Mr. Hakel Gets Home

Blog 21 July 29, 2010

Hi, from 34,000 feet above the Shetland Islands. I tell ya, from this high those ponies are even smaller!
Our last two days in Amman were spent having final experiences, the last lunch, the last dinner, the presentation of gifts for our American leaders and our Jordanian leader, Salaam. I spent a good deal of that time fretting over whether the purchases I made would all fit in my bags and then, if when I sat them down on the scale at the airport, whether or not the scale it would explode. In spite of the fact that I could barely lift my bags they did get through and are checked through to Detroit. Well, at least one of them is. The other one is only checked through to Chicago. Shouldn’t be a problem. I think. There are two other travel-related things I am worrying about. First, we were delayed about an hour leaving Frankfort because they had to find and take baggage off the plane for 14 people who didn’t show up for the flight. What worries me is that we are a group of 14 people. I suspect I’ll be able to update this before I get a chance to post the blog. The other thing I’m worrying about is exactly how the United States Customs Agency defines the word “soil”. Now, in my book, soil would only be materials that you could grow something in. There is no way anything could grow in the chunk of salt I dug out of the bottom of the Dead Sea with my bare hands. Anyway, I’ve been carting this chunk of salt/sand for three weeks. I don’t think I’ll have any luck arguing it is for educational purposes.
Some final thoughts on…
Our group…
• Has done a remarkable job of maintaining itself. Yes, we are a wide range of personalities, interests, and…idiosyncrasies, but in spite of all that, actually maybe because of all that, we’ve had a remarkably smooth time of it. If you’d have bet me we would have had a knock-down-drag-out sometime along the way I would not have taken the bet. Hang on, technically, there is still time.
• Did a nice job of maintaining a positive interest in who we were listening to and what we were looking at.
• Is looking forward to eating some food with a less Middle Eastern vibe going for it.
• Is not, repeat not, a big fan of “meat yoghurt” or as the Jordanians might put it, “Got Jameed?”
• Is profoundly grateful for the opportunity it has had this month. That gratitude has expressed itself in a number of different ways. Last night we presented Patty/Dr. Kubow with a couple books of poetry, one by a Jordanian poet and the other by a Palestinian poet. We also gave her a copy of the same group picture that we had framed for our guide, Salaam.
Our Jordan…
• The constant hospitality and generousness of the Jordanian people in general came as a surprise to me. I wish it hadn’t been a surprise.
• Jordan is a developing country. It is a country of remarkable beauty. The largest contrast to this beauty has to do with Jordanians attitudes towards cleanliness. Most of the areas we visited were to varying degrees coated with refuse. That being said, when its all you can do to provide enough classrooms for your children to learn in, should the garbage problem receive more funding?
Coming Home
• In many ways, I’ve been looking forward to this day for 29 days now. I love my wife, Heidi. I love Matt, Grace, Tim, Bob and Mattie. Each of them made sacrifices big and small that allowed me to take this trip. I especially thank Heidi for making my participation on this trip possible for me. Her patience, perseverance and strength are just a few of the many attributes that I admire about her. I thank you all.

Postscript
It’s Friday morning here in Bowling Green and I’m a happy man sitting here in my kitchen finishing this blog. An amazing experience. Thanks for reading, if you actually are reading this, it musn’t have been too dull!?