Routy, Sadie and Pepsi :)

i don't know why, but today i really miss my dogs. i guess cause i'm going walking every night around 9 or 10 and i love that, back home, they never left my side when i went walking.

not many dogs here in the mid east. but lots and lots and lots of cats. eh. dogs are better. who can go walking with cats?

Mid East

you know you live in the Middle East when the presence of policemen make you feel less safe then when they're around...

you know you live in the Middle East when you have multiple numbers in your phone contacts listed as "do not answer", "annoying", "beware", and "creep". hah.

and when it's Ramadan! and there are beautiful lights on every house shaped like cresent moons and stars and little boys spend most of their hours setting off bottle rockets to see if you'll jump as you walk by.

man. i'm gonna miss the Middle East. seriously. must not think about leaving...

ale ale alejandro, alejandro!

Last week was an amazing week spent with my adopted brothers. Three of whom I've known since my years at Ole Miss and one "newby" who quickly became like the others. I did my best to keep them busy. I think I succeeded. And despite a car accident mishap everything else was incredible. I love these boys. And am so thankful they came!

I took them to Wadi Rum...a desert landscape with mountains and lots of sand. Our great Bedouin guide took us on a very fast Jeep Tour and an overnight experience in the desert. He even danced and sang for us (below)!

Fish and Zack, my heroes!

The boys got to teach American football while they were here. This a group of guys in Irbid who said American football was "magnificent".

Brady and Michael: these kids never stop singing. And I loved it.

Boys we taught football too. They loved it so much they deflated a basketball and wrapped it up with duck taped until it took shape of a football. Classic.

Myself and my brother Fish, overlooking my city.

Amazed at what He did this week. So grateful for an incredible week. Just wish it weren't over! But headed to Cairo tomorrow...so more updates soon.

oh and i got my diving license!! no sharks! whoo whoo! but it was an adventure needless to say!

sharks or any fish with teeth for that matter

that's right ladies and gents. i've officially decided to conquer my greatest fear. coming to the middle east: peace of cake. hanging out with various members of certain "groups": nothing. living in the #1 city in the world for sexual harrassment: bring it on.

swimming with the possibility of sharks: ahhhhhhhhh!!!!

that's right. i'm going to get diving certified! and in the red sea!! hope i don't come across any dead egyptian bodies...but more importantly, you all who know me, know my number one fear is SHARKS. oh Lord, keep them away!!!

luckily, i have 3 weeks to mentally prepare.

dreams are weird.

Had a dream last night. Half of which was in Arabic. Man I've been dreaming like crazy these past few weeks. Real vivid dreams. Aren't dreams weird? And often times hilarious? Here are a few...

So one dream was I was at the beach with my family and Amelia Foshee. I think it may have been like a youth things cause we were all camping out in the sand under the stairs...yeah, weird, but i remember thinking that in the dream "this must be a youth thing". hah. what does that even mean?

anyhow. when i woke up Amelia was a fish. An orange fish to be exact. And Dad told me she had a brain virus and that I shouldn't touch her because it was highly contagious. ... hmm. So obviously I was a little bit worried havin slept next to her in the sand and all. But Dad was like, well, she's a fish so you better put her in the water. So I put her on a hook and line and let her swim around in the ocean all the while (I was wading in the water) trying to keep this fish from touching me least I get a brain virus too. hahaha.

Then, as crazy as dreams are, the next thing I know is I'm on this raft with Dad, Mom, and Camille and Amelia (who is now, miraculously, a person) and we wade out to a pier...(yeah doesn't make sense but what about dreams ever do?). Dad tells Amelia she's looking pretty bad and she better go back to shore and call her parents. haha. We are a very compassionate family...

Then somehow or another I end up back at the beach talking on the phone with Marie (Amelia's mom) about her situation. Amelia, at this time in on her way in an ambulance to the hospital. I have dad call the ambulance and they say her eyes are bleeding and that the brain virus doesn't look good.

The last thing I remember is Dad telling me she probably wouldn't make it and that we all needed to pray for a miraculous healing. So in the middle of a prayer for Amelias life I woke up...

The dream last night involved me in a wheelchair. Kind of hilarious I know. Some guy...I have no idea who he was...was trying to help me learn to walk again. And I remember yelling out "Musaidny! Musaidny!" and then "Help me! Help me!" (Musaidny=help me in arabic). I also remember after yelling this several Americans, several Canadians (?) and several Arabs came to help and then it switched senerios and we were all laughing about how I yelled in Arabic and English...and then I woke up....

so. any interpretations of these dreams?

Cairo Bound

I am amazed. What have I done to deserve what He has given me? Certainly nothing.

Today I learned that after I go home to complete my masters studying that the gymnastics federation of jordan want me to return. And they want me to return as not just a 6 month coach that happened to go over a year... but as a fulltime staffed coach. wow, Father.

and not only that. but I had planned on taking a trip to Cairo and the Princess, HRH (Her Royal Highness) has offered to pay for me to go.

He really never ceases to amaze me with His goodness towards me.

men

Sometimes, no offense to you Esam if you are reading this. But Arab men can make me so ...frustrated.

For instance, not that this is the first time or anything just the most recent. Tonight I was on my way home from work when I notice a guy stick his head out his window to look at the "foreigner" walking home. Awesome. That's okay though. I do that too in America I'm sure.

But then he goes and pulls the U-turn to come back around. Not cool. So I walk through a field. But notice that he AGAIN does a u-turn to get onto the street that eventually I would get too. And after passing me AGAIN and then doing ANOTHER uturn I decided it was time to do something about it. I had 2 options.

Option 1: Run home and obviously he'd follow me in his black car to my home then learn where I live.

Or Option 2: HidE in the small crevice of a building and hope that he didn't see me jump behind the wall. hah.

so naturally, being a dark night, i picked #2. And I must say I was victorious. After he drove past the crevice with me peeking out he didn't turn around again but drove on. I OUTWITTED HIM! woo hoooo!