Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life

This is the title of Queen Noor's memoir.  She's an American woman who married the late King Hussein, former king of Jordan.  I came here, to Jordan, not really knowing much about the Israeli-Arab conflict.  I've seen the major headlines, I could broadly tell you there were arguments over land.  But my knowledge of this region's history is weak.  I still feel that from living in America, I have been fed a pro-Israel perspective.  I know that Queen Noor is biased, she is married to the king, and that I am slightly biased now because I live in Jordan and have not yet visited Israel.  But there are certain facts in her book that I cannot ignore and that have (already) vastly changed my perspective on the situation.  For example, the  fact that in 1947, the UN granted 55% of the Palestinian land to Israel (1/3 of Palestine's total population), and that Israel proceeded to take the other 45% of the land, brutally, bloodily, and by force, from the Palestinians against the mandates of several UN resolutions.  There are also several instances of the British and the Americans not only promising to return this land and not acting on this promise, but also directly lying to the Palestinians about their intentions.  There is also the atrocious massacre of Palestinian civilians that occurs at Deir Yassin in 1948, led by the Jewish terrorist group Stern, in which they went door to door killing people and burning houses.  Hundreds of people were killed.  So much of this event was never made known to the public, according to Noor.  Maybe much of this is common knowledge.  But it wasn't to me.  I'd definitely suggest reading this book.  It is the perspective of an American woman finding herself newly in love with Jordan--so I guess I can relate on that level, too.  I also feel as if this part of my life is so unexpected.  I never thought I'd live in the Middle East for a year after college.  Goes to show how rewarding the most unexpected experiences can be--And this from a girl who's been here all of a week!

Anyway, some updates.  Maybe I should not have come here so soon in my life.  The expat life suits me very well, and many of you are probably not surprised by that.  I would love to stay here for a while.  The other expats (and the Jordanians, of course) are so interesting.  There's a man here who spent 8 months in Libya and had to be evacuated by boat in February.  Last night he was telling us the most interesting, terrible stories about frantically trying to board the boat with Brits, French and many more, having to wait on the boat for days because of 30 ft. waves, while all the while they're actually in SIGHT of the location where Gaddafi was giving speeches. 

Tonight we went to Amman to have another authentic meal.  It was great--the best hummus and falafel and they just cook it right there in the corner of the place, and then bring it around in bowls tossing it on the tables.  Whoever gets served first is whoever yells the loudest.  And the plates were papertowels.   We got to walk around Amman a bit after that at night.  I was somewhat reminded of Colombia because of the fruit and vegetable market and the stands of trinkets that pop up along the road.  I'm definitely going to have to get a picture of the market for Mom. Tomorrow I have another day of training.  All the returning teachers are back now, and it's been a lot of fun to meet everyone.  I'm loving the creatures here.  I promise pictures soon, but today I failed again because I left my memory card in my computer.  Until then-