Let me start by updating you on last week. I posted some pictures on the picture blog of the Red Sea and the hotel we played for in Aqaba. The event apparently cost half-a-million dollars to put on, princesses were there and everything, and let me tell you, the food was amazing. We ate lunch and dinner at the Kepinski and it was worth every minute. They had sushi, fresh fruit, veggies, dips, salads, desserts, hot dishes, Arabic, western...Asian, everything. My friend Joe took some wonderful pictures of the set-up, the display was what made it so great. Obviously it tasted good but the presentation is half the battle :o) Then, the symphony played outside, right by the sea during the start of dinner and then did a Sinatra tribute to close the evening. Our wind quintet also played while people were mingling and having cocktails at the start of the event. So beautiful throughout the night. We stayed in the Radisson Resort and it was lovely. The beach led right down to the Red Sea where I jumped in off the pier. Sigh, I love the water. Realized on the trip that I definitely need to live within driving distant of a body of water...it's just a must.
Over the weekend when I got back, I took my hamster cage to Julie and Soetji's and Chip is getting used to his cage. I will be bringing him home tomorrow or the next day. We'll see how that goes with the roommates. They aren't too psyched about a hamster but he's cute and it will be nice to have something to take care of. Aimee and I had a great trip today to Safeway.....we have to take a taxi there and she and I went crazy with the shopping list, causing us to have a very full taxi on the way home. The taxi driver wasn't too thrilled but oh well, we made it in one piece with all of our bags and no broken eggs.
Yesterday, Lisa and I had all of kids perform in a benefit concert for the Music Therapy Program. We recently lost funding and are trying to find other donors for the project. Even though performing is not a goal in therapy, the kids were so excited to share their love of music and we had a blast doing it. When we were setting up, a t.v crew came and interviewed us and a guy from the newspaper (the Jordan Times) also interviewed us!! It was so crazy...being interviewed on Arabic television. I spoke a little too fast so Nora, the translator, had a hard time with some of my sentences :o) I will work on that for next time. We are hoping to have some people contact us that attended to concert and give us money. In a perfect world, that would happen sooner rather than later. I will put pictures up of some of the kids....they are wonderful and they have so much to offer the world. I feel so blessed to be able to help them focus their energies to positive changes in themselves.
Ok! Last update, promise :o) Tonight was Grace's going away party and it was a blast. She has made friends in so many different places in Jordan, whether it is at work or at church or frisbee or in the apartment building. Anyway, it was great to have all of those different groups come together in one place tonight to celebrate having Grace here (and her birthday was yesterday) and giving her good send-off. I'm really going to miss that girl, met her my first week here! The party was at the Kurani's house, Grace worked for Martin Kurani while she was here and man, their kids are great. They have 5 girls and it was so fun, felt so normal, to just chase them around, dance with them, laugh and be silly. Such a calming feeling inside really.
Tomorrow is November's symphony concert...doing a little Tchaikovsky and Beethoven, should be a fun concert! And then, Lisa's going away party is Thursday night here, Friday night spending the night at Julie's, and Saturday taking Lisa to the airport. Whew, it's a crazy week.
Seeing the relationships that have been built here made me realize that Jordan is becoming home.....and then it dawned on me that all those cheesy songs were write, home is where the heart is, home is where love is, where human connections are made. I have been so lucky to meet people from all over that have shown love and compassion for me. I have also met the other type of people as well but that is life. Life is full of contradictions but I'm finding that the small things each day can provide enough comfort to get through the hard stuff.
Anyway, enough of that for now. Talk to you soon. Miss you and love you! xoxoxo
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