Watermelon Babies and Taxi Drivers

Ok, so as much as I complain about them, not all taxi drivers are bad here in Jordan. Especially when there is a male presence in the car (and I am not left to fend for myself).

So Tuesday night we had a fireside at the church (with Elder Neuenschwander of the Presidency of the Seventy, which was excellent--more to come on that) and we had a "mix and mingle" afterward with the branch members and the missionaries/service couples from Beirut and Cairo (and the two branches here) and Elder Neuenschwander--and, of course, watermelon.

After the mix and mingle, myself and three other people were among the last to leave. President Leavitt (the branch president) gave Jamison a watermelon to take home, I told him it was cute and looked like a little child, or something (it was a rather large watermelon) and that he should draw a face on it. He did, and luckily all four of us were sharing a taxi to get to our respective homes.

I say luckily because I got to see the look on the taxi driver's face as Jamison got into the front seat holding his "watermelon baby."

It was priceless.

Jamison immediately started up a conversation with this taxi driver (in Arabic) about his "watermelon baby." He asked the driver if he liked it, but the driver (an older man) said, "no, it's ugly. It looks like you!"

I almost died laughing.

After Jamison and his roommate got out, my roommate and I continued in the taxi to our home. The driver was in a great mood (because of the watermelon) and asked us, "how do you say 'batik" in English?" When I told him "water-melon," he practiced the rest of the way to our home.

It was quite possibly the funniest taxi ride of my life.