Gardenia Hotel Amman

... arriving, I went in to the office of VIVA Magazine to start my job there. I wasn't sure what I'd find, but everything I've seen so far has been great. The whole office has a really relaxed atmosphere and the people are very friendly. After just a week, they chose to send me on a press trip to the Dead Sea, Petra and Aqaba. I stayed in beautiful rooms and got the VIP service everywhere we went. It was definitely a big change from the cold water showers and ant and rat ...

... do you feel about Israel? I told him the line: انا هنا للسيا 81;ا، و ليس سياسة, a line in Arabic that rhymes (Arabs love poetry haha) and translates to: I am hear for tourism, not politics. He decided to let me know about the plight of the Palestinians anyways. While my time here has made me pretty pro-Palestinian (a bias ...

As you drive into Amman from the border, there is a series of numbered traffic circles: 7th circle, 6th circle, ..., the deepest circle in the heart of downtown being the 1st circle. The circles of Hell are numbered in increasing order, but that's about all that differentiates the two places.

OK OK, the food in Amman's probably better than in Hell, but certainly not up to par with Israel (albeit at half the price) or Syria (at a confounding double ...

... Valley and students at the Academy. I am actually really excited about it so hopefully soon people at home won't have to keep asking me if I am actually doing anything at work, lol. Before heading back to the office we stopped at my boss's family's house in Madaba for coffee and sweets. They had a great garden full of arbors and grapevines and fruit trees. Very nice. Then to the office for a bit and on my way home with Yoichi. Time to go help Jessica make stirfry.

... müde und durstig (man darf ja kaum noch Flüssigkeiten im Flugzeug mitnehmen). Ich nehme also wieder den Aufzug runter zum Empfang, allerdings ist nun schon wieder alles dunkel und keiner mehr da. Daraufhin musste ich durstig schlafen gehen, denn das Leitungswasser in Jordanien sollte man nicht drinken.

Pünktlich um 5:20 Uhr dann der Weckruf zum Beten aus allen umliegenden Moscheen. War mir aber auch egal - ich konnte sowieso kaum schlafen (zu durstig, zu aufgeregt, zu warm...)
Amman, Jordan netsrotj

... br>
I did get a cute "ya habibi" shirt which was a small bit of joy. From that point the day turned around. We met up with Firas and Adib and other peeps at The Basement. We mostly discussed the book buying debacle and tried to formulate more plans for travel over the Eid. After the coffee shop closed at 2 am we headed to the OTHER Hashem. Devan conked out in the car while we seriously gorged on 4th Meal (aka 2nd Meal during Ramadan). It was really good. Maybe ...

... this was the first time I was meeting them. Adib picked me up and we went to his friend Firas's house where I met three other Jordanians. I forget what you call them but they are a part of the my-aged people Rotary Club here. It was quite an experience. Firas's home...well actually his family's home...was very nice. i say his family's home because Jordanians stay at home a lot longer than American's in general (although some of my cousins and I are trying to set ...

... stroll around one of the busiest streets of Amman.... There were many kinds of inviting restaurants and dishes all around, and it was crowded and lively and basically: FUN.. Nonetheless, we eventually chose Popeye's Fast Food Restaurant, my brother's favourite - apparently :-)

On the next day, we went to the outskirts of the hidden city of Petra.. It was unbelievably HUMONGOUS, and amidst the scorching possibly - 43 - degrees - celsius sun, we do much of sight - seeing ...

... but all worth it in the end. We caught up with Henry again, but only briefly. He was trying to figure out how to spend 2 more weeks in Jordan on a very limited budget.

Now we’ve had our fair share of average bus rides so far, but the next one takes the cake. We missed the official bus as it was booked out, so it was plan B. We grabbed a taxi to the next town and then just caught the only bus out of town... well when we say caught ...

... from Sweden. We went to a bar and had Amstels. The american's friend joined us, and we had a couple of beers with him as well. Around 1:15 we went back to the hostel, which leaves us where we are now.

Tomorrow we were thinking of going to Jerusalem, but the bridge goes back to Jordan only until 3 pm, so I think we will just do laundry and chill out here. Will post more tomorrow!