“Law bidha tishti laghayyamat.”
Loosely translated: If it was going to rain it would have clouded over

Today, I joined my friend Sarah for some girl time in Jebel Amman. Jebel Amman is one of the more historic neighborhoods, with old buildings, churches, narrow streets, and lots of personality. We walked around Souk JARA (an outdoor Friday market), grabbed coffee in an English-language bookstore, and ate chinese food while watching movies. While at the bookstore, I picked up two fantastic books of Arab proverbs, which feature some of the funniest and most mind-boggling sayings, the English equivalents of which leave a lot to the imagination. Keep it tuned here for more proverbs like the ones above.

Anyway, Sarah, who has lived here for many years (4 maybe more) and I got to talking about what it’s like to be in Jordan. The question that I get asked the most by my friends and family is, “How are you doing over there?” And the answer is always “great” or “fantastic.” Everyone wants to believe that we are just loving it over here and having a great time every moment of every day, as if we are on a big, glorified vacation.

Fortunately, I am married to the world’s most positive man. He is a fantastic husband, caring, sensitive, sweet, but he means the most to me because he is eternally positive. He always sees the good side of everything, making it easy for him to reply,  “Everything is great!”

But sometimes things aren’t great. Sometimes things are just ok. Sometimes, we step out on our porch and feel lucky that we are in such an interesting place, with so many neat opportunities for us to explore. But sometimes, we step out on our porch and its hot, and we are tired, and another day in this place makes us long for home.

This trip hasn’t always been roses……Within the first 3 months we had been here, I had the respiratory flu twice and the stomach flu twice. I’ve had food poisoning 7 times, I’ve been dehydrated twice, I have had a bacteria, fungus on my head, and the flu 5 times in one month. And I’m not the only one. My friend upstairs, Stephanie, has been sicker since she got here than she has every been. We could blame the food, the water, our lifestyles…….but the fact remains that most spouses report that their families were so sick the first 6 months of their first tour. A new country takes getting used to. Its not a vacation, one where you spend two weeks and then can recover in the comfort of your own home. This is our home.

The thing is, we love it here. Jordan is an amazing experience, putting us smack in the middle of a very holy and ancient region, with lots of stories and things to learn. It’s a very positive place for both Bubba and I in terms of us growing up, taking more responsibility, and developing our relationship.

But not every day is as fantastic as you think…..

Sometimes it’s just ok.