أهلا وسهلا (Welcome)
I flew into Amman at 5:30 in the morning on the same day as the bombings in Aqaba. Figures. Although, geography lesson of the day, Aqaba is Jordan's only port and is located at the very south-eastern tip of the country (a.k.a. far from Amman). The whole situation did have people in Jordan talking though because there hasn't been an attack of any kind within Jordan in a long time.
However, at 5:30 in the morning, this was really not the foremost of my concerns, I was more focused on getting out of the airplane, finding out if my bags made it in one piece, figuring out if I could really get a visa and hoping that Mohammad was actually going to be there to meet me.
Lucky for me, all went smoothly, I never even spoke to anyone, just got off the plane, paid for my visa, passed through customs, immigration and baggage without a single word! And there was Mohammad.
Side note, by the way, Mohammad is my boss, coworker, man responsible for finding me housing, my finances, and pretty much everything else.
We headed to Mueen's house, a teacher who also works with us in the iEARN office, where I had my first Jordanian meal -- all mezza which I love and I get to eat with my hands (must be the farm girl in me b/c I love it). Eggs, ful (fava beans in a hummus-like state), tomatoes, cucumbers, zata (one of my new favorite foods!), these yogurt balls, jam, pita, cookies and tea with fresh mint. whew. all delicious, which I then learned in Arabic (za-keey) and is definitely one of the most-used words in my limited vocabulary.
After eating I fell asleep for a while, after which I went with him, his wife, their two young kids and the maid/nanny (her name is Geisha and she is from Sri Lanka) on a driving tour of Amman. The city is incredibly vast and growing at a rapid rate, there are new buildings going up everywhere! Almost everything is built out of white stone and the entire section of the city that I live in didn't exist 10 years ago.
Where do I live you ask?
I will tell you all about it, but that's it for now, it's Sunday (which is like Monday) and I have to get some work done!
However, at 5:30 in the morning, this was really not the foremost of my concerns, I was more focused on getting out of the airplane, finding out if my bags made it in one piece, figuring out if I could really get a visa and hoping that Mohammad was actually going to be there to meet me.
Lucky for me, all went smoothly, I never even spoke to anyone, just got off the plane, paid for my visa, passed through customs, immigration and baggage without a single word! And there was Mohammad.
Side note, by the way, Mohammad is my boss, coworker, man responsible for finding me housing, my finances, and pretty much everything else.
We headed to Mueen's house, a teacher who also works with us in the iEARN office, where I had my first Jordanian meal -- all mezza which I love and I get to eat with my hands (must be the farm girl in me b/c I love it). Eggs, ful (fava beans in a hummus-like state), tomatoes, cucumbers, zata (one of my new favorite foods!), these yogurt balls, jam, pita, cookies and tea with fresh mint. whew. all delicious, which I then learned in Arabic (za-keey) and is definitely one of the most-used words in my limited vocabulary.
After eating I fell asleep for a while, after which I went with him, his wife, their two young kids and the maid/nanny (her name is Geisha and she is from Sri Lanka) on a driving tour of Amman. The city is incredibly vast and growing at a rapid rate, there are new buildings going up everywhere! Almost everything is built out of white stone and the entire section of the city that I live in didn't exist 10 years ago.
Where do I live you ask?
I will tell you all about it, but that's it for now, it's Sunday (which is like Monday) and I have to get some work done!
posted by prairie at
3:43 PM
2 Comments:
Hi Prairie,
The city looks awesome! Thanks for putting me on your list. It will be fascinating to see how your year goes. Let us know if we can send chocolate!
Love,
David G.
By
Anonymous, at 3:21 PM
Hi Prairie! Great to hear from you and read about your journey. I'm glad you made it safely there. Thanks for putting me on the list. NYC is about the same. Reeling from the New Orleans stuff--I am so angry and saddened, though finally, we're talking about povery in the US. talk to you soon. xoxox yuko
By
Anonymous, at 5:06 PM
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