“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