I find myself in sometimes are like the I Love Lucy show :).

One thing I have learned about myself is that even though I had lots of training and intellectually I understand the culture, I am still me. I still have the southern belle instinct to be nice, polite and smile at everyone. I've realized this will not be changed overnight!

Petra

Erika, Iris and I went to Petra last weekend. The weather was beautiful, but the scenery was majestic.

New Experiences

I have to say that my first 2 1/2 weeks living in Jordan have been easier than I could have imagined. Sometimes I forget I'm not in the States. However, there are a few reminders...

Learning how to use a butane gas stove without blowing myself up. When I say butane, it is literally the butane tank that goes on a gas grill at home. Of course it is hidden in a lovely cabinet next to the stove. I still have not used the oven because I can not find matches or a lighter at the store to light the oven.

Speaking of butane, there are trucks that come through the neighborhoods everday to change out empty tanks. To let us know they are here, they play music. One truck in my neighborhood plays "When the Saints Come Marching In". I wonder if he is a Christian and if not, does he know what the song means??

I went with Iris to the hair salon the other day. Only men cut, color, etc. women's hair and there are no unisex places. I find this ironic sense so many women cover their heads for modesty. They come into the salon, take off their scarfs and are coiffed by men. By the way, each function has a different person that performs that function. One guy colors, the next washes, another cuts and yet another blows it dry. I find this system in every occupation. I guess it keeps people employed!

One thing I am learning is the importance of planning. It is true that everything takes longer to accomplish. Part of the reason is communication and part is not knowing where to go for what, but it is mostly culture. Take laundry for example. You have to plan on when you are going to wash your jeans because it takes several days for them to dry. Of course this will probably change in the summer when it is 100 degrees outside.

Iris taught me to look down when I walk. Not only because it is inappropriate to look men in the eye, but because the streets and sidewalks are so uneven it is easy to fall. It also helps because then you don't notice when people are staring at you! Something else that I find interesting is that women are generally not out and about much. I go walking everyday to figure where things are. I hardly ever see women. I find this particularly interesting at the grocery store. In the States more women do the food shopping, here you see the me doing the shopping.

Many people have asked about fast food restuarants. They have McDonald's, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Hardee's, KFC & Popeye's chicken (very popular because they deliver), Starbucks and Applebee's. I ate at Applebee's today to get my beef fix!

My Neighborhood in Jordan

Views from the rooftop

CTown grocery store/mall

Markets, bakery, pharmacy one block from my apartment

Apartment Living in Jordan

TV room...minus the TV :)/Office

Master bedroom

Kitchen

Hallway

Formal Living Area

Dining Room

My apartment building

Saying Goodbye at DFW Airport

My First Week in Jordan

Iris has been an amazing blessing. I stayed with her the first week and she drove me all over the place to get my phones and showing me around the city. We even did a sightseeing tour one day to Jesus' Baptismal sight, Dead Sea and Mount Nebo. I don't know what I would have done without her.

My apartment is very nice and clean. However, there was a lot of dust since it had been closed up for 4 months. There was also an intense mothball smell! The weather has been sunny this week so I was able to open the windows to air out the place. I was also able to put the bed linens on the line to get the smell out. When I say, "put on the line", that means going to the roof of my building and hanging my clothes out to dry or air. I tell ya, it has been a long time since I hung clothes on a clothesline! The good thing is that there is a great view from the roof!

I met my neighbors on Wednesday. Leila is the Mom, Waleed the Dad and they have 3 beautiful daughters, Rand, Rawand, Raghand. Leila invited me to lunch, so I went over and we had malfuf. It is cabbage stuffed with meat and rice. It was delicious. Rand is 12 and she was able to translate some for her mom and me. Rawand is 5 and very dramatic. She was a parrot and repeated my English words. She would have me repeat Arabic words after her and believe me, she let me know if I got it wrong! Raghand is 10 and very shy. Every once in a while she would translate something for her mom and I knew she was in the background listening to our every word. My neighbors accross the hall are Hikem and Julianna. He is an attorney and she teaches school. They have a little boy that is about 5 and girl about 3. Julianna speaks English and has been a huge help. I'm Auntie Colleen, which I love!

I already have a telephone, cell phone (called mobIle here) and DSL. Iris is amazed at how fast things are happening! Progress! I Live in walking distance to Amman Mall which houses a CTown grocery store (and a McDonald's! ). I've gone out walking and found the post office, bank, pharmacy, bakery and produce stands. My neighborhood is very conservative and I have seen a lot of veiled women. I didn't see that on my former trips here.

I heard there was a new Carrefour that opened in a new mall. I took my first taxi ride today and was able to get to and from Carrefour....huge accomplishment! Carrefour is a French store like WalMart or Target. It is really BIG! I was going to buy a TV, but that was a little overwhelming, so I decided to wait until my next trip there. It has been pretty nice not having a TV. I've read a lot and watch movies on my DVD player (thanks Terry!!). The new mall is called City Mall and is 3 stories. I saw signs for The Body Shop and Foot Locker, so I guess it will have American stores there.

I'm posting pics on my next post!

Camels in Texas???

The pictures speak for themselves...

Carriage Ride

Kelly & Treg took me on a carriage ride in Plano, TX to see the Christmas lights. Fun!

Christmas 2006

The holidays were bittersweet. I enjoyed the time with family and friends, but it was always in the back of my mind that I would not see them for at least 2 years.

Life Group Lunch

My Life Group prepared a wonderful lunch for me today. The leaders of the group are Jeff & Kronda. Kronda encouraged me to go on my first mission trip! She then suggested to our Mission's pastor that I lead the trip to Jordan in 2001. The rest as they say is history! The pic to the left is me with Kronda's youngest, Karissa. The pic below are the sweet ladies that have encouraged, supported and prayed for me the last 3 years!





Tammy, Gina, Debbie, me, Kronda and Kelly

Coffee & Toffee

Darlene was my roommate on my first mission trip in 1999.

On December 3rd, I hosted a dessert and coffee at my house to say "thank you" to the people in my life that have been supporting spiritually, emotionally, prayerfully and financially.


Dina was the first person to join my ministry team!

Trip to Kansas City

My roommate and I took a road trip to Kansas City in November to see my dear friend Pam. We had a great time!

Colleen & Pam

Colleen & Kelly