The Movers, the Shakers, and the Birds

“A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.” – Lao Tzu

That quote is for my uncle.

According to Lao Tzu, I am a horrible traveler. I love planning and thinking forward, into the future. Counteractive to my goal-oriented mindset, I am also both lazy and indecisive, which eventually mixes to create a peculiar concoction of relaxed apathy. As I looked for an apartment, these two aspects of my personality battled against each other.

We drove around on a mega tour of Amman apartments, seeing everything from the good and the bad to the ugly. True to the harshness of reality, my dream apartment did not exist.

Until we came upon an expansive 2-bedroom apartment nestled near Rainbow Street with balconies overlooking the city’s rolling hills. The landlord seemed kind and respectful. I wanted it immediately.

Of course, complications set in. The program coordinators insisted that we did not immediately settle and that we continue looking. Roommate pairings continued to switch and realign. Our hotel stay continued to grow more and more expensive with every night that we squatted in indecision.

We toured more apartments, finding a variety of apartments, from a bird nest in the window of one to a tousled, quirky tenant rolling out of bed in another. We still wanted the first apartment.

Then, in a matter of 24 hours, we had a home. We toured the apartment again, moved in the next day, and signed the lease agreement the day after. Shockingly, after a few days of stressful house hunting, I found myself sitting on the plush sofa of a living room, a living room that would be my living room for the next 12 months.

I am living with two other girls. One of the girls’ mothers affectionately nicknamed us “the movers, the shakers, and the birds.” One of us is studying birds, I am studying earthquakes, and the other is studying politcal movements. So there we are, appropriately named for our speedy move.

I am happy. I will write more later, when I have more direct access to internet and more free time.