Castles and Lochs

We've done a lot in the past two days.

Yesterday we set off from Perth and drove up to Inverness. Along the way we stopped at a beautiful church, which we walked around and admired, Blair Atholls Castle, known as the prettiest castle in Scotland. Did you know that the person that owns it is allowed to have their own army? I found that kind of ironic, but sometimes old ways never change. We walked around the forest grounds of the castle, which had some of the oldest and tallest trees in Scotland and we found a really cool park. The swings were as high as the trees and you swung over the edge of a small drop off so it felt like you were going higher than you really were. There were other neat forts in the park that my brother, Colin, enjoyed searching. Oh yeah, Colin and I met our first Mucklecoos. Huge, hairy cows with giant horns on top of their heads.

They were adorable.

When we finished admiring the Mucklecoos we continued on our way through the mountains. We finally made it to Inverness and we stayed at a Bed & Breakfast.

Today

Today we went to Culloden Battlefield. One of the European war battles was fought here and I learned all about it. Mainly from the Jackobites side, but some from the Government side too. Thten we left Inverness and drove up to Loch Ness. I'm sorry to report that we did not see Nessie. Maybe next time folks.

We did see a castle though, it was mainly ruins, but it was right on Loch Ness and it had amazing views. Lastly, we drove through the mountains to another Bed & Breakfast, where I'm writing to you from now.

Tomorrow's going to be busy.

(I'll post all of the pictures when we get back to Jordan)

Chaos

The second we got off our first plane in London and my Dad turned on his phone, we were flooded with texts about protests in Jordan.

Protests.

There have been protests lately, I am aware of that. But now our cute little Jordan is on CNN. Not for very long of course, it's never the top subject for long. But hey! CNN's pretty big!

I am terrified to go back.

I know it's not that bad, but I've seen what happens to these countries. They're blown up, destroyed, all because of protests. I don't want that to happen to Jordan. People I know could be killed. It would be absolute chaos. Chaos = Not good. Not good = A scared Hannah.

But I'm already scared.

Anyways, Scotland is amazing. There's so much green here! A big change from Jordan, which has no green what so ever. At least not a lot. And I love my family here! They're so fun and interesting! I'm staying at my aunt's house. She has a lovely backyard and there's no trees in the middle of the sidewalks! I even have a picture to prove it!

(I'll post the picture later)

So far, we've been to Doune Castle. It's beautiful and very interesting to learn about. Tomorrow we're going to Loch Ness. We're going to do a drive and visit some more castles.

I'll post more as soon as I can.

Scotland

I am so excited.

Tomorrow my family's going to Scotland! We have family there and I'm finally going to meet them. We won't be back in Amman for two weeks. I'm going to try to blog whenever I can, but most likely I'll only get to when we get back.

Please be patient with me. I promise I'll upload tons of photos when we get back.

Until then,
Hannah

Security

I might've questioned my security here once or twice...

Maybe.

But I have good reasons too.

First off, the event that sticks out in my mind every time I look across the street.
The riot.
Yes, there was a riot in front of my house a couple months ago. You see, they had elections for some... I don't know, something that had to do with the government. They held the polls at local schools. Well one of those local schools is just down the street from where I'm typing right now.
Oh goody.
I was sitting on my couch when I heard yelling and glass breaking, I walked over to our window that overlooks the street and right before my eyes were people throwing rocks at each other and smashing car windows. Our boab was right there, sitting on the curb, watching it all. I called to my dad who was on the phone, obviously trying to work something out with somebody from work and he opened our balcony door. He stepped outside and motioned for me to follow. Is he crazy? I thought One of those rocks might hit me! Those people are probably dangerous. So while he was outside, watching it all, I peeped over the side of the couch to look out the window. Finally though, my curiosity out won me and I stepped onto the balcony. Together we sat there for a couple minutes.

Those were some of the most disturbing moments of my life.

I watched people yell at each other, throw rocks, smash windows. I watched people limp away, clutching their heads and arms. Then my dad stood up. "I'm going to move the car." he said simply.
"You're going down there?" I asked, completely shocked.
"Hannah," he said. "The car's going to be ruined if I don't."
I just nodded. While he walked calmly outside, I clutched Ike and watched his every move very carefully. The guard stopped him and tried to talk to him, he nodded his head and got in the car and slowly drove it into our garage.

All in all, it went better than I expected.

He came back upstairs and we sat on the balcony, watching the riot until the police showed up and every one scattered.

But I forgot the best part, it started back up again, right when I was about to go to my friend's house. Well, I'm stubborn, and still wanted to go, so we went down to the garage and drove down the street slowly, with me ducking my head below the windows.

We made it out that day, without any conflict and all was fine in the end.

But that event still haunts me about what could happen if Jordan ends up like Egypt or Libya. And so I'm thankful for the guard that has to stand outside 24/7 for us.

Thank you very much.

Good Bye Mira

Well today was hectic. 


We get a four day weekend this week so today was our last day at school. It was probably one of the most insane days of my life.


First of all, one of my best friends in all the places I've lived, Mira, is moving away to Hong Kong. This is a pretty big change for me, I'm usually the one that moves from my friends, not the other way around. I'm going to miss her like crazy, she's not in any of my classes so the only time we have to talk to each other is lunch. And that was nearly ruined today.


It started out with Arabic. Our teacher wanted to bring us to a falafel restaurant so that we could order all our food in the language I'm failing to learn, Arabic. We were all in the classroom, ready to go, when I heard that we weren't getting back until after lunch had ended, the only time I'd get to talk to Mira before I never saw her again. Being me, I asked the teacher if I could stay and not go on the field trip. Some kids hadn't turned in the permission slips and weren't going anyways. She refused and I had to hope that we'd get back early.

The restaurant was... interesting. It was basically all screened in and full of people that stared at us. The food was amazing though. We got pita bread, hummus, falafel, and... soda. Yes mom, I had soda during school hours. 

I am proud to announce that I said "Sabak al Kheir" to the waiter, or "Good Morning" without getting laughed at for my poor pronunciation. Why, I even learned the "proper" way to dip your pita into the hummus. 

All in all, it was a very new expierience.

And guess what! It gets better! We made it back to school before lunch started. So I had the whole lunch to talk to Mira.

At the end of the day, we were all in pretty bad spirits. Mira was a great friend to all of us and none of us will ever forget her. Mira, thank you for always being there for me. Have a great time in Hong Kong! We'll miss you!

On a happier note, I am now laughing my head off because a car alarm just went off and a startled scream came right after. Ahh, you've gotten love it when kids get scared of simple things. 

I Miss Commercials

Yes. I said it. I MISS regular commercials. Man, I just want to see one Target commercial and I'll be happy.

You see, here they have a TV called AFN. It's for the armed forces living in Europe, but you can get it here if you're with the embassy.

Bottom line, the commercials stink. They're all about suicide, hypothermia, depression, fraud, and counseling. In the beginning, when we first got AFN, some of them were fun. They had little state quizzes and Guess The Cities. But they got old pretty fast.

Now if my parents weren't stubborn, they would've gotten the local boxes. They show American shows. (Of course with Arabic subtitles.) But no, I'm stuck with AFN.

I guess it's not SO bad. I mean, I could be without TV completely, but I miss watching my favorite shows the second they come out. (Did I mention I've missed full seasons of my favorite shows because they don't show them?)

I really miss watching TV.
Especially the commercials.

Construction

Like most of the houses here, there is a giant, empty lot in front of my house. Sometimes I'd walk Ike through it, it wasn't easy though, for there was litter and prickers scattered throughout the field. 


If it wasn't for that though, the lot would be great.


The grass grows so quickly, at least, the grass that you can see through all the useless junk that people have dumped on it. If that was cleaned up, it would be perfect. And for some animals in particular... it was.


Every month or so, a shepherd would come to the lot with his sheep and goats and stay for a night. The sheep and goats would eat all the grass that had grown to long, and then take off the next morning.
Personally, I thought it was pretty cool when the herds came. It was fun to watch them. Sometimes the goats would bump heads or the sheep would baa at the sheperd's dog. But what I found amazing was that Ike never gave them a second glance. He would walk right past them as if they weren't even there. Which gives us another clue to his mysterious past that has left him with scars.


It was nice every night that they were there to hear their clamor break the silence, and see the bright glow of the sheperd's campfire.


But then, the most horrific thing happened to our little field. 
Construction.
Somebody bought our little lot and is building a house on top of it. 


I'm going to miss those cute little goats.

The Low Down on Moving

It stinks.

It really does, but I do it, my family does it, because we have to. It's our lifestyle. It's crazy... and different. But honestly, I wouldn't trade it for anything else in the world.
It's wierd, right now, 20 months into a post, I'm pretty nuetral. I want to leave. I want to go to America. But I have great friends here right now. The best. Ever.

Every Thursday, we go to the embassy to hang out. All my friends are there. The best friends I could ask for. I live for Thursdays, the rest of the week...blech.

Which brings up something else...

The week. You see, here, the Holy Day is Friday, just like in America it's Sunday. And since
Friday is a school day...
They changed the school week.
My school week is Sunday - Thursday. Friday and Saturday are my weekends. Let me tell you, it took a while to get used to. But a lot of things here have taken a getting used to...
When I'm not at the embassy, I can't wear shorts above my knees, I can't wear tank tops. People stare here. At my dog, at my hair, at me, because apparently it's pretty darn obvious I'm American. I can't speak Arabic. I'm learning, but it's hard. It's so different. People tell me that I've got a great life ahead of me, it'll be easy to get into college because of life experiences, I'll be smarter... I don't feel smarter. I feel normal. For me, moving is normal.

But for others, no. I've seen the movies, the families that freak out because they're moving. Is it really like that? I have no idea. For me, when mom says "We're moving!" It's a routine.

1. Tell friends.

2. Start packing up house. Cry

3. Say good bye to school. Cry.

4. Friends throw a going away party, cry some more.

5. Leave. Cry. Cry. Cry.

6. Arrive to new place. Beg to go home. (Wherever that happens to be at the time)

7. Get used to life, become happy.

8. Be told I'm moving again. Cry.

Heh, pretty simple routine, don't you think?

Earthquakes, Hurricanes, and Tornados

We've been in a lot of natural disasters.

When we lived in Florida we had  to evacuate for several hurricanes. Our house was two blocks away from the Atlantic Ocean. It was great, but when the hurricane warning went out we packed up all our pictures, valuables, and unreplacables into big boxes, stuck them in the back of our minivan and left. Usually we just had to go further inland, and being a six year old, I loved evacuating. Once I was in the Jeep with my dad and my mom and brother were in the van. My dad had stolen all the Tootsie Rolls so in the middle of a highway, going 60 mph we threw Tootsie Rolls from one car to the next. See? Fun. 

We always went to different peoples houses, it rained, the waves got really big on TV. I knew what was happening to my home, but I knew everything would be fine in the next week, and it always was, the house usually lost most it's shingles. Our backyard, fences, and trees were destroyed but we could fix that. We always had each other.

Then in Virginia a tornado warning came. I was nine. It was 3:00 and I was getting ready to get on the bus and go home. The principal spoke through the intercom and we all filed into the hall for the tornado. All of us fourth graders curled up in balls with our hands over our hands and waited. 

And waited. 

And waited. 

Finally, they decided it was safe enough to let us out. Kids were crying everywhere, breaking down, scared that they were going to die. Not me, I'm tough like that. I'd been in worst situations, we'd live. But when I finally got home and my mom wasn't there, I got scared. Very scared. I took the keys out of my backpack and tried to unlock the door, it was pouring outside and very, very windy, I could barely see because my hair was blowing everywhere. Then, car headlights shone through the rain. My mom had come home, turns out she had been waiting at the bus stop and I had run right past her.

Then the earthquake in Japan. I've never been in an earthquake. I'm scared of them. I'm not scared of hurricanes or tornadoes, to me they're not that big of a deal. But I do not, want to be in an  earthquake. So to all those in Japan, who can't contact their family members, don't have a home anymore, I'm sorry, and I'm thinking about you. I've always had my family through these things. Some of you don't anymore. Stay strong, tomorrow will be better. Hopefully.

Honk for Japan

My friend Mira is moving away in a couple days, so she had a bunch of her friends over to her house for a going away party. At first I thought we were just going to eat and then hang around her empty house. I was wrong. One of our friends (let's call her F) saw that people were doing something called 'Honks for Japan' People make signs, and stand out on the sidewalks. When cars drive by, they tell them what they're doing. It basically raises awareness for the earthquake in Japan. But for each car that honks, people donate one dollar, or pound, or dinar, or whatever currency they use. 


We decided to try it. 


All seven of us made our posters, of course in Arabic and English, that said, Honk For Japan! We stood out in the streets and yelled, "Zimer lel Yaban!" to all the cars that drove by. Translation: Honk for Japan. We stood out there for quite awhile. Some of the people driving by just smiled and laughed, others honked. Some even came around again and honked twice. Even after we went inside you could hear cars driving by and honking. Finally, after three hours of standing out there and having fun, we got 85 honks. 85 out of 185 cars that drove by honked for us. And who said kids couldn't make a difference.


And we learned more Arabic along the way.

Where to Start?

Woo Hoo! We're on our 20th month in Jordan. Grats to me, I'm surprised I haven't started pulling my hair out yet. Sixth grade's definitely been an interesting year. First year of middle school. Big, right? I guess to most people this is a pretty huge thing living here, with the conflict in the Middle East and all, but it hasn't really hit me yet. Jordan's doing pretty well, from my point of view at least. Sure we've been told not to go to certain places, but they're out of the way anyways. I guess you could say the embassy's my safe-haven. I would say you're right. There's so much to summarize from the past months, but I'll just have to add in the information as I go.  I guess I can give one story now though...


For Christmas of '09 we got a new addition to our family. We got our dog Ike! He's a pure-bread German Shorthaired Pointer that "Santa" got for us at the animal shelter here. Sure he was a little skittish at first. Stole whatever food we left out on the counter, growled at my little brother, but he warmed up within the first month and thank goodness too. I love our dog with all my heart. Sure he can't replace our Bull Terrier that we had to leave in America, but he's the next best thing. If you know your breeds, the Pointers are hunting dogs. They sniff along until they come to the scent of a bird, or in Ike's case, a cat. Then their owner shoots the gun and they run to retrieve their catch. Ike's not trained in hunting but you can tell the instincts are there. He points to everything and stands there until we can yank him away.


So one day I let him off in the backyard below our house. He disappears for a couple minutes and returns with a bird. A bird. The poor bird was dead, but it looked like it had been for awhile. My faithful little hunter had just brought me his first catch. Why, he was so proud, it took me ten minutes to pry his mouth open. 
Stubborn doggy.
There's your first story, and through all I love our Pointer with all my heart. Thank you Ike!

Look! We got him to do a pose!