Musings

Akin to David Letterman's Top 10 lists, this may end up being my very own version as it seems the quickest way to jot down all the strange sightings and happenings without forgetting any of them. Without further ado, let's begin:

10. Military officers have personal "stop traffic and salute my car" soldiers at each military building. Despite a lack of heavy traffic on the road from the deaf school, I was stopped in order to allow an officer in his personal car to exit the parking lot and, perhaps, get home a bit more readily. Can you imagine this system in place at the Pentagon?!

9. Having day-runner lights that permanently stay on is NOT advantageous in Jordan. Not only did the "stop traffic salute car" soldier sign "lights on" with his hand as I was waiting for his senior officer to exit, but the driver in front of me on the highway signaled the same "lights on" sign from inside his car. I gave him a thumbs-up, the best way I knew to acknowledge his "help" without being able to explain I had no off switch inside the car. To Jordanians, whom routinely drive at night without their lights, I am wasting the juice in my battery!

8. When using a squat toilet, I've learned that you squat FACING the spout you later push in order to flush water through the porcelain commode. Reason? So when you stand up quickly, your backside doesn't get slashed open when it makes contact with the spout. Yikes.

7. Having heaters is a good step. Having gas for the heaters is even better. I spent the "recess" time after lunch sitting on a concrete ledge, warming in the sun. Call me a cat if you must, but the additional twenty degrees outside did wonders for my attitude. (I'm going to check with the school director to see if charity funds could be donated to help with the heater problem--the severe chill in the classrooms was even the cause of one kindergarten girl's crying!)

6. Water is not consumed in the winter, only in the summer. Apparently, dehydration is only a seasonal problem, and eight cups of water a day only help you when you're sweating.

5. When answering a yes/no question, you do not need to answer with yes or no. In response to, "Do you go to college or university?" the response can be, "Oh, God" (read this with an Arab deference for God, not a caddy American one). My impression is this means, "God is good and, despite wanting to go to college or university but not being able to (money, family demands, etc) I will not complain."

4. It is a strange feeling to be the first American who speaks Arabic that someone has EVER met. Yes, As-Salt is a smaller town than Amman, but the deaf school brings in a lot of foreign visitors, including Americans. Surely one of them has studied Arabic before coming? Do we Americans realize what message we communicate by not showing interest (for decades and centuries) in the middle east and its people?

3. Mothers who work are really busy! When speaking about recreations and hobbies, my English students (teachers and secretaries and dorm-keepers at the deaf school) who have children all said they have no free time. I can't imagine not having time to read a magazine, go for a run, or sit at a cafe/bookstore. I guess when we have kids, in-sha-allah, we will have to have some good babysitters!

2. It's a bad day when your lettuce truck tips over, landing on its side and spilling the loosely packed (but not wrapped) lettuce all over the dirt beside the road. It's just a guess, but I imagine that lettuce will find its way to a vegetable stand without passing through water first. Hence the cautions about cleaning all fruits and vegetables before consuming them, huh?!

1. Being away from the house as a "working woman" (who really just volunteers for sanity sake) makes me really miss my husband! While the interaction with Arab women has really increased my motivation to study and practice Arabic, and the opportunity to help in some capacity makes me feel alive again, I miss hanging out with my best friend. He's enjoyed playing "house husband", though, and seems to be doing it better than me--dishes washed, bed made, house tidied, floors swept!