Ok, so I was at the xray machine at Amman Airport (Jordan) which you go through just after check in and before immigration. I tried to go through without the kerfuffle of having to take my belt off but the guy said "Belt!" so I had to take it off but by then our tray of small stuff had gone through so i had to use a different tray. At the other end I collected all my stuff from the family's tray but totally forgot about the belt! So for about an hour I'm walking around pulling up my pants every 10 seconds when i realised that I wasn't wearing my belt!
We decided that I would go down after we'd eaten some dinner back to the machine and see if they still had it. So Dad and I walked back down the escalator and had to give our passports to a man to hold them for us. We got to the x-ray machine where I asked a man if they had my belt. He talked to another man who got onto the phone and waited like 5 minutes for someone to pick up which they obviously never did. Along came a "Major" - a very important looking guy in a uniform, so we asked him and he told us to "wait over there" and pointed at a table. We watched as all three men went back to "work" and walked around aimlessly, not looking the least bit caring about the poor little boy in the corner who'd lost his belt! :)
THEN to top it all off, the Major got out his little multicoloured towel, lay it on the floor and started praying! Me and dad had been there for like half an hour! I was thinking "ummmm hate to bother you, but we have to be home in 3 days!" Finally Dad, who was sick of all this, decided to say "should we go now?" The Major then spoke to the same two guys as before, who were doing nothing and obviously had no idea! One guy replied in Arabic which I guessed probably meant "What belt??". The Major asked us if it was expensive and we said "no" and "it's alright" and left.
Later on, as we were sitting waiting for our gate to open, a different man walked upto us and said "something-somthing-belt?" and pointed at me and at the belt in his hand. We are amazed that he found us out of all the people at the airport!! I said "yes" and he asked me to bring my passport (I think that's what he said!) and follow him. They wouldn't allow dad or mum to go with me and took me to a little corner (again!). He asked me what my name was and what my village was etc.. even though he had my passport opened up to all my details. he also asked for my phone number and what my destination was. I said "Cairo" in a clear voice. He looked puzzled and said "Cairo?". So i said "Cairo, Egypt" just to make it crystal clear. He still didn't understand, so he had to stop a random airhostess to "translate" to "local lingo". She said in Arabic "blah blah blah Cairo blah". He was like "ahhh Cairo" in exactly the same way I had said it, looking very satisfied! (to truly appreciate this scenario you need to watch the Chasers pretending to be Americans in England!! www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tyzG_ZKVfU )
So after that he said something and just walked off into the crowd with my passport! Mum was stressing by this stage as our gate was about to open and after the last drama of nearly missing our flight in Cairo we didn't want a repetition! His sidekick was still there so we hoped that meant it was all okay. Anyway, he came back after 5 minutes with my passport and I said "Shukran" (thankyou) and that was the end of that!
I was left thinking, "all that paperwork and drama for a $7 belt?"
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