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!

"Sweet Home Alabama"

"Oh Susannah, Don't you cry for me.
For, I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee!"

I just felt like listing all of the people I know personally in Amman who came her via the long road from Alabama.

1. Umm Farouq at the Southern Muslimah (Homewood)
2. Michon (Guin)
3. Mama Bean (Montgomery)
4. Mama Bean's mama who is actually just visiting but I will count her anyway (Adamsville)
5. Leeanne (Montgomery)
6. Karimah (Gardendale)
7. Reham (Homewood)
8. Kinzi's mom is an Alabama native and they still have family living in Montgomery.
9. Me (Calera)

How 'bout some fried chicken and mashed taters girls?

10. Oh, I guess we can count our (slightly) new Prime Minister of Jordan, Nader Al-Dhahabi who actually received his MA from Auburn University (Class of '89). War Damn Eagle!!!!!!!! I dont actually know him, but we will count him anyway.

It is really, really weird but it seems like for every 10 people who ask where I am from, at least one of them knows someone in Alabama.

1. Guy at the maid's office - brother in Huntsville
2. Taxi Driver - did some kind of military training in Huntsville when he was in the Jordanian Army.
3. Daughter's friend's grandmother's daughter - in Hamawood (translated to Homewood!)
4. Um Farouq's old downstairs neighbors - used to attend Friday prayer in Homewood masjid and heard my husband give khutba years ago! How weird!

Even weirder, Um Farouq and I were driving through Shmesani last week and spotted a red Volvo parked on the street with a "58" county Alabama tag. If I remember correctly, that would be my home county of Shelby County, Alabama. Hmmmmm, who are you mysterious red Volvo driver? I am dying to know!

The list goes on and on and on! Cool, huh?

It's Just Not Fair!

This morning I had a parent-teacher conference at my son’s school. He is finishing up the 8th grade and it has been a challenging year for both him and for me. Recently, his grades have been on the downslide and I have had some reports from his teachers regarding his attitude and lack of interest in school.

Wanting to get to the root of the problem, instead of just going ballistic on him, I sought the help and guidance of the school counselor and ask her to trail him for a week to find out what was going on. After following him around for the past week, today she was ready to present her report to both me and my son.

According to her perception of the problem, it seems that the main issue my son is facing is that he is hanging out with a bunch of boys from the “other side of the tracks”. The other side of the tracks being tracks which include houses with security guards posted outside and driveways longer than our street.

These boys don’t care about their education. They aren’t respectful of their teachers or their parents. They just don’t care. Why? You would think that the sons of such apparently successful (at least materialistically successful) families would feel immense pressure to succeed.

I am sure that the counselor saw the baffled look I was giving her when she continued with her explanation. Looking directly at my son she explained , “These boys will inherit major corporations from their fathers and will sit at the head of the table regardless of their grades. They will have accountants, secretaries, and assistants who will do all of their thinking for them and they will just be hollow shells who appear to be leaders. They can fail and will always have someone to write them a check to make it all better. You, on the other hand, my dear boy, are going to have to work hard and earn your way in the world so you best start now. You have a lot to give to the world, now get to work!”

Lesson: Life is not always fair. It is not about being fair, it is about working hard and having pride in your accomplishments. It is about the feeling you have when you accomplish something because you deserve it – not because it was given to you.

What a tough, but true lesson for a 14 year old boy. I sure hope he was listening!

Postscript: I suppose he was listening. He is laying at the bottom of my bed finishing up a short story that is due in the morning and has also finished up his math homework.

Score: Spoiled bad boys 0 / Awesomely blunt counselor 1

Grandaddy

I read today in my hometown newspaper, The Shelby County Reporter, that my grandfather has finally decided to retire after more than 40 years of service as a selfless public servant and city mayor. Once I read the paper this morning I called my sister, who happens to work in the same office as grandaddy and ask her why she hadn't told me earlier. Granted, I do live on the other side of the world so I usually find everything out last. However, this time I was the first to know! I guess being ahead 8 hours does come in handy sometimes. For example, I get to read the news while they all sleep. Evidently, grandaddy thought it would be easier to let everyone know via mass media that he was retiring as opposed to actually having to talk about it.

I know this must have been an excruciating decision for him. Calera has grown from a one red-light town to a bustling city under his leadership and he has every right to be proud of all of his accomplishments over the past 40 years. I can imagine that he feels like he is putting his child up for adoption, I just hope the adoptive parents do as great a job as he has.

I love you Grandaddy. Now pack up and go take Granny to the beach!