Still No Bag

The Department of Luggage is still at a loss as to where my bag is. Hopefully, it made it onto the flight that arrives in Amman tonight. I'm going to pester the heck out of the luggage people until the bag gets here - apparently you have to do that to get results (or so Abouna [Fr.] Imad tells me).

On a better subject, I'm going to mass in a little while. It'll be interesting to see the mass in Arabic. The language seems to be coming slowly; I'm doing my Rosetta Stone course daily, and speaking as much Arabic as I can, but it's a really difficult language to learn. The grammar is really different from any other language I've tried to learn. Lessons from one of the teachers at the Latin School are going to start on Monday. Apparently, I get to learn one-on-one, because I know a little more Arabic than Caroline and Marlice.

By the way, Caroline and Marlice are both graduate students who are doing an internship with Abouna Imad. They're trying to raise money for a building that Imad wants to restore.

It looks like I'm going to have a chance to visit Israel, which I'm stoked about. It's a 6-day trip; I have to decide by the 15th whether I'm going to go. The answer is yes.

I've gotten a chance to practice guitar and violin a lot in Husn, because the Jordanian Scout Camp hasn't started yet. By Thursday, I need to have learned some good campfire songs to play on guitar, for the kids. Abouna Imad says he wants them to have "jests" - he means "gestures." So far I have seven songs; I think that'll be enough.

Marlice has a cord for a Canon Camera, so it looks like I won't have to wait for my bag to arrive in order to be able to upload pictures. Sweet. Stay tuned for pics / vids. Ma'a salaama!