Security! My First Few Minutes in the Middle East – 2010

We left New York to start our adventure to Cairo.  We flew Royal Jordanian which is a very nice airline, like their slogan says it is the way you want to fly.  After an over night flight our first stop was Amman, Jordan where we boarded another airplane for a short flight to Cairo.

When we arrived in Jordan we had to go through security before we were able to board our next flight.  I was a bit rummy and tired from the long flight and it was a little intimidating to be in a foreign land where the people’s culture and language is so different. 

When we got to security I was the first person in our party to go through.  I thought I would just copy the guy in front of me so I would know what to do when it was my turn.  Big Mistake! 

Before I went on this trip I studied the culture a bit so I wouldn’t offend the locals.  I know, I am a big dumb American, no matter what I do I will offend the locals, but dammit I wanted to try to be as good of an American ambassador as I could be.  Before I left on this trip I was aware that in Muslim countries women are treated differently and it is taboo to show too much skin.  Knowing this I made sure to wear pants, a t-shirt and a jacket with sleeves while I traveled.  This is a great travel outfit because it doesn’t usually cause problems at security and I usually breeze right through. 

This is me on a previous trip in my "travel outfit". 

So it was my turn in the security line.  The security at this airport is fascinating to me because they do all the things I read about before my trip.  They watch body language and they are very observant of what is going on.  The security agents are all dressed like the Secret Service and they are mostly older, they are not TSA rent a cop types like we are blessed with in the U.S., these guys are the real deal and total professionals.  I saw the passenger in front of me put his stuff in the bin and send it through the X-ray machine, so I followed his lead and put my stuff the exact same way through the machine.  Then I noticed he took off his coat and put it through the machine.  So I started to unzip my coat, all the sudden the security guy starts yelling at me in Arabic. It sounded like La! La! La! La!  I had no idea what he is saying so I just stared at him.  Then I thought maybe he was telling me to take my coat off, so I started to unzip my jacket again.  He starts yelling louder at me so I stop.  He keeps yelling at me and I tell him I can’t understand and I ask if he speaks English.  He is still talking to me and giving me the go around sign, or the brush off, with his hand.  I still don’t understand, apparently I don’t speak Arabic or sign language so this guy is getting really irritated with me.  Finally I get that he is telling me to go back to the hallway behind us.

This model reminded me of the security guard except I think
she was wearing a light pink hijab.  The hijab refers to the
traditional head scarf and modest style worn by Muslim women.

So I enter the hallway to this designated security area.  This girl jumps out from behind the wall and gives me the security pat down.  She scared me half to death because I didn’t expect her.  She just jumped out and started frisking me.  This security guard was in her mid 20s or early 30s and dressed in a suit similar to what our Secret Service wear, the only different was she was also wearing a hijab (head scarf worn by Muslim women).  She was very professional but I don’t think she spoke English, or she didn’t want to speak English to me.  I was laughing so hard after she jumped out and scared me, I even asked her if she worked there while she was patting me down.  She finished my security check without saying a word to me and then pushed me through the next door which got me back out to the normal security.  After the experience I was laughing because it was just so funny to me, I had been in the country for five seconds and I had already pissed off the security agents. 

I was relieved to make it through my first encounter with security in the Middle East.  After my friends watched me go through security they had no problems, and they only laughed at me a little. 

I realized after it was all over that the guy was freaking out and yelling at me because he thought I was taking my clothes off when I was unzipping my jacket.  Men don’t interact with women at the security checkpoints there so women have a special room to walk through where no one can see them but the female security officers.  When you understand what you are supposed to do the security check is done in a more professional and respectful method in Jordan compared to the U.S.  Had we not had a language barrier and I had not been so out of it and tired from traveling I probably would have realized this before the guard had to yell at me for a few minutes.  All I heard was La La La La La La La La La Lal!!!  La la la la la lal!  I am going to pretend he was yelling “Welcome to Jordan, we love you western lady!”  Although I have the feeling it might have been the exact opposite of what he was really saying.