A Landing and A Night

I awoke as we passed over the Bosporus. Disoriented after a day of airports and planes, I vaguely realized that it was now the 25^th, the day for my arrival in Jordan. Unable and not wanting to sleep anymore, I watched what I thought would be my last American movie for four months; I hoped that Up would fit into the final hour and a half before landing, a final touch of American culture before plunging into Amman, Arabic, and the world of Islam.

I landed to discover that my plane had born a clutch of CIEE students, all anxious as we stared around the arrival area to see no sign of the promised CIEE greeter. We clustered before customs and passport control. Within minutes I emerged into the terminal of Queen Rania Airport to find Ahmed, one of CIEE’s program coordinators with a smile and a cell phone ready to call home.

We poured into the waiting vans; our luggage stuffed into the trunk and took off towards our hotel. Lights and homes, billboards in English and Arabic, and cars from every corner of the world flashed past as we talked of pasts and hopes, our colleges and the longing of some for the comfort of Starbucks. Exhausted, not knowing what to expect, I chatted about my classes and listened to my seatmate brag of her connections to NGOs while the girl in front plotted escapades in Syria and Lebanon.

The Manara Hotel, surrounded by famous restaurants, major banks, and towering hotels waited with open doors. A hasty greeting from the CIEE staff before a brief dinner in the hotel restaurant, then a cell phone, a room, and a climb upstairs to room 230 and Tim Bettis, my new roommate. Limestone, the foundation, walls, and color of Amman is wonderful with heat, it absorbs everything, releasing it in the cool of the night. But with nothing to heat it, it merely drains the life from you as you collapse in bed and bury yourself under the short blankets that fail to cover both feet and shoulders.

I’ve heard that the mind is unable to find peaceful sleep amid strange surroundings. As I tossed and turned, awoke and dozed, I found myself, panicked, practicing and rehearsing my now pitiful-seeming Arabic in my mind.