Rural American Contrasts to Amman City Living

Daar Al Kounouz left Jordan yesterday, amidst various intensities of craziness. We managed to leave one of the carry-ons in the house, much to Project Boys’ chagrin, as it was his. Oops! Thank God it wasn’t the one with my laptop and all the documents, that would have been nasty.

This trip is a little different from previous trips home. This is our first without any of our parents living, and it is bittersweet. Sweet in that we have the privilege of buying The Hub’s family home from the rest of the Hub Sibs, bitter in that the home should have Grandpa in the living room reading his paper, and Grandma in the family room praying the Rosary or working a cross-word puzzle. One of our traveling traditions is bringing Grandpa newspapers from every airport, and this time we left them on the seats of the plane like everyone else.

We usually stay in Aunt Jane’s basement, but this time a joyous O’Hare Reunion with Aunt Jane and Her Hub, they dropped us off at the family home rather than taking us to theirs. The Hub’s fam has kept everything as it was since Abu Hub passed away eighteen months ago, and he had kept it the same since Um Hub left us two and one-half years ago. In one way it is comfortable and familiar to have everything as it was, on another, I feel a little like an intruder. That is probably too strong a word, as we have stayed here many times, I will have to contemplate a more fitting word.

The whole Hub clan will gather in June to divide all that remains. I am leaving everything as-is, as it is the bitter-sweet role of my husband’s sibs to go through the drawers and closets to touch and hold the items that had last touched by their parents. There is a part of the that wants to go into organization mode, and start transforming this home into our own, but to honor my bro and sis-in-laws, I will sublimate that urge.

I woke up at 4:45am, and this is what I experienced, desert life contrasted by rural life:

* Instead of the call to prayer waking me, the sound of train horns in the distance lulled me awake. Pleasant.

* The dry and dusty brown ravages of Khamsini weather are replaced by vibrant green lawns and fields. One can smell the living plants photosynthesize the early morning dew. Later in the after noon another contrast will emerge, cool evening Amman breezes with muggy afternoon stillness.

* Steeply pitched city-hillsides with long, flat neighborhood streets.

* Walled mini-compounds with five-story apartment buildings with 40′s era homes on half-acre lots, no walls or fences dividing the neighborhood.

* Wild rabbits and squirrels with feral cats of every color.

* The theme of stars decorating garages and home porches, with the decor of crescent moons in Amman.

At 6:30am, the two younger boys were awake. I took them for a walk to get to know our new neighborhood, where their boundaries are for exploration. It was lovely. Aunt Jane will come at 9am for our first garage-sale excursion of the season, one neighbor is ready and out there even now.

We are happy that we can borrow a neighbor’s internet access, it only works in Grandma’s hand-worked tapestry chair in front of the living room window-seat.  It is not hi-speed, but that is fitting for our new life-style. An inspiring place to sit and watch life go by at a much slower pace.

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