hijabs, cigarettes and gucci bags

We are here. Finally. After months of preparation, clearing out of our home, spending a week in a hotel suite, we are making our home here in Jordan. It is now two weeks since we arrived, and yet I need to include some brief snapshots of our trip here.

After spending twelve hours on a Royal Jordanian jet from Chicago, we arrived in Jordan on the first of July. Here are some snippets from our trip:

+ Walking up to join Steve at the boarding gate in Tampa and seeing Hanna in her stroller staring up at a man in front of her- Hulk Hogan. Yes, he is as big as he appears on TV- and was wearing his signature sunglasses and handkerchief. Wish I had my camera to capture the awe on Hanna's little face.
+ Abby spinning and dancing across terminals, while singing, “This is the day the Lord has made… I’m going on a trip…I’m putting down my backpack…I’m going on a plane…I'm spinning around...” She had no idea of the stress her parents felt at that moment- yet somehow I feel that her way was the better one…having chosen the one thing that kept her in His peace…
+ Hanna standing up on one of the soft toy suitcases in the kid’s playground, grinning from ear to ear with her two-tooth smile.
+ Nate and Lydia tromping through the airport with backpacks packed and ready to go. So excited that they were almost quivering.
+ A surprise visit by Joanne and BJ at Chicago O’Hare- eating McD’s together and them seeing us off at the gate- bittersweet goodbyes and blessed to have friends see us off on such a big trip.
+ The absence of a real line as we boarded RJ Airlines. Feeling in the minority for the first time not wearing a hijab.
+ Hanna sleeping twenty minutes at a time, for twelve hours.
+Arriving in Jordan at dusk and feeling the characteristic Eastern cacophony of sounds and movement.
We were met by a group of co-workers who helped us gather our nine bags plus three car seats, one double jogging stroller and seven carry-ons.
When we walked out of the terminal, I felt the first of an evening breeze. The air was dry and warm- lovely! The next was not so lovely- cigarette smoke wafting through the air. This is something that will be hard to get used to. There are no real smoke-free zones here in Jordan. The next two observations were of the women here. Many wear the hijab, the customary head-covering. However, what is most interesting is that the rest of their outfit could be a tight shirt, skinny jeans and ballet flats. Oh, and a Gucci bag. The juxtaposition of conservative Islamic symbols mixed with stylish Western elements is everywhere.
We rode into Amman from Queen Alia International Airport during possibly the most beautiful time of day. The sun, just setting, turned the landscape golden. The sky almost seemed pinkish gold, if that is a color. Perhaps it was the dust in the sky that created such a color. We passed dry, dusty hills speckled with small trees, clusters of whitish-tan square buildings that comprise Amman’s city architecture. They call it “Jerusalem stone,” and the city has a homogeneous feel to it with virtually every building created with the same stone. We also passed by a lot of rubble- Jordan is a developing country- and it seemed that we saw many “works in progress.”
Lydia, from the back, gave a running commentary on her initial observations of Jordan. She noticed the tall spires that rose up from the several mosques we passed- minarets that looked like ancient castles.
“Mama? See that hill? That would be fun to hike up and have a picnic on top!”
“Mama, even the telephone poles look different.”
“Look, Mama! Goats!”
When we finally arrived at our home, we had already been captivated by the beauty of the foreign, the unfamiliar. Amman is not beautiful in the same way that Paris is beautiful. There are piles of rubble, dusty, empty lots and half-finished buildings dotting every large area. Yet at the same time, as we drove into our neighborhood, seeing fuschia bougainvilla cascading over stone white walls and graceful arches at the end of the streets creating the feeling that we were entering into a place very different than Florida, than any other city I’ve visited. Perhaps it is the presence of beauty in the context of the other aspects that characterize the middle east- strife, hostility, violence.
Perhaps this beauty is the presence of grace amid this all.
More to come.