Hoonaka, hoonaka, hoonaka

My roommate, Katrina, and I tend to have an Arabic phrase of the week that we get obsessed with.  This week it is, "hoonaka, hoonaka, hoonaka."  Which literally translates to "there, there, there."  As in, someone is feeling down, and you pat them on the shoulder and say "there, there."  Except this is a literal translation that doesn't translate culturally and that gets bemused head shakes from Arabs because sometimes (all the time) we are just so, so, so foreign.

This weekend I went to Aqaba, which is the most geographically exciting place I've ever been.  Seriously, I could have walked to Saudia Arabia, Israel, and Egypt from my hotel and been back before dinner.*

I stole this picture from Stephanie's facebook.  So, credit to Stephanie.  Except actually, credit to Mohammad, because I think he was the one that took this picture.

 Also, while I was in Aqaba I went scuba diving.  Which, like, you have to be certified to do at home.  But not in Jordan.  Inshallah, you will come back alive.  Scuba diving was really awesome and I liked it, but not quite as much as I like breathing above water.

Then yesterday, I got to jump off a boat repeatedly and snorkel and swim around a coral reef, and that was SO AWESOME.  I am pretty sure I was a fisherwoman (or mumkin a fish) in a past life.  I never want to get out of the water (as long as I am close to the surface of it).

Then I came back to Amman and read Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters in the backseat and absently checked where we were in relation to home every so often out the window.  And soon enough I started to recognize the familiar landmarks that meant we were getting close to Amman

And I started to get that really happy exhausted feeling I always get at the end of a really long day fishing with my family when we finally get home.  Like I had a lovely time, but there is nothing more lovely than my own bed.

I have three weeks of school left, and a little more than a month until I actually get on a plane and go home.  And I'm happy about going back to Alaska.  I've missed it a lot, and I've been gone a long time.  And I love Jordan too, and I'll be sad to leave.  But I don't think this is the last time I'll ever see this place again.

I mean, it'll take a lot more to console me than hoonaka, hoonaka, hoonaka if that's the case.


*slight exaggeration but you get the idea