Where I decided to live

Feb 10, 2007



I had to choose between living with Mormons or Muslims. President Dew had me read the scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants that I’ve already read about a million times about how to make decisions: D&C 9:9-8. “Study it out in your mind” etc. Lots of studying – and I chose the Muslims. Here is my list of Pros and Cons:

Cons to living with the Tashman’s:
Arin is 15. I’m really close with her, but she’s not the same age as me. Deals w/ different problems.
It would be EXTREMELY difficult to explain to Senaa and her family that I want to live with the Tashmans, whereas the Tashmans understand the situation.
They already had Americans live with them so A. it’s not as interesting for them for me to be here, and B. they have assumptions about what it’s like to live with all Americans, but I am completely different from Becca, Jana, and Jenna
I don’t want to mess with the memory they have of their American girls
They have the Al Husn accent
They live far away from the University

Pros to living w/ the Tashman’s:
They’re Mormon. I’m Mormon. It would be easier.
Adam said that I should live with his family. I trust my entire life with him.
They already had Americans live with them, so they understand what it’s like.
I’d have my own bed.
Flushing toilet, toilet paper

Cons to living with the Hammouri’s:
I don’t want to trespass on the Tashman’s hospitality. They’ve already been extremely kind to me
They’re Muslim. I’m Mormon. It would be harder.
Christians here say horrible things about the Muslims, mostly indirectly, or with euphamisms. “They’re not Christian,” they’ll whisper. From what I learned last year, the local prejudice here is that most Muslims wouldn’t think it wrong to rape a Christian. I don’t know how true these things are, but…
Crowded. The mom and dad smoke. One bathroom, 8 people. I think…Mohammad, his wife, Ahmed, Mahmood, Alaa, Senaa, Hibba, Mona - then me.

Pros to living w/ the Hammouri’s:
Senaa is 21. We have similar personalities w/ different cultures. We deal w/ similar problems (i.e. who am I going to marry?????)
Hibba is 20 and goes to Yarmuk.
Her really loves me and wants me to live with them.
Mormon-Muslim relations in Jordan
I will never have this opportunity ever again in my life. Think of all the things I can learn!!!!!

Those are a few of the things that went through my head. Ca y est, the decision is made.

I can pinpoint the exact moment the decision-scales tipped in favor of the Muslim family. After President Dew had me consult the scriptures for advice, and I was packing up my quad in its case, he said in passing, “If it were me, if I were sending my daughter over to live in the Middle East, I would probably consult her to live with the Mormon family. It would be easier.”

That last sentence stuck with me. I realized, “If I wanted it to be easy, why would I leave my little house in Westfield, Massachusetts!” Nobody in the entire world has ever done what I am doing now. I am not here to follow a crowd, to be a lemming, to be completely in my comfort zone. It may be harder to be a Christian among Muslims, but it will certainly teach me more about what typical Jordanian life is like – 98% of the country is Muslim. I made the right choice, even though it may be the harder one.

Right now, I am writing this on my computer in the Tashman house. Abu Nedal, aka my dad (“When you’re here, I’m like your father!” is what he’s said to me at least five or six times since I’ve been here.) got my a/c adaptor to work. It was hilarious, actually. It involved two surge protectors, a socket-thing adaptor, and a hair dryer to test whether or not it was working. We laughed a lot over this. It’s working. If only somebody in Al-Husn had wireless internet besides the missionaries who live a hill over…ya raaaaayt (I wiiiiish…).

I don’t know exactly how internet is going to work here. So far, I’ve been pretty frugal with my money (except a shopping spree in Rennes, but when I come back in June, things won’t be on sale, and I my boots are soooooooooo cuuuuuuuuuuuute). Ha! For example, I’ve been in Jordan for about 3 days now, and the first time I bought something was tonight, to buy 21 JD worth of bataga – phone minutes. I have a really silly goal; who knows if it will work. My goal is to only use one phone card to call the states during the next four months. The one I bought will last me approximately 4 hours if I call from a landline phone. I know that I will have to buy more cell phone minutes; right now I have 14 JDs worth.

That’s the only thing that I’ve bought, and so far I have made one phone call.

I really enjoy the conversations I have with my friends back home. Whenever I would have a problem, I would think, “Who should I call?” I think it was mostly because I never had to think very much about my phone bill. (By the way, if my family is reading this, I called Cingular, and they are taking off approximately $80 worth of over charges to my account. They said it may not show up until the next bill. This will more than pay for my share of the bill). Here, people don’t talk on the phone, they talk in person. “Missed call” is an English phrase that they use more here than they ever would back home.

So, I’m not going to think of things in terms of “Who can I call?” It’s different this time; I don’t feel like a stranger. I know people, I understand the culture, I feel like I need to really profit from every moment. The only times I don’t speak/think Arabic are in the early morning (this morning, I woke up thinking in French! Arin started speaking to me and I answered in French – “Oui? Quelle heure est-il?”), when I speak with the missionaries (the only other Americans in Al-Husn, to my knowledge), when I’m online or writing on my computer, or when I’m reading my scriptures. Last time, I got lonely often. I think that, as long as I get enough sleep, and can stay in contact with my family and friends online, it would be a good idea to avoid too much contact with home. I’m not here to call my friends and family and talk with them for hours and hours on the phone.

I read the story of Ehud in Judges 3. It’s hilarious, especially around vs. 22. The Old Testament rocks my socks.

Here is a play by play of the last 48 hours here.
7:00pm – Pierrick and I went shoe shopping in Rennes
8:00pm – Pierrick and I were still running around Rennes
9:00pm – Me + Pierrick + Pizza = HAPPINESS
10:00pm – Went home to Betton
11:00pm – Started our all-nighter (nuit blanche)
12:00am – nuit blanche
1:00am – nuit blanche
2:00am – nuit blanche
3:00am – nuit blanche, Pierrick fell asleep, Trevor came online!!
4:00am - talked with Trevor online!!!!
5:00am – alarm went off – time to get up and go to the train station
6:00am – Claire and Pierrick went with me to the Gares (train station)
7:00am – I left Rennes in a Train a Grand Vitesse (super fast train).
8:00am - TGV
9:00am – TGV
10:00am - Arrived in Paris, Montparnasse, took a bus to CDG Airport
11:00am – Went through security, arrived 3 hours early (pheeew!)
12:00pm – waiting, called home, Pierrick, and Trevor
1:00pm – boarded the plane
2:00pm – in the air!
3:00pm – in the air!
4:00pm – in the air!
5:00pm – landed in Jordan – it is 6:00pm, 4 hour flight, 1 hour time difference
7:00pm – Abu Nedal and the missionaries were at the airport to pick me up!
8:00pm – Showed them pictures of Nedal and me in SLC
9:00pm – Still awake…really…really…really tired
10:00pm – went to bed
11:00pm - sleep
12:00am - sleep
1:00am – sleep
2:00am - sleep
3:00am - sleep
4:00am - sleep
5:00am -sleep
6:00am- sleep
7:00am - sleep
8:00am - sleep
9:00am – woke up, got ready for Friday church
10:00am – Church! Majd was the translator. New protocol from Raees Doug (he was my Arabic 201 teacher at BYU and now is the District President) – Church is only going to be 2 hours from now on
11:00am - Church
12:00pm – Went home, ate
1:00pm – still eating
2:00pm – went visiting neighbors – tawjihi of the first semester is over!!! Party in al Husn!
3:00pm – visiting Abu Nedal’s family
4:00pm – visiting relatives in Irbid
5:00pm – still in Irbid
6:00pm – We left for Zarqa
7:00pm – visiting relatives in Zarqa
8:00pm – Arin wanted me to watch Star Academy – Arabia. I fell asleep.
9:00pm – Still in Zarqa!
10:00pm – Went to Hibba’s house (daughter of Abu Nedal, Nedal’s sister)
11:00pm – First chance I got to go online!!!! Pierrick was online!!!! I felt so happy, I had a ton of really good emails to read!!! EMAIL ME!!!!
12:00am – Still in Zarqa
1:00am – we left for home
2:00am – arrived!!
3:00am - slept
4:00am - slept
5:00am - slept
6:00am - slept
7:00am - slept
8:00am - slept
9:00am – woke up, got ready for the branch outing to Pella
10:00am – got on the bus, sang and danced and played the drum most of the way!
11:00am – we got to Pella
12:00pm – walked around
1:00pm – had a picnic
2:00pm – played a really, really makeshift game of volleyball
3:00pm – danced, sang
4:00pm – still dancing, still singing, still playing whacko arab volleyball in the middle of a valley with ruins from before the time of Christ. What!?!?
5:00pm – left for home, I slept on the bus a little, but then they wanted me to sing for them. It was fun; definitely epuised my entire Arab-song directory…
6:00pm – Got home
7:00pm – some people came and visited us
8:00pm – bought my minutes
9:00pm – showed them pictures from home
10:00pm – called Nedal, spoke with him for about 15 minutes, but it was good!!
11:00pm – chilling w/ Abu Nedal, watching Al Jazeera
12:00pm – writing this.

I’m totally safe, and totally happy. Life here could not be better.

One really astute observation: It is SO NICE to be away from “mushakil hub” – love troubles. I had enough in the States and France to last me for a loooong time. This summer is going to be pretty…euh…interesting I guess. I don’t want an Arab boyfriend. I want to speak this language fluently, and come home to the people I love. We’ll see how it all works out…I have some ideas, but it would probably be best to keep them as beautiful daydreams. And oh are they beautiful!!!