Knock-Knock (wife post)

harris = a man who serves as a guard, handyman, and errand runner for the tenants of a house or an apartment building.

Three days ago the harris' wife knocked on my door just as I was gaining momentum with sorting and folding my laundry. I stepped over the organized piles of laundry to catch the door and there she stood, but not for long. Here in Jordan, when someone knocks on your door and they are of the same gender, they are coming in. I tried to apologize for the clothes on the floor and explained that I was just in the middle of folding and sorting laundry. I don't know if she believed me, or if she understood me.

Her name is Umm Mahmood and I like her a whole lot. I think she is so cool for knocking on my door, coming in immediately and sitting on my floor with me and just laughing at how silly our kids are. I have a hard time communicating with her, so I smile a lot and pantomime. Spending time with her really humbles me, but I value and appreciate these experiences. She gets frustrated with me when I don't understand her after she's explained something five different ways, and she laughs at me when I use my English-Arabic dictionary. I can't figure out if she is laughing because I am mispronouncing a word, or because I am using it in the wrong context. Either way, she said we will walk our kids to the park together next week, and that is all that matters. If she keeps coming around, I should beat husband in Arabic comprehension in no time! I doubt I will be more advanced than 5y though!

I am very impressed with 5y's schooling. She wakes in a cheery mood and does a fantastic job of getting herself ready on her own. So far she has learned two surahs from the Qur'an, making it a total of seven surahs she now has memorized. A surah is kind of like a chapter. She loves her teachers and makes, on average, one new friend a day. She is learning many new words and most importantly, is enthusiastic about learning Arabic and living here.

The baby is 10 months old now and enjoying the freedom she has with crawling and pulling herself up on furniture. Many of the locals refer to her as a little kitten, because she is cute, cuddly, and curious like a kitten. She babbles, waves at everyone she sees, and gets angry when we eat sweets in front of her. The kids are truly happy. There is something indescribably special about being here. It's a feeling I know we will miss profoundly, perhaps leaving us feeling a little empty when we return to the States. Our purpose for living just seems more clear here.

The need for "stuff "is so much stronger in America. I don't feel as strong a pull toward shopping or eating out, and I am much more mindful of wasting anything. I have found the large, empty yogurt containers are great for storing smaller toys, and the leftover goody-bag cases that Virgin Atlantic airlines supplied us with are worth holding onto for storing pens. I am very careful not to buy something I'm not absolutely sure I need because I don't know what the return policies are, if they even have them. Not having so much "stuff" certainly makes the task of picking up the house much simpler and even enjoyable. I hope to keep these values when I return to America.