Chapters from an immigrant's life, Part VII. The come back

Some time late September, or early October of the year 1997, I flew back from amman to the states. I was a changed man. The two months in amman were enough to make a different man of me. I can feel me very strong now. “I am ready for the jungle” I kept telling myself. As soon as I got to the states, I started planning for my job hunt. I applied and applied with no luck. Dad gave me enough money to last me for a whole year. Still, time was running short and I needed a job.

My job hunt wasn’t easy. I even drove in the street looking for any company that may look like a chemical company, or manufacturing plant. Until one day, I got a call from an agency that hires newly graduates for short term assignments with companies. I’ve got the call for an interview, and the place was about 40 miles away each way. I asked about the money and was told it’s $10/hr for 3 month assignment.

To me, this was better than what I was in. I know that it hurts for an engineer to make that low of money. But I didn’t care. If I had to clean bathrooms, I have to do it. Beside, it counts toward my experience. So I drove to this company, did a short interview, and my boss tells me to start working today. Good…that’s a good sign. I started working. They liked me at the job. I would be given short assignment, and finish it, then go back to my boss and ask for more. That introduced me to so many different job functions in the first 3 months, that they decided to extend the contract for 3 more months.

Three months later, my boss approached me and asked me to go back to school and pursue masters degree. He promised that if I get it, he will get me the best job. In the mean time, he even increased my pay level from 10 to $17/hr and extended the contract for 2 years to make sure that I am covered while doing the masters. I signed up for the masters program, and 2 months later, the company hires me full time employee with a full salary and benefits. They picked up the cost of my masters degree program of course. I was saving money left and right, and paid off my car. Now my goal is a wife.

In 1999, I graduated my masters program, and quickly, sent the degree to my parents in Jordan as I promised. I then started looking for a wife here. I approached the mosque, which I’ll describe in details how I went to the mosque later, and the guys were searching for a bride for me. Yeah, funny, I know. The first attempt was a bout a girl that I never met in my life, but was told that she is a good muslim woman. So, I was told that the mother wants to talk to me before I could even see the girl. Fine, lets talk. Her questions were more about how much money my father has, and land, and where he was working. 20 minutes later, I got up, smiled at the woman and said “I’ll talk to my dad if he wants to marry your daughter” and walked away. It wasn’t a shocker at all to me, but part of growing up and maturity.

The second encounter was toward an arab-american girl. I saw her once and I liked her. I proposed to her, and her family agreed preliminary pending my parents officially asking the girl’s hand. But because of my past, I wanted to check on the girl first. I watched her only to find that she has a boyfriend. I laughed at my luck and decided that even if I found the right girl, I will always be suspicious. The decision was to look in Jordan.

I called home, and asked mom to look for a bride for me. A potential bride that is. She says “do you remember #### (saying my wive’s name)”? I said yes mom, is she still available? She said yes. I told mom that I’m coming to Jordan in 2 weeks. I flew to amman, and met the girl. I knew her from before. She was close to us. I was 30 years old and she was 24. I remember her when she was hanging out with my sisters. So yes I know her. I got out with her few times to places, although her dad threatened to hang my head on the door of my room. I liked her. We spent great time in amman. I felt great being around someone like her. Then I went back to the states.

We kept in touch weekly almost, if not every other day. I went back in 2001 to officially propose to her. Her dad wasn’t too happy, but the deal went through as we say in Jordan. I knew that she was the one I always wanted. I knew she is the one that I need. So we got married, and then she moved to the states with me.