In Response To You!

Hello. I am writing today in response to your questions. Thank you everyone for your feedback! It's fun for me to hear what you like to read about!

Q. If I get pregnant over here, what is the citizenship of the baby?
A. If I had a baby over here, the baby would obtain dual citizenship.
Reason: Both my husband and I are American citizens, so the baby would easily get US citizenship. Also, my husband has Jordanian citizenship, so all of our children can and will have dual citizenship.

Q. What I find most challenging?
A. At this point in time, I have lost my independance. Not for any other reason other than because I don't know my way around town yet, I don't fully speak the language yet, I don't have my own apartment yet, my car and other belongings are not here yet. These are all things that will come with time...thankfully, they will come....I just need patience in between this time and that time.

Q. What are the open markets like, the smells and sounds?
A. For those of you who don't know, here's a little background. Jordan has very few grocery stores like ours in the USA. When you go to get your groceries, you do so in specialty stores. For instance, when you need bread you go to the baker, when you need meat you go to the butcher, when you need spices or coffee you go to the spice store, etc.

The bakery is great...smells of freshly made bread fill the air. The bread comes right out of the ovens, so nearly everything is hot and fresh. There is not your standard American bread, so that will take some time to get use to...what to use for French Toast??

The butcher...I don't go there. I use to be a vegetarian. Though I find these stores to be more humane than the thousands of animals being slaughtered in slaughter houses across the US, I still am not comfortable around dead animals. I can tell you that from outside the butcher store you see the entire animal hanging in a cooler window. The animal was slaughtered that day or possibly the day before. You tell the butcher which animal you want and which pieces and he cuts them up for you as you request.

The spice store...yum! Probably my favorite place to go. The spices range from salt, allspice, cumin, saffron, cardamon, pepper, cloves, etc. all found in their natual state. There are herbs such as sage, mints, thyme, teas, etc. Many types of coffee including Turkish and Arabian. Many of the spices stores also have nuts and seeds that are roasted and flavored. The spices, herbs and nuts are all in large bags or bins. You scoop out as much as you need. The smells and colors are amazing!

Fruits and vegetables....there are specialty stores for this as well. However, you can also find farmers sitting with their trucks on the side of the roads selling their crops.

This type of shopping is titius, but fun at the moment. There are also small 'Mom and Pop' stores that sell things like you would find in a grocery store...milk, eggs, cereal, yogurt, etc. I'm sure as time goes on I will use both these types of shopping and also go to the grocery store. BTW-grocery store has much higher prices, so most people avoid them.

That's all for now. My little guy needs his Mommy!