Just some thoughts

... I am very far away from home. Life is different from what I experienced in the U.S. It does force me to go inwards and to take care of myself in certain ways.

The biggest challenge for me is the concept of time. The week, in this kingdom, is set on such a different schedule than in the U.S. Fridays are like the old-time Sundays in the U.S. It is a day off because it is an Islamic sabbath, if you will. Saturday is part of the weekend and Sunday is the first business day of the week. I have to make adjustments to this calendar change, but this is not my big challenge with time.

It is figuring out what to do with time. I have lots of it as I settle in and I have to constantly remind myself to be patient. While I know work will pick up, having idle time challenges my identity. I experience this in many transitions and this one is dramatic. A comparable time to this one was when I moved to New Zealand. The passage of time seemed interminable. Everything I did in those first weeks were spent in silence as I had no radio and could get two scrambled TV channels. After those initial two weeks, my world began to develop and it became one of the most blessed experiences of my life.

As I enter this world, I find myself off balance again. TV is not the same, but I did find 8 channels of sometimes English-speaking movies. Most of them are very old or obscure, like Jurassic Park 3! However, it is sometimes a welcome diversion to hear my language spoken so freely.

I seldom know if I communicate well here. Three people can say the same word and I hear three different words. It is a little frustrating. While here, I want to learn Arabic, as well as Italian, German, perhaps French, and polish up my Spanish. I have the time. Perhaps I can use it well. A peculiar thing that I do is to begin to speak Spanish when someone speaks to me in Arabic or Italian.  I did that when I was in Germany as well.

I am not using my time very well. I'm still a political news fan so I'm interested in the developments of the U.S. election. Except, I'm checking too often. The news doesn't change that fast. I keep abreast of several newspapers each day. I'm very connected to U.S. culture. Soon, I'll have to begin to make a shift. I too often check email. For the first half of my day, people in the U.S. are still sleeping. I don't have to check until 2:00 p.m. - the end of my lunch period. Then I can't watch sports because it is on when I am sleeping.

I do turn on music. I found two English-speaking radio stations and sometimes a song comes on that I like. I have to keep reminding myself to play some music to make my world familiar. My CD case was mailed out on July 28th and still hasn't come in. The box I shipped with it came in during late-August. Though Pandora and other music stations don't work here in Jordan, Apple Itunes has a decent set of radio stations.

I have plenty to do. I have e-books to read, languages to learn, blogs to update, and watercoloring to do. It is getting myself set up for these activities that I have had a problem getting motivated. Often it is the wrong time of day to do things. I'm looking forward to doing those activities, but it takes a little more energy to get things in action. It will come.

I'll have to be patient with the parish. It is a bit of a blur figuring out everything and seeing how the center holds. The only time I get to speak with parishioners is when they are coming into the church or exiting. To coordinate activities is a difficult thing. I have to be patient.

I am actually very grateful for the care I have received from the Jordanians and the parishioners. I am very dependent upon them and they respond well. I would have quite a difficult time establishing residency if it were not for the knowledge and wisdom of the local Jordanians. They are/have been very good.

Setting boundaries is important here too. Life is lived so differently and I am the one who has to adjust to space and boundary violations because they are not seen as violations here. I'm learning a whole new value system.

This week will certainly pick up. I have several meetings scheduled and a few social activities. I'm breaking my inertia too. I'll even get to the store to pick up a few required items, and I think I'll make a few Halloween decorations. I love pumpkins.

Anyways, all is going well. I'm a little lonely at times, but it doesn't last too long. I'll adjust soon.