Coming Home

So, our last day(s) in Jordan were really nice. Sunday I woke up early and went down to the University to meet some people. One of my friends had classes all day and he wanted to see me before I left, so I came by early. All morning was just like any other day. Sit and drink coffee, and watch the world go by. We walked around a little bit and met some more people before mid afternoon, when we went to play some games of pool. Now, the van was scheduled to pick up my family at 4:00pm, and I still had some things to pack, but it was really difficult to get out of billiards. I played like 4 games before I convinced them that I REALLY needed to leave. So, we said goodbyes, traditional kisses all around, and exchanged emails. I finally got back home at about 3:30 to pack the few remaining things up.

All of my mom’s friends and a couple of the professors that my dad is doing his research with were at our home, saying goodbye and such. It was nice to see them all and say goodbye. They were all so generous to our family and really mean a lot to us. It was probably better that I was a little rushed so that there wasn’t time to really dwell on the fact of leaving. It was just sort of the way it was.

The van was pretty much on time (a blessing in Jordan). So we packed it up and headed to Amman. Since our plane wasn’t scheduled to leave until 2:00am, we had made plans to spend the afternoon with Onf’s family. So, we went to their house and visited their farm and went out to dinner to eat some (delicious, oh! delicious) Arabic food and so forth, which was really nice. It was a good way to spend our last hours in Jordan.

We went to the airport, with Onf and Jenette and my dad, at about 11:00pm. We wanted to make sure that we had enough time to check in with no problems. It worked out really smoothly. Last time we were here in Jordan leaving the country was pretty chaotic, because the airport wasn’t really organized and it was like one big room, but they’d improved it since then, adding some really nice dividers, making it much easier and faster to get through.

We were concerned because Huda, our neighbor, had given us a bunch of olive oil that they had pressed from their family’s farm, but we didn’t know if we would be able to bring it through customs. After thinking about the pros and cons, we just decided to take it and see. When the guys at the airport ran our bags through the scanner they saw the oil (everyone in Jordan knows what oil looks like, even under a scanner...) and so they asked to see it. They liked that I said zait (Arabic for "oil") but they were a little concerned that we wouldn’t be able to get it through customs on the US end. After talking among themselves they smoothly said to us "okay, just hide it." It was fantastic. We shook hands and then I went on my way with my mom and brother through baggage checking and tickets. When we got to Detroit (where we went through customs) I declared all of our things (I’m the official spokesman on international voyages) including the oil and the guy just stamped us through. Horray! So, now we’ve got some of the best olive oil around. (If you want some you’ll have to visit me in Winnemucca this summer!)

I won’t bore you with all the details about our flights. All flights are the same, and all airports are the same. Let’s just say that it was just over a full 24 hours of total traveling time. In other words, I’m jet-lagged as shit. But it is nice to be back. Its still a little strange. It hasn’t fully sunk in that we’re here for good, and I’m sure that the culture shock will set in soon, but its okay.

Sometime this week (when I get around to it) I’m going to write a nice final entry that’ll sum up some things that I want to say with some reflections on the trip as a whole, Jordanian life and culture and all that cool stuff. And, that’ll be it.