The Stupidest Airport Ever....and the Grand Departure

I have completed the first leg of my trip and have arrived at the most ridiculous airport I have been to thus far in my 29 years on this Earth.  Truthfully, I thought Charles de Gaulle in Paris, as well as Atlanta, were despicable excuses for airports, but there is a new leader for the most craptastic airport in the world competition.  London Heathrow is large, inefficient and impossible to navigate without proper GPS.  I had to go through security - though my checked bags did not (hoping they make it to Amman on their own) - even though I had just come straight from the airplane.  This was not customs and immigration friends, no, this was straight up security.  They didn't even check my passport.  Weird.  And this was after I walked 12 miles (obviously an exaggeration) from the arrival gate to the random-middle-of-the-airport security checkpoint.

Other than the fact that I am in the airport that is front runner for stupidest airport ever....and even though it took me 30 minutes to figure out what kind of plug adapter to use to charge my lap top (because god forbid the UK use the same adapters as the rest of Europe - island mentality), the day and trip were quite pleasant.

I have been packing for a week, so this morning consisted of last minute shoving-things-into-bags and transcribing important stuff from my 4 lb Arabic language book.  See, Lucy decided the notebook I used to take notes from class would be a delicious snack and so she ate a good majority of my Arabic notes.  So...I quickly photo copied and transcribed all the important vocabulary and grammar points from the book.  Not an easy task but  I couldn't justify taking a 4 lb book with me, I was already having difficulties standing up with the overloaded bags I had!

I then said bon voyage to my favorite Maltese puppy and met mom and dad for lunch.  See photo shoot below.

The flight from O'Hare to Heathrow was fairly smooth.  I have never been on such a big plane (747-double decker) and I was in the very last row....which is the seat I chose but I don't think I understood the magnitude of the plane - woooweee it was big.  Regardless, it was a great flight with decent food.  (Though they gave us a spork to eat our yogurt.....hmm)  I even sat next to a really nice gentleman from UIC traveling to London for a study abroad.  Got to see Kung Fu Panda 2 as well....truly the highlight of the trip so far.

So I suppose that is enough random information for one blog post.  I am going to wander aimlessly around this airport for the next (I don't even know what time it is) maybe 2 hours?  There are people sleeping, but I don't think I am going to join them.  I'm not going to take any chances of over-sleeping and missing my flight.  (Shout out to one of my friends who did this on a recent trip!)

Off to Amman!

The Puppy is Packed....and Other Business

Packing

It really isn't easy to know what I will be in the mood to wear in 6 days, let alone 6 months.  Needless to say, my bags are packed and I am, hopefully, ready to go.  Each weighs just a shade under 50 lbs, which doesn't include the 6.5 lb Maltese that wants to come with me (see pic below).  Packing is serious business and not for the faint of heart.  It requires a certain finesse, a particular eloquence that only comes with experience and Google.  (Who doesn't use Google for everything at this point, really?)  Packing cubes help too.  If you are a frequent traveler and neurotic, like me, I would recommend investing in packing bags.  I got mine for a very reasonable price on www.ebags.com, and they help to organize your clothing, various cords and wires, and do wonders for socks and underwear. (I don't know about all of you, but it seems that every time I travel I lose at least 3 socks and 2 pairs of underwear.  Apparently I have a bad case of underwear/sock/suitcase gnomes.)  Regardless, I highly recommend the packing cubes....they do wonders for organizing suitcases!  And what a relief to have the packing done.   My only hope is that the scale at the airport and the one I used at home are relatively similar.....

Lucy is ready to go!

Other Business

*Disclaimer - The following comments are political in nature and might be controversial to the naked eye.  Upon further scrutiny, the comments and resources below might actually help to understand the history and current events taking place.  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

On another, more serious note,  I am writing this blog to not only keep my friends and family up to date on my whereabouts and adventures, but also to aid in the understanding of my research subject.  There is so much misinformation and misunderstanding present in our mass media.  It is vital to the understanding of this 60 plus year long conflict to go beyond the mass media and to dig into independent, alternative sources.  I hope to present you with a few and hope that you will seek out alternate sources on your own.  The internet is a wonderful tool for research and discovery, so use it, with caution and skepticism of course.

I recommend watching the documentary Occupation 101.  Well organized and concise, this documentary explains the history of the Palestinian expulsion and the real reason(s) behind the conflict that rages on today.  The organization that created this documentary, If Americans Knew, is a wonderful resource for dissecting the conflict, with statistics from both sides (Israeli and Palestinian) presented in a very straight forward manner that is fairly easy to understand.

The first thing to understand about this conflict is that anything you hear from most U.S. media sources is going to be filtered and have a bias in favor of the Israeli state.  This is because Israel has the largest lobby in the United States and because they have marketing campaigns promoting Israel and defaming the Palestinian leadership and people.

I feel like I need to further clarify/explain what I mean when I say Israel because it is frequently misconstrued as a slight against an entire population when that certainly isn't the case.  When I talk about Israel I am referring to the state, policies, and protocol but not the Jewish people as a whole.  In fact, there are many wonderful and amazing organizations headed by Israeli Jews that are either anti-occupation or anti-zionist.  I will talk about these organizations at a later date.  

Anyway, the reason I feel compelled to address these controversial issues is because the history and plight of the Palestinian people is directly related to the reason I am going to Jordan for 7 months.  I am going to listen to the stories of Palestinian women living in the camps of Jordan, to figure out what opportunities are available for them and what opportunities are lacking.  I do this, not with the goal of solving their issues (I gave up that "save the world" mentality many years ago), but rather because I feel that my role is to bring their stories to my audience, to my colleagues, to my friends and family in the hopes that there will be a greater understanding and awareness of what the reality is for a population of our fellow human beings.  All of this requires a brief, unabridged and unfiltered history lesson.

Ok, I am off my soap box for now.  If you have any questions or comments, please submit them in the comments section below.  

Salam!

The Final Countdown Part 2: Packing, Unemployment, and My Own Morality

Now approaching a week until my departure date I am beginning to feel a sense of urgency and anxiety about the preparation portion of my adventure.  Running around ensuring that every aspect of my existence in the United States is taken care of is exhausting in and of itself, let alone preparing for 7 months living in a foreign land without the comforts of home, or at least the familiar.  Not to mention that my brand new, body bag of a suitcase broke and I couldn't find my receipt to return it so I had to print out my credit card statement to prove that I bought....lets just say there is never a dull moment.  Regardless, the nice folks at TJ Maxx allowed me to exchange the suitcase, so crisis avoided on that front!

Even more nerve-wracking is the the fact that I willingly quitting my job in the middle of a double dip recession (or whatever this economic-psycho-social phenomenon is).  As of Friday, I was officially unemployed.  The rational part of my brain is in a tailspin of sorts, continually reminding the not-so-rational part that quitting a stable job in the middle of the worst economic crisis in my lifetime to move 7000 miles away for half a year with no source of guaranteed or stable income, might not be the most responsible thing to do.

But the most heart pumping, nerve pulling yet fascinating part of the preparation process is coming eye to eye with my own mortality.  Death, final wishes and arrangements are not things most 29 year olds willingly think about - that's not to say that they shouldn't.  Needless to say, I have had to think about things such as: emergency evacuation, repatriation of remains, and my final wishes.  I guess the benefit of thinking about ones own mortality is the reality check, or better yet, the perspective realignment that happens when we have to think about our own deaths or the deaths of our loved ones.

Truth be told, the fear of death is often times a control issue..  We cannot control when someone's time is up, including our own.  All those ridiculous cliches ( I hate cliches, they are the bane of my existence as a writer.) about "live life to the fullest" or "never go to bed angry" have become popular cliches for a reason!  Yeah, life might be really crappy when you look at the small details, but if you open your eyes, your mind, and your heart to the big picture, for most of us it really isn't that bad at all.  In fact, it is kind of badass. (For those of you unfamiliar with the term "badass".....its a good thing.)

That's enough thinking about death for now, time to get back to living life and packing...uggghh!

I much prefer Rilke's words about life and death to the cliches mentioned above.

Death Experience
Ranier Maria Rilke
translation: Cliff Crego


We know nothing of this going away, that 
shares nothing with us.  We have no reason,
whether astonishment , and love or hate,
to display Death, whom a fantastic mask
of tragic lament astonishingly disfigures.
Now the world is still full of roles we play
as long as we make sure, that, like it or not,
Death plays too, although he does not please us.
But when you left, a strip of reality broke
upon the stage through the very opening
through which you vanished: Green, true green,
true sunshine, true forest.
We continue our play, picking up gestures
now and then, and anxiously reciting 
that which was difficult to learn; but you're far away,
removed out of our performance existence,
sometimes overcomes us, as an awareness
descending upon us of this very reality,
so that for a while we play Life,
rapturously, not thinking of any applause.



Check out this episode of Re: Sound that aired Saturday, 19 August.
Episode #86: The Death Show


PS.  I want to be cremated and I want Redemption Song by Bob Marley to be played at my final life celebration party.

The Final Countdown (Including a Crash Course in Geography)

With my last day of work less than 12 hours away and my flight 10 days away it would seem that I am in the final stages of preparation to make my grand voyage to the Hashemite Kingdom.

The goodbyes have begun and so has the process of explaining the purpose of this trip and the research I plan to conduct while there.  Needless to say, dissecting the history of the Arab world and the roots of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict is quite difficult - particularly for a novice such as myself.  The complexity of the region and the long, rich history is incredibly intimidating.

So as I move through this journey I will do my best to contextualize things and attempt to put them into perspective.

And what better time than now to start that contextualization.  Consider this post your crash course in the geography and demography of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

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Jordan is located in the Fertile Crescent, bordering Saudi Arabia to the South, Iraq to the East, Syria to the North and the West Bank to the West.  Jordan is primarily a desert climate and according to the CIA factbook (I can't believe they allowed me to access that website either!) the size is slightly smaller than Indiana. (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/jo.html#top)  They have no water.  Well they have some but hardly any fresh water and "the only sea they have is dead."  (I heard this several times while in Jordan.  The Dead Sea is really, really salty...not good for drinking water but great for floating and for mud masks and bath salts.

The population is about 6.5 million and the capital is Amman - this is where I will be staying.  Jordan is a Constitutional Monarchy and the current king is King Abdullah II and his wife is Queen Rania.  They don't really have any resources but they do have stability, which is immensely important to the region.  Jordan hosts about 2 million Palestinian refugees and about 500,000 Iraqi guests, displaced from "Operation Iraqi Freedom."

The people speak Arabic and are primarily Muslim - though there are small Christian populations present.

Some noteworthy tourist destinations are: Petra (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was filmed here!), Wadi Rum, and Aqaba.  And coming soon......a Star Trek Theme Park!!!  King Abdullah is a big fan and even made a cameo appearance in a Star Trek episode some years back.  Not only will this be the biggest Trekkie destination in the world, but it will also be run on green energy.  Check it out:

$1.5 Billion Star Trek Theme Park in Jordan to Run on Green Energy

Below is a map of Jordan and further below are more links if you want to check out more of what the Hashemite Kingdom has to offer.

Ciao!

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The above map was taken from the World Atlas website.  Check it out and the links below to find out more about the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Jordan - Wikipedia

History of Jordan 

And in case you want to come visit me, check out these travel websites:

Lonely Planet

Trip Advisor