Getting to Jordan

September 28, From Tom:  Getting to Jordan
After the last hectic days and nights, clearing out stuff and preparing the house, and giving farewell talks in our wonderful 8th Ward, we were exhausted. Ronna suggested we stay in a local hotel so we would be out of the house and get a good nights sleep. As it turned out we worked until about 2 AM and had to get up at 5: 45 AM for Lindee to drive us. Cami and Lindee worked with us till the wee hours; bless their hearts.

In the morning we were so frantic getting out on time that I ( Tom) left a large bin on the curb of the hotel. It had some of Ronna's precious things in it, so we got off to a rocky start. We were very concerned because of all the warnings: No more than 50 lbs per bag, only 3 months supply of medicine, only so much money. We were either at or slightly above on all of them so we thought we'd get zinged. No so! We sailed right through. We must have weighed our bags 7-8 times each to make sure we were under 50 lbs. I also felt like a smuggler with all my medications.

It was hard giving the last good byes to Lindee. We knew it would be hard on her and Addy and Cade.  We gratefully had earlier good byes to the others so it spread out the pain.

It was a two hour flight to Chicago and then a 7 hour layover. Ronna wanted to take a taxi and go sight seeing. I could see us stuck in rush hour traffic. So I made last calls to friends and family and Ronna tried to nap.

As soon as we stepped on Royal Jordanian Airlines we knew we were in a different culture. The flight attendants were dressed in gorgeous gowns, red with embroidery. The flight was only half full so we had a bit more space to stretch out-- that's a stretch :D

We flew nearly over Iceland, then Ireland, England, Germany Austria then Greece and the Mediterranean. I was wondering how they would enter Jordan, considering Syria's conflict and the threat of missiles.

There was an interesting moment in the flight as we were approaching Israel on the east side of the Mediterranean. On the TV/movie screens the airline had a map with a graphic showing where we were at that time. I guess it was in response to "When are we going to get there?". Anyway, the graphic showed the plane flying east, BETWEEN SYRIA, EGYPT and IRAQ. Zingo!! Are we crazy?? It just kind of got me at that moment. Then I looked down and saw Israel, then the Dead Sea, then mountain, then a bleak desert, then we banked and started coming down into that desert and we landed. Here we are, bleaker than Nevada.

The Amman Airport is gorgeous, only a few months old, named Queen Alia International after the 3rd wife of King Hussein. Again, we thought we'd have trouble getting through customs with the stash of medicines ( boxes and bags of it) and $20k in cash. So the big guy at the customs gate looks at me and says, "Hey man, are you from Chicago?" I said, " Sure am man!" So he gave me a high five and ushered me through. Welcome to Jordanian hospitality.

Brent and Margaret were there to greet us and whisked us off to their apartment where we had a great meal, a little orientation and an early sleep. Gratefully.

The next day we went for a phone card for my iPhone, a GPS to find our way around and started discussions with "George" who was going to arrange for a car. He turned out to be a bad deal. We went to a Safeway, of all places,  to get some supplies and drove off to Madaba to meet our landlady and her family and get situated. We'll describe the city and driving later, but it was a cultural shock.

Essentially, you can't read anything, understand anything, figure out where you are, recognize anything that is familiar. Cars swerving left and right, no lines on the roads, nobody stopping for signals, big white mansions and buildings next to shabby Gypsy tents in little villages. People in all sorts of dress: burqas, half burqas, coats with scarves, normal western outfits, men with red bandanas wrapped around their heads, sheiks with headdresses. The whole assortment, and it's all normal here.
Our home is owned by Mariam, sister of Nasri. They are classy and charming. They have a servant/helper from Sri Lanka named Lanni who giggles and smiles and takes care of things. Sewar is the daughter, about 28 and single. She is very bright and fluent in English. Mariam taught Arabic in school for about 40 years. Nasri is a vice president and soon to be Provost at AUM and Sewar works for Save the Children. Here are some shots of the home.

The top is the view from our front door. The lower one is Tom's office, converted from Dining Room.

View west from our front entry

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