Saturday, June 2, 2007

EEKS! this is getting more real!


Today I booked our flight to Amman. It is not official, because I have not paid yet, bas it is this <> close to it!! There is not turning back now!

I will be flying with two monsters alone! I have not travelled international with the two alone. When zozo was a baby I went to Syria alone with him, bas he was 7months old and easy to deal with. I do travel with them often from Saskatoon to Toronto and they have become very good on the plane bas that is a three hour flight without a stopover! So it is piece of cake compared to a million hours on the plane! This flight will be at 10am! Usually our international flights are at night, so the kids fall asleep! I will be taking with me extra batteries and new DVDs for the DVD player and lots of batteries and new games for their Leapsters.

This flight will be a bit different. I usually either stop in Vienna, or Frankfurt. This time we will go straight to Abu Dhabi, with a lay over of four hours. I guess it beats waiting in Frankfurt for eight hours!

I wonder how much of our summer clothes and shoes I should take with me. We will be going on August 4th or so. When does fall start in Jordan?? In Canada we wear our summer clothes for the first two or three weeks in September and then it get too cold for sandals and tank tops. How about Amman, when do you ditch your summer clothes?
I’ll bring our winter coats, if they were good enough for Saskatoon’s 30 below temperature, they will be more than good for Amman’s weather.
We even found a school for Zozo that is for teaching kids Arabic! How cool is that? I wonder if it has pre K classes.

The best thing is that I will finally spend Ramadan in an Arabic country! Do they still have a masa7arati coming around to wake people up?? The last two Ramadan’s have been pretty pathetic for us in Saskatoon. It was just hubby and I, no 3azayem or anything:( I feel bad for hubby though; he will be all alone with the most boring Arabs on earth! L

The sun sets so much earlier in Amman than it does in Saskatoon. I will not have to fight with Zozo and try to convince him that although it is still light outside, it is 10pm and he needs to be in bed! I am just thankful we do not live in territories where the daylight hours are all day long for part of the year.

10 comments:

and life goes on... said...

I hope you'll be happy here,, and I think you will! believe me spending Ramadan here would be the nicest thing ever.. this is something im so scared of.. i won't be spending it here for the first time in my whole life.. :S

Qabbani said...

:)

Summer or let say hot weather stay till OCT and somethimes till NOV like last year ,u cant feel COLD weather till end of year like DEC or JAN

so coming in August , as i know school going to start before SEP so u need to make sure about kids school from now ,

Ramadan coming in first of OCT and i guess its going to be WARM weather too , no msa7ratyeh hehehe Just in Syria and Eyg they had them till now ...

u will enjoy Ramadan here , but its like a NIGHT time, all cafes saty till 4.00am and so on traffice before ma3'reg ...etc

u might enjoy al 3azayem no more hehehe

:) really if u need any help feel free to contact me ,

Anonymous said...

wow that is so amazing! way to go Sam! :-)

kinzi said...

Sam, SO exciting! MQabbani did a good job with the weather situation...but be prepared for everyone 'haram-ing' you over the kids wanting to wear less. They are used to more cold and may want short sleeves when everyone moves to long.

I wondered how you were even able to book a flight! good for you. We always plan the flight in to have a ten hour lay-over in Frankfurt so they have to give you a room at a hotel (Yay, Dima @ Luft!)

Oho, traveling with children. I've traveled alone with all of them several times.

I used to wrap a little present for each child for each hour on the plane. Something as little as their favorite gum/lollipop for take-off and landing, a new small stuffed toy for them to help out for the toy's 'first flight' and to fall asleep with, sharpened colored pencils and paper, a little love note telling them what a great job they had done at the half-way point. I would draw a picture of what the relatives will look like at the airport, and wrap up books to read to them.

AND...I always asked every mother I knew to pray for me and them on the flight!

Sam said...

hmmm i guess i'd better leave out winter coats here and let hubby bring them with him when he comes to amman in october eh? i will have a million peices of luggage!

Dima yeh that would suck..where will u be living??

qabani thanks for the info...wow no cold untill november..that will be great!

Kinzi thank u:) my kids are so into leapster and ziad is into drawing so i'll be taking lots of paper and markers, it kept them very occupied on the van for hours at a time during our trip to vancouver. and they are so used to being on the plane now after soo many flights in the past two years..so im hoping they will be ok! :)

Me said...

Best of luck in your trip to Amman! I am sure you will have a great time living there. Maybe when i come to Amman next i will get to meet you, and yes, Kinzi too and all the other 3ammani bloggers! Why are you traveling to Abu Dhabi before landing in Amman? Which route are you taking?

Did you end up cooking roast beef today?

Sam said...

summer i will be going on the etihad airline, and it doesnt goes all the way to abudhabi none stop..it has the shortest stop 4 hrs..everything else had 8hrs plus. it would be much easier to be on a longer trip on the plane rather than chasing them at the airport! im so worried they will not give me the stroller on the gat though, last year in amman they didnt i was soo mad!
yup i just made it...a bit too early , it looks good...bas we will be having it for dinner:) i also made manakeesh and pizza...hubby is thinking who kidnapped my wife and took her place:) i never cook on weekends..safe for manakeesh on sundays..:)

Unknown said...

Lucky you!! spending ramadan in Jordan!! My first ramadan away last year was so sad! I mean, some times I ended up having break fast by myself with my husband's stupid working hours! You're going to love it there...
Good luck in travelling with your kids!! I hear a lot of women here complaining about it, but Kinzi's ideas were really nice!

Mrs. Al Ramahi said...

yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!! this is exciting!!! there is a msa7araty that passes by my home every day in Ramadan.. this is really nice..inshaAllah you will have fun and enjoy your stay here :)

Sam said...

mrs al ramahi...yup im very exited about it! and o i hope u live close to where i'll be living..i used to love the msa7araty in lebanon...:)