The Month in Pictures

Lots of travel, holiday festivities and computer glitches have made us slow to post pictures. So here is our last couple of months in pictures - think of those end-of-the-year double issues of magazines that only have ads and pictures so that the writers can have a vacation.

Thanksgiving weekend - we were in Tel Aviv and went to a drive-thru safari. All the animals were free to run at you except the lions. I feel like I have seen nature shows about charging rhinos but the threat must not be that great because they had a lot of them just walking around.

Duffy's parents visited in early December and we all enjoyed Masada - site of a defiant mass suicide by Zealots (yes, the original "Zealots") after a long siege. Better dead than Roman! Grim tale, but it also has nice weather, a cable car, falafel and a pretty view of the Dead Sea.

Last week, we had two days off for Eid. Continuing our "sacred ground" tour, we organized an outing for colleagues up to Umm Qais, in the far northwest corner of Jordan. Palestinians expelled from their lands come up here for the spectacular views, and to weep over the lost Golan Heights (see the lake and fields behind us), a strategic - and lovely! - piece of land lost by Syria to Israel in the 1967 war. On the plus side, Umm Qais has a nice restaurant, roman ruins and look! It's green!

After driving way North to go to Umm Qais, we drove south along the Dead Sea to the Feynan Eco-Lodge in the desert near Petra. Here's an inconvenient truth: anyone who thinks that solar is going to save us from global warming has not spent much time in solar-powered lodging. In fact, one chilly solar-"heated" shower is plenty to bring one to his senses on the matter. This is the desert, after all. We followed instructions and waited til dusk to shower on a very sunny day, and still the water was barely heated. The electricity worked only 2 hours past dark and it was cold, cold, cold. During the day, we had some great hikes and were offered helpings of recently slaughtered sheep by Eid-celebrating bedoins.

Our 2007 Christmas Letter Blog (a Clog?)

This year’s Christmas greetings are coming to you from our new home just 50 miles away from the (not so) Little Town of Bethlehem. Alas, times being what they are, we will not be singing carols beside the original nativity scene any time soon. It is strictly off-limits to us embassy folk. But this is an exception to an otherwise wide-open region. The Americans here don’t think twice about crossing into Syria – proud member of the Axis of Evil – to go shopping. In fact, several of us even brought our parents along with us.

Since coming to Jordan six months ago, this is the biggest surprise so far: life here isn’t so different. Of course, living so far away from family and friends is hard. Especially during the holidays. But our daily routines and creature comforts have undergone very little adjustment. We thought life in Washington, DC was paradise because we could get sushi delivered to our door. But here we can get deliveries of sushi and flavored popcorn!

Faithful blog readers may recall Dan lamenting the lack of street addresses when he first arrived. So how does the popcorn get delivered? Actually, there are street names posted on corners, and house numbers attached to houses. Some of us (foreigners and food delivery services) choose to see them while the bulk of the population denies their existence. If we mention addresses to them, they smile and nod at us as if we were talking about Santa Claus.

Don’t be mistaken, we are trying to adapt to better fit in. Dan has even learned how to drive badly, which is safer than driving defensively on these streets. A while back, a helpful Jordanian gave him this key advice: do NOT look in your blind spot as this is taken by your opponents as an implicit yield. You may as well announce that you have all day to get though the roundabout, which will infuriate your teammates in the cars behind you, causing them to lurch about dangerously. Instead, maintain a rigid forward focus – and place some faith in your fellow drivers – to keep things flowing. It is terrifying to observe pedestrians using the same strategy while crossing busy streets. To better emphasize their blindness, many choose to cross while texting on their mobile.

We have also learned how to participate in the elaborate ritual of greeting someone that involves posing at least three questions (chosen randomly) How are you?, What is your news/condition/color?, Is everything perfect?, and another dozen variations – and yet every week we learn a new variation. Thank God, if you don’t comprehend the question, you can always fake it by responding, “Thank God”.

If you have trouble picturing Dan as a reckless, aggressive driver, try envisioning Duffy inseparable from her Blackberry. Yes, it keeps her wired in to work but she has also become addicted to the Brick Breaker game, available exclusively on Blackberry. Dan has a Blackberry also, to help keep tabs on his needy American citizens, but so far he remains insusceptible to the lures of Brick Breaker. Perhaps this is because he isn’t very good at it.

With six months passed and 18 months left here, we have been cautioned that time will fly by and we should identify all the things we still want to see and schedule them all during assorted holiday weekends and vacations. While we have loved seeing Petra, Umm Qais, Jarash, Damascus, and Jerusalem … Cairo, Palmyra and Dubai are still on the list. Our list feels do-able but then we will meet someone who raves about their 10 days in Oman or someone else says that Turkey is their favorite country in the world and so we keep re-prioritizing the list.

Christmas here is different, no doubt about it. We have a chocolate advent calendar from the French grocery store Carrefour (today was a chocolate snowman) but at the British Club’s Christmas Ball last week, we realized that December 14 was the first day we had heard a Christmas carol played – a lifetime record for both of us. We must make our own iPod playlists in order to hear Ella, Elvis or the Muppets sing about the season. We love unpacking (but not yet unwrapping) the boxes of Christmas goodies that have been arriving in the mail. We have tried very hard to avoid spoiling the surprise inside by ignoring the mandatory Customs slips. We have suggested that the mail room attach “Spoiler Avoidance” stickers but apparently it is unlawful. We were impressed by the creative substitute for packing peanuts that Tim & Rose used: little snack bags of crunchy Cheeto’s. Our imagination soared upon seeing the Sharper Image catalog pages that Pam and Sam used: will we be getting the Pirates of the Caribbean Pinball Game or the Aviator Bifocal Reading Glasses/Sunglasses, we wondered.

We’ve been posting our favorite movies on the blog. Our favorites for the year are The Lives of Others; 3:10 to Yuma; Eastern Promises and Knocked Up. We saw Knocked Up via Netflix, and it also came to the big screen in Amman, but not before undergoing some serious censoring of key courtship scenes. The film as shown here suggests that flirting in a bar followed by breakfast together the next morning may lead to pregnancy. So be careful you unmarried flirtatious breakfast-eaters!

Of course we hope and pray for peace in the Middle East, not only because we would be able to visit Bethlehem and beautiful Lebanon, but mostly because peace here will improve the lives of the many Jordanians and Palestinians who have been so hospitable to us.

Duffy’s favorite books this year (Dan's list is on hiatus)
· Run by Anne Patchett
· Call of the Mall by Paco Underhill
· World War Z by Max Brooks – I am reading this now and it is really, really clever. A Studs Terkel style oral history of the world after the zombie wars – rest assured that a post-zombie infestation is not a pretty thing. Safety note: to kill zombies you must destroy their brain.
· Eat, Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert – memoir of a woman who spends a year traveling/living in Italy, India and Indonesia.
· Twilight by Stephanie Meyer – this was my favorite teen fiction book of the year – a vampire romance with a vampire that reminded me a lot of Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (or maybe that is just who I pictured in my head.)

We have had Dan’s parents and Duffy’s parents as house guests and hope we can offer our hospitality to you too. I think they will assure you that Jordan is not scary; shwarma is really tasty and that there is indeed something thought-provoking about being in the midst of so much history.

With hopes of peace for you, your families and the world.

Love, Dan and Duffy

Eid Mubarak

Today is the start of Eid - or I think more accurately - tomorrow is the start of Eid but today is a holiday too so that people can get ready for Eid. There was an Eid "Eid-Al Fitr" that celebrated the end of the month of Ramadan. This Eid "Eid Al-Adha" follows the month of Haj, when Muslims who are able go to Mecca. Eid Al-Adha celebrates when Abraham went to sacrifice his son and God let him sacrifice a ram instead. Today, families who can afford to sacrifice an animal - they keep 1/3 of the meat for themselves, 1/3 of the meat goes to their extended family and 1/3 goes to neighbors.

The picture above is the Jordanian version of "Merry Chrismukkah" - but instead combines the ram of Eid Al Adha with Santa's hat.

Engagement party

Stephanie told me last night that we should post more - no promises but here is at least an update of what we did last night...


Last night (after talking to everyone at Vicky's Xmas party) Dan and I went to our first Jordanian engagement party which was thrown for one of the embassy drivers. This was a big party at a hotel – maybe 200 people. You know how you can go to a wedding and there is always a table that somehow sticks out – it’s the table of co-workers or it’s the table of scattered people that the bride and groom know from some part of their life. At this party there was the table of Americans from the Embassy and wow did we stick out.

The party was primarily focused around dancing. The bride and groom sat on a small, decorated stage – he in a suit, she in a beautiful embroidered dress that looked like a wedding dress except it was gold. There was a DJ playing Arabic pop music – mostly Nancy and Haifa two Lebanese singers but also Shakira, who while also half-Colombian is known here for her Lebanese-ness. There was lots of dancing – most of it women dancing with women and men dancing with men and occasionally the bride and groom dancing with each other. The DJ had a microphone AND a drum. This meant that there was his extra drumming emphasizing the beat in music that already has a pretty strong beat. He did not play the drum when the couple danced together to Kenny Rogers' “Lady” – the one slow song of the evening.

At one point the DJ called all of the embassy people to come dance with the bride and groom. After that, we were all pulled to the dance floor by assorted family members – but nearly always by someone of the same gender. I would be pulled to the floor by the bride (whom I had never met before) or the bride’s mother (ditto). Dan by the groom’s father or the groom’s boss – the head of the motorpool. We think this being pulled to the dance floor was not a testament to our excellent dancing skills but one more example of Jordanian hospitality – they were going to make sure we had a great time at their party and feel very welcome - which we absolutely did.

Winters have come and gone

This afternoon, I got a call from Mom (W.) that they had made it back to New York. They had some flight craziness with rescheduled flights and customs and luggage but they are home now. It was a good and busy week - here is the itinerary for those of you considering your own Jordan-Israel adventures.

Wednesday - arrive - eat shwarma, walk around Amman's new pedestrian zone

Thursday - Jerusalem - Western Wall, Old City, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Israel Museum to see the Dead Sea Scrolls and a model of the Second Temple which apparently used to decorate the lobby of a hotel

Friday - drive to Masada - site of a siege between Jews and Roman troops. The remains of the fort (built by Herod) are on the top of a mountain with beautiful views of the desert and the Dead Sea. Spend the night in Tel Aviv mostly so Mom and Dad can see the Mediterranean and we all can go see Golden Compass which was disappointing. Maybe whenever you LOVE, LOVE, LOVE a book you will find the movie disappointing, if I remember correctly I also didn't like the play-version in London nearly as much as the book either even though the puppet-daemons were cool.

Saturday- back to Jordan to see Baptism site on the River Jordan and a quiet evening at home eating Indian take-out.

Sunday - Mom and Dad get a driver to take them to Petra where they ride donkeys and eat ice cream.

Monday - Mom, Dad and Duffy head up to Jerash for the gladiator show and to walk around the Roman town. We then have a crazy drive around the city after missing a turn on the way home. That night we head to a friend's book signing party and go see Amman's best ruin, a Roman ampitheatre. Then we have a crazy drive around the city after missing a turn. I (Duffy) would like to note that my missed turn resulted in a 2 mile detour and Dan's missed turn got us nearly to Jerusalem (or so it seemed).

We have some great Masada pictures that we'll get posted.

Saturday (we mean Sunday) night

It was a relatively quiet weekend for me and Dan had a group of government visitors in town that he helped out with. Helping meant going to the airport and silently hoping that everyone says “great” to the plan of eating dinner at the hotel and no one suggests “hey could we go shopping?”

On Saturday night (which is our “Sunday night” because we have work on Sunday and not Friday) we had a few friends over to play games. We started with our globe trivia game at the hardest level doing capitals. If you haven’t played, each round is 45 seconds and the computer asks you to find “Wellington” and “Skopje.” With a room full of world travelers, this invariably resulted in less “where’s that” but more “never again.” I think “never again” was applied to the cities of Tashkent, Paramaribo and Jeddah for those of you planning your summer vacations.

My parents arrive tomorrow. They have a lot they want to see – Jerusalem, Petra and hometown Amman – we are just hopeful that jetlag doesn’t wipe them out. It can be really hard to sleep through the night and the call to prayer seems timed to sound exactly when one is tossing and turning the most. It has indeed turned “cold” in Amman (cold means 50s) and maybe the closed windows and our noisy heater will block out the mosque a block away.

Thanksgiving in Tel Aviv

Dan and I celebrated Thanksgiving in a wine bar in Tel Aviv. We had beef bourginon for dinner and gravlax which made us smile and think of Thanksgivings past and eating Tim B.'s superior gravlax.

Tel Aviv is about four hours from Amman including the hour it takes to cross the border. Being able to easily (and an hour is considered "easy") cross is probably the top (only?) benefit we get for being diplomats. Once in Israel, we get a lot of funny looks for having a car with Jordanian plates because for most people it is not easy to cross the border and you typically CANNOT bring your car across.

Whereas Jerusalem is a religious city full of important religious sites - the dome of the rock, the church of the holy sepulchre, western wall, etc. Tel Aviv is a regular city that happens to be located on the Mediterranean. We walked on the beach; watched surfers from a bar on the beach where we could drink beer that wasn't Amstel (Jordan's one brewery); and went to an art museum that had an impressive collection of impressionist works and some terrific Marc Chagall paintings.

Happy Thanksgiving to You!

Talking Like an Egyptian in Morocco

So, this is the loser who left his wife date-less for the Marine Ball.

I spent the week in Morocco with Rob. He has been serving in the Peace Corps there for over a year. Rob lives in Tamesloht, a village 30 minutes outside Marrakesh. Just off the main highway, the village of Tamesloht would be easy to miss if not for the tire fire. Rob's fellow Peace Corps volunteers from across the country are unanimous in agreement: this is the ugliest town in the entire kingdom. If you Google "Tamesloht", you can view the ambitious mission statement of Tamesloht 2010, a European-funded revitalization effort launched seven years ago. Rob said they were having a hard time making a go of it. With the decade half-spent, the group renamed itself Tamesloht 2012. Not long after, they closed up shop for good. For better or worse, Rob is in Tamesloht to stay. He will be there another year.

Don't feel too bad for him. He is just a bus-ride away from Marrakesh, home to the Djemaa el Fna, the one-of-a-kind town square jammed with humanity - noticeably more Morrocans than tourists, snake charmers, sorcerers, monkeys on leash wearing fez, and my favorite: a man seated, playing guitar and singing, while a live chicken sat nonchalantly atop his head. I have no pictures from Marrakesh. None could live up to the experience. These photos are from Essaouira.

Rob with Orson Welles plaque. Welles shot "Othello" in Essaouira.

Before coming to Morocco, I was very pessimistic about the usefulness of my Arabic. Rob and I sometimes compare words, and we never agree. Morocco's location, the French influence, and the native Berber population have all combined to make Moroccan Arabic virtually unrecognizable to the rest of the Arab world. However, thanks to satellite television and Egyptian cinema, Moroccans are more and more familiar with "pure" Arabic. While browsing the souks (markets), I was always greeted in French - and I don't speak any French. But when I answered in Arabic, "pure" Arabic, they responded with wide eyes, disbelieving laughs, and in some instances, tea. "You speak Egyptian!" they exclaimed. I quickly grasped that "Egyptian" means non-Moroccan Arabic. I wanted to say "Egyptian Arabic is almost as bad as Moroccan Arabic! I mean, what if your name was Jerry, but everyone called you Gary?! I speak Lebanese Arabic, thank you!" But instead I kept my mouth shut and enjoyed the tea.

3:10 to Yuma and movie news

Last night Dan and I saw 3:10 to Yuma in Amman's newest 10-screen multiplex. It was terrific and we highly recommend it. We still don't understand which movies make it to Jordan and when. The multiplex had 8 English language films - a few of which like Good Shepherd we saw back home; another "No Reservations" was on Dan's flight to Morocco and a few of which are quite new.

This week is also the European Film Festival at the city's cultural center. Tomorrow night we are planning on seeing German's One Day in Europe which I swear I have seen a preview for somewhere (and which certainly wasn't in Amman). Maybe we saw a preview when we saw Lives of Others this spring (which remains my favorite movie of the year.) A guy from the Goethe Institut (Germany's cultural center) promised me that the movie was subtitled in English AND not just Arabic.

We also continue to subscribe to Netflix although we have had to increase our subscription to have the 5-16 days it takes for mail to travel each way. A paltry selection of movies, mostly action films are also available at the embassy store. Jordan works on a different DVD system than the US - so the many DVDs available for $1.50 in downtown won't work on our sytems AND are clearly violating lots of intellectual property laws.

Dan has lots of pictures from Morocco but we are having Internet problems at home and so while the pictures are out of the camera and on the computer we haven't yet gotten them online. Our Internet problems also mean our Vonage isn't working.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Marine Ball

Dan is in Morocco and so last weekend I went to a dance by myself. I have to admit that this conjures up many memories of junior high events – will I have fun? Who will dance with me? What should I wear?

This weekend was the 232nd Marine Corps Birthday Celebration in Amman - I think these happen around the world and ours was hosted by the Embassy's marine guards. Marines celebrate with a black tie dinner; fancy uniforms; cake sliced with a saber and unapologetic patriotism. My favorite part was seeing the military dress uniforms – here in the embassy, military colleagues wear business attire for the most part and only occasionally their uniforms. For this event, they showed off dress uniforms which I hadn’t seen before including a few guys in cavalry outfits with civil-war era hats that made me laugh but which they were very proud of. As the evening wore on, uniform jackets came off and underneath many guys were wearing creative shirts. If you've ever seen gaudy American-flag shirts in stores and wondered "who would wear that and where?" - apparently the answer is the military at formal events.

Here is me at dinner. The picture was taken by Ahmed Juma who is the head of the embassy motorpool but is also an enthusiastic photographer. During the First Lady’s visit, the press officers were trying to keep tabs on all of the photographers and saw Ahmed taking pictures and got nervous of “who is he” but I explained that he was working with the drivers and the pictures were a hobby.

Here is me dancing with my co-worker Mark. Mark is retired Air Force and he is wearing his military awards he is most proud of. Apparently as a foreign service officer there are awards that come with ribbons too but no one wears them.

Getting ready for the party was a reminder of all of the gifts I have received from family and friends. I wore my long blue dress from Stephanie’s wedding. A shawl Kate brought back from Pakistan. A beaded purse Mom gave me as a Christmas present and a rhinestone broach that was my grandmother’s.

Dan's folks pay a visit

Dan here. We've been busy playing host, and this weekend I'm off to Morocco to see Rob. Please enjoy these photos for now, and I'll get back to writing soon.

Mom and Dad at Petra, unknowingly paying homage to the bestselling Petra-based nonfiction book, "Married to a Bedouin"

Mom at the Baptism Site on the River Jordan

Reenactor and jackass at Nazareth Village

Amman amphitheater at night

Sea of Galilee at dusk

Duffy's photos from the big Petra trip

Showing off earpiece radio with Petra Park Director and Head of Regional Authority

Female soldiers taking a break on the steps of the Treasury

Siq (gorge) that is the entrance to the Treasure where Indiana Jones was shot.

Test-driving for the First Lady

Aaron's tomb (brother of Moses) is the little white speck on top of the mountain.

View from Petra hotel room. Petra is under the fog.

Re-learning my bad Arabic

I (Duffy) have Arabic class at lunchtime at the embassy. In theory, I have class for five hours a week but I am usually only able to attend two of the three classes in a week. The classes are to teach us “Jordanian” Arabic as opposed to the “high” Arabic which we were taught in DC. This means learning a lot of words over again. For example the high Arabic word for "to go" is “thehebe” but the Jordanian word is “roo.” Sure, roo looks like an easier word but it took me a long time to learn thehebe and every other word that I actually know in Arabic so it kills me every time the teacher says “oh, we don’t really use that word.”

The State Department grades languages based on how hard they are. I think Arabic is hard because (1) it has a different alphabet which is written right to left but mostly because (2) there are almost no cognates. Cognates are words that sound alike – if you heard in French “le chat” – you might guess that it means cat. Between Arabic and English there are very few cognates – some are computer words “al-internet” taken from English and in English most words that begin al (algebra, alcohol…) have some Arabic tie. But this lack of cognates means every word in Arabic I had to actively learn with almost no freebies (Arabic does have the same word for pineapple as German) and so when I find out that “we don’t really use that word” I feel like the hours it took me to learn it were wasted.

The good thing about Arabic class is that there are only 1-3 students and we can focus on very practical language. Today we practiced being in a grocery store. Arabic is a very polite language (I know quite literally 10 ways to say “how are you” and a perfectly legitimate conversation is asking “how are you” five different ways.) So today’s grocery store lesson in addition to learning some foods I didn’t know already – beets, turnips, spinach focused on the many, many ways a shopkeeper might say “how can I help you.”

My Trip to Petra

I (Duffy) spent last week with the White House advance team helping prepare Petra for the First Lady’s arrival. It was not something I was originally very excited about – it was going to require spending many nights in a VERY small town and I had heard that White House visits meant crazy hours and general chaos. But in fact the opposite was true – except for Wadi Musa being a small town. I had a great time. It was terrific seeing how White House staff plans a visit and seeing how the Secret Service works to make it succeed.

The pre-visit planning also meant that I got to spend a lot of time wandering around Petra which truly is an amazing park. I also got to spend time with archaeologists learning about the history and the excavations. It is definitely a truism that like “a bad day fishing is better than a good day in the office” – similarly any day in Petra is better than a day in the office.

The visit itself went smoothly. Greta Van Susteren was traveling with the First Lady and you can see some video footage of the tour. No video of me but good shots of Mrs. Bush and Petra. EVERYONE in town knew that the First Lady was visiting (although some rumors had it as Barbara Bush.) This meant that tour operators and hotel staff urged people to go to the park early so there were lots of tourists around during her tour. October is peak season in Petra and in Jordan. During one very sweet moment, Mrs. Bush was serenaded with the University of Texas song by American tourists being cordoned off by the Secret Service and she responded with big smiles and that finger thing UT grads do that is supposed to look like a longhorn steer.

At the end of the day I got my picture taken with Mrs. Bush. I haven’t gotten my copy yet but I know that she looked beautiful and I looked like someone who had literally just spent six hours frantically running around a desert. Cars in the park are VERY restricted so many of the last minute set-up tasks required “Hike into park a mile carrying gear – set up space – hike out of park a mile back to the helicopter landing zone. Repeat.”

Amman vs. Damascus

I was IM’ing with Megan last night who rightly pointed out that there have been no recent blog entries. Between Dan’s parents visit and the First Lady’s visit things have been a little crazy – which means we have stories to tell and pictures to share – it will just take us a few days to do so. Dan is going to the Czech National Day event tonight – so I can guarantee the pictures (including me on a camel and me with a White House radio in my ear will not be posted tonight).

We spent the last three days in Damascus which I highly recommend. On Sunday night, we had dinner with Arabic classmates who are working there and compared Amman vs. Damascus notes.

Five Ways Amman is Better than Damascus
1. No air pollution – Damascus is undeniably a city (as opposed to Amman which is really big suburban sprawl). Its city-ness means that pollution is pretty bad and it sits in a valley which makes it worse.
2. Mall shopping – most of Amman is new and maybe all of the malls are less than five years old – with more going up every day.
3. Movie theatres – Amman has three theaters which show English-language movies.
4. American-style grocery stores and American products – Because of the US sanctions against Syria (or maybe because of its government) there are no American products in Syria.
5. Starbucks – our classmates talked wistfully about visiting Starbucks during a recent Amman weekend and said that while there they met other Americans on R&R from Baghdad who were having multiple Frappucinos just because they could.

Four Ways Damascus is Better than Amman
1. French Occupation – as we munched on pain au chocolat and croissants for breakfast and ate delicious French Onion soup for dinner, we lamented that Jordan was occupied by the British.
2. Souks and Crafts – Damascus has a long history of artisans and we left with lots of handmade and locally made crafts. We spent hours walking through spice souks (markets) and perfume souks and textile souks, etc. Jordan has a history of Bedouin shepherds which means that everything they made was portable and functional.
3. History – Damascus is the world’s oldest inhabited city and we saw beautiful old houses and churches and mosques in every neighborhood.
4. We Spoke Arabic – Syria’s Arabic is closest to the High Standard Arabic we were taught – we were able to practice our Arabic more than we ever can in Amman AND people understood us…sometimes.

It rained yesterday!

Dan's parents arrived safely and brought rain. It has literally not rained since Dan and I arrived. We have been told that olives are harvested after it has rained - we were really skeptical that such a day would ever occur.

Today I also received the latest issue of Martha Stewart Living in my pile of mail (copy of today's Jordan Time's; bank statement; couple of clipped articles from my boss). I only saw the side of magazine which lists the highlights of the magazine and saw "turkey techniques" and "cranberry desserts" and my first reaction was "wow - that is weird." It was only then that I realized that Thanksgiving is indeed just five weeks away - and someone somewhere is indeed debating apple pie vs. pumpkin. Here it is 85 degrees and summer-like and Thanksgiving seems very remote.

Dan + parents are spending today in Jerusalem. Just two days ago we realized that the car is in my name and so we spent a night scrounging around for every possible document that shows that we are married and that he has a claim to the car too and wouldn't be accused of smuggling it out.

Visitors are on their way...

Dan's parents are on a flight as we speak. In addition...


First Lady Embarking On Trip To Mideast, Will Highlight Breast Cancer Awareness - AP

Breast cancer awareness is the focus of first lady Laura Bush's upcoming trip to the Mideast, where she'll meet with kings and promote women's health in an area of the world where the U.S. image has been marred by the Iraq war.

Mrs. Bush will travel Oct. 20-26 to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan to meet with key officials, medical and educational leaders and members of women's groups. She recently made a trip to Africa that focused on U.S. programs battling AIDS and malaria.

"While in the region she will also visit several cancer treatment and screening centers and launch new cancer awareness activities," said Mrs. Bush's press secretary Sally McDonough.
During the trip, she will promote the U.S.-Middle East Partnership for Breast Cancer Awareness and Research, which was organized by the State Department and includes the Susan G. Komen Foundation with MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas, Johns Hopkins Medicine in Maryland, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

The partnership, which Mrs. Bush announced in June 2006, helps to encourage research, training and community outreach efforts as well as help women build the knowledge and confidence to be stewards of their own health.

In the United Arab Emirates, Mrs. Bush will visit a site in Abu Dhabi where women go to learn about breast cancer and preventative care. In Dubai, she will join private sector leaders to launch a Breast Cancer Workplace Awareness program. She will meet with Fatima bint Mubarak, the widow of Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, UAE president who died three years ago.

In Saudi Arabia, Mrs. Bush is launching the U.S.-Saudi Arabia Partnership for Breast Cancer Awareness and Research at the King Fahd Medical City in Riyadh and will tour the nation's first community cancer screening center. In Jeddah, she will hold a discussion with breast cancer survivors and advocates and meet with Saudi King Abdullah.

In Kuwait, Mrs. Bush will meet with women democratic reformers, legal advocates and business leaders and visit with individuals involved in partnership initiative programs, including those on education.

In Jordan, Mrs. Bush will visit the King Hussein Cancer Center to unveil a model of Jordan's first community breast cancer screening center and announce the expansion of the partnership to additional countries in the Middle East. She will also tour the facility, highlighting how it uses new technology in breast cancer care and meet with child cancer patients. Mrs. Bush also will visit the UNESCO World Heritage site in Petra, an ancient city in southwestern Jordan, and meet with Jordan's King Abdullah.

Happy Eid, or Roman Holiday

Dan here. Ramadan ended on Thursday night here in Jordan. Oman and Egypt did not want to rush things and decided to fast one more day. Eid is celebrated by visiting people's homes (one of the embassy drivers said he would visit fifty homes in one day), eating sweets and giving children new clothes and money. Just like at Christmas, the radio stations play seasonal music during Eid. This year's favorite seems to be the Eid Song by Sami Yusuf - it is played on heavy rotation and is firmly stuck in our head. The Germans have a word for this, it translates to "ear worm". Don't believe us? Take a listen.

Let us rejoice indeed

For this is the day of Eid

CHORUS:

La ilaha illallah

Muhammad rasulallah

La ilaha illallah

Muhammad rasulallah

‘Alayhi salatullah

‘Alayhi salatullah

Children are wearing new clothes

Bright colours fill the streets

Their faces full of laughter

Their pockets full of sweets

Let us rejoice indeed

For this is the day of Eid

CHORUS

Mosques are full of worshippers

in rows straight and neat

Their Lord they remember,

His name they repeat

Their hands are raised to the sky

They supplicate and plead

On this blessed day

Forgive us they entreat

Let us rejoice indeed

For this is the day of Eid

CHORUS

People are giving charity

And helping those in need

In giving they’re competing

Today there is no greed

Let us rejoice indeed

For this is the day of Eid

CHORUS

Enemies embracing each other

All hatred is buried

Everyone is celebrating

Greeting everyone they meet

Let us rejoice indeed

For this is the day of Eid

Yesterday, we went to an Eid party and indeed we ate a lot of sweets.

Duffy here. Today we took a day trip up to Jerash to see the Roman ruins there and to see the Gladiator Show held in the world's best preserved hippodrome, where we ran into the Ambassador. He seemed to be hosting a large group including a Jordanian Senator, and was probably wondering why we were there in our free time. I believe the Ambassador has been to Petra 34 times - I do not know how many times he has been to the Gladiator Show. We went because a friend here had said it was her very favorite thing in Jordan. I think the Thai massage we had at the Dead Sea was way better.

24 hours in Jerusalem

Dan again. After listening to me whine every day about everything being closed during Ramadan, my colleague said "Enough!" and led us across the River Jordan to the Promised Land. Sure enough, it was a land of plenty: filafel during daylight! Sushi! We arrived during Sukkot, a holiday during which people build makeshift tents in their yards, and eat dinner under them. The Jerusalem restaurants join the fun, and decorate their roof decks accordingly.

Boldly ignoring the instict to leave well enough alone, the city of Jerusalem has hung flags and posters marking "40 years of Reunification". It has a nicer ring than "Remember the Six-Day War of 1967? Remember who won? We did!"

The Damascus Gate

We explored the bustling shopping district of West Jerusalem (west of the Old City) and then entered the Damascus Gate into the Old City. Since we live so close (a 90-minute drive) we have the luxury of many future visits to look forward to. So we didn't attempt to see everything. But we literally stumbled upon the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, an amazing structure that is home to no fewer than five stations of the cross.

The Stone of the Anointing (the 13th Station), inside the Church

You asked for it

Some of you have been asking for photos of our apartment. Others have suggested that we identify who's writing each posting. This is Dan. I don't understand how there is any confusion. If the writer is somewhere pleasant and inviting, it's Duffy. But if the author is dumbfounded and cranky, it's me. Anyhow, we'll give it a shot. Enjoy the photos.

Dear readers: this is the guest room. Come visit!

More on Ramadan

I am currently working on a project on tourism and restaurants (here's a picture of my favorite: Blue Fig). I am doing the project with a Jordanian colleague – let’s call him Abdullah. Abdullah is a Muslim who is fasting. His first name clearly indicates that he is Muslim. Jordanians can also tell people’s religion (not to mention their hometown and social status) by their last name – but so far I only know three Christian last names – Naber, Khoury and Swais. I know no one's hometown from their last name.

It has been interesting visiting hotels and restaurants during the day in Ramadan and seeing the impact. Jordanians value hospitality more than anything. Before Ramadan a typically meeting includes ceremonial (and in my opinion barely drinkable) Arabic coffee in [thankfully] tiny glasses. This is followed by one’s choice of tea or Nescafe; water; and sometime cookies. My meetings this month have fallen into three categories – about evenly divided:

• Meetings with fasting Muslims – who apologize profusely that they can’t offer you anything to drink. They acknowledge Abdullah and he says he is fasting.


• Meetings with Christians – offer refreshments which I refuse because my colleague Abdullah is fasting. I only refuse once and the refusal is accepted.


• Meetings with non-fasting Muslims (note: these are a minority in Jordan but not such a minority among the often US-educated business owners I have meetings with) – refreshments are offered. I decline. Abdullah says he is fasting. They press further. I decline again. They order refreshments and push them into my hands they then press Abdullah if he is sure he doesn’t want anything.

We are on day 21 of Ramadan. We are watching the moon closely (it has to go through a full cycle before Ramadan is over) – it is currently waning (that’s where it gets smaller right?) Now this can’t be confirmed until the moon is sighted but if there is a new moon in 10 days we will get a holiday weekend. We are also aware of the days getting shorter now that iftar (fast-breaking meal) is at 6:27 and not 6:45 like at the beginning of Ramadan.

The President Likes Me!

On September 20, the President nominated me (oh and 44 other people) "for appointment as Consular Officers and Secretaries in the Diplomatic Service of the United States of America." It still has to get through Senate approval but fortunately this will not require my sitting in front of a Senate panel answering difficult questions about my personal finances and/or campaign contributions.

My official diplomatic title is Second Secretary, which if you didn't look at the chart you might think "oh Condi is probably the first Secretary and I am a close second." In fact, there are many, many second secretaries - our embassy alone may have a dozen. I also like the chart on the left because it includes things under Second Secretary - in our embassy we don't actually have any Third Secretaries or Attaches that are below them - or at least I don't think we do - maybe they are just in bad offices that I never visit.

I just got more information on our Iraq dinner tonight - apparently Iraqi restaurants cater to one region or another. Tonight's will be an Anbari restaurant and we were told even Jordanians would stand out. I don't know what this means - but I stand out at every restaurant that we go to that isn't on the embassy compound.

"...lots of praying and no breakfast"

It’s Ramadan in Jordan – or to be precise it is Ramadan everywhere but it is impacting us here. Ramadan is the holy month of fasting – observant Muslims do not eat or drink (or apparently most difficult) do not smoke from before sunrise at 4:49am to 6:37 pm. Nearly all restaurants are closed until 6:30pm but the more days we are into the month the more we hear about exceptions – the Starbucks drive through is open starting at 9:00 am and we heard about two cafes that are open for lunch. You need to hear about these exceptions because the cafes while they have gotten legal permits to be open – have to appear closed and so the drapes are drawn and you can’t sit on the terrace or near any windows.

Surprisingly, most Jordanians gain weight during Ramadan because at 6:37 pm (today’s time) families celebrate with large meals. It is a bit like Thanksgiving 30 days in a row. And certainly the crowd at the grocery store every day at about 3pm looks like a pre-Thanksgiving rush. I have been to several Embassy-sponsored dinners (called iftars) and tonight Dan is going to the home of a colleague and on Wednesday night we are both going out to an Iraqi restaurant with Iraqi friends of friends for iftar.

We are not fasting (unless you consider the fact that we can’t stop at Starbucks on the way to work fasting). Dan’s office is 2/3 Jordanian and so he is refraining from having coffee at his desk. My office does not have any Jordanians so I have a diet coke on my desk right now. In addition, our restaurant in the compound is still up and running – yesterday we had enchiladas for lunch.

We’ve been told that in Saudi Arabia and in Kuwait absolutely no work gets done during Ramadan – offices are open for an hour or so – maybe. Jordan isn’t wealthy enough to stop working for a month but most government offices and businesses close here at 2pm. Our own Jordanian employees are working a 6 hour day and my day while not shorter is definitely slower – fewer calls, fewer meetings.

p.s. before we knew we were Jordan bound – we fell in love with America’s statistically least favorite song which includes the refrain sung by children “Ramadan, Ramadan – lots of praying and no breakfast!” Order yours today.

DC Representation

If anyone happens to read this entry this morning (Tuesday), please consider dropping a note to your favorite Senator about DC representation. Yes, DC is majority Democrat. So for half of you, you should desperately want DC reprensentation. For the other half, DC is not void of Republicans (10%!) and the way the bill is structured Utah would also get an additional representative which will surely be a Republican. The proposed bill should be party-neutral.

DC Vote has a helpful website if you'd like to use their tool to send an email about
DC House Voting Rights Act (S. 1257). Click on the Act Now link. The motion coming up on the Senate floor TODAY would merely clear the way for lawmakers to consider the bill.

Meat Parties ...mmmmm meat

As Auric Goldfinger said “Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.” Three times in three weeks Dan and I have been invited to meat parties. Party number one: colleague serves sausage and smoked meats smuggled back from Paris. Party number two: a different colleague serves pork and smoked meats smuggled back from Prague. Party number three (last night): a third colleague grills us fabulous American steaks bought dearly on the one day that American meat was available at the grocery store.

We’ve been asked many times if there is anything that we miss in Jordan that kind friends and family could send to us. In fact, most things are available here (for a price). The exception however is decent meat and so when someone has some they tend to use it as an excuse to throw a dinner party. Jordan’s domestic meat supply is limited to chickens and some so-so lamb. I’ve also seen goats around the country but have not seen it offered in stores – they may just be used for cheese and yoghurt. We have been told NOT to buy the Chinese meat available in the grocery store. You’d think this would mean that we would become vegetarians but in fact it has mostly meant we don’t cook much – instead living on falafel, spaghetti and dinner parties.


Homer: Look kids! I just got my party invitations back from the printers.

Lisa: [Reading the invitation.] "Come to Homer's BBQ … Dad! Can't you have some other type of party, one where you don't serve meat?

Homer: All normal people love meat. If I went to a barbeque and there was no meat, I would say 'Yo Goober! Where's the meat!?'. I'm trying to impress people here Lisa. You don't win friends with salad.

Less Talk, More Photos

Marcus Aurelius' Temple of Hercules at the Citadel, Amman (built 170 AD)

Sitting at the base of the temple's pillar, overlooking downtown Amman

Bobbing in the buoyant Dead Sea

The deck outside outside our apartment