We’re still snowed-in; depending on your definition of “snowed-in.” If “snowed-in” means no school, then yep, we’re still snowed-in. Today will be the fourth day of no school. School was cancelled Thursday, (remember our weekend is Friday and Saturday), Sunday, Monday and again today, Tuesday. All high school finals are postponed until January, after the Christmas break. I bet Jason $1000 that the kids will be back to school sometime this week. He bet me $1000 they won’t.
BTW, what does the bank do when one writes a check using a given bank account, only to deposit that check back into the same bank account? Hmmm.
If “snowed-in” means the embassy is closed, then I guess we’re not snowed-in. The embassy was closed on Sunday, but is now back open for business, but with a late start. 11:00 a.m. opening. If you need a visa to the US, don’t show up at 8:00 or you will be sorely disappointed.
Here’s the problem. The streets in our part of the city have only one very small lane that has been plowed. We’re not getting more snow; in fact, the temperatures have been in the upper ’40s during the day. This means a lot of snow is melting, causing the one lane roads to turn into streams of water. The streams freeze up at night and turn into ice skating rinks. The skating rinks don’t melt and turn back into streams until about 11:00 in the morning. So it’s basically impossible to drive before about 11:00 a.m. or after about 6:00 p.m.
Yesterday morning, Jason decided that the only way to the embassy was on foot. He started walking up our road only to find himself on a huge, impassable patch of ice. The only way to get up the hill (and I am not making this up) was to crawl. Yes, I said crawl. Can anyone out there in blogosphere claim you have crawled to work? My husband so deserves a raise. Or a grade promotion. Or a giant bag of M&M’s. Or some ice skates. Or a puppy.
If “snowed-in” means you can’t drive, I guess we’re not snowed-in, because yesterday I did drive to the grocery store with my neighbor Jessica. The worst part was getting the car out of the driveway. The one-lane plowed road didn’t give enough clearance for a standard minivan to get out of the driveway and turn onto the road. So every time I tried to back out, I would hit the snowbank behind me. After a thirty point turn, we were on the road (or should I say stream), on our way to the store. At that point, the biggest road hazard wasn’t the snow or ice, but the Jordanian drivers, who on a good day are awful. (Lovely people, bad drivers.)
So, don’t ask me how I’m going to occupy my kids again, for the sixth day straight. Maybe we’ll sneak outside and watch Daddy crawl to work again. That should be fun.
See, even Jordan’s king is getting into the spirit of things, helping push a car out of the snow.
Six Abroad 