JFK again! My favorite place in the world.

Merry Christmahannukwanzaa and a Happy New Year to all.

After a brief respite for much needed cold weather enjoyment I am now en route back to the desert. After a whirlwind of a few days (since Wednesday) it has been non-stop phone calls, planning, packing, and for the last 36+ hours, traveling. Lovely Delta canceled my PHL - JFK flight this afternoon forcing me to seek alternate transportation which took the form of a nice older middle aged guy driving an airport shuttle from Princeton to JFK through snow storms and EWR, and I'm not sure which of those was more chaotic. But I got here, حمدالالله, and although my flight has of course been delayed an hour (it is JFK, so not everything can go your way). I've already made a friend who wants me to go to her house in زرقاء so she can cook me mansaf and I can marry one of her sons.

Also there's this one little kid (2 years old!) who according to his mother is learning four languages simulatneously: Arabic, French, English, and Armenian. Wow. If only ...

And there's this other really cute little kid, and now they kind of play together and it's very adorable. The second one took my SIGG (which is empty, of course) and started throwing it around until he hit himself in the head with it which didn't seem to bother him.

It's amazing how much I understand what's going on around me (it's basically all in Arabic)...I guess I didn't realize how much I know. I've spoken to people (like my future mother in law) and they say I'm good at it! So I guess 3 weeks isn't long enough to lose it, after all.

There were also a bunch of French people at the newsstand store and it was amazing how much of what they said I understood, although I couldn't say anything to them because I could tell that as soon as I opened my mouth Arabic would come out. Oh well. At least I can do one at a time, anyway...