Gondola Hotel and Suites Amman

... the requisite goobery sweets which were also good even if they feel like swallowing a loogie. DJ YoichiYoich also hooked us up with tunes and Adib borrowed a projector for optimal atmospheric pizazz. Janis and our other house hookah ("Housey") were in full swing and overall the night was a delicious success (lucky me and my roomies, we had sushi leftovers and okonomeyaki for a couple days afterwards). It has started getting dark so early that we actually started and ...

... was to be a four hour ride. The driver awoke me at a rest stop for some tea which was actually kind of annoying. I didn't like the idea of spending any of my precious day in Jordan sitting at a bum tea stand in the middle of nowhere. As I chatted with the Egyptian guy who was working the road stop, he asked how much I pay for my education in Cairo. Money questions are always hard in the Middle East because the answer was a number that was more than he'd make ...

... br>speakers.<br>Actually the driver was really dashing, as he was only doing about 50kph all the way, with<br>every other vehicle flying past us, so it took about 45 mins to get to the hotel, whereupon I<br>paid him the agreed 20JD, and the two ladies disappeared into the hotel to check in.<br>Maybe they don&#8217;t know what &#8220;share&#8221; means?<br><br>Next problem was to find out where (Edited: not "why". The former I eventually discovered; the latter, I never ...

... 1 Copperfield<br><br>-Dave<br><br>Bonus: I'd forgotten one book review in my earlier post.<br>Fever Pitch<br>Nick Horby<br>bought in Siena<br>given to Francesco in Bologna<br><br>Fever Pitch is even more significant to this blog than The Polysyllabic Spree in that the latter provided the structure of one posting while the former provided the spirit for all of them. The work that deservedly launched Horby's career, it chronicles his 25-year ...

The last couple of days I was kind of stressed realizing that DeVan is gone and I have no American friends and I need to find a new place to live, etc. Tuesday Mango took me out after work to check out some apartments. He has been looking for himself too so he knew of a few places. Sadly they were either small and expensive or giant and expensive. A few were just nasty and so smoky I would never be able to live in them. So I was totally ...

... it, one of the malls had closed their bookstore for renovations, and the other two weren&#8217;t going to open until 9:30 pm (ashan Ramadan)! Let me just add that there really aren&#8217;t a lot of bookstores in Jordan. DVD stores, everywhere. Books, not so much. So I was so annoyed and tired and hungry and it took forever to hitch a taxi because it was time for if-tar and the street are empty at that time. Grrrrr. I decided to sleep off my bad mood and when I woke ...

hey everyone!<br>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 ...

... Queen Rania, are found in every office and public space but few Jordanians mock this. Rather, there is widespread support for his modernising agenda, which is coupled with controls through the security services over many aspects of society, such as the media or the mosques.<br> Dissent exists as, more worryingly, does support for jihadi extremists, but the authorities are trying to contain it. According to the Jordan Times, parliamentarians reacted with a ...

... just some guys playing dress up, but I'm still not sure. I just don't get it. It's hard for me to understand because for me it looks so hot and uncomfortable, but for a Bedouin it may be prefered. Or would they rather leave the long keffiye at home in favor of a New York Yankees baseball cap? And if that is the case...why do they wear it around Amman? What is going on? <br><br>It's also interesting to note that pictures of King Abdullah of Jordan are everywhere and ...

... us were excited to see someone from home, so we stayed up chatting and catching up, swapping stories and sharing news. At about 1am we all realised &#8211; 1. We were really hungry, and 2. It was probably too late to find food. We rushed downstairs to speak to the hotel manager, Nijmah, to see if she could tell us of anywhere open this late. Luckily for us Nijmah was an absolute angel! Tut-tutting she ushered us into the kitchen and told ...