Ungodly Hours

…sometime so early that it still feels late…

I soon learned that I could get a nice, strong cross-draft going in my room by opening up both sets of windows during the night.  The downside was, this made all those outside noises louder.  Traffic blairs at all hours.  But even that fades into background noise, unlike my first up-close experience with the Calls to Prayer.

Working Class Arabs

06/22/08

I arrived in Jordan late — at around midnight.  I stepped off the plane, saying goodbye to my plush accommodations of comfortable, roomy seating, gourmet meals, and attentive and plentiful flight attendants.  There was also no recognizable air conditioning in the airport, but it didn’t need it.  The air, although a bit more humid, is much cooler here.  Trees actually dot the countryside.  But the highlight?  Working class Arabs.  Everywhere.  That’s right, folks, the people who work in Jordanian airports are, for the most part, actually Jordanian.  Take that, Kuwait!

Middle East trip (intro)

The category “journal and notes — Middle East” contains journal entries and notes from my middle east trip from June through July 2008, in chronological order.  The first entry, below, is a brief history and overview of the original purpose of the trip, including why the hell I was in the region in the first place.  Names may or may not have been changed to protect the innocent, the guilty, and when all else fails, the naive (mostly me…).