We made it!

We have arrived in Amman, Jordan! I apologize for any misspellings or sentences that don’t make sense. I’m fighting jet lag and I haven’t slept much in the past 48 hours and my computer clock tells me it’s 2:24 AM EST and my watch tells me it’s 9:24 AM in Jordan. I think my brain is working at the 2:24 AM time. 

Our flights from Atlanta to Paris and Paris to Amman went smoothly. Jake was a trooper the whole time. His only meltdown came while we were waiting for our luggage at the baggage terminal. At that point he had only had about 5 hours of sleep (not consecutively) in the past 20+ hours and had been trapped in his carseat for most of that time as well. He was ready to run around and was tired at the same time. He did great and we couldn’t have asked for a better traveling buddy. Our flights were on time and no turbulence so that was good too. 

The only comical thing that happened during travel was on the flight from Paris to Amman. We have used Jake’s car seat on 7 individual flights at this point and each time we have strapped it into the airplane seat with the seatbelt and then he’s secured in a 5-point harness and can’t squirm around. As we boarded our Royal Jordanian Airplane, we did the same thing, strapped the seat in, strapped Jake into the seat and were all settled in for our 5-hour flight to Amman. As the plane begins to taxi, one of the flight attendants brings this seatbelt contraption, which was a chunk of seat belt like they used to do the seatbelt demonstrations with that had an additional loop sewn on it and she asks us to use it with Jake during take off and landing. The loop was supposed to go through my seat belt and then the extra chunk of seatbelt with the seat belt buckle is supposed to go around an infant. I must have been looking at her like she had a horn coming out of her head and when I was speechless and didn’t respond quickly, she asked, “You speak English, no?” Chris and I both looked at her and said yes, but weren’t sure what she wanted US to do with this extra link of seat belt strap because Jake was already securely fastened into his FAA approved car seat. She had us take Jake out of his carseat and wanted me to hold him for take off and landing with this little seat belt contraption “Only for take off and landing, he can be in his car seat dying the flight". We did as we were asked knowing he would be much safer in his carseat than in my lap and took Jake out. He, of course, thought this meant he could get down and squirm around and kicked and screamed trying to break free. Then another flight attendant walked by, we asked him if we could just put Jake back in his car seat explaining that he would sit better and we felt safer with him in the car seat. He agreed, not really understanding why the other flight attendant gave us the strap in the first place. So we bribed Jake back into his carseat with chocolate and he watched Mickey and was happy again. Jake has flown at lot for a two year old (about 12-15 different trips, all of which we had him on our laps until the last 2 trips) and I’ve never been offered one of these little seat belt contraptions. Good for Royal Jordanian for trying, but if the child has his own seat and is in a car seat, leave them. At least in the 5-point harness, his head can’t slam into the back of the seat in front of him during a hard landing.

So we arrived in Amman in the evening and our military sponsors Mike and his wife, Eman, picked us up from the airport and took us to our new home. It is really big compared to anything we have ever lived in. I feel like I’m in a fancy hotel. We have an metal gate out front and a door man/security as you first enter. The floors are marble, counter tops are marble, bathrooms all have a bidets as well as toilets, and most of the furniture is all brand new. So for those of you who saw the pictures before we left, it doesn’t have the floral print couches and rugs from the previous family and the Christmas tree is not here. For my military friends, you’ll appreciate the HVAC's that are located in each room for AC/Heat, just like in our offices and trailers in Iraq. We have three actual bedrooms and an office that is supposed to be a bedroom and 3.5 bathrooms and something that is probably supposed to be a mud room. I can’t tell you what the view is like from the windows because our most of the metal blinds aren’t working and we’ll have to call in a work order to have them fixed. 

On the way from the airport, the terrain was much like Iraq. We saw camels, sheep, goats, and horses along the road. There were fruit and vegetable vendors all along the side of the road. It is the same color of the dirt/sand that I remember from Iraq and the houses all seem to be the same color too. I woke up this morning and heard what sounded like an ice-cream truck and I asked Chris what the twinkling noise was and he told me it was a truck selling propane tanks. Made me laugh. 

After we unloaded our luggage, Eman had to get back home to their 3 kids and Mike took us down the street to the mall to get something to eat. The mall is where you get your groceries too. It’s a really nice, high-end mall and very modern. The restaurants in the food court are just like ours and had Papa Johns, Hardees, McDonalds, and a number of other familiar fast food chains. But the fast food places seem funny among the Versace, Gucci, and other big name brand stores. Chris and I ordered from a kebab restaurant and then I sent Chris over to Hardees to get Jake a Hot Ham and Cheese, completely forgetting that we are in a Muslim country and they wouldn’t carry that on the menu. He got a beef and cheese instead, but Jake fell asleep in the car on the way home so he didn’t eat it anyway. We got a few groceries while we were there too. Apparently each mall has a grocery store on the bottom floor so you can pick up what you need on the way out. We didn’t need much because between Mike and Eman and our friends Dan and Kaylan, we already had the staples waiting for us (milk, eggs, cheese, fruit, spaghetti and diapers). Jake fell asleep before we got out of the parking lot so we put him to bed when we got home. Chris and I unpacked enough to find PJs, shower stuff and one of Chris’s suits. We finally went to sleep around 11:30 PM. And Jake woke up at 1:30 AM wide awake. Since Chris had to get up and go to work I got up and watched Curious George with him until about 3:30 AM before getting him back to sleep.

So that is life as we know it in Jordan so far. Chris left for work this morning and since we don’t have internet or cable yet, I thought I’d get a few notes down before I forget about "the big travel day" or come to find camels and twinkling propane trucks to be so normal and insignificant that I don’t think I need to write home about it. Now I’m going to try to get a little nap in before Jake wakes up. This post will go up once we've established internet in our home.