Safe and Sound in Jordan!

MCC's Meeting Place.

Honestly going in to SALT Orientation last week I didn't really see the point. I was especially not into how everyone seemed so excited to become best friends with people that they weren't going to see for 11 months. But it truly was worth it, and I've so glad that I did it. Orientation was a time and space of transition, after we'd already said our goodbyes to our families and friends, where we were in fellowship with people going through the same thing as us. We were able to talk about our fears and our hopes. Over the week the SALTers serving in the Middle East (Jessy, Caleb, Christine, and I) became very close. We are so excited to see each other at regional retreats, and are hoping that we are able to schedule our vacations together.

The Middle East SALTers.

Yesterday was the big day! Well, yesterday according to when I slept, in reality it was Wednesday, so two days ago. Jessy, Caleb, and I had the same first flight to London. We were able to sit together on the plane, though I'm not a very good travel companion. As soon as the plane took off I found a movie and watched it, so I wasn't the most talkative. Caleb at least found my "random" laughter funny. I tired very hard to sleep, but I don't think did. Eventually we landed in London. Every other time I've flow to London I've flown to Gatwick, so this was my first time in Heathrow. It's HUGE. We had to take a train and bus to get from the terminal we landed in to the terminal our flights were leaving from. Once we got there we had to go through security again- I managed to forget that I filled up my water bottle in Philly so they had to check my bag, I spent the whole time apologizing to Jessy and Caleb about it. Caleb and I had a 2.5 hour layover, so we were able to sit and relax for a bit before finding our gate. Jessy had a longer layover, so she hung out with us until we boarded. Finding the gate was an adventure. According to the sign we read it's supposed to take about 20 minutes to get there from the main part of the terminal, so Caleb and I speed walked the whole way, with Jessy trailing behind us laughing. She was right, it did not take us nearly that long. But, we did have to go up and down, and around, and even took a sky walk at one point. From the gate Caleb and I said our final goodbyes to Jessy and left her to catch her own flight. I slept for most of the flight from London to Amman. I woke up just as we were flying over Israel. I didn't have a window seat so I didn't have the best view out the window, but it was still amazing to look at. I've never been to a desert before, so it was crazy for there to just be desert as far I could see. We landed, changed our money, and got our visas. The line took a while so we were able to people watch. There were a large number of people just sitting around, not in a line, which I still don't understand. And there didn't seem to be any women traveling alone, so I'm glad I was traveling with Caleb because it made me stand out less. The MCC Reps, Gordon and Carolyne, picked us up at the airport. It was great to actually met them after emailing back and forth for so long.

Parting is such sweet sorrow.

I'm staying at the MCC Reps apartment while I'm here in Amman. I can't remember the name of the hill we live on, but it's near the Blue Mosque, which is gorgeous. After dropping my stuff off at the flat, and changing out of my jeans (it's a bit too hot for those), we all went to dinner downtown. We had wonderful pita and hummus. Then we just walked around downtown for a while, including the market.

Caleb and I definitely dealt with adjusting in different ways. Caleb had question after question to ask the Reps about Jordan, MCC, and our schedule. I just wanted to observe. I felt like the most productive use of my evening would be to start figuring out the appropriate way to act as a young unmarried woman. So, I tried to note how many women I saw on the street, who they were with, what they were wearing, who they spoke to, and so on. Navigating gender roles here is definitely going to be an adjustment, but I knew that coming in.

Downtown Amman

Amman is so interesting, and I'm really excited to get to explore it. Arabic lessons start on Monday, so until them I'm going through in country Orientation with the MCC Reps. But for now it's the weekend, weekends are Friday and Saturday here, so we're taking a bit of time to relax and just take things slow.