Commodore Amman

... gathering at my place. Gupse, Adib, and I were just starting to empty grocery bags and prepare food when my old roommate came and swiped our router. Sad. She originally bought it so whatever but now we not only had to pay the bill (did I mention that the internet went out the day before and it took me awhile to realize it was because our service had ended for the month?), but we also needed to buy a new router. So that went on the to do list but not the Monday to ...

... us to drinks, Jordanian wine (a combination of tow of my favorite wines: cabernet sauvignon and pinot noir), vodka, and some Lebanese beer. Everyone else brought something too, notably yummy sweets and Japanese sake...I think I mentioned before that all of my friends here are either Jordanian or Japanese, so hence the much appreciated sake. Janis did her thing and Mango had his hookah too. Overall it was a good time. Have you ever tried to explain the meaning ...

... en ze zwaaiden ons heel lief gedag. Maar wat een planning! Vier dagen voor heel Jordanie, elke dag om 7u vertrekken, en 1000 foto's maken..

's Avonds kwam Nona's vriend Qusai (ook van de studie in Hamburg) ons ophalen voor een tour Amman met een opgevoerde VW Golf. West Amman (waar wij wonen) is erg chique, dan heb je nog Business en Diplomatiek Amman, de paleizen van King Abdullah, het oude vieze Oosten, en natuurlijk de oude stad. Vervolgens dronken we in ...

... a half before the sunrise begins, aka breakfast time.

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Wednesday:

I slept way in, waking up just in time to get to the bank before it closed at 1:30 pm. Yea, no work. Long story involving an invitation to the Dead Sea, my acceptance, my regret, and
some blunt words concerning my romantic availability. The Dead Sea will have to wait for me. I got my rent money at the bank (yikes, stripes, fruit stripe gum), which by ...

hey everyone!
Sorry I have been lazy about updating this, but I have gotten comfortable in my lifestyle here in Amman and I just wasn't that motivated. A new wind has swept me forward and I am now writing much more than I was before, so I have started a second blog, which will be dedicated entirely to the Middle East and related topics. I was inspired by the month of Ramadan which is happening as I write this to blog about Ramadan and how the society here changes. For the ...

... it sat there for 2 hours waiting to be filled. You expect this with an 11 seater, but not 40+! They were prepared to leave, if everyone paid a little more. This didn’t bother us too much, but the locals weren’t budging. Enough was enough and Littleman demanded our money back and looked for a taxi. Found one, but then he refused to take us (for top dollar) as we were taking the bus. Even though we already had our money back ...

... We checked in and then decided to head out after a bit of the Tyra Banks Show (Beyonce was on) which was on Dubai 1 satellite. So we set off on a journey to the 2 things to do in Amman, see the Citadel and the Roman Ampitheatre. We went way the wrong way to the Citadel and walked up the longest/steepest hill ever, it was like San Fran times 10! We finally found our way (it took us about 30 minutes instead of the 10 the hostel said it ...

... two minute phone call. Only rather than pulling our a real phone the guy just handed me his cell phone. It was pretty funny.

The next morning we woke up at 7:30 and headed back to Petra for another 3 and a half hours. We just tried one last time to take it all in and strolled around to things we'd missed. I climbed up by the stage of the Roman Theater and pretended to do Hamlet's "Alas poor Yorrick" speech to an imaginary Roman audience. The Romans would have ...

... Amman is a nice city full of friendly people. Walked the streets of Amman up and down the hundreds of stairs that cover the hilly town. Went to the downtown, the citadel complex, the ampitheatre and the old roman city of Jarash.

... il. On vint, après deux heures et quelques (durant lesquelles j'avais mangé le concombre que j'avais volé au buffet-petit dejeuner), m'expliquer qu'il s'agissait d'un colloque réunissant scénaristes pros et scénaristes en puissance, les uns ayant fait leur preuves dans le monde du cinéma et les seconds, tous du coin (Egypte, Liban, Jordanie..), faisant office d'étudiants. Tout s'explique plus ou moins, et je quittai ...