Right at Home

Marhaba! Hola a todos! Hello to everyone. My name is Eduardo Elizondo. My wife Stephanie and I are on the Jordan project this year and we are very happy to be here serving, learning and experiencing new things. I am an accountant by trade and here in Jordan I have been working with the Amman Baccalaureate School (ABS) in the finance department. I have also been coaching soccer in the afternoons. We are going to have our first tournament this weekend! Both opportunities to serve here have been very rewarding so far.

Since today is my first time posting to the blog, I wanted to talk a little bit about Jordan in general from my perspective. Jordan is a great country. Since our arrival here, I have felt at home. Being originally from Mexico, I have found many similarities between the two countries. The first thing that reminded me of the place where I grew up in central Mexico is the weather. It is hot and dry here in Jordan and I love it! Another similarity that I found is that the food is great! Mexican and Jordanian cuisine are definitely different, but they both have a lot of flavor and variety. Actually, if you think about it, they are the same but different: Mexico has tortillas, Jordan has pita bread, mexico has refried beans, Jordan has hummus made of chickpeas, Mexico has salsa, in Jordan there is Turkish salad, Mexico has tacos al pastor (which I don't eat because its pork) but it looks exactly like the shawerma in Jordan! (except I can eat shawerma because its chicken or lamb/beef). Other minor similarities would be that people love football here (soccer of course), and that I have seen a lot of donkeys around, just like back home (hence the pictures above).

However, the similarity that I have been most happy about is that the people are friendly, like in my native Mexico. People here say hi to you all the time and smile. Even if they do not know English, they still talk to you, smile, and try to make contact with you. People are really welcoming and it has been very refreshing to be in a culture that is so relationship based like it is in my country (more on relationship based cultures in my next post).

All these similarities have made me feel right at home from the beginning...now I just need to pick up the language. Jordan has a lot to offer and we are certainly very blessed to be here serving and getting to know the people and the culture.