I'm Alive

Thanks to all those concerned folks who emailed and called. I am alive. I was in Safi when the bombs went off. However, I was at the Hyatt several times over Eid eating, cause they have awesome food there. Still, I'm very safe where I am. There was been talk of evacuation, but as it stands, we're staying. I'm not sure if I'm relieved or not about not evacuating or evacuating. In fact, I'm incredibly confused. The bombings shocked me. A lot of people are saying it was only a matter of time before Jordan got hit, and this is the second attack since we've been here, but I certainly wasn't expecting it at all. It's not that I don't feel safe here, it's just that the prospect of evacuating almost excited me, which was a surprising feeling, so now I don't know what I feel, or what I want to do, or where I'd go if I left, or how I'd feel if i did leave early....so many questions, no answers at all! I'm not even sure what to put on my blog, since I don't want to the PC the wrong idea, and my blog is screened. Oh, well.

I can say that all of the Jordanians I've spoken with are infuriated with the bombings. Horrified, shocked, angered. Especially the wedding that was hit. There was a large demonstration in Safi the day afterwards that I accidentally stumbled upon (I'm not supposed to be seen at large gatherings or protests--sorry Darcy, I just walked out of the store and there were hundreds of people walking by! I had no warning!), but it was AWESOME. The people were waving Jordanian flags and pictures of King Abdullah and King Hussein, chanting, cheering, all anti-terrorism. It was beautiful, really. The govnerment actually encouraged people to demonstrate against the terrorism, which is interesting. I nearly started crying when I saw it. It was peaceful, but strong. It was spontaneous, but everyone was happy to see it happening. And the women standing with me on the side of the street watching were so proud to have the American in Safi watching too.

As I walked home, I got rocks thrown at me by four or five 14-year old boys.

No bruises.

But I almost cried again.

Anyways, I'm really doing ok. It's scary, and a little dangerous to be here, but it's still so exciting to see a country react to its first strong sign of terrorism. And so far, I'm incredibly impressed with the people and the government.

Mom and dad-thanks for calling me a few times, I really needed someone to talk to.
Jiyoung-thanks for listening to me rant for 5 minutes yesterday.
Kurt-I'll try calling you again soon! Sorry my call didn't work well the first time! And thanks for your email, but it made me cry in public.
Everyone else-thanks for the support. I'll be fine. I'm definitely safe in Safi.