First of all, for those who have been wondering if I am still alive - I am! I just haven't had enough time to update this blog recently... with all of this traveling my schoolwork was catching up with me! But I'm back on track, after visiting Jordan and London, so I'm ready to tell you guys all about it! I think I might split this story up in parts because otherwise it will be the longest post on the planet!
Anyways, two weeks ago I left Paris with Raph and we went to Amman, Jordan! We landed in the city at about two in the morning after a layover in Rome, so we blearily made our way through security and found our bags. One thing I remember that was unusual was that they scan your bags on your way out of the Queen Alia airport as well, so I am now a pro at airport security checkpoints. We were met at the airport by Wendy, who is a Canadian diplomat and is married to the Canadian ambassador to Jordan and Iraq. It was her birthday, but she still came and picked us up! I liked her right away, she was super friendly and cheerful, and had a ton of advice as to where we should go while we were in Jordan. We got to the official residence and were shown to our rooms - the house and the rooms were absolutely gorgeous! We finally sank into bed and I remember falling asleep to the sound of the call to prayer coming from the mosque across the street.
The next day we woke up late and met Wendy as she was coming back from her birthday lunch. She took us to a small hole in the wall around the corner that sold falafel, shawarma, hummus, ful, and pita. We had SO much food, for only 4 dinars, which is amazing. We took all of our lunch into the back garden of the residence (inhabited by an inukshuk and a million stray cats) and had our first Jordanian picnic! We then took the time to wander around the neighbourhood, which I believe was called Swefieh, if I'm spelling that right. Swefieh is one of the upper-class neighbourhoods in Amman, and I loved looking at the shopping centres we passed, which were full of shops selling chocolate and a ton that sold wedding dresses! It was strange, but cool.
We headed back to the residence where I met the ambassador, Mark, and their eleven year-old son Jack. They immediately made us feel at home, and we had dinner and played rummy before organizing our excursions for the next few days. Mark gave us the name of a driver that we could hire to take us around that was recommended by the embassy. His name was Abu Wassim and he agreed to take us to Jerash, a city to the north of Amman and to the Dead Sea the next day. We got ready for an early start and that was our first day in Jordan!
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