Grand Hyatt Amman

... by our boss because he apparently arranged for a taxi to pick us up that day and it was at the Eco Park waiting for us. Umm…I don’t want to get into it but he def knew that we came home the day before so yea. Blah blah.

I don’t really remember my day on Wednesday but I did buy Team America from Hamudeh while my roommate bought the entire series of Will and Grace (six seasons I think) for 35 JD! Holla!

Thursday:

Hmmm ...

... the castle down the dark, steep and very dusty secret passageway to the outside (note: not for the claustrophobic or those wearing sandals) with Alex, Haakon and Stijn
~Gaining historical perspective on many of our sights from my roommate (and college student) Alex and Stephen the former UN police officer and military history buff
~Reading "The Old Man and The Sea" while floating without aid or effort at the lowest ...

... Umayyad Palace. Nearby is the Roman theatre, built between 169AD and 177AD, which is still occasionally used for concerts and events. There are multimillion- dollar plans to renovate this area and provide a walkway from the citadel to the theatre over the bustling streets.
Originally built, like Rome, on seven hills, Amman has expanded over the centuries to cover at least 12 more. A more recent construction boom is evident across the city, signalling the ...

... bit of the Maori Hangi in New Zealand (see old blog post).

So first of all, there were two guys in traditional garb who came in and then another guy came in with a guitar in jeans, a t-shirt, and, you guessed it, a New York Yankees hat. He had a guitar. He started to play a bit. Then came in a British girl, Emily, who was living and working in the camp. She had a camera and wanted to take a video...so, of course, the guy in the Yankees hat went and changed into ...

... ist auf 330 Metern ueber dem Meeresspiegel, Dana jedoch auf knappen 1500... Und das nur mit einer Orange und einem Apfel im Bauch. Als ich bei Einbruch der Dunkelheit endlich wieder oben war, hatte ich eines dieser Hochgefuehle, die sich kaum beschreiben lassen, aber die meisten bei anderen Anlaessen wohl schon selber erfahren haben. Das Abendessen, die Dusche und das Bett brauchten sich gar nicht anstrengen - sie waren der Himmel auf Erden. A propos Himmel: Die ...

... a town which the lonely planet warned us had no accommodation, but nevertheless we took our chances. Upon driving into Jerash, on our left was Hadrian's Gate, lit up with dramatically placed theatre lights, and on our right the Hadrian’s Gate Hotel. We booked in and dumped our bags, then asked the man at the front desk if he knew of anywhere cheap to eat in town. He said yes, then began leading us outside. "I take you" he said to us ...

... und am Ziel angekommen auch kein Mensch auf mich wartete. Mit "Ziel" meine ich die Terra Sancta School, eine christlich-orthodoxe Schule in einem ziemlich grossen und neuen Gebaeude. Auch wenn ich selber kaum dran geglaubt hab ging ich mal davon aus, dass Angelo hier wohl irgendwie arbeiten wuerde, und bin mit dem Taxifahrer ins Gebaeude, wo ich den Pfoertner und irgendeine Mitarbeiterin nach einem Italiener namens Angelo gefragt hab. Selbstverstaendlich hat keiner ...

Jordan was a very special trip for us being that it was our first country of the Middle East (excluding the very westernized Turkey). The people were wonderful there and the trip was quite an adventure, especially because the day we were at the Dead Sea, Israel started the bombardment of the Gaza Strip. We heard the bombs dropping although we were about 80 ...

... couple of dollars. They kindly wrote the directions down in Arabic so that I could just hand this to the taxi driver in case he didn’t speak English. I was told that it was best to go early as there wouldn’t be that many people on the bus. I went to the bus station at about 6 am for the first bus out. Just like they had mentioned, there were only five other people on bus.

The interesting part of this bus ride is that it would ...