Plan B

This may be true in most developing countries and often anywhere in life, but a friend here had some words of wisdom for sanely dealing with what is thrown at you in Jordan, “Always have Plan B.”
Our first trip to the southern Red Sea city of Aqaba was a lesson in tolerance and coming closer to the understanding of why people here use the phrase “in shah Allah” so often. Meaning “God Willing” in Arabic, this contagious phrase is used for situations from whether you’ll meet a friend for a cup of Turkish coffee at a local café to whether you’ll live to the ripe ol’ age of 85. In shah Allah.
Our bus had problems from the start, but it seemed as though the driver was determined to use the gravity of hills and of his faith to roll us towards the south and through the desert.
Well, Allah wasn’t willing to deliver us to our destination without trying our patience. We were stuck on the side of the highway waiting for the next hourly bus to Aqaba. It came and we were off again, into the dust and trapped in a non-smoking bus with chain smoking travelers.
Some day the people in this country will catch on to the idea that second hand smoke isn’t so healthy, in shah Allah.