I could back-track, but I think it might be best for me to go from this point forward and just give you the bullet points of the past month or so:
- American-style Thanksgiving with 2 turkeys, green bean casserole (with home-made french-fried onions!), stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn bread, blueberry muffins, deviled eggs, dressing... the list goes on. Plus some really delicious wine and fantastic dessert. Maryellen made us all write down things that we were thankful for about another person in the room. We topped off the evening with American-style coffee. It was really lovely to share this with my Jordanian friends.
My plate:
- Trip to Cairo two days later. Totally insane and so much fun. Where Maryellen and I earned our "joined-at-the-hip" status. Highlights included eating stuffed pigeon, going on a Nile River cruise, seeing the Pyramids of Giza on horseback, going to the National Museum (and seeing mummies and all of the King Tut exhibition), shopping in downtown Cairo, visiting the Al-Hussein Mosque, eating, eating, and more eating, a day trip to Alexandria and seeing the fantastic library (a building that I swear is straight out of The Fountainhead - I think the most aesthetically pleasing and functional piece of architecture I've ever witnessed), a delicious fish lunch and putting my feet in the Mediterranean, traveling back to Cairo and watching terrible Egyptian films, going to a Cairo Symphony rehearsal, and finally flying back to Amman. My landing in Amman was the strangest sensation - sitting between Ostaz Mohammad and Zainab and feeling totally comfortable and like I was really coming home. This feeling was so different from the anxiety, the fear, and the uncertainty I felt the first time I landed in Amman only three months earlier. Amman is my home.
On horseback with pyramid:
- The Nutcracker and my ameba friend. Several rehearsals and many, many stomach-aches later.... The Amman production of the Nutcracker reminded me of the movie Best in Show. A mock-u-mentary of the Nutcracker. The dancers were pretty terrible. And the music was not much better. And ohh my stomach. Sometime while in Egypt I contracted an ameba friend. But no one here could figure out that it was an ameba friend... fifteen pounds, three and a half weeks later, two trips to the hospital (with really fantastic care) and finally a third visit (that included the most pain I've ever experienced) (and a partridge in a pear tree?), I was finally diagnosed with a bacterial infection. With Maryellen in Israel and Art and Allyss in Lebanon, Fadi and Munia agreed to take care of me during this time. I am so thankful because I really don't think I could have taken care of myself. Now, two days after Christmas, I'm eating and finally feeling like a human being again.
- Christmas in Amman. Mostly spent sleeping and healing. But one really wild experience was on Christmas morning here at Fadi and Munia's home in Jabal-Al-Wehbde, church bells were wildly ringing as Mass let out while simultaneously, Friday morning prayers began over the mosque's loud-speaker. What a confusing audio anomaly! This night Mohannad decided that he was just going to let me eat and see what happened. It was so painful but SO delicious! My first real meal in over a week!
-post-Christmas in Amman - a very lazy time indeed. I'm so grateful for this break from teaching so that I can actually sleep and feel better. Much-needed and well-deserved resting time.
And now I will attempt to update this blog on a more regular basis.
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