Angela in Jordan

As a foreigner arriving in the Jordan airport you are given a 30 day Visa. Before those 30 days are up you need to apply for a 3 month Visa....that involves getting blood drawn and being fingerprinted at the police station. Before those 3 months are up you can apply for an extension for another 3 months. All this gives you 6 months in country. If you want to stay longer you have to leave the country before those 6 months are up and then re-enter and start the process all over again. So most of us teachers at Whitman that only have short-term visas must leave the country around December/January time (cause that's when we have the most vacation time) and start the Visa process again. A lot of the teachers take this as an opportunity to do some traveling over the holidays.

I took this as an opportunity to go to Belgium to visit some family I have there. My Uncle Tony has lived in Belgium since his 20's. He first was transferred there through the Air Force, he now works for the American military there doing computer work.

On the way to Belium my itenerary had a 13 hour layover in the very historical city of Istanbul (that's in Turkey). Two of my friends here, also fellow teachers at Whitman, had planned on doing some traveling around Europe over the break. When I told them that I was going to Belgium and that I had a 13 hour layover in Istanbul and was planning on seeing the city during those 13 hours they hopped on the train and booked the same flight. They then planned to spend half our 10 days in Europe in Belgium and the other half in Paris (they were at the Eiffel Tower on New Years)! I decided to spend the whole 10 days in Belgium relaxing and spending time with family.

In Istanbul we braved the train (everything was written in Turkish) and made our way to the famous Blue Mosque. It was my first time inside a mosque. Before going in there everyone had to take off their shoes. Ther were very nice and provided plastic bags to everyone to store thier shoes in. Women were also encouraged to cover up their hair. Me wanting to respect their religion and building, I did what was asked. The inside was beautiful! Not really any furnishings...but the carpet, the paintings on the high walls and ceilings and the ginormous pillars were grand!

After that we made our way across the street to the famous Hagia Sophia. Hagia Sophis is famous b/c it was once a Byzantine church, but after some overthrowing and such back in the day (I don't the full history of it), it was turned into a Mosque. The outside and inside left much to be desired. There were remnants of the Byzantine art and crosses everywhere, which was very odd to see inside a mosque. After 13 hours in Istanbul and not very much sleep (our initial flight from Amman departed at 3:30am) we were very tired and very ready to be in Belgium.

We finally arrived in Belgium at about 10pm. My luggage on the other hand, did not. It was frustrating, but I was hopeful that I would get it in one piece sooner or later. I ended up getting it on day 7 of 10 in Belgium....better late than never, right.

My time in Belgium was very relaxing. I went and did some sight-seeing in Brussels and in Brugge but other than that I hung out with my family. It was sooo nice to catch up with them and just be normal with them...staying in our pajamas all day a couple of times and watching movies. I spent a lot of my time on my computer doing some wedding planning. The internet in Belgium was sooo fast.

The whole country of Jordan is only allowed a certain amount of computer bandwidth a month...and everyone here has to share it. The internet here can be soooo slow. So a simple process, like loading up pictures, can take double maybe even triple the time it would take in the States. Welp, the internet in Belgium and at my Uncle's house was incredibly fast. I forgot what it was like to click on a link and have it open up in a second!

In Belgium I also had heat! It was below freezing most of my time in Belgium... but I could control the heat in my room, and there was hot water in demand in the shower. You don't understand how awesome that was. Here we have to flip a switch and turn on the water heater if we want to take a shower.....it takes about an hour to heat up the water for a shower. We also don't have central heat in our apartments. It is very cold here and what we have to supply heat are sobas (gas heaters and we only have one that we keep in the living room), little electrical heaters for our bedrooms, and we use hot water bottles in our beds to keep us warm at night. It's actually quite comftorable.....but it was awesome to have central heat while in Belgium. I tried to not let myself get too spoiled on it.... I don't know if it worked... :)

We could also flush the toilet paper! You can't flush toilet paper anywhere in the Middle East....the pipes can't handle it. It took me a couple of times while in Europe to remember to put the toilet paper in the toilet, not in the trash can. Oops....

I enjoyed Belgium very much!.....but I also missed Amman. It became apparent to me that Amman is my home. Despite it's points of caution, lack of heat in winter and constant awareness that i'm an American and i'm a woman, it is my home now. I'm comftorable here, I missed it!

I miss my family in Belgium very much...but I'm glad to be HOME! It was a wonderful holiday break! One to remember!