I enjoyed my last vegan pizza for some time (soy cheese and veggies!) in the New York airport, then boarded the plane for Amman last night.
I was getting used to being the only blonde in the crowd once again. Scanning my flying companions, trying to eavesdrop a little and get the sounds of Arabic back in my head. I trudged down the aisle and was settling in to a row full of children under four (where were their parents??!!), when who to my wondering eyes should appear, but my good friend and colleague from PXP days in Jerusalem! She was seated directly in front of me. We stared at each other for a long time. And I'm afraid my jaw dropped in a very un-ladylike way. Then we stood up and hugged and talked all the way until our plane was literally pulling away from the gate and they made us sit down. I was not alone after all!
We both then tucked in for the long haul feeling happy to be reunited after perhaps two years of not seeing each other. Before our plane was in line for take off I had started the first movie of my journey (The King's Speech! Finally!). And as I was getting into it, I became aware of a man's voice, loud, insistent, and not apparently engaging anyone else in dialog. I turned around to see him praying, performing salaat in his plane seat (with limited prostrations), and remembered again what a different culture I am heading into. Worlds were colliding - but not in a bad way.
The flight passed uneventfully and as I bid my friend safe travels for the last leg of her return to Jerusalem, we promised to stay in touch. Now I am perched high in my hotel overlooking Amman. The sun is setting behind me, lighting up the bright white of the buildings on the opposite hill. There are huge white and grey clouds in the sky too - very unusual here, and it looks like it might rain! My taxi driver apologized for it, but I'm thrilled, as where I'm headed, I don't think rain is in the forecast for some time yet.....
It feels good to be back in the Middle East, great even. I love the shape of the trees here. The color of the earth. I love the shepherds with their sheep in the streets. The beat of the music. I love the white stone in the buildings and the urgency with which this city seems to be putting up more beautiful more modern more sky-scraping towers everywhere you look. It's a different world over here.
And yet tomorrow will be ..... well, I imagine it will be quite different yet again.
I was getting used to being the only blonde in the crowd once again. Scanning my flying companions, trying to eavesdrop a little and get the sounds of Arabic back in my head. I trudged down the aisle and was settling in to a row full of children under four (where were their parents??!!), when who to my wondering eyes should appear, but my good friend and colleague from PXP days in Jerusalem! She was seated directly in front of me. We stared at each other for a long time. And I'm afraid my jaw dropped in a very un-ladylike way. Then we stood up and hugged and talked all the way until our plane was literally pulling away from the gate and they made us sit down. I was not alone after all!
We both then tucked in for the long haul feeling happy to be reunited after perhaps two years of not seeing each other. Before our plane was in line for take off I had started the first movie of my journey (The King's Speech! Finally!). And as I was getting into it, I became aware of a man's voice, loud, insistent, and not apparently engaging anyone else in dialog. I turned around to see him praying, performing salaat in his plane seat (with limited prostrations), and remembered again what a different culture I am heading into. Worlds were colliding - but not in a bad way.
The flight passed uneventfully and as I bid my friend safe travels for the last leg of her return to Jerusalem, we promised to stay in touch. Now I am perched high in my hotel overlooking Amman. The sun is setting behind me, lighting up the bright white of the buildings on the opposite hill. There are huge white and grey clouds in the sky too - very unusual here, and it looks like it might rain! My taxi driver apologized for it, but I'm thrilled, as where I'm headed, I don't think rain is in the forecast for some time yet.....
It feels good to be back in the Middle East, great even. I love the shape of the trees here. The color of the earth. I love the shepherds with their sheep in the streets. The beat of the music. I love the white stone in the buildings and the urgency with which this city seems to be putting up more beautiful more modern more sky-scraping towers everywhere you look. It's a different world over here.
And yet tomorrow will be ..... well, I imagine it will be quite different yet again.
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