Hey everyone! One thing about living in a predominantly muslim county is that our work week is from Sunday to Thursday, the Sabbath on Friday, and Saturday is our free day. As a consequence of this weekday switch-a-roo, Thursdays are the new Fridays in our house! And Thursday is quickly becoming one of our favorite days.
There are a whole host of habits we are trying to retrain because of this new work week. For instance, remember the lyrics “Saturday is a special day. It’s the day we get ready for Sunday.”? Well, that simply doesn’t apply here. We don’t get that. Maybe we’ll do a future post on the pros and cons of a Sunday-Thursday work week. The list is ever-growing.
But this post is about our growing love of Thursdays and, in particular, what happened at work this past Thursday that made it so awesome. I’ll no longer hold your suspense – We had a FIRE DRILL!! Now, we’ve all done fire drills. They’re not new: loud sirens, scrambling to get what you need so that you can get outside, and waiting in what seems to be either the hottest, coldest, or wettest weather imaginable. (Why is that, anyway? It’s like they want to test your resolve by making it the most uncomfortable experience ever. Maybe it’s so that when a fire really does happen, you’re prepared to the max. Hmm.) In any case, fire drills are not an activity anyone really wants to do on any given day of the week. I’m sure they’re helpful. They’re just kind of annoying.
But this time was different.
The sirens went off and we all filed down the stairs and outside, where we found a large bin of expired, dusty gas mask kits. We were told to pick one up as we walked by and headed out to the common area to wait for the ok-to-return call from the powers that be. After about 5 or 10 minutes of chatting with friends and actually enjoying the AMAZING weather we get here in Jordan this time of year, a voice came over the loudspeaker…
“GAS! GAS! GAS! Put on your gas masks!”
For a few seconds, we all just looked around at each other and were like, “Are we really doing this? I guess so!” We opened up our gas mask kits and ripped open the sealed bag inside that held the contents: a plastic hood and a motor that sucks in the gas air from outside, filters it, and pushes it into the hood. It was pretty cool. Well, after squeezing your head through a very small silicone-type ring in the bottom of the hood, it was cool. That part was not so fun. And then there was the part about your head being stuck in a plastic hood. Even though it was clear plastic, it was a bit claustrophobic. I just kept thinking to myself, breathe, breathe, breathe. In reality, it was probably the cleanest air I had ever breathed in Jordan! (There is a lot of dust blowing around in the air here. If you look toward the horizon, it’s like a dull, brown fog hovering in the air at city level. Bleh!)
I’m pretty sure the best part of the exercise was that after donning the hoods, about 300 cell phones came out and people starting taking selfies! I mean, of course they did. Wouldn’t you have? You can bet I did! And the result was well worth it!
May all your Thursdays be as exciting and gas-free as mine was this week. HAPPY THURSDAY, EVERYONE!!!
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