Study abroad exercise: running and swimming

Part 1. Running.

JFK is a nightmare. End of story. My flight out of Raleigh was an hour and a half late in leaving because of "weather concerns" in New York... it was sprinkling there. "Congestion" in the airways. So my two-and-a-half hour layover became a one-hour layover. Should be enough, right? Not when you come in on American and leave on Royal Jordanian. I got in at the farthest gate at the extreme end of terminal 8. Hustling my way up to the front of the terminal, I had to leave security to get on the Air Train. I rode the Air Train to terminal 4, where I found the Royal Jordanian ticket counter nearly empty. Three workers were standing around, and only one seemed to actually be working. Passport, bag tags, et cetera, and he tells me that my flight has already started boarding. Oh. So I started hustling faster. On my way to security, as quickly as I was going, an airport employee managed to overtake me (he wasn't carrying any bags). He grabbed my passport and boarding pass, rushed them past the TSA agent at the entrance to the line, whisked me past a few dozen people, and hurried me through security so quickly that I thought he was going to take my shoes off for me. Intense. So I'm on the floor just past security - there was no time to find a space on a bench - pulling on those brand-new shoes, trying to zip my bag and buckle my belt at the same time. Hustling even more. Turns out that gate 31 is at the very end of terminal 4. Just my luck. I managed to make it to the gate in time, but I was out of breath, uncomfortably sweaty, and beet-red in the face.

Cardio, airport-style:

1. Sprint up the escalators. It helps if they're extra-steep and multiple stories high.

2. Rush down the moving walkways. Hello, America, they aren't there so you can take a free ride on the lazy train. I will push past you, and I will not regret it.

3. Take a mid-workout breather. In my case, it was a short train ride. Also acceptable: bathroom break, airport trinket purchase. Just make it quick.

4. Talk during the workout. Try explaining a delayed flight, two-terminal connection, security regulations, and gate assignment.

5. When in doubt, move faster.

I crashed after the workout and slept for the better part of an eleven-and-a-half hour flight. We were served dinner at midnight Eastern time, 7:00 AM Amman time. This meal was followed by breakfast at 7:30 AM Eastern and 2:30 PM Amman. We landed around 4:30, went through customs, got our bags, and by the time that we went outside to the vans, it was dark out. Jet lag? You know it.

Part 2. Swimming.

We chilled out last night at the hotel - ate dinner, made friends, played nice, tried to get the internet in the lobby to work. Today we were up early for our first day of orientation. Yes, they sent us wake-up calls at 6:00. Please note that that was 11:00 Monday night for you Easterners. We piled into buses post-breakfast and rode off to our first-day orientation site. That site being the Dead Sea. For those who aren't up to date with the current Jordanian weather, it's a cold snap. A rainy cold snap. I honestly believe that it was colder when I left the airport yesterday than it was in Raleigh at the same time. Today was a bit chillier than yesterday, although drier, and it may in fact end up being the coldest day of the year. So of course we went to a beach. It makes perfect sense.

We went to a convention center called the Dead Sea Panorama to have our orientation meetings, look into a museum, and take pretty pictures. (Facebooking of said pictures may follow when I have serious internet capabilities. Right now I'm sharing a low-bandwidth connection with about ten other people in the same room.) After lunching, we got a chance to go into the water, and chilly as the air was, the Dead Sea itself wasn't too cold. In fact, it was terrific. The off-season is pretty chill. We got to float around all we wanted and pretty much had full run of the beach. For 2 JD, a guy was selling mud out of a bucket for slathering and rinsing. There are few experiences as awkward as slathering yourself with mud in front of other people. But, again, terrifically fun.

So this is swimming, Dead-Sea-style:

1. Walk out past where your feet can touch.

2. Bob up and down.

3. Fall on your back because it's so hard NOT to float.

4. Either lie back in the water and push yourself with your arms - like a really ridiculous-looking elementary backstroke, or...

5. Swim freestyle, at least as best you can. This involves a torso in the water, legs bent at the knee, sticking out into the air, and paddling motions.

6. Admit that you've lost some dignity.

7. Enjoy.