Day 1 fee Al-Urdun, or how crazy driving stereotypes are CORRECT in the case of the ME.

greetings mates,

i write to you...from the future.

right now you are sleeping, snug in your beds. awaiting for the 'new day' to start. well guess what? i'm experiencing this 'new day' as i write. it's quite odd to think about really. 7 hours ahead... i can't really fathom that all my michigan peeps are sleeping and i am just starting my day..

in any event.

the trip to al-urdun as been absolutely insane. (but it couldn't have been any other way, right?)

let's see if i can remember this well enough.

friday my beloved friend samantha dropped me off at GV. we get there, all is well. i am nervous as hell. and we wait. and wait. and wait some more. finally Maisel informs us that the buses to take us to chicago never actually made it to GV, ever. so it would be another 2 hours of waiting until we got anywhere. we mucked around, lad de dah.

buses come. we drive. hit chicago traffic. 45 minutes of crawling towards the airport. remind me to never drive to chicago again whilst traffic is a bitch. it's unacceptable.

FINALLY make it to the airport, and this is where the culture shock slowly settles in.

it's all arabs. or at least pretty close. we flew on Jordanian Royal, and as soon as we got our luggage out we were greeted by many brooding arabs waiting to get checked in.

oh yeah, Jordanian Royal's system was down for checking people in so they had to do it MANUALLY. one by one. it was wretchedly slow. more crawling. lad de dah. an... hour? later. we make it through.

about 30 minutes until our plane starts to board.

we all quickly shove micky d's down our throat (it was was our sweet farewell to deliciously plump american food) and snake through security.

then boarding.

yeeeeehahhhh. it takes about forever and there is about a million people waiting to get on the plane. two lines merging towards the lady ripping the tickets.

and... i'll spare you the rest of the boring details EXCEPT to say

1. they played the best damn movie while everyone was sleeping, and the worst one while we were awake. marley and me, vs paul blart: mall cop. REALLY? is there any competition to which you should have chosen!?

2. middle eastern cuisine is great in all forms. even in delightful airline food. dajaaj is always scrumptious. (that's chicken for all you non-arabic speakers.)

anyhowwww...

12 hours later. and some minutes

we are flying over the west bank. it was actually really amazing. flying over such a big piece of history. and i was seeing it. and no, it wasn't a war zone full of turmoil and crazed suicide bombers. it was... brown. deserty. lots and lots of sand. and crossing from the west bank over to al-urdun there were bedouin camps. which was crazy to me.

on the other side...

we get our visa and exchange money (dollar for the LOSE in that department) and go through customs. my large suitcase had already withstood the tortures of international travel, so it was a good thing it did not need to get searched here.

and then? the OTHER SIDE. thousands of jordanians waiting for their loved ones. and when we were going through (13 gawking white americans) we were not what they wanted to see. believe me. lol.

i finally make it outside to fresh air and the first thing i say "oh thank the lord! SWEET AIR!"

meaning... i was sick of stuffy hot air.

meanwhile this little arab girl tugs on her mum's skirt and says: "momma, what is sweet air? what is this she speaks of?"

english is my first language, and i can't even convey what i feel. uncool. (sorry little girl!)

we were carted away in vans, and skirted through Amman like it was no thing at all. except it was. i think we almost got on head on collisions thrice times. and cut people off the road. honestly, if someone isn't honking all the time, then you ARE NOT driving correctly. i almost peed myself. haha.

and then... we made it. to our destination. the hotel. oh thank jesus.

bed. bed. bed. all i could think about was bed.

exhaustion really takes a toll, you know?

ZZzzZzzZZzzzzz

(that's not what i actually did, but it was added for a dramatic affect.)

salaam li all'an!

(goodbye for now)