J in Istanbul

J spent four days in Turkey a few weeks ago and thrilled me by coming home a day earlier than expected. Only J could spend 2 days in Istanbul and decide he'd seen it all but, this gives you an idea of how worn out he felt from 4 mos. of non-stop travel.

We survived Ramadan (and other news!)

It’s been awhile since I’ve written an update and the clock on our remaining time in Jordan keeps ticking away quickly. I know it’s just a blink of an eye and we’ll be gone. We are still hoping to leave end of Nov/early Dec and (so far!) things seem to be on track for that, although we knock on wood every chance we get. In the meantime, let me catch you up on what we’ve been doing.

Ramadan ended Sept. 30 (like the start of it, no one actually knew the exact day it would end until the night before- just imagine if you didn’t know when Christmas would be). The wonderful thing about Ramadan is the Gov’t gave everyone a five-day holiday to celebrate the Eid. Thus, we had a great five days together as a family with really nothing planned ahead of time- now isn’t that the best way to truly relax? I don’t recall doing much… but I did finally get to read a couple of autobiographies that have been on my shelf since last Christmas, Tony Dungy and Sandra Lee. Two people I knew absolutely nothing about (admit I was bored) but I enjoyed their inspirational life stories very much (which also had the adverse effect of making my life feel even more boring!)

As much as I dreaded Ramadan (and was v. happy for it to end!) I have to admit it wasn’t nearly as bad as I feared. It was possible to find a few restaurants open during the day (if you knew where to look) and if I was discreet enough, I could get a coffee at Starbucks – given I drink it at home and not in my car. Thankfully, I didn’t experience more erratic than usual driving and never came across the short-tempers from fasting that I was warned about. The best way to explain the end of it is, “aaaah… relief”, life back to normal! J and I did manage to get away for an evening night out and attended an Iftar banquet to celebrate the breaking of the daily fast. There was TONS of food and it was funny to watch people fill up their plates 3 or 4 times, one buffet I didn’t have to worry about looking like a pig at, everyone else beat me to it!

As for each of us, let me recap:
J-
J has been busy doing a rotation with an elite military group here (imagine the group in the US that is not supposed to exist) He’s been having a good time and cracks me up with funny stories that I wish I could write but better not put online. However, when you see him next you can ask him about his cross-cultural exchange with the Jordanians. Mostly, he talks about how these guys are like “chicks” in the sense that they just like to “be” together and talk. Talk, talk, talk is what they do all day long- I guess instead of a gaggle of women here it’s a gaggle of guys drinking tea and talking. At least he’s getting some good language practice in!
The highlight was when he got to meet the King! Hopefully I can post a picture of that soon. He spent an afternoon following the King around the Unit while he observed them doing their demonstrations. Now if only I could meet the queen!! J’s brother just arrived for a weeklong visit so he is having a blast showing him the sights of Jordan and even watching the MN Gophers play live on TV since they are both big fans. It’s been wonderful having company visit.

K-
K will be two in a couple of weeks and we are excited about that. She talks non-stop about a few subjects being 1) No Boys! I really don’t know where she got this from but she does not like boys (even though she adores daddy and he is a boy). Anywhere I take her, she tells me beforehand that there should be "No Boys” there! I suppose this would be a good thing if she was 13 but at two, it’s a bit annoying. 2) The daily prayer calls- she likes to tell us “I don’t like the prayer call, loud noise, don’t like it…..” over and over (!!) again every day. Poor girl, nothing we can do about that sound as long as we live here. 3) The A-B-C’s (minus EFG) she’s obsessed and we have to listen to the song on repeat at least a dozen times a day. She even sings it to her dolls. 4) Must be a sign of the times but she has become quite adept at recognizing McCain and Obama on TV, she'll even tell you who she's going to vote for if you ask her. A child after my own heart for sure, every morning she says it's time for mom to watch "the news" (even if it means no Seseme, love her!) She has sure changed in our year here and I am most thankful that it’s been a good place for her to blossom. She has her little friends now that she asks about and I am starting to pray for good neighbors when we get to the DC area since I have a new appreciation for built-in playmates.

We’ve been attending a nursery school together here that’s been a lot of fun but I’m thinking they might be expecting a bit too much from these roughly two yr olds. Lately during circle time, each child has to go up in front of the class and select the correct shape and in the correct color (such as the yellow rectangle); there are a lot of shapes and colors to choose from too. K went from thinking everything was red to now thinking everything is green (could this be a sign of color blindness?) and she sure as heck doesn’t know her shapes yet! I had to laugh when a girlfriend decided in all seriousness that she was going to make her own shape/color cutouts at home to practice with and prep her daughter for “circle time”. I’m sorry but I refuse to join the rat race this early! If my kid doesn’t know her shapes and colors by two then I’ll just have to live with that. Besides, I give up, everything is green! :)

Me-
I wish I could say that I was better but I just recovered from a horrible stomach flu that knocked me out for the past several days. There is just nothing that can ruin a busy, fun weekend quite like the flu! I’m thankful J and his brother were able to take care of K for me so that I could lay in bed for an entire 24 hours (before I moved to the couch for the next 24). The scariest moment was when I woke up in the middle of the night a little delirious and tried to get some water from the kitchen. I started banging into things (ouch!) and thankfully J heard me in time to catch me before I passed out on our hard marble floors (big ouch!). The other day, J and his bro went along to Jerusalem without me. I sure hated to miss that trip since really, how many times do you get to drive to Jerusalem for the day?!

On a nicer note, Jane (our housekeeper) asked if she could get some extra hours until we leave so she is now working for us full time. What in the heck does she do all day in our small house with a stay-at-home mom? I really have no idea but it sure is wonderful to have her here more. Had I been wiser, we would have cut her hours to prepare me for life with two kids and no help. What a shock that is going to be (I’m sure you’ll read future postings about my nervous breakdown!) She’s the best thing about living over here (shh, don’t tell that to the Jordanians). I just cannot adequately describe the luxury of having someone around 8 hours a day to meet your every need! Yes, I’m ruined for life I know. (And you don’t want to hear another word about it either do you?)

The problem is I can’t stop this nagging feeling that I should be doing more with my free time. Where does it go? Despite all the help, I still don’t get my to-do list checked off (this could be the result of my recent Facebook addiction, darn it!) or maybe I’m just one of those people who works best under pressure? Yah, that’s it- the more I have to do the more I actually accomplish! When I hear about women like Gov. Palin going back to work after 3 days it makes me sick. Gee-whiz, after three months I was still in my PJ’s until noon (or longer for those of you who know me well!) Maybe, that’s the silver lining after all. If I just wait until next year, I’ll finally get something done!

Speaking of Palin, we’ve been having fun hosting weekly debate parties. They are of course, more fun with a little healthy disagreement so we try to liven up the conversation a bit. This was not easy with the Presidential ones because the second debate was mostly a repeat of the first (bore) and I’m expecting the same for tomorrows too. The VP debate on the other hand, was a lot more fun and you just can’t blame Tina Fey when the funny stuff falls right into her lap. Would someone please tell her to stop the winking! Okay, as passionate as I am about politics, I'll refrain from using this blog to say any more that may offend my mostly conservative "base", love you! ;)

Lastly, we just found out we’ll be having another GIRL! Since I’m just ga-ga for little girls I’m pretty thrilled about the news! Daddy, on the other hand will have to get used to the idea of being really outnumbered now- or as he put it, never on-time again for the rest of his life! Ha! At least life with me has prepared him for that one. K now likes to go around the house talking about her baby sister and “share toys” which I don’t think she comprehends but we are encouraged that she at least listens to us (for the time being anyway).

Okay, time to post a few recent pics…

Finally- news on where we'll be moving to next!

Okay, I know most have you probably haven't given this much thought but we have been SO anxious here to find out where we'll be heading to in just TWO months from now and (drumroll) it looks like Washington D.C. (Georgetown U.) We are really excited about this news! It was J's top pick and I'm just happy to [finally] be moving some place where I already have friends and family :)) Yay, I don't have to start from square one again,ha!

So, would those of you who have lived there (or are living there now!) mind shooting us your advice on where we should begin our house search? The plan is to get there mid Dec. to find a place since J starts school right away in Jan. Guess we'll get to move there with the new president, lucky us...

K has an announcement to make!

Yep, that’s right. I’m preggers! The baby is due March 29 so I’m hoping that gives us enough time to settle into the new place before life gets crazy again. It’s been an interesting first tri- and I am very thankful to be nearing the end of it. Although I wasn’t nearly as sick as I was with K (practically bed-ridden for 6 weeks) I haven’t felt good in quite awhile and the smell or thought of Arab food just sends my stomach reeling. Imagine trying to avoid that one here!

Everyone asks about the medical care in Jordan and it is actually quite good. Yesterday I went in for my second ultrasound (my appt. was at 9:30pm thanks to Ramadan!) and it was neat, I’ve never had a 4D scan done before which allows you to see the baby in color. They do three of these throughout the pregnancy and a regular ultrasound at every visit. I am not really a fan of overdoing the ultrasounds but the Dr. is rather insistent so I’m not sure what to do about that.

So far, everything looks fine and I am hoping that I won’t have to worry about this pregnancy as much as I did the last one. The hospital is a state of the art facility that people from around the mid-east come to for delivery. When I visited a friend who delivered there last month, I was shocked to see her delivery “suite” consisted of four rooms! More like a hotel suite than hospital room. I’m sure I will wish I had delivered there when I’m crammed into a room in the States with J sleeping on a rocking chair! It was so funny on my first visit; the Dr. actually ended our meeting quickly because “Her Majesty” was on her way over for a visit! That’s the first time I’ve heard that excuse from a Dr. so I could only feign my offense : ) Hopefully I’ll be able to report the sex next month, we’re all anxious in this house to find out! K is precious though. When we talk about the baby, she just looks at my tummy and says “Out”! She is ready to be a big sister now!

Tel Aviv

The first photo is of us in Jaffa overlooking Tel Aviv. The next is of K at her first Irish pub, I love that you can find a good Irish pub anywhere in the world! It was great to eat fish and chips again. The last is of the pizza party K and I had while J was out sightseeing. Yes, we ate right there on the bed and it was fun :)

J on Megiddo awaiting Armageddon

On top of the Mount of Beatitudes

A really nice place overlooking the Sea of Galilee. K also wanted to point out something strange on the sign here :)

Overlooking Haifa

This is a shot from the top of the Baha'i Gardens, the holy place for the strange Baha'i religion.

You just can't beat fresh squeezed pomegranate juice!

One of the best things about the mid east is the plethora of fresh squeezed juices everywhere. This drink was in honor of my pom. martini girls!

Caesarea

One of the great cities of antiquity and also a lovely place to stop for lunch!

Herzliya

We really enjoyed our time there, many moments spent swinging in the hammock and watching the sunset everynight. Also a pic of J relaxing in the hot tub, not sure about the apple though...

More fun in Herzliya

Walking thru the Mea She'arim neighborhood

I had to sneak this photo because it really wasn't appropriate to take pics but you can get a sense of how everyone looked. The street is supposed to look like an Eastern European Jewish ghetto back in the 1880's... or at least that's what Lonely Planet says! Fascinating!

Masada

It was a little warm up there!

We just can’t seem to leave Israel without a story to tell!

Well, we’re back- or at least I am. J is already gone again, this time to Turkey for a short trip. As much as I wanted to join him on another adventure to one of my favorite places in the world-Istanbul-I just could not bring myself to pack one more darn suitcase! I’m sure he’s going to have a great time though, especially when he doesn’t have a car full of luggage and kid in tow to slow him down.

We got back from Israel yesterday, a day later than expected. As we were driving to the border crossing our car started to overheat bad but we weren’t too worried at the moment because we just needed to “cross the bridge” over the River Jordan onto Jordanian soil with the car and we could get it towed back to Amman from there. Home was a mere 45 min. away!

Unfortunately for us, when we got to the border it had already closed (only 15 min. prior) and we were pretty much stuck in the middle of nowhere. Well, not quite the middle of nowhere. The West Bank! As much as we begged and pleaded that our car wouldn’t make it far, the border guard wouldn’t budge.

She gave us two options, drive north to another border that would be open later or stay in a local Kibbutz for the night and try again in the morning. To me the answer was a no brainer, but J had other plans. He absolutely had to get home that day as he had a million things that he needed to get done the next day and no time to waste. Only later did I learn about the college football games he intended to watch that night- a diehard fan indeed. So, my lovely husband decides we must make it to the northern border and takes off. Meanwhile I’m yelling that there is no way we can make it with our car the way it was (smoking and smelling at this point!) The trip would add on another three hours in the car! When the car died just 10 min. north of the border I was actually relieved, better there than an hour up the road with no possibilities for a place to stay. So, there we were; 100-degree weather, a bazillion flies buzzing around us (I am not exaggerating on the flies. I have never experienced so many flies in my life!), a dead car and in the West Bank!

Since this is my blog I can tell the story my way, so without exaggerating, I was pretty calm. Impressively calm. :) Someone had to stay calm for the sake of the child! (I was also secretly excited to visit a real Kibbutz) I called the border guard up, asked her to reserve that Kibbutz afterall, and told her that we would need a taxi. After letting the car cool down for a while we were able to drive it back closer to the border where we ultimately had to ditch it for the evening. The border guard met us on the road and informed us that we had better hide that vehicle because with Jericho just up the road that car wouldn’t last an hour. I could just picture it being used for some suicide-bombing mission the way stolen cars are used in this region. Definitely not good for a U.S. Gov’t vehicle or J’s future career!

We ended up hiding it in a church lot and emptied it the best we could. Overloaded the taxi (as usual) and found our way to the Kibbutz. The best way to describe an Israeli Kibbutz is to think of a commune. Thankfully, our Kibbutz was more like a “family camp”. It would have been a decent place to spend the evening except for one v. important factor. We arrived about 5pm and hungry after eating a light lunch. My first question was, “where is the Dining Hall” if this tells you something about my stomach. Unlucky for us, there was NO food to be found. Due to it being Shabbat (which I will tell you more about later), everything was closed. When I say no food, I mean not even a vending machine! Thankfully, we had a reserve tuna packet and some applesauce for K. J and I ended up eating the dates we were saving for a gift. Let’s just say I was up bright and early the next day waiting for breakfast!

The story ends on a happier note, our car was still in the parking lot and J was able to barely(!) drive it across the border. At every checkpoint, we crossed our fingers for no line and let the poor car cruise down the hills. Once we arrived back in Jordan we parked the smoky, stinky car, called a towtruck and were driven home by a friend with lots of trunk space. Overall, the little adventure cost a good $350 extra (yes, we were robbed by the taxis and the Kibbutz in our hour of desperation). Thank goodness for write-offs!

The rest of the Israel trip….

Other than that final day, our week and half road trip around Israel went off without a hitch. This is one of the few trips I’ve been on where I wasn’t quite ready to go home at the end of it. This probably had a lot to do with the fact that it is still Ramadan in Jordan and Ramadan just stinks if you are not a Muslim. Our trip began in Tel Aviv for two nights, which was great. It is a big, modern city located along the Mediterranean shores. It is basically a beach city and I love beach cities! J spent a lot of time touring the several museums there. K and I made it to a couple but I wasn’t feeling the greatest so other than my daily trips to find the bagel and lox I have been craving for months (and surprisingly not an easy thing to find in Israel!) we laid pretty low. Israel is very expensive so we didn’t shop at all, hotel rooms all run over $300 and that bagel with cream cheese will cost you a good 10 bucks!

From Tel Aviv we spent a day driving to some historic places, Tel Megiddo where the Biblical Armageddon is said to take place, and then back up to the Sea of Galilee to stop at the Mount of Beatitudes, which we missed on an earlier trip. We made it to Haifa after a long day in the car only to find it one of the most difficult cities I have ever had to navigate around. Haifa reminded me a lot of Oakland. Lots and lots of hills and they were all piled on by apartments and homes. Finally, we found our hotel and the first thing I noticed upon checking in was the sign and arrow pointing to the “Shelter”. Hmm… hurricanes? Later I learned Haifa had been rocketed by Hezbollah in 2006. This made me feel great when sleeping on the 17th floor in the tallest building in Haifa! The highlight of our two nights there was taking K to the zoo, which she was crazy about. Poor girl hasn’t seen a zoo since San Diego almost a year ago. They just don’t seem to do zoos in the mid east. We also took a trip up north to the old town of Akko which I know had some historical importance to it but I just cannot remember what it was! Other than that, I was not a real fan of Haifa, way too many hills!

Now, Herzliya, that is a place I could live! We spent the next four nights there while J attended a conference on Counter-Terrorism (this is a topic that will keep you awake at night). He had asked me earlier whether I would consider living in Israel and I thought “no” at the time. Four days in Herz. was enough to convince me I was wrong (given Iran remains a nuclear-free state that is). It was a beautiful town on a great stretch of beach just twenty min. north of Tel Aviv. I was not exactly looking forward to this part of the trip because I knew that J would have some long days and I’d be stuck trying to entertain K in a hotel room. Boy was I in for a nice surprise! They upgraded us to an amazing room, large; three flat screens including one over the bathtub (nice touch!) also had a large patio with a private hot tub. My four days there felt like I had died and gone to heaven! We just swam and relaxed, I only left the hotel once and that was enough. I kept entertained by meeting the Jewish travelers who were vacationing at the hotel, mostly from the UK and US. How nice it was to be in another world for a few days!

From Herzliya we headed back to Jerusalem for one final night. We did not have much left to see in Jerusalem but as it turned out, we had saved the best for last. We started our tour at Yad Vashem, the world famous holocaust museum. It was an unforgettable experience to say the least. I have always had a minor obsession with WW2 history and visited many memorials, museums and camps including Auschwitz (which is another indescribable place!) but Yad Vashem was special. The detail that went into the exhibits and the stories that they told were beyond moving. I spent an hour trying to hold back tears only to lose it in the children’s memorial commemorating the loss of a half million children. When I walked out and saw K running up to me I could only hug her a little harder and longer thinking of all of those parents who watched their children murdered. After visiting the Old City of Jerusalem this should be everyone’s next stop. Incidentally, all of the Jewish museums we visited were top notch; they obviously have some mighty donors!

Later in the evening, we decided to venture out on a long walk to an ultraorthodox neighborhood called Mea She’arim. Shabbat was going to start soon and we had heard this was an interesting place to watch the hustle of it all. Boy was it interesting! We walked and walked thru the neighborhood surrounded by dozens of men and families out walking to services, special dinners or the Western Wall. The women were all dressed up very conservatively and the men and boys had long ringlets of hair hanging near their ears. The adult men all wore fur hats and robe-like coats. We must have walked for an hour just observing people. They all ignored us, but for us it was fascinating.

After that, we went back to our hotel and ate their Fri. evening Shabbat dinner. This included the sweetest red wine I have ever tasted, almost like syrup. Also lots and lots of bread. There were more loaves of rye than I’d ever seen. Once Shabbat starts the Observant are prohibited from doing any work at all. This means you can’t press the button on the elevator or even open your hotel room with a normal key. The hotel solved these issues by stopping the elevator on every floor and providing electronic keys that automatically opened the door. When I say no work gets done, I mean no work! It was almost amusing to watch. The Kosher food habits also changed and I don’t understand it all but I do know that I couldn’t get my daily cappuccino because it was Shabbat or even order a pizza.

We talked to some locals at the Shabbat dinner; I wanted to know specifically how they dealt with the safety concerns. Living in Jerusalem is like living in a time bomb. Eventually something (or someone) will go off. They told us that we were visiting during a relatively quiet time (thank goodness) but they also said that could change at any moment. They felt reassured by all of the checkpoints, the guards, the separation wall etc. and were especially proud of the Jewish people’s resiliency. I guess I should also mention that in Israel every time you walk into anywhere they check your bags. Even simple restaurants and often they add on a “security fee” to your bill because everywhere you go you will see a guard out front standing watch. Let’s just say there are a lot of guns and guards in Israel!

On our final day, we drove down the Dead Sea highway to nearly the end of the sea and visited Masada. The location of the famous stronghold there against the Romans where eventually all of the Jewish rebels committed suicide rather than be taken alive as Roman slaves. It’s a huge complex up on a mountaintop in the middle of nowhere. We chose to ride the cable up because there was no way we were going to hike that huge hill with K along. There were many ruins on the top and it had a spectacular view.

Masada is famous for the affect it has on the Jewish psyche -or so they say- the never give up attitude! Israel is such a fascinating country and the disappointing thing is after talking to all of the people J did on this trip, he came away with the impression that the two-state solution for peace will not be happening anytime soon. He heard former PM Benjamin Netanyahu speak (who incidentally may take over after Olmert) and he is against a Palestinian state. Olmert, by the way, is accused of swiping money from various charities including the Holocaust Museum and funds for Handicapped Children! Wow, that’s pretty low!

Two other things fascinated me about Israel. It is an incredibly diverse country with an immigrant population from all over the world. Recently they have had two huge population waves come from Russia and Ethiopia. It’s diversity in culture is felt everywhere. The second is the Hebrew language. I was amazed to learn that it has only been used for “everyday” conversation since the late 1800’s when the process of resurrecting it from a two thousand year dormancy began. When they decided to make Hebrew the official language, they needed to come up with all sorts of words to describe modern things. Now over 7 million people speak Hebrew. Lucky for us though, despite everything being in Hebrew we had no trouble finding English speakers. The only word I managed to learn was “Shalom” or Hello. That's our trip in a nutshell, for those of you who managed to stay with me this long (Grandma!) :) Next I’ll post some photos!

What girl doesn't love the beach?

Aquaba Fun!

The Birkini

We snapped this photo of a Birkini, it was missing the neck covering but it still gives you the idea. Must admit there are many days I'd rather wear something like that at the beach than a bikini! No need to skip lunch in that thing is there?

Dinner guests

Last week we invited a Jordanian family that J knows over for dinner. It was quite interesting in many regards. This is a photo of me wearing the traditional dress that they brought me. It was a very touching gift because these dresses are handmade and take many hours to embroider. It fit perfectly and I felt like Queen Noor wearing it since she always wore those types of dresses. It was interesting to watch them with their baby. I've been told that people feed babies everything here and I finally saw it with my own eyes. Tomatoes, bread, spaghetti sauce and OJ all to a 4 month old! The most interesting part of the night was when J's friend told us about the recent murder of his cousin. He said that in order to protect family honour they are planning to murder the murderer soon. Wow- premeditated murder plans made in my living room, now I've heard it all! :)

New Computer!

Nana sent K a laptop and she loves it! I love it because it's pink! Our naughty little girl is always trying to play on our computer so now she has her own keys to pound on.

RamaSalama time!

Ramadan started today, it’s funny but no one knew exactly when it would start because it depends on the moon so we didn’t find out for sure until last night. I have to admit, I’ve been dreading this month since we got here so I’m already anxious for it to be over with. Basically, it means that it is illegal to put anything into your mouth in public during the fasting hours. Water, gum etc. I had to be careful today while driving- I blew my little bubbles when no one was looking! It also means that the grocery stores are CRAZY because every night they break the fast with a huge iftar meal. The roads are nuts too, I’m going to avoid driving as much as possible because I think the taxi drivers are scary enough without adding hunger pains to it! Most of the restaurants are closed during fasting hours as well so given that I don’t plan on going grocery shopping, we may be in for our own kind of fast. Most people only work a few hours a day this month so it’s not the time to get anything done. I know it’s too early to be bitter but as I said, I’m ready for October to get here!

The upside is we’ll be traveling in Israel for a week and half. Not that I’m excited to travel again already but it will be nice not to worry about taking a sip of water in public. We’ll be in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Herzliya, Jerusalem and Masada so it should be interesting. Four of the days, J will be attending a conference so K and I will have to keep ourselves busy somehow. J and I have been enjoying Friedman’s classic, From Beirut to Jerusalem, so now we are a little more versed on Judaism : ) Amazing read! The only thing I worry about in Jerusalem are the crazy people driving bulldozers! I’m sure going to be watching the roads carefully when we’re moving thru town, can you really blame me?

We returned from Aquaba last night. It was the loveliest of get-aways. A nice way to celebrate the Labor Day holiday. Aquaba is Jordan’s tiny piece of Hawaii, maybe fifteen miles of coast sandwiched between Israel and Saudi Arabia and across the Sea from Egypt. I’ll post some photos next. We didn’t do much other than relax and work on our tans. We brought Jane along with us to ensure total relaxation and it was wonderful, we figure that will be the last truly “relaxing” family vacation we’ll probably have for years. While she played with K at the kid’s center, J and I read and snorkeled. I haven’t been snorkeling in a couple of years but I sure wasn’t as impressed with the Red Sea as I had hoped. But, on the plus side, I never saw a jelly so that made up for a lot.

I’m glad that we went away, my Grandpa’s funeral was on Friday and it was terribly hard not to be there with everyone. It’s always hard when you’re the only one who can’t attend. It helped so much to talk to family a lot and hear about the special things my cousins and siblings did to remember Grandpa. I was there in spirit for sure. From what I saw and heard, they made it a truly memorable funeral. As soon as I can find myself a slice of French Silk Pie, I’ll eat it in honor of Grandpa. That was his favorite and mine too.

I took K to her first Dentist appointment today. Wow, that woman has a tough job! How she managed to get K to sit thru a teeth cleaning when I can barely brush her teeth is beyond me. She is a superhero in my book! Found out they have a real problem with tooth decay here because they don’t have access to fluoride. I could really sense her frustration because it’s such an easy fix. Or, you would think, I’m sure I’d have an easier time getting an Rx for meth than I did trying to get my hands on fluoride drops!

Other than that, the past couple weeks have been busier than I like. The Embassy social scene has picked up and it seems like every day there is a function of some sort to attend. All of the new families have arrived and it’s been a treat getting to meet the new people. It was too quiet around here over the summer after everyone left. Call me biased but you can always spot the military wives without much trouble. They are the newbie’s making conversation with everyone, relating so well to whatever random place they happen to be in. Makes me feel especially proud to be among such a stellar group of people. Whether these women have moved here from Alabama or England, they act as if they’ve done it a hundred times. I suppose maybe they have!

Well, I’m off to search thru my pantry for something for dinner. Should have done more shopping last week, darn. Talk to you all in a couple of weeks! Have a great Labor Day everyone!

Remembering Grandpa!

My heart broke today when I heard the sad news that my beloved Grandfather passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. He was 85 and in great health until last week. It will be very hard not to be there with everyone celebrating his life and remembering the wonderful person that he was. I will be here remembering him in my own way! As sad as I am, I also feel very, very blessed to have known him well and enjoyed many joyfilled moments with him. He was the best Grandfather I could have ever asked for!
Miss you Gramps.

The Four Musketeers!

K's Angel!

K ran around the house for days yelling "Amy!!!!"

Keeping me young!

Overlooking Downtown Amman

Sunset in Bahrain

Have you ever seen a sky this pink?

Overlooking Damascus

I'm told Damascus has a population of 15 million. Kind of makes Amman's 2 million seem pretty small. Try and imagine driving in all that craziness!

Well, it's been awhile....

Hello to everyone out there! Summer has sure flown by hasn't it? Today we woke up to partial clouds for the first time since May, they didn't last long but it was somewhat nice to see a change. That coming from the ultimate sun worshiper- me! The weather here has really been amazing though, unbelievably it hasn't been HOT at all like we expected. We usually only turn the air on at night. There are many things I don't love about Amman but I have to give it thumbs up weather wise!

It's been awhile since I last checked in so let me recap, we returned from our long summer trip exhausted only to leave for Damascus two days later. The Damascus trip was supposed to be a "fun" shopping trip but to be honest, I just wasn't up to it. Overall, we had a good weekend though, bought some fun things for the house (who knows where we will ever put them!!) and J ordered the Syrian furniture he wanted. The Syrian furniture is very (very!) ornate, I don't love it myself but it definitely can't be found in too many places. Now our only problem is figuring out how to get a visa to get back into Syria to pick it up! K and I spent most of the time chilling at the hotel while J was out and about... the only really crazy thing is both nights there they had parties (wedding I assume) and the bands started playing at about 12:30am and didn't stop until 3am. The music was SO loud that had we turned on the TV we would have needed to blast it just to hear it over the music. I will never understand how these Arab hotels get away with allowing parties that keep every other guest awake. Just a cultural thing I know, but it still drives me nuts.

When we returned from Dam, we had two days before J left on a five-day trip to Bahrain. He met a friend there and had a great time seeing the little island. My question to him is always the same when he gets back, could we live there? Thankfully, he said Bahrain is a place that I would approve of so maybe the list of would live vs. would hate to live won't be quite so uneven! Ha! While J was away, we had visitors come to stay with us. Friends of friends, friends actually who moved to Amman to learn Arabic for two years. We had exchanged a few emails prior but they were pretty much strangers when they showed up on our doorstep at 4am. They ended up staying with us for a couple of weeks while they waited to move into their apartment. We had a great time! I forgot how much fun girls in their early 20's were! We watched movies, played cards, they did my hair... it was the girl retreat I've been needing! The house is definitely too quiet now that they've moved out.

Other than that, K's been growing like a weed. J says she's 35 1/2 inches tall now- he swears she's on her way to being 6 feet one day. We let her watch the Olympic volleyball matches just to inspire her! She is reading some words, counting and talking all of the time. LOVES the park so I try to take her everyday to get out of the house. I just started planning for birthday #2, I thought an Elmo theme would be appropriate this year. I started swimming again after 9 mos. off and I forgot how much I love being in the water! Makes things feel slightly normal again but I know that won't last long... we're already beginning to prepare for the next big move. Time flies! J has applied to Georgetown, Boston U, U of South Carolina and Princeton so come October-ish we should have a better idea of where we'll be living next Jan. We still have a few more trips this fall and we're also looking forward to J's brother’s visit in Oct. Next week we head to Aquaba on the Red Sea for a few days to relax and then right after that, back to Israel for 13 days. More to come on that trip! Ramadan starts Sept. 1 so I’m not looking forward to the month of Sept. at all- later I’ll fill you in on what Ramadan is like for a non-Muslim. :)

Well, I think that's our Aug. in a nutshell! Love hearing from all of you! I am really (really!) excited to get back to the States again in Dec. Lately, we keep saying how much we miss random things like Costco and our DVR. More than anything, we miss our family and pals back there! It will be great to live on the East Coast again. Hope you all enjoy what’s left of the summer! Eat a Brat for me!

OH, almost forgot. We have a NEW address now. It is still the same as mailing within in the States though.
UNIT 6050 Box 077
DPO, AE 09892-0077

Yah, this is really how we travel!

Don't even ask me where K was sitting in this taxi! I swear it was the smallest car I'd ever seen, we couldn't even close all of the doors.

Rabat and Meknes

Thru the narrow alleyways we finally came to the beach, fun to watch the surfers. Also, K out to dinner with dad in her Moroccan dress. Later she was thrilled to eat at McD's- her first Happy Meal. Of course she loved her prize too.