May 12, 2001

We have been busy wrapping up things at school - grading, make sure substitutes are arranged, getting copies of exams for our absence - so that we can leave for a conference. We have been invited to Baghdad to the Fifth Annual Christian Peacemaking Conference, and have been making preparations for several months now.

As we left with one of the French teachers, we got word that there had been an Israeli assassination of three Palestinians in nearby Jenin. We debated the best route to leave - through Jenin and risk running into an angry funeral, or by the settlers' road and risk running into retaliatory violence. Our friend who works for the Palestinian Authority had these words of wisdom: "Be careful." We went by the settlers' road and met with no incidents.

From there we crossed at the Sheikh Hussein bridge at Beit Shean into Jordan, also without incident. We shared a taxi with a traveler from Ecuador down to Amman. He spoke no Arabic or English, which left us to translate from Arabic to Spanish. We're finding that we've lost most of our ability to use Spanish, as Arabic words seem to have pushed them out of our brain. This poor Ecuadorian had headed for the Israeli border without receiving a visa and had to turn back to Amman (the visa is automatic for Americans).

Presbyterians gathering in Amman, Jordan, in preparation for travel to Baghdad.

We gathered in Amman with others who would be attending the Conference for a relaxing dinner in the cool night air.