my friends call me herpes and rash

immediately, i apologize for the title, but, it is a direct quote from me to this guy named andy that i met this week during one of my 2 sick days.  see, i (jeff) have herpes simplex, meaning specifically that i get a single cold sore on the middle of my bottom lip sometimes when i get stressed.  not to be confused with the other herpes, which is an STD of epic proportions, is a viral infection that i will never get rid of nonetheless.  i say this because i had a rash this week.

i realized on monday morning, at school, that i had a rash spreading on the palms of my hands.  i was rightfully concerned, since a girl at our school had just been in the hospital for what they thought was the german measles.  so, i left school, with jessey (who conveniently had a small rash on her arm (unrelated, and not worth leaving sick for)), and went to the arab medical center.  the neurologist who looked at my rash (that's not a punchline) said it was nothing to worry about and told me to get an antihistamine because it was probably an allergy.  i wasn't too sure that he had a clue what he was talking about, since he's generally more concerned with my synapses than my skin.  

wednesday morning, the rash (which was now more like blisters on my hands) was spreading, so i decided it would behoove me to go to a dermatologist to get it looked at, which is what i did.  the dermatologist told me i was having a reaction to the herpes simplex and prescribed me some ointment to put on it.  the problem was, i couldn't find a pharmacy that had the ingredients to make the concoction of healing balm.  i felt better about my hands, yet thought it was ironic that i was basically allergic to the virus in my body.  can that happen?

today, the princess called me into her office (yes, this is normal) to ask me how i was feeling, having been out sick twice this week.  i told her i wasn't any better, and i wasn't really too sure that i had a clue what was wrong with me still.  she, being a true product of monarchy, didn't think that was okay, so she basically forced me to go to the "specialist hospital" to have a dermatologist she knew look at my hands.  she had her "people" set up an appointment for me after school.  my third appointment this week.

when we arrived to the hospital, i told a guy at the reception that i worked for the princess and that she had set up an appointment for me.  never before have i felt so special (and so out of place), especially when they offered to let us sit in a more comfortable room to wait (disgusting).  we refused the offer.  then a coalition of people came to greet me and then we were escorted by a nurse to a different building to see a dermatologist.  

here's the funny thing...the first dermatologist told me exactly the same thing that the second one did.  i'm having a reaction to my virus.  ridiculous.

we didn't have to pay for the consultation (this is called wasta in arabic, meaning knowing the right people), and then we were escorted into this private office in the hospital while the nurse went to retrieve my prescriptions.  also free, thanks to knowing the right people.

i'm looking forward to the rash going away and laughing to myself that i didn't need this second visit to the dermatologist.  but, after receiving the "royal treatment" today, i wondered about how ludicrous it is that i moved to a poor country from america and received free health care because i knew the right people.  i am grateful, yet slightly appalled by the disparity between the royal and the ragged.  someday, in the kingdom of heaven, there will be no gap, and the least will be the greatest.  i look forward to that day, and i thank allah that i (one of the least) was able to experience that kingdom in a small way today.

taxi

last saturday, jessey and i were en route to our weekly arabic lesson with our tutor. we got into a taxi, driven by a man with a foot-long beard and a dishdash on. we're both usually excited when we get near a beard of such magnitude, so we were happy to have stumbled upon this particular taxi. he immediately noticed one of my tattoos and asked me what it was (keep in mind, this conversation took place entirely in arabic). i told him it was a tattoo, from a needle. he shook his head in disappointment and then asked me if it would wash off. i said no. then he asked jessey if she had any. when she said yes, he was even more disappointed. but, this man chose not to shut us out. he continued the converstation despite our tattoos.

he asked if we were married, if we had children, where we were from, what we do for work, etc. then i asked him about his family. he gladly told me he had 3 children, and then, while driving over a bridge, showed both of us pictures of his children on his phone. he said his family was made up of 9 boys and 7 girls growing up. we were amazed. there was a picture of a clean cut arab man hanging in the window, a driver identification card, featured in all taxis. i asked him if he was the one pictured. he laughed and said yes, and that he'd been driving this taxi for 10 years. 10 years. just to provide for a family, he drives 16 hours a day and probably makes about 800 JD a month. phew. when he dropped us off, he told me not to pay. it was a beautiful gesture. i insisted on paying, and he didn't resist a second time, which in arab culture means he was being nice the first time, like a friend, but not necessarily meaning that he didn't want me to pay. we got out of the taxi in wonder about how cool God is to give us good conversations with strangers, in a language we barely know.

fast forward 5 days. again, jessey, me, and our friend bethany get into a taxi on our way to a cafe. the driver starts talking to me (again in arabic) and tells me my arabic is good, to which i responded that arabic is difficult. he proceeds to try and tell me that he has a book that is not difficult to read that he wants to give me. i didn't understand. he tried two more times. still nothing. as we continued on our way, he just made jokes and we laughed. he was a good and pleasant person. when we got to our destination, he said, this time in english, that he wanted to give me a book about islam. i said sure, since i wanted the book, and i didn't expect him to actually give one to me. he grabbed two little books out of his car door and asked me to pick...i was being "intentionally pursued" (if you catch my drift) by this taxi driver. i took a religious book about the prophet mohammad, allah, and jesus, and went inside.

i marveled at this young man's intentionality, his passion, his desire to tell me about his beliefs. i was again reminded of what i've been placed on this earth for, and i am grateful.

progress towards justice

however unrelated this blog is to where we are and what we are doing, this is something we care deeply about and wanted to inform you of the latest steps towards international justice (hopefully) in the tragedies that have taken place in darfur, sudan. this is taken from AP:

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant Wednesday for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. He is the first sitting head of state the court has ordered arrested.

The three-judge panel said there was insufficient evidence to support charges of genocide in a war in which up to 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million have fled their homes.

"He is suspected of being criminally responsible ... for intentionally directing attacks against an important part of the civilian population of Darfur, Sudan, murdering, exterminating, raping, torturing and forcibly transferring large numbers of civilians, and pillaging their property," court spokeswoman Laurence Blairon said.

Hundreds of Sudanese waving pictures of the president and denouncing the court quickly turned out in a rally at the Cabinet building in Khartoum. Security was increased around many embassies, and some diplomats and aid workers stayed home amid fears of retaliation against Westerners.

Al-Bashir's foreign affairs adviser suggested the court's decision was linked to an effort to destabilize Sudan. But Blairon said the decision was made purely on legal grounds and was not political.

Al-Bashir denies the war crimes accusations and refuses to deal with the court, and there is currently no international mechanism to arrest him. The main tool the court has is diplomatic pressure for countries to hand over suspects.

Sudan does not recognize its jurisdiction and refuses to arrest suspects. U.N. peacekeepers and other international agencies operating in Sudan have no mandate to implement the warrant, and Sudanese officials have warned them not to go outside their mandates.

If al-Bashir is brought to trial and prosecuted, he faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Sudanese TV did not carry the Hague news conference, but at one point broke in to programming with a brief news report that the warrant had been issued. The broadcaster on state radio announced the decision, and added, "a new chapter now begins" but did not elaborate.

Asked why judges, in a 2-1 split decision, did not issue the warrant for genocide, Blairon explained that genocide requires a clear intent to destroy in part or as a whole a specific group.

"In this particular case, the pretrial chamber has not been able to find there were reasonable grounds to establish a genocidal intent," she said.

She said prosecutors could ask again for genocide charges to be added to the warrant if they can produce new evidence. Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo said he would study the ruling before deciding whether to keep pursuing genocide charges.

The war in Sudan's western Darfur region began in 2003, when rebel ethnic African groups, complaining of discrimination and neglect, took up arms against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum. In 2005, the U.N. Security Council asked Moreno Ocampo to investigate crimes in Darfur.

Sudan said it had expected the warrant.

"This decision was not a surprise to us, but all the mechanism of the state will react. We in the Cabinet will meet tomorrow to see what steps are to be taken," al-Bashir's foreign affairs adviser Mustafa Osman Ismail told state TV.

The ruling party leadership will meet later Wednesday to decide its course of action, he said.

"This decision comes within the context of the foreign powers that seek to undermine the stability of Sudan, it is one of the tools of the new colonization," Ismail said.

Blairon said judges did not take into account possible repercussions when they made their decision.

"The findings of the judges are made on purely legal criteria," she said. "This is really important — the court is not a political institution. It speaks the language of the law."

Analysts fear the warrant could undermine international efforts to broker peace in Darfur and could spark a violence reaction. Some African nations reportedly threatened to pull out of the court in retaliation for a warrant. Thirty African countries are among the court's 108 member states.

Rights groups welcomed the decision.

"With this arrest warrant, the International Criminal Court has made Omar al-Bashir a wanted man," said Richard Dicker, director of the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch. "Not even presidents are guaranteed a free pass for horrific crimes. By ruling there is a case for President al-Bashir to answer for the horrors of Darfur, the warrant breaks through Khartoum's repeated denials of his responsibility."

Sudan's ruling party announced that it plans a "million man march" in Khartoum on Thursday to protest any warrant.

be informed, and pray for justice.

snow day (otherwise known as inclement weather day)

we went through our regular (although slightly off) routine this morning of waking at 5:20 to turn on the water heater, going back to sleep for another 23 minutes, jessey getting an idea of what breakfast will be (which today was nothing), jessey getting in the shower, jeff stalling getting out of bed, getting dressed, etc. it has been raining the last three days now, and the land has needed it. we live in a desert, and this rain will provide the sustenance the land needs in order to produce its vegetation this year. the rain is also good for flooding low-lying areas or flat roof tops due to a lack of proper drainage, which is due to the fact again that we live in a desert, so why plan for rain?

our roof

i mentioned that we had nothing to eat this morning, so i set out ahead of jessey to get some 25 cent falafel sandwiches, clad in my shirt and tie, khakis rolled up, and flip-flops (i learned yesterday that my galoshes are very uncomfortable, so i went for the traditional summer rain in illinois option despite the fact that it was barely 40 degrees outside). upon procuring the sandwiches, i met jessey, who wanted to stop into the bakery to get some bread, which cost us another 50 cents for a fresh baked loaf (a real bank-breaker).

we hailed a taxi and began a slow and unsteady drive to khelda, the neighborhood we work in. on the way, the taxi driver deduced that we were headed to a school, and informed me that the radio just said there was no school today because of the weather. i looked around and thought this had to be a joke, seeing as it was simply raining. however, when we got to khelda, literally the moment we got there, it began snowing.

it BEGAN snowing at 7:30am, but the kingdom had already cancelled classes due to the weather. the snow was heavy-ish, but not sticking. i still couldn't believe it, being from illinois, that school was cancelled, so we continued on to our school like good teachers should. the driver was insistent about there being no school, so i asked him to wait while we found out.

sure enough, no school. i took this picture when we got home of the "inclement weather" that cancelled school today. i still have no idea why, but i do know that i am thankful for one extra day of weekend.