Just couldn't help but put those Bad Idea Jeans back on this weekend. We had an Arab Film Fest here. Friday was Syriana, Saturday The Kingdom. So, maybe more like an Anti-Arab Film Fest. I am on overload, confused, and disturbed.
I am more affected by this due to the fact that my sister lives in Amman, Jordan. Her husband works at the US Embassy there. Besides banging his head against a wall for 8+ hours a day, I can't imagine what they are paying him for. My sister and her husband are lawyers, Washingtonians who think they may be able to make a difference. She, however, is currently a part-time secretary in order to promote her husband's career. Both receive "hazard pay" though since they work in a dangerous area. Wooo hooo, thank God for that extra 15% the US feels will compensate for death by terror.
An email message from her 2 weeks ago:
I walked out of the apt today to go across the st to the gym at the embassy and today is the islamic new year day so it is a holiday and this man came out of the garage next door with a gutted goat caracas!....they still sacrifice goats on so many holidays....I saw fur out of the corner of my eye and then horns and i was tempted not to look but I had to
Just to note, her apartment (which is flanked by Jordanian Police holding machine guns), contains a safe room and emergency walkie talkies. She and her husband both got Lasix eye surgery for two reasons: one, the air is so dry and there is so much sand, contacts are difficult to wear; two, if you are captured by terrorists, they will destroy your glasses.
Last week, she and her husband were walking to the movie theater, holding hands on the street. She wears completely Western clothing, as is legal and accepted by Jordanian law. When they arrived at the theater, they each went to the restroom. Her husband finished first. As he walked out of the restroom, he saw a Jordanian police officer walking into the ladies' room. He followed and said, "What are you doing?" and the policeman said the same. A heated verbal exchange followed (my sister and her husband speak Arabic), a supervisor was called. My sister was almost arrested for prostitution. Men and men can hold hands, women and women can too. But not women and men.
Another time, a taxi driver asked my sister if she was American. She said that she was German. He started at her in the rear view mirror with a big smile and then said in Arabic, "Good. Germans good. Hitler good. Americans bad."
So, I'm signing off of movies that show Americans getting blown up and where only those Americans with safe rooms live to tell their story. It's not so entertaining.