Commodore Amman

... whose shores are at 420 m. (1,378 ft.) below sea level. It is now 3 PM and the sun is already starting to drop into the horizon. We change into our bathing suits for a quick dip in the Sea. It has a dark sandy beach leading up to the water, then a fairly rocky bottom for the first 2.5 m. (8 ft.) and then it is sandy again. We walk about 10 m. (30 ft.) into the Sea and then sit down in the water. Instantly it feels like you are on a tire tube (except ...

... all knew. The night at their place ended with a feast of Pepsi and nuggets (chicken nuggets) and ended at my place (for me) with a feast of Arabic homework and skype.<br><br>Wednesday: Language class continues to be good. I like how much he makes us speak and practice conversing with each other. It could only be better if the class were smaller, not that 9 people is a lot, but for this style I think 5-6 people is best. I am ...

... in Shmeisani.]<br> <br>Thursday: Today I woke up early and headed with Annette to get a blood test. I am starting to start (did you catch that?) the residency process here and a blood test is one of the first requirements. Annette isn't Fulbright but her program is sort of facilitated by Fulbright so they sent someone with us to help us take care of everything. The place we were taken to was definitely not a hospital. It might have been a clinic or a ...

... to second gear, driving around the block twice. It was scary.<br><br>Saturday: Glorious weekend. I stayed up late the night before and slept in...waking up to pancakes homemade by my new roomie! Am I lucky or what? Then it was time to get serious. I am in my beautiful apartment for at least three more months now so the time fore real cleaning has come. Jessica attacked the bathroom while I attacked the stove. Two and a half hours later you can actually touch the ...

... maar Rami schijnt het allemaa niet erg te vinden..]<br><br>Jeetje, Salt was helemaal niet leuk!!! Niets te doen, we werden de hele tijd nagestaard, en pikten op een gegeven moment 2 veertienjarige jochies op, die niets beters te doen hadden dan ons na te lopen. We probeerden nog twee mannen te vragen om ze weg te sturen, maar die vonden het ook wel grappig ofzo... Dus maar snel met de bus naar Fhayce (zo heet het dus), waar blijkbaar de mensen uit Amman ...

... in reverse of course because the vacuum was sucking, in more ways than one. It gets very dusty here because you leave the windows open for this incredible breeze but we are in a desert...hence sand, dust, grit. Once I triumphed over evil I made mujadrah for Casey and Ali. It was good but we only had bismanti rice which was sort of weird and the stove is touchy touchy so it was always either boiling over or *********. But they liked it so I lived to see another ...

... sea is 33%! It stings a bit - (a lot when you get it in your eye!) Th guys left very soon though and I stayed for a little whil longer. There was a nice little stream to rince in and the views over to Israel were stunning. I hitched back alone with another Saudi guy and then hopped on the bus back to Amman in time for a shower and a sleep!<br><br ...

... in trouble, and he was in a MAJOR hurry to get out of the airport. Thus far our experiences leaving the airport have left us a bit sketched out, but we obviously have survived (knock on wood). So we arrived in Amman about 30 minutes later. The city has a bit less than 2 million people, and it isn't much of a looker, to say the least. We got to our hostel, which is pretty nice (we are paying like 8 JD per night per person, including ...

... is only one bus there from Petra and it runs at 6:30 am. The best time to be in Wadi Rum is at night, when the air is cool, the stars are amazing, the sunset just awesome and the pure desert air fills your lungs. Henry absolutely insisted that we go to Wadi Rum, no way around that. <br><br>So we had to take a taxi the hour and a half there, which was pretty expensive, but also comfortable. I was exhausted and passed out almost immediately. Kristen tried to stay ...

... next day I was off to Petra. Again I took the local bus that they have going directly down into Petra. It was a pretty grueling bus ride this time as it was jam packed with people. One of the things I noticed about Jordanians is that they&#8217;re not shy people and really don&#8217;t have "personal space" in their vocabulary. <br><br>After a long walk downhill, you reach the site and anyone who is an Indiana Jones fan will go nuts! The site is exactly ...