3 experiences to share

Firstly, a bus ride to a mall. I walked to where I thought a bus stop was. As I approached there were 2 ladies dressed in their Abyah. One spoke fairly good English so we were able to chat and she interpreted for the other lady. The bus arrived and the one lady asked the driver if this bus would take me to where I needed to go to meet a friend for lunch.
With a bit of tooing and frowing the driver signlled for me to sit. An elderly gentleman (I think probably from Oman because he had a different cap) was also trying to assist even with his little English.
I alomost got off at the wrong stop thinking I had understood the driver and the elderly gent rose twice to stop me. finally I made it to the stop. The elderly gent and I got off the bus. He took me to the front of the bus and with a wave of his hand I knew I was to cross the road.
I wasn't too sure about the rest of the information. Was it over the road a 5min wait for a taxi or a 5 min walk to the mall I was after. So I decided to walk. It probably was about a 15-20min walk. But, if you know me you know I am useless with directions so luckily I stopped to ask a couple of men for directions. One young man maybe only YSA age from Bangladesh and fairly good English walked almost the rest of the way with me until I saw the flags on top of the mall.
I had a lovely afternoon with 2 friends.

The second experience only occurred the past couple of days where I volunteer. I have been working with the Deaf for about 3mths. Yesterday I was called into the Supervisors office with the lady I think is like a Deputy Principal. I thought, this is it, they are going to sack me. Instead of being sacked they asked me to work half the time with the Deaf and the other half of my time with the Blind. Well that came from left field. So I enjoyed 2 days on the other side as well. Talk about learning curve. I started learning Braille. I work with Primary and High school age. The only little fellow in the class, I saw the day the princess came. He recited from memory the Quran. I also had to break the news that next Sun and Mon will be my last day as I am returning to Australia. The Supervisor of the Blind unit responded Inshalla you will return. Which means 'If God wills'. I learnt so much in just 2 days there. One blind man who is also a teacher there in the unit, has a Masters degree. He took some time to teach me about Braille. Wow!! I never thought I would work with Blind. It takes a whole new thought process on how to teach and get messages across.

My third experience occured when we were in Jerash. I went to the Ladies loo. As I walked in a lady handed me a couple of normal tissues. I thought 'Oh'! I finish only to realise the flush button doesn't work and that is why there is a bucket of water and a jug in the cubical. I go to the basin and no soap and the lady that handed me the tissues also gave me a little dish washing liquid for my hands. As I turned the tap on to wash my hands I noticed on the basin a facewasher with a few coins on it. I had left my bag with Matthew and I had nothing to give. I felt terrible. I learnt in Qatar to always carry tissues in my bag, but I have now also learnt to have a few coins. I had left my bag with Matthew and I will not do that again.
Bye for now.
Thank you for letting me share my experiences. I really am loving the place and the people.