down by the river jordan: pale ankles

Pale ankles and feet pretty much prevent me from trying to pass as an Arab, so as long as they're covered I'm not too far off, so says Jackie.

From Halloween in Amman

The election is coming up, and it's interesting how that plays into my daily life. The other day, as I mentioned, was the US vs Palestine intramural football match at the University--a league large enough to get sports-page mention in one of the nation's daily newspapers. We lost our first match to Somalia 10-1, and this one we put up twice the challenge by losing 9-2. One of their players happened to be on the national team. Either way, the cheering and the competition was very real to our opponents' supporters, and it got a little wild at some moments in the game. At halftime, when we were only down 4-2, it was weird feeling unsafe just because we weren't being crushed by the top seeded team. One guy told us to leave the crowd because we didn't stand a chance, but we stayed. The guy ended up giving me his Palestine banner scarf thing--not sure what they're called but it's narrow and says Palestine on it with a kuffiyeh print on the back. Very friendly, indeed!

Here's when things start to get a little more real. Tomorrow morning is our match against Syria. If things were political at the Palestine match, they're surely going to be amplified against Syria, especially after the American military decided to "take matters into their own hands..." Of course I'm going to the game, it's going to be exciting! But, this is the first game that the odds aren't completely against us... Despite my status as American and fan of the American team, I almost wish we might let them win so that nobody gets too upset with us... Is that wrong? All I can say is that my travel plans may have to change for this winter, which is an awful shame.

On a happier and lighter note, we celebrated a wonderful pagan holiday in this lovely Islamic nation... you guessed it, Halloween! I have wonderful photographs for all to flip through, but one highlight was surely the union of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin (please keep her away from the White House, get out and vote!!) with Ari and myself as hospitable Jordanian bedouins: