Still Busy.....

• Trying to get ready for my trip home. Not really - I haven't even started! Need to shop, need to pack, need to prepare kids, need to....., need to....., need to! Planning on hitting the "ballad" this weekend and doing some souveniour shopping. Buying gifts from Jordan for non-Arabs is hard. If you need gifts for Arabs, just take a suitcase full of jameed and some dried moulkiyeh :). I guess I am going to take sweets, fake camels, and miniature replicas of the Petra Treasury. Any other ideas?

• Have to let two people go at work tomorrow - not actually firing, just not renewing their contracts. Very hard. Very necessary. Something else my mama DID NOT TEACH ME! Feel kind of sick. I hear it gets easier after the first couple of times but I really doubt it. In times like this, I guess that it is good that I am an anonymous blogger.

• Got great news this week! Their is an audiologist/surgeons' conference in Amman this week and they will be performing 5 surgeries to restore hearing in FIVE children for FREE. We are helping locate the children for the surgeries and unfortunately of the 2 schools we contacted only 1 "remembered" to prepare the childrens' medical files for us to pick up so it seems that all 5 will be coming from one school. Where ever they come from, it is truly a blessing, alhamduillah, thank GOD!

• Got my grade for my first essay. It was a disappointing 87 but insha'Allah, God willing, now that I know what she wants I will be able to pull it up to an A by the end of the term. Someone remind me again, why am I doing this?

• For those of you who post comments which I do not reply to, SORRY! I really have the intention to respond but time passes faster than my I think sometimes.

Dedicated to Um Farouq

Seems that Um Farouq is not only a loyal friend, but also a loyal reader. Actually, I think we should refer to her as a loyal "blog checker" since there has been nothing to read on my blog lately! Anyway, she was complaining to me this morning because there is nothing new on my blog lately and encouraged me to get back to it. Honestly, I have composed so many blogs in my mind lately, just haven't had time to download them from my head to my computer. Since I still don't have time to type any post in its entirety and still keep it intelligible, I will make a short bullet-list of all the things I wanted to write about lately:

• My visit to the Amal School for the Deaf in Jabal Wehbdi. My company sponsored a "Sign and Speech Training Workshop" for parents and I attended a few sessions. I even took pictures that I wanted to upload and share. These are truly special people struggling to find their place in a society that has no place for them and they deserve a full post when I have the time. By the way, did you know that Jordanian sign language is its own special language. It is different from sign everywhere else in the world, even in the Middle East. How sad to think that these children can not communicate with anyone outside of Jordan.
• My upcoming visit home to the States for the first time in almost 7 years. I don't know exactly what I want to blog about. Maybe the mixed bag of emotions I am feeling leading up to the visit. But it is going to be good insh'Allah, right?
• My Phillipino domestic helper's obsession with Barak Obama. She is more informed about these elections than anyone else I know. Seems she keeps CNN on all day at home in the hopes of catching a glimpse of the Barakster himself!
• Struggles of attempting to raise socially conscious kids!
• My surprise decison to go back to school at almost 40! Something I have wanted to do for a very long time and probably one of my only regrets in life is putting it off so long. Please pray for me as I embark upon English 601, "Classics in Detective Fiction", during this summer term. What in the world am I thinking! Sometimes I think I have lost my mind!

Oh well, work beckons so that ends the list. Hopefully, insha'Allah, I will get back to blogging. Eventually!