Putting the ‘foreign’ in foreigner!

Over a month in and we have enjoyed some great experiences (Jenelle wrote about our visit to Mt Nebo and Ana Laura has written about our trip down to Petra and Wadi Rum) and we will share more of these in upcoming posts. Ministry has also begun well – we are enjoying church. Every week we are meeting more new people as they either return after their summer vacation or have just arrived. James has been enjoying preaching through the book of Philippians (and having the time and mental space to prepare) and we have been on music most weeks to this point. We have also had the opportunity to visit two organisations working with refugees – one with Syrian refugees and the other with Iraqi refugees. We hope that one of these might open up into a volunteering opportunity for us as a family. As we mentioned in an earlier post we have been welcomed beautifully and had an excellent handover.

So, very quickly we began to feel at home, and that we were on top of adjusting to the many differences – whether that be catching a ‘servees’ (say it with a French accent – local shuttles on pre-determined routes) down to the fruit and vegetable souq, where we can use our own bags ;) or beginning our Arabic lessons and taking the opportunity to put it in to practice – which has mostly been in the form of ordering food.

But it doesn’t take much to remind us that we are indeed foreign. Here are the three that have stood out to us the most.

Water. Coming from Australia, we have grown up with the idea of water being a precious commodity. Even as a child, water restrictions in the summer were a way of life. Who doesn’t feel that rise of indignation when you see a Wally watering their concrete driveway for 15 mins. But ‘water scarce’ has certainly taken on new meaning for us. Water has made us feel foreign in three different ways – firstly we have to order drinking water – it’s all in Arabic of course, but you have to take your empty 5 gallon/19 litre drums outside and put  little coupons inside them, that come from a pre-purchased book of coupons (usually 5 at a time) – call the number – ask for water and then sometime later discover that they have been replaced with full ones and lug them all upstairs. Secondly, for non-drinking water, there is a ground floor tank which seems to be filled about once a week by a water truck – that water is then pumped up several stories to another tank on the roof which then feeds the apartment. About once a week the pumps stop working and we don’t have any water in the apartment. Although we were warned prior, the first time it happened it caught us off guard and though it’s easily fixed – wandering downstairs to check the tanks and restart the pump and then doing the same on the roof – it’s an inconvenience that reminds us that life is different here. Thirdly – water all over the floor. From a washing machine that had a split hose. Water was getting inside the machine, and it would stop mid-cycle. Kerryn was going a bit crazy when it would take draining the machine three times to get through a wash. The solution – get it fixed – easy enough right? But where do you start? Who do you call? Fortunately, we were (again) beautifully helped and its working (and we haven’t flooded the floor since except for the time we stopped the machine and opened the door mid-cycle because we realised that Kerryn’s glasses had fallen in whilst she was loading it.

Traffic. Well, driving in the traffic. Even finding the rental car company took about five phone calls as we were passed from one person to the other before someone was found who could speak better English than our meagre Arabic. Yes, we went exactly to the address that was on the website. No, it was the wrong suburb, and that office hadn’t been used for years. We’ve mentioned one of our favourite lines thus far ‘A Jordanian will give you the shirt off your back but run you over in their car,’ which at least gives you some idea of what it's like to drive in the traffic. The first trip involved many wrong turns, a reasonable degree of stress and at least a kilometre up a one-way street going the wrong way. Yes, you drive on the right rather than the left as you do in Australia, but it’s the disregard-but-semi-observation of the road rules that makes it tricky. So far only James has driven but it’s a team effort – and there have been several near misses. Words can only go so far to convey it – a video would be better. However, it is doable (it’s not like trying to drive in some of the mega Asian cities) and we’ve enjoyed the freedom that a car has allowed (the rest of the time we are relying on taxis) but it’s a better heart starter than coffee and it’s a reminder every time we are behind the wheel that we are foreigners.

 Health. There is nothing like being sick in another country to remind you that you are a foreigner. A relatively severe bout of gastro went through most of the family – Ana Laura, in particular, was hit hard and became quite weak. When trying to navigate the health system, even something as simple as getting some good old Imodium (or its Arabic equivalent) can be rough when you don’t have the language. We felt a bit helpless and certainly experienced some anxiety. Thankfully we were connected to a doctor who spoke English coming off a night shift. He was able to help Kerryn order the right medicine, sort out the driver who tried to charge double what was agreed for a delivery  (which he did by agreeing to pay the other half out of his own pocket when the driver returned) and then gave us his personal number and was happy (well at least willing) to be woken up to talk through the correct dispensing of said medicine. We were grateful to God for his gift to us in this. Everyone is (mostly) well now even as our tummies continue to get used to a change in diet.

We’ve noticed that it is often the small things which we so easily take for granted that make life more difficult and tiring when you’re in an unfamiliar place. You spend a lot of energy problem-solving things you previously didn’t even think about. We know we will be gone all too soon, but it’s these experiences of adjustment, even though they can be challenging, for which we are equally grateful for and allow us to appreciate even more when things go well.

We continue to have a very rich experience and look forward to sharing some of those shortly. Thanks for being on the journey with us.

           The Hornbys