of Hapsburgs & Hashemites

Budapest, Hungary

As the airport shuttle wended its way around the castle, over the river and through Pest, I wish I'd taken more time to see the city, to just walk around drinking in the sights, maybe playing with my camera a bit. I'll never be a photographer like Jad - let alone Moayad! - if I don't play around a lot. (Of course, that's much easier to bear when you don't have to pay for developing!) I wish I'd taken more time to contemplate and document what I would call the Hapsburg feel of Budapest. I've always said that Vienna is one of my all-time favorite cities, in part for its majestic architecture. Driving through Pest this evening, I almost felt like I was in Vienna again.

I'm finding it harder than expected to go back to Jordan. I really love Europe. I feel so comfortable there, even in a country where I don't speak a word of the language. (I think 'geselem' means 'thank you'....) I've been remembering when I was going back to Jordan after Sma's wedding, and from the Dulles Airport shuttle I saw a woman in a jelbaab and hijab and I thought, I'm going home! Now I look around me in the airport at the muhajjibaat, listening to the patter of Arabic, and I barely feel anything. Perhaps it's just the hour. I've been dreading this midnight flight for days ... maybe weeks! An overnight trans-Atlantic flight is fine. It allows for about 4 hours of sleep; you wake up disoriented, not well-rested, but having rested a little. Tonight I'll be lucky to get 2 hours between now and 5am.

Still, I'm returning to this new block of Beginners classes at Bell, full of new ideas, new strategies, and ready to take on the verb "to be" in new ways!