Wow weekend almost over.... was a great one again! Again a quick rush trough for those who don't have time ;-) we went to the first expat meeting on Thursday evening (ended Friday morning...), went for shopping and house hunting on Friday, saw the game (UK – ALG) in a sports pub packed with Brits, went to a historic place called Jerash. Sitting outside now enjoying the heat. Is warming up...34° today. Announced to be warmer this week...
So I signed up on an online expat community platform something like Facebook, it’s called Internations. I was very surprised when I received an invitation to a gathering after only one week. So we met at 1930 in an international hotel in the bar / restaurant. Katja and I showed up after 2000 but were still among the first ;-) but was not a problem. It was lots of fun as people from all over the world with a variety of backgrounds and professions came. UK, France, Russia, New Zealand, Jordan, Lebanese, Americans and so on. From Geologists, to consultants or working for NGO's (or lawyer) were present. Was a fun night as we started to chat then we watched the game together (France vs Mexico) and after the game a salsa band started to play and the dance floor got packed! We quit the place in the early morning... met very nice, interesting people. Some are “fresh” as we are, others are here already longer. All in all a very nice evening.
Friday morning we got up late, had an extensive breakfast packed our stuff and went for house hunting. Katja saw a house during the week that she wanted to show me. We went there and we took the opportunity to cruise around the area to get some phone numbers from the signs where they advertise the houses for rent. Like in many places around the world they put a sign in front of the house with the number of the realtor. Katja will have a busy week to follow up with all of them ;-) During our house hunt we bumped into another shopping mall that we only heard of but did not manage to go so far. Et voilà, another shopping mall ticked off the list ;-) is a small but nice one. We'll definitely go there again. It was rather warm the day and getting in and out of the car made us tired so we decided to get an iced drink and then heading back home where we chilled a bit, had dinner and then left by taxi to a sports bar to watch the Brits playing against Algeria. I will not comment the game here ;-) Unfortunately the world cup here can only be seen on one pay TV channel. Costs JOD 65 for the tournament (1 JOD is around 1.5 $US). But watching the game in a sports bar is more fun anyway ;-)
Today, Saturday morning, we got up early as we planned to go to Jerash. A fantastic roman city located north of Amman. The city is only some 50 km away and can be reached over a highway. So perfect for a day trip. Before leaving for such trips health and safety comes first ;-) So we covered us with sun blocker (SPF 40) as we expected to be walking outside all the time (what else to expect if you go to see roman ruins? A covered, air conditioned hall? ;-) I took my open shoes and put on my shorts, my sunglasses and my cap. Katja did the same and off we were! It is always a challenge to get somewhere as the maps are not very detailed and the names of a location keeps changing. This is due to the fact that many sounds in Arabic have no equivalent in English and every attempt to render them in English is inprecise. Names vary from map to map and even from sign to sign. Wadi Seer, Wadi El Sseir, Wadi Alsear and Wadi as-Sir are referring all to the same place! Good luck in finding the place ;-). Anyway, we managed to get there with only one time missing the right exit ;-) we ended up in Jerash downtown which was quite an experience...the street got smaller and smaller and more and more vehicles were on the street. I stopped and did a U turn to get back onto the highway to catch the right exit. So we finally got to Jerash where we even managed to park our car for free. We expected a tourist trap, but believe me or not it was not the case. Car parking was for free and even with a guard. In certain tourist spots in Jordan they have so called “Tourist Police” that takes care of everything around tourist. They are very nice people. Always friendly and ready to help. The first thing that they tell you is always: “Welcome to Jordan!”
Jerash is a ancient city (founded around 170 BC)with roman ruins that are spread over some square kilometers. You can easily spend a whole day there and dive into old roman history! The place is FANTASTIC! It is described as follows in the guide: “One of the best-preserved, most dramatic and explorable Roman cities in the Middle East…”An endless amount of pillars, old streets and even a hippodrome where the Romans used to have horse races. I am very looking forward to see my friends coming over as we will then go to Jerash again and they will tell me all the historic facts ;-) (AH; TH; OK; DA; NW...yes I mean all of you ;-) No, honestly the place is great and is “around the corner” from Amman. By car you're there in no time.
Beside this we are settling in a little bit more every day. We decided on which car we want, I got my cell phone, Katja is chasing apts and houses to live in, Katjas residence permit is on its way, we start to find the locations in Amman without having to drive around like crazy, met new people, found a bakery that is not from this world (a French bakery with stuff in there that is to die for...bread and sweets... they even have Luxemburgerli ;-) they are called Maccerons here). So things are getting more into a routine which is good, although still every day is a challenge and every day we discover something new and exciting. Soon we will start our Arabic lessons. Katja and I are looking for a school but we are still not clear what course and where to take the course. At work I asked my colleagues to teach me at least one new word per day. So far it works and I already can say “Good morning, how are you?” in Arabic! Apparently it does not even sounds that bad when I say it ;-)
So that's all folks! (You remember Tiny Toons? ;-) Take care wherever you are on this world and stay tuned to follow our adventure. A big hug from Amman!
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