I have gotten really really bad about keeping my blog updated. I tell myself that I will always have extra time "soon in the future" to update, post pictures, write long narratives, etc. However, the time keeps slipping through my fingers, and the days and weeks start to run into each with so sign of this so called "free time."
For those of you who don't know, I am currently living in Amman, Jordan. I finally (and sadly) made to the final stage of my travels for the summer. I guess I should go back to almost two weeks ago when this happened. I left Morocco on Thursday, July 12. My host family was unbelievably sweet to me during these moments. My host mom made sure I had everything set for my trip, and had a mini-freast prepared for me for the following day's travel so I could survive the long journey. My plane didn't leave for Cairo until 8:30pm, but with my experience in delays and things not functioning according to my "American system" standards, I decided to leave Meknes for good at 11:30am. That morning, I said goodbye to my entire host family, with promises that we would cross paths again in the future and that we would stay in touch. From there, I went and had breakfast with my directors. Words cannot express how wonderful my experience was in Morocco thanks to my these wonderful people and their loved ones. Saying goodbye to them was really hard, but we also agreed to stay in touch and see each other again. When it was time for me to go, Mouhsin (one of my directors) went with me to the train station,waited with me until my train came, and then helped me load up my impossibly heavy suitecases into the train. After that, I sat on the train for a few hours until we stopped at Casablanca Voyageur Train Station, where I had to get quickly get off, buy my ticket, and head back to the train tracks to load up my baggage again all in the midst of 20 minutes and a long line of passengers waiting before me to purchase a ticket. Miracle of miracles, I made it on the train without having to wait an hour for the next train to come!
I think I have said this many times before, but every time I have traveled alone, I have encountered the nicest people along the way who help me and take it upon themselves to take care of me (my guardian angels) even though we are complete strangers. On the train ride from Casa Voyageur to the airport, I met a sweet older gentleman and his sister who were traveling to France. From the moment I got on to the moment we seperated because we had different terminals, the two of them helped me with my baggage and never let me fall behind at any point in time during our airport transfer. It must have been around three or four in the afternoon by that time because it felt like I had to wait for FOREVER for my flight. The most stressful and frustrating point in all of my Morocco airport adventures was not knowing when or where to check in my bag and get my boarding pass. I waited for a few hours until I finally just made a decision to go stand in line a random check in desk and hope to get my bag checked withuot being told that I was go to and wait in another line. Let me just say this-I am complete surprised that the airport in Casablanca even works. The delays were awful! People who's flights were leaving ing 15 minutes were still trying to check baggage for their flight because none of the check in desks were open, so they would all cut in line in front of me and yell at the desk clerk. At this point in time, it was 6:30pm, and I wasn't sure if I was going to make it Jordan. When it was finally my turn to check my baggage, the clerk was so miserable that he let my bag go through even though it was slightly overweight and gave me my boarding pass even faster than I expected. While waiting for my flight, I met a young couple for Scotland who was traveling for the summer. We talked about our adventures and had a few good laughs. We got seperated on the airplane. I had to sit in between a nice Egyptian woman (rather plump though) and a somewhat wealthy Saudi man who tried his best to keep a running conversation with me and seduce me with lines such as "I think Mexicans are incredibly beautiful...I wouldn't mind marrying someone who looked like you...". When I told him I had a husband in the military (all part of my perfected lies), he finally fell quiet and let me sleep for our six hour flight. He did, however, show me some really awesome pictures of the Qa'ba in Mecca. He had made the Hajj the previous year. Knowing that I will never be able to see these holy grounds unless I convert to Islam, I knew that these personal first hand pictures were the closest I would get to the Qa'ba.
I arrived in Cairo at 2:30am. I had a six hour layover in between my flights, and not going to lie, I was really nervous about having to wait in the airport by myself. I had gotten a lot of attention in the Morocco airport, but I made light of it and had fun. However, being in Cairo at the wee-hours of the morning, alone, and a female, made me really uncomfortable. Thankfully, two gentlemen who had been on the same flight as me from Morocco to Cairo and were heading to Jordan at the same time I was took me under their wings. I literally felt like I had two body guards, one sitting on either side of me in the middle of this empty waiting area. I was more than happy to have them there because I immediately noticed the glances and shady smiles from a few men who were in the same area, and thanks to my two body guards, I was able to avoid unwanted attention and harrassment. I had a really interesting conversation with my two new friends. They were both Iraqi by origin, but had had to flea the country after the war because of the civil uprisings. They fled to Morocco, where both of them had new jobs and new wives. One of them expressed how much he missed his kids back home, and that he was only going to be in Amman for 2 days because he was heading back to Iraq for a little while to spend time with his family. He expressed his love for his new wife and how much he had needed a companion and a friend when he found himself in a new land...but he never mentioned his other wife. We talked about the war, and we talked about the military. We talked about language and life and the world... I think that this was one of the most profound conversations I had had with someone in a long time. It was personal and sometimes hard to listen to, but I learned and took away so much from our conversation. I discovered that I hate war, and that my loathing for the Iraq War in 2003 has gotten ever stronger. I learned what my views were about our own goverment and foreign policy, but I also learned about how an Iraqi sees the West, and it is not at all what everyone thinks it's like. I don't think I will stay in contact with my new friends (I never give out my personal information to strangers, no matter how nice they are...maybe that's wrong but that's just how I feel), but I can say that our conversation will forever be with me. I am also so thankful to every person I met in Morocco and during my transits in and out of Morocco. Without them, I don't think my travels would have been the same.
After a short flight from Cairo to Amman, I finally touched down on the land where I would spend the last thirty-something days of my summer...and this is where the new story begins....
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