In general, I would say that I have mellowed out considerably since coming to Jordan. But every once in a while i just have one of those incredibly impatient days. And it may go a little something like this:
At the beginning of our story i find out that i have a package waiting for me. Yay! Good stuff. So i go to my normally lifeless center and find it teeming with girls because school is out. When i finally shoo them all away from the sewing machine (for fear that they will sew themselves together into one big clump) i mention that i need to go to the post office. My boss says great! Have a good time. But my coworker who lives in the town where i am going says there are no busses for another hour. So i sit and stare into space for a good productive hour and leave with my coworker. It is during the crawl to the “bus stop” or rather the “preferred spot in the middle of the road, which is different for everyone,” that i find out that there was indeed another bus, she just didn’t like the driver. So now i am later than i would ideally like to be, as it is quickly approaching noon and i said i would be at the p.o. in the morning. No problem, i have time. But then my coworker asks me to lunch. I start sweating bullets (but i was probably already sweating because i am in the desert). I don’t know how i will get myself out of this one. Because i dislike going to lunch when i still have to go to work in the afternoon. It just makes me nervous. So I explain to her that I cannot because I have to go to work again. And she assures me that I will be back on time, which I know to be as impossible as meeting JFK next week in Petra. It just wont happen. She scoffs and says that only not good people make me late to work. She promises. And with really no other option I reluctantly accept. You see, lunch is still a lot of work sometimes, especially when you are not in the mood. And all I really wanted to do was get my package, go to some second hand stores and go home. Lunch is good. Better than I thought. but then it comes, as it always does when I am visiting. Just sleep here! everyone wants me to spend the night at their house. I explain in every way that I have work, and I have a bed, and I don’t want to spend the next 20 hours at their house, much as I may love them. And so they agree to get me to the bus station. And because I shouldn’t walk or take a taxi alone this involves waking up their brother so he can escort me. And of course he has to shake off the sleep with some tea or coffee or something else that would obviously have to take some time to prepare. But I finally made it to the bus station. Climb on the bus with less than an hour left to get to work. And then we sit. The bus will generally sit and wait to fill up. However, this time we sat and waited for much longer than necessary. It is at that point, where you are crammed on a hot sweaty bus with fifteen minutes left to get to work (and the trip takes half an hour) and people are just cramming in the aisle, and the bus has been full for at least half an hour that you start to feel as though you may start laughing or crying and never stop. It is the worst kind of frustration. And of course this would be when you get the three most important phone calls you have had in quite some time. Months maybe. And you cant even take them because you are on a bus that was made for 20 people, and there are at least 30 other people on that bus with you. And all this is made even better when you make it to work half an hour late and find no girls. Making all my trouble ultimately worthwhile…
So, that was my adventure last week. my package had peanut butter and jello and ramen and mac and cheese. The customs men laughed. And my coworker suggested that maybe my dad just didn’t know how fat I really was and thought I had gotten skinny. Yup. Good times. Neat fun. but I don’t care because now I have jello.
I think I have been in Jordan too long consecutively. I don’t think I ever went this long in the states without some kind of vacation. To another state at least. And I think I am getting a little stir crazy. Amman isn’t really doing it for me right now. So, I am planning a vacation to celebrate the end of the summer! Maybe Beirut. Not sure yet. Something fairly close to Jordan. And if anyone wants to come meet me somewhere near here, just drop a line. People ask me why I don’t go visit the states. I guess the short answer is that I spent 23 years there and really know what it looks like and that I want to see other things while I am here.
Anyway. That is the news I guess. mostly mellow, with occasional frustration and a high probability of impending burnout. Ha. Kind of like a weather report.