women's rihli

it is safe to say that you never actually know what you are getting yourself into here. i think that is one of the things that thrills me in living cross-culturally. there are so many surprises. good ones, silly ones, frustrating ones, exasperating ones, humbling ones.

Melanie and i joined a gym recently and have landed in some classes with some very friendly women...not too surprising. =) they invited us to go on a day trip with them, and after thinking through it...we accepted. we decided to leave our 2 year old and 1 1/2 year old home with their fathers and i took little sophia, seeing that she is just 3 months.

we rendevoused at 6:30am which is quite a feat for me. sophia fed, clothed, packed, prepared i was about 10 minutes late. then we carpooled to our tour bus we were

going to be on that would take us to the mountains. our group from the gym was 13 strong...mostly women but one of our fitness instructors came ( male!) and another young guy came along and they were wanting to go skiing once we reached the mountain.

the atmosphere was chatty, social and so care-free. they were so excited and laughing and teasing and just poking at one another non-stop. once we hit the road, we drove 15 minutes and then stopped for breakfast for about 45 minutes.

and then on to the moutain. we had only driven about 30 more minutes...reached a town in the foothills of the mountain when a police man was standing blocking the road up. he told us that the weather was bad and they were not allowing any cars up to the mountain. so our tour bus announced to us that we would not be going to the mountains today, sorry. but we could play in the snow on the side of the road for a couple hours. no skiing or sledding. just a round-about with some snow.

and guess how the tour bus reacted- laughing hysterically. so hard they were crying. so mel and i joined in. we had tears in our eyes we were laughing so hard. we had paid $35/ each and to be dropped off in dirty snow next to the road to play. wow.

i love their reaction. it was so...resiliant. nothings going to take us down.

so that is what we did. snow ball fights, snow hikes, taking pictures

, building snow men. coming back into the bus to warm up.

what was amazing to see was how all the hundreds of people that had planned to spend their day sledding, skiing, or enjoying the mountains...just set up camp in this same circle.

dancing...playing drums..

smoking hookah...

i love how they seize the day.

then we moved on to the restaurant. it was freezing. you could see your breath in the restaurant. we all sat down and they started serving us our arab feast. here is the really endearing part.

so our group of 13 was on this bus...along with a lebanese family that i think lives in dubai, 4 male jordanian university students, a couple on their honeymoon ( i think! ) , a lebanese who lives in kuwait...i think that is it.

and the women started teasing the other people and ask them why they were not sitting with us. they asked the most outgoing jordanian guy if his friends could speak. they smiled shyly and pulled up chairs to join these 40-50 year old women.

then the music came on and everyone jumped up to start dancing. and it is like something takes over. everyone is dancing...the jordanians are in the mix..the family...our group. at one point the jordanian guy is holding sophia “simba style” and everyone is dancing around her. i was laughing so hard i could not even take a picture!

and now we have become one family. we get back into the bus and from the back of the bus the jordanian young man start belting out a song- my friends start whistling and screaming. and then joining in. and we are now singing an arab folk song and he sings the verses and the whole bus is clapping and repeating phrases. it is amazing.

then the man from kuwait stands up and starts singing. followed by cheers and shouts. and he and jordanian sort of duel-off. and it goes on. we clap, we shout, we sing back. we cheer. it is hilarious and i feel like i am in a movie.

the tour bus takes us to a wax museum (?) and everyone feels like one big happy family group ( to use camp terms). i love it. i can’t believe how inclusive and loving and silly and care free these beautiful people are. i want to be more like them!

we end up taking a bunch of group pictures to remember our time together. man. i love this country.