I have recently returned to Amman. Unfortunately. I miss Jerusalem already, and unfortunately I am not too happy to be back to my daily schedule of speaking for hours every day in an extremely hard language and memorizing vocabulary words that have to do with earthquakes and bombings. I guess I should get used to it, though, because in just a couple of months I will be learning Mandarin, having all the same problems! :)
However, I did almost have an opportunity to stay in Israel--not by any choice of my own, but because of problems at the Jordanian border. Picture this: the temperature is about 105 degrees farenheight. There is a large amount of humidity because of our proximity to the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River (we used the north border crossing). We have just been driving for about an hour on the bus with limited air conditioning, and we are all in our Sunday clothes, since it is Shabbat. This means, yes, legs sticking to each other with sweat and uncomfortable sitting positions. And we have been working with a slave driver (Dil) for the past week, visiting tons of sites in the extreme heat. And we just all successfully got through the Israeli border crossing (with really nice air conditioning, I might be so bold to add) and shoved about 70 people on a bus with a capacity of about 50.
Without air conditioning.
The bus took us across the "dead zone" between the Israeli border and the Jordanian border, and then we all got off and piled into the very not airconditioned Jordanian border.
And sat. And waited.
What we were waiting for, I found out later, was our busses from Amman and our tour guide/expiditer. Although technically we did everything by ourselves and did not need an expiditer, the Jordanians will not let groups through the border without an expiditer.
This was problem number one.
Problem number two became apparent soon after we realized we didn't have busses or an expiditer waiting for us at the border and so Brian Harker, one of the student admins of the program, called Dakkak travel agency to see what the deal was.
That was Dakkak travel agency, in case any of you are ever looking for an office of incompetent people in Jordan.
The people at Dakkak told Brian that they were on their way, no problem, but when it because apparent that they were not on their way, the border police called Dakkak.
This time, Dakkak told the border police that we were scheduled to come through the border next week, and when the border police asked what they should do, Dakkak said, "Send them back to Israel!"
Which I personally thought was a very good idea, but not very practical for our university schedule. Or our pocketbooks, since prices are very high in Israel. But that deserves another post.
The border police then tried to convince their supervisors to let our group through without an expiditer, but to no avail. Rules are rules, even in Jordan. (If we were in Egypt, this never would have happened. We would just have to pay someone off and we could have gotten through, no problem.) The only thing that was missing was the incredible amount of tension that is present on the Israeli side, but I am more ok with tension than I am with incompetence.
Really.
Also, the border police told Dakkak that they would not send us back to Israel, and somehow things got worked out that a bus and an expiditer were sent to us.
One bus. From Amman. To the north border, about a 2.5 hour drive.
Meanwhile, picture 60 Americans stuck in a non-airconditioned small room in 105 degree heat.
For three hours.
It was really fun, to say the least.
Finally, the border police let us through to go through customs and wait for our bus. After walking through customs (they x-rayed our luggage, but we didn't even have to walk through metal detectors. Security?) we were met on the other side with people representing Dakkak.
With a free soda for each of us.
Sorry, but that is not compensation for incompetence and making us wait for 3 hours in 105 degree weather, especially since the Jerusalem Center uses Dakkak every time they come to Jordan. We are one of their biggest clients.
And, we are American. Surely we don't deserve this type of treatment with the country represented on our passports!
Then, we find that we do really only have one bus. So 12 of us were designated as "taxi people." I say us, because I was one of those who was designated to ride in a taxi. For two and a half hours. Without airconditioning. In the 105 degree heat. With a most-likely smoking driver. And I hate dealing with taxi drivers here.
I immediately started praying that I wouldn't have to ride in a taxi back to Amman.
And then, after everyone else piled on the bus and the taxi people were standing around waiting to be told what to do, (and me praying to avoid the taxi) Spencer came and told us to get on the bus.
The full bus.
As funny as it might sound, at this moment my prayers were answered. I didn't have to ride a taxi back to Amman. I did, however, have to ride standing in the aisle, which was quite exciting.
Supposedly, another bus was waiting for us on the other side of the border, somewhere, but we still had to have a border policeman get on the bus while we were still on it and check all of our passports, I guess to make sure they were all stamped.
But, this was a small problem. You see, the aisle was filled with students. And we couldn't get off the bus, in case we made a break for it.
So, the policeman had to get on and shove past all of us and check all of our passports at the same time.
It was really fun.
At this point, I dissolved in laughter. I have a problem with laughing when the stress and tension builds up in particularly inappropriate moments, and this was one of those moments.
Finally, we got through the border, and after about 20 minutes we ran into the other bus and half of us got on the other one.
And, waiting for me on this bus was another surprise.
The same tour guide I had last year when I went with the Jerusalem Center to Jordan. Yes, that annoying tour guide who talked about "tens of caves," "the Kings Highway," and "Mecca Mall."
All in all, it was a great day, taking only about 7 hours to get from the Israel side of the border back to Amman.
All this, and I am American!
However, I did almost have an opportunity to stay in Israel--not by any choice of my own, but because of problems at the Jordanian border. Picture this: the temperature is about 105 degrees farenheight. There is a large amount of humidity because of our proximity to the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River (we used the north border crossing). We have just been driving for about an hour on the bus with limited air conditioning, and we are all in our Sunday clothes, since it is Shabbat. This means, yes, legs sticking to each other with sweat and uncomfortable sitting positions. And we have been working with a slave driver (Dil) for the past week, visiting tons of sites in the extreme heat. And we just all successfully got through the Israeli border crossing (with really nice air conditioning, I might be so bold to add) and shoved about 70 people on a bus with a capacity of about 50.
Without air conditioning.
The bus took us across the "dead zone" between the Israeli border and the Jordanian border, and then we all got off and piled into the very not airconditioned Jordanian border.
And sat. And waited.
What we were waiting for, I found out later, was our busses from Amman and our tour guide/expiditer. Although technically we did everything by ourselves and did not need an expiditer, the Jordanians will not let groups through the border without an expiditer.
This was problem number one.
Problem number two became apparent soon after we realized we didn't have busses or an expiditer waiting for us at the border and so Brian Harker, one of the student admins of the program, called Dakkak travel agency to see what the deal was.
That was Dakkak travel agency, in case any of you are ever looking for an office of incompetent people in Jordan.
The people at Dakkak told Brian that they were on their way, no problem, but when it because apparent that they were not on their way, the border police called Dakkak.
This time, Dakkak told the border police that we were scheduled to come through the border next week, and when the border police asked what they should do, Dakkak said, "Send them back to Israel!"
Which I personally thought was a very good idea, but not very practical for our university schedule. Or our pocketbooks, since prices are very high in Israel. But that deserves another post.
The border police then tried to convince their supervisors to let our group through without an expiditer, but to no avail. Rules are rules, even in Jordan. (If we were in Egypt, this never would have happened. We would just have to pay someone off and we could have gotten through, no problem.) The only thing that was missing was the incredible amount of tension that is present on the Israeli side, but I am more ok with tension than I am with incompetence.
Really.
Also, the border police told Dakkak that they would not send us back to Israel, and somehow things got worked out that a bus and an expiditer were sent to us.
One bus. From Amman. To the north border, about a 2.5 hour drive.
Meanwhile, picture 60 Americans stuck in a non-airconditioned small room in 105 degree heat.
For three hours.
It was really fun, to say the least.
Finally, the border police let us through to go through customs and wait for our bus. After walking through customs (they x-rayed our luggage, but we didn't even have to walk through metal detectors. Security?) we were met on the other side with people representing Dakkak.
With a free soda for each of us.
Sorry, but that is not compensation for incompetence and making us wait for 3 hours in 105 degree weather, especially since the Jerusalem Center uses Dakkak every time they come to Jordan. We are one of their biggest clients.
And, we are American. Surely we don't deserve this type of treatment with the country represented on our passports!
Then, we find that we do really only have one bus. So 12 of us were designated as "taxi people." I say us, because I was one of those who was designated to ride in a taxi. For two and a half hours. Without airconditioning. In the 105 degree heat. With a most-likely smoking driver. And I hate dealing with taxi drivers here.
I immediately started praying that I wouldn't have to ride in a taxi back to Amman.
And then, after everyone else piled on the bus and the taxi people were standing around waiting to be told what to do, (and me praying to avoid the taxi) Spencer came and told us to get on the bus.
The full bus.
As funny as it might sound, at this moment my prayers were answered. I didn't have to ride a taxi back to Amman. I did, however, have to ride standing in the aisle, which was quite exciting.
Supposedly, another bus was waiting for us on the other side of the border, somewhere, but we still had to have a border policeman get on the bus while we were still on it and check all of our passports, I guess to make sure they were all stamped.
But, this was a small problem. You see, the aisle was filled with students. And we couldn't get off the bus, in case we made a break for it.
So, the policeman had to get on and shove past all of us and check all of our passports at the same time.
It was really fun.
At this point, I dissolved in laughter. I have a problem with laughing when the stress and tension builds up in particularly inappropriate moments, and this was one of those moments.
Finally, we got through the border, and after about 20 minutes we ran into the other bus and half of us got on the other one.
And, waiting for me on this bus was another surprise.
The same tour guide I had last year when I went with the Jerusalem Center to Jordan. Yes, that annoying tour guide who talked about "tens of caves," "the Kings Highway," and "Mecca Mall."
All in all, it was a great day, taking only about 7 hours to get from the Israel side of the border back to Amman.
All this, and I am American!
(PS, sorry about the poor photos, but taking photos at border crossings is usually not a good idea, but I had to document it.)
3 comments:
Yikes! That sounds terrible. And yet, it could have been so much worse...That's always the comforting thought, right?
I'm just glad that mixup didn't happen last year, because I was the one in charge of the group from no-man's land back to Amman.
I'm glad you guys are back in Amman, even if it took a little extra sweat to get there.
When I read this two memories of laughing came to mind. First-I think it was your sophomore year of high school when you were stressed beyond belief, doing homework, both of us were sitting at opposite ends of the kitchen table, and suddenly you dissolved into hysterical laughter that provoked tears to gush from your eyes and you to essentially melt on the table, after which you ran giggling to your room to get ahold of yourself.
Second, just remember how much better you are at containing your laughter than me. Think of a certain wedding...when the poet's "profound" words were misconstrued by me to be a joke and I submitted a loud outburst of laughter to the otherwise silent ceremony, after which you simply sat, looking pleasant with a small smile on your face, shaking almost imperceptibly with your laughter.
:D
Your blog posts are so much more exciting than my life.
I love that you got King's Highway-man!
and yes, that pun was intended. kind of.
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