Saba Imtiaz: Everyday is a winding road..

I cried more than I possibly have in the past four months which, even though it was not related to my personal life and well being, or my work, was a good excuse for me to actually take out all the conflicting emotions of the past few months. I found an absolute inability to cry that had stemmed into my soul and I found it quite therapeutic, though I can’t say the same for my teammates who had to deal with me sobbing through the day. I love you guys, just in case you didn’t know. I also should thank Alex for listening to me whine online non stop this week and advising me to listen to Travis, or my sister for telling me I should stop listening to Oasis’ Stop Crying Your Heart Out, for that was “highly shushpishous”

I moved apartments – we now live in a gorgeous place in downtown Amman, more details/pictures/videos soon; but I walked into the house the day we moved and felt like I had come home. It a nutshell, it is incredibly warm and cozy, has grape, lemon and pear trees outside, a gorgeous porch where we entertain friends, drink tea and stare at the sky.

I went exploring our neighbourhood with Rachel. We ended up at crossroads at a loss at where to go (quite like the scene in Castaway), in a lovely art gallery/shop called Love on a Bike – where the owner/artist gave us a gorgeous postcard, a bottle of bubbles (yay!) and CD of music, which I have been admiring/listening to nonstop, and then at a rooftop café to drink fruit juice and smoke arguileh, enjoying a spectacular view of Amman – watching fireworks take off from different neighbourhoods to mark weddings or celebrate the tawjeehi results, which is the final exam Jordanian students take at school.

I spent time chatting away with friends of friends/housemates about politics and the Middle East and religion – did I mention our house is perfect for entertaining and having great conversations? =)

I finally bought Iraqi currency from the days of Saddam which are sold by pavement vendors with great gusto. I now carry about 600 in worthless currency in my wallet but I know everyone wants a note with a despot’s image on it. I also think they'll make excellent gifts..

I spent an enormous amount of time poring over Excel sheets in an effort to do myriad Finance related work. Honestly, while I love my work, I do find it a tad bit lonely when on a Thursday evening you have friends signing off Google Talk saying they’re going offline and wishing you a good weekend, while the Finance survey you’re trying to complete seems to have no end in sight. It is obviously also unfair of me to take out my angst on housemates/teammates by beating them repeatedly at games of Uno..which we've been playing nonstop since we moved, courtesy Momo's housewarming gift.

I met a CEO who actually understood what it means to get work done the very instant it needs to be done (quite a rarity!), and a taxi driver who spent 5 minutes telling me how Musharraf was a very bad man, after I prompted a conversation on Pakistan following a news item on BBC Radio, a staple favorite of taxi drivers. Has to be a step up from when a taxi driver said “Pakistan…mosques and swords” after I told him I was Pakistani.

I spent a lazy afternoon with my teammates, coming up with nicknames for each other, creating imaginary friends and nagging each other, and am now sitting here wishing that the weekend was not coming to an end..sigh.

More ramblings sometime next week...

Labels: jordan journal, random musings