Quick Orientations

Quick Orientations:

Well I’ve been in and out of an assortment of orientations. I know that I’m in the MIddle East, but for me its difficult for me to quite realize that I’ve finally made it. Just like living in Hong Kong, it just feels just like any other place with different people. I’m not quite sure if any place will ever feel like home, but thats alright.

This is Your 5:00 AM Wake Up Call

One aspect about living in the Middle East which will most likely never stop annoying me, is the calls for prayer in the morning. Now, many of you are aware that in the Middle East they pray five times a day (albeit, the same exact prayer in the mosques). So in order to get the people up to pray (at around 6:00- 7:00), those calls for prayer go out on the loud speakers attached to the Minarets (tall towers that point skyward) at 5:00 AM, or a little before.

What does it sound like? Well more like a mixture between sing-shouting with quavering, near feverish pitches. It is absolutely inescapable to avoid. And I haven’t mastered the, turn over and go back to bed approach yet. (It goes on for about twenty minutes or so). Now don’t get me wrong, I am not being negative here. Actually I admire the dedication to prayer here. In many ways their devotion to their religion goes far beyond the superficial lip-service in America. Now, I cannot speak to the authenticity of servitude here, but there are certainly lessons to be learned as to devotion.

As for me, it hasn’t quite gone to being bothersome, for I’ve been waking up 15 or so minutes before the jamboree on loudspeakers. I end up doing my devotions and prayers around the same time the rest of the populace is doing theirs. And for one thing, its not bad to receive an extra reminder, and I do so out of willing volition.

Good To See You Again

I have enjoyed all the meals that have been both provided to me, and the things I’ve picked up. I don’t mind Middle Eastern cuisine, it can be quite delectable. On a related note, I quickly deduced that you aren’t supposed to put toilet paper into the porcelain throne. With that being said, I’ll leave you to your own imagination as to what the title of this section was referencing.

Great Each Other With A Holy Kiss

I haven’t kissed a dude yet. But I surmise that this is a date with fate that has been set upon the wheels with an unavoidable eventual destination. It is quite customary for friends to kiss their friends cheek. (Cheeky?) Just prior to my first adventure at an Arabic church was to ask, “I have only one question, am I going to have to kiss a guy?”

Well I didn’t have to, as it is quite customary at Western Churches to shake hands, but I’ve seen my American friends kiss other people around town. When the time comes, hopefully I’ll be prepared (but just so you know, I’m not willing to practice).

Cafe 56k Dial-Up

My morning rituals and routines will probably amount to me waking up before the crack of dawn everyday to jog. Yesterday, I had my laptop and was able to grab an internet connection at the Pinoy Cafe, today I wasn’t as successful today with my I-Phone.

If there is one thing that I’ve quickly learned, is that Jordanians (and really the entire Middle East) loves their coffee. There is no end or shortage of cafes, and once I get settled into a routine, I will enjoy going there. Perhaps, I’ll even do my lesson planning in one, once I get comfortable that is.

(Oh, and no cafe’s here use 56k dial-up, I just wanted a catchy title).

They Came From Under the Sink

I’ll post pictures of my humble abode later. Its quite quaint, yet I’ve already found some of the inhabitants before I moved in (to describe them, it has six legs, an oval orangish-brown tinted body, with two long tell-tale feelers). I asked about it, they apparently come in from the sink drain, and we’re supposed to cover the drainage hole when they are not in use. (Pictures of outside my apartment).

Jordanian Conspiracy Theories

Apparently Jordanians love their conspiracy theories. Now, I haven’t heard any of them directly, but they’ve been passed down to me by others.

1.) Cold air (AC in the Car) blowing onto your abdomen will give you diarrhea

2.) If a road is closed due to construction, there must be some ulterior motive

3.) The government actually has water, and the shortage is fictional

4.) The armed guards in front of embassies that hold semi-automatic weapons, don’t have any ammunition in them. (I’m not quite sure how this is a conspiracy, but I heard that today).

Well that does it for updates here. I’ll be leaving in a few minutes to grab a morning breakfast, but I’ll continue to post only the most interesting aspects of my adventure.

Salem (Peace),

Greg

“I’m A Leaving On A Jet Plane!”

"I'm A Leaving On A Jet Plane!"

The whirlwind of events that has transpired in the past twenty-four hours is enough to make my head spin. So welcome to my blog, and the end of my official first day in Jordan.

Rough Beginnings

The morning of the big day began without many incidents. I awoke to the ringing of my alarm at 8:00 in the morning, to which I promptly shut it off to sleep another hour. The rest of the morning had me scrambling around, throwing the rest of my unpacked items into suitcases, and burning portions of my parents CD collection onto my mac-monster.

Errands and Earfuls

At 12:00 my parents and embarked on the first leg of my journey, not to the airport, but instead to the bank and post office. (It would seem a certain Would-Be-International-Traveler had forgotten to both file and pay his US taxes for the 2008 fiscal year... that being said I didn’t have any taxes for I paid them all in Hong Kong, but I forgot to file them nonetheless.)

Despite these quick errands, we made great time. We were clipping along the Interstate, and only 15 minutes away from the Airport when suddenly we hit stand-still traffic. That fifteen minutes suddenly turned into an hour and fifteen minutes. My parents went nuts (funny I was the serene one, haha), while I sat in the backseat and prayed.

Security Measures

Instead of arriving with three hours to spare, suddenly my timeframe of getting checked in, past security, and to the gate at time had elapsed to only an hour and a half (which might seem like not a big deal, but it took an hour to get through check-in alone last year). But a funny thing happened, work of Providence, when I showed up there wasn’t a line. I got through check-in portion in record breaking time. Security was also a breeze as well, only taking me 5 minutes to go through in Philadelphia. (Chicago was a different story, the x-ray lady thought I had smuggled a bomb or something onto my carry-on, they emptied everything from it. Sure enough, no bombs).

When I finally got to the gate, I had a whole hour to spare. Incredible! I had enough time for some lunch =)

This is Your Captain Speaking

My two flights could be characterized as the following: While the flight to Chicago was turbulent, it was a mostly peaceful flight; whereas the flight to Amman was tranquil, I was miserable (couldn’t sleep well, my neck got a cramp, and I started to get the sweats until I propped my head a different way).

On both flights, I had a chance to talk to people around me and share what it was that I would be doing, and my desire to be an authentic man of faith. (I hope Rosalyn eventually finds this blog, that would be awesome. Oh, if I misspelled your name, I’m sorry.)

He Walks Among You

As I waited in line to board the flight to Jordan, two interesting things occurred for me. 1.) I noticed that I looked a great deal like many of the people surrounding me. I grew a slight beard, but many of those standing next to me had similar stooping foreheads and similar sloping noses. I felt like I was “one of them” -- a Jordanian too.

2.) And secondly, they thought so as well. The man standing next to me kept cracking Arabic jokes to me, I couldn’t understand a word he said, but I laughed nonetheless, smiled and of course nodded.

As the plane took off, a sense of overwhelming joy and elation (not fears and apprehensions) swept over me. I knew I was going where I was supposed to be going, and I knew who it was that was directing me.

The Inboard Flight Entertainment Was What???

As they began handing out our first flight meal, they popped in a movie simply titled “The Meadow”. If you are thinking this was a quaint existential story much in the method of Albert Camus description of some transforming phase in life, you would be wrong. Or if this was some campy Juliet Roberts or Sandra Bullock love flick, again your way off base. No, it was in fact a movie about a meadow (deep huh?). And so as I was munching down my “spicy chicken on rice” I watched playful ants hungrily devoir a Yellow Jacket (a type of bee). Sigh, desert wasn’t any better, by the time I got to my Apple Strudel, some tractor was spraying manure out in the fields. Sometimes you just cannot win.

Mom Was Right About the Breath Mints

Well my mom always tells me to pack breath mints on a plane because, “You never know who’ll you be sitting next to.” I always respond, “I have never sat next to an attractive person, I’ve prayed for that, it doesn’t work.”

Well let me consult my journal notes on the plane (I was typing on my Iphone):

9.26.09 Entry #4

“On a purely secular note, I did sit beside (across the isle) from a very cute Jordanian girl.... I wonder how I’ll work up the nerve to talk to her.”

45 Minute Intermission

9.26.09 Entry #5

“Her name was Noor.”

Of course I know a lot more about her, (like how she’s in her second year of University, studying to become a dentist, and was visiting her sisters in Iowa, but I don’t want to bore you with all those mundane details, as if you were interested in that.)

All By Myself

(At this moment, the author of this blog would like to point out that this paragraph has nothing to do with the previous section)

After the plane touched down, I went through customs, immigration, and baggage claim. I was very curious to see as to who would be there waiting for me. When I got out in the open area, I was surprised to find that no one was there for me.

I was surprised, people from Jordan was supposed to be there to pick me up. But so far, no one was there at all. So I waited, and waited, and I waited some more. About an hour goes by... the first thoughts running through my mind was 1.) well I’m sure you could guess some of my thoughts, what am I going to do if no one shows up? How am I going to contact them? Did they think I looked too Jordanian, didn’t recognize me and left?

Well what I wasn’t going to do was start searching the airport. Its better to remain in one location. I went to the Info desk and I was going to have them page “Greg Butz” (I wasn’t 100% sure who was picking me up), but the guy there told me that they didn’t have a speaker phone. (What good is that??)

Finally, I bought a internet card, for an obscene amount of money and began emailing them, and trying to send text messages to their cell phones from online. I got on facebook and was about ready to have my mom contact them via phone (I didn’t have a Jordan Sim card), when David Knaus and Aaron showed up.

(He found me because he asked his daughter to check his email... and they accidently went to the wrong terminal at first, and couldn’t recognize me.)

First Meal, First Sleep

It was hard to tell what the city looks like at night, I’ll have to explore more tomorrow, but I was a good feeling to be here. We had a meal similar to Habbibis in Hong Kong (gyro with shaved meat), it was great, and cheaper too!

Finally I got to see my apartment, I didn’t know what to expect, but its good. Its cozy and livable. It has all the necessary items a good home needs. So I am typing this up on my couch. I’ll give you guys a walk through of my apartment at a later time! Of course its not as large as Hong Kong, but for one person, its just what I need!

Salem (Peace)

Greg

Tomorrow I Leave

New Beginnings:

Tomorrow I fly out to Jordan... this will most likely prove to be a fun and exciting journey in my life. The overall purpose of this year was to gain new life experiences, work with refugees, and overall become more dependent upon Him. This next year in its entirety will be all volunteer work (pro bono), meaning I will be supporting myself from the income I made teaching in Hong Kong. But remember, I do this not for myself, but for those in need.

This blog itself will not necessarily become an assortment of discoherent ramblings and babblings of my life, but rather I hope to make this as insightful and humorous as possible. I would love to interpose spiritual truths to this as possible, but please keep in mind that I might be limited in that capacity.

Fears and Trepidations:

There is a certain thrill each time you leave home. No one was as ready to leave home than I was after high school. My four years of university were filled with many of life's lessons, but it wasn't a major change of scenery. I still lived in the United States, at least until my last semester where I did my student teaching in Hong Kong. Hong Kong must have held a certain allure to me, as it is where I ended up doing my first two years of student teaching. So living in another culture isn't so foreign to me... however, the night before I go I find myself eagerly anticipating it, and wishing I had a few more days to pack up all my belongings.

My Quarter-Life Crisis:

The adjustment back to United States living, took some process. I sometimes wonder why I was unable to visit Pakistan during the summer, but all things work out the way they do for a reason. It took nearly a month to re-citizenship myself back to being an American. I found myself thinking and doing Asian actions. (*See virtually every picture of me, I can't stop making the V sign with my first two fingers. Aiya! ... lol, =__= ).

But after a month, I realized that this was all for a good thing, for my hair had been falling out in buckets from stress. (Seriously, I had lost half of it). Though my follicle forrest has thinned out, I have hope that a few more roots will be growing soon.

As I type this, I'm twenty-four, and young enough to still be figuring out the direction of my life. But 25 is around the corner, and in 5 years, 30, and in 15 years 40. But lets just worry about 24 right now. (Will I ever return to teaching? I certainly hope so, and I haven't strayed far, I'll be teaching English in both Jordan and Thailand this year).

Finding Family Again:

Though I had made a new family in Hong Kong, I have rediscovered my own family (not that I misplaced them, or anything that drastic: just keep in mind that four years of university followed by 2.5 years in Hong Kong, it just was hard to keep up).

My younger brother is now married, he has the cutest little son (my nephew Jace); my sister is in Washington DC on an internship; and my parents shoot guns for fun.

My cats have become inseparably attached to me, which is why my leaving might be harder for them, than for me.

The Five Stages of Kitty Grief:

1. Stage One: Denial -- yesterday, Kiki saw the suitcase in my room, and he knows what it is. Usually he hides when he sees them rolling down the hall for he knows someone will be leaving soon. Instead he climbed into it and fell asleep.

2. Stage Two: Anger -- today, after I began packing, Kiki got very angry with me. He refused to acknowledge my presence, and he stormed out

of my room when I began packing.

3. Stage Three: Bargaining -- a few hours later, he jumped up on my bed and began howling at me, and eventually went to sleep next to the bag. It was as if he was begging me not to go.

4. Stage Four: Depression -- my cat hasn't reached this stage yet, but he will when I don't come home. He has slept on my bed every night and will be in the dumps for weeks to come.

5. Stage Five: Acceptance -- it will take a long time before he reaches this stage.

Final Thoughts:

I'll continue to post on my experiences. Sometimes I might post only one or two times a week, and other times it might be more. Please follow, and of course feed me tons of comments. I would love to hear all the prayers and encouragement that you could offer me.

Last Shoutout!

My mom gets all the credit for the picture above. I chose the site, and wanted a very distinct look... instead she took a candid capture when I wasn't looking, and it turned out to be the best picture in the whole album. Thanks Mom!!!