Wow that was a week... After having been back from Madrid the week started full throttle! First of all I faced the "red wall" of unread emails but that was not the thing I wanted to tell you ;-)
The week started with an invitation to a kick off dinner by Lufthansa/Austrian/bmi group. I thought it would be a plus minus formal gathering until I entered the ball room they rented... It was the big ballroom with tables and seats for 300 people! Almost all expats I know were there... We enjoyed a nice dinner and they had a fantastic raffle. They raffled a flight for two persons to any destination where Lufthansa flies with their A380!! Needless to say that I did not win but believe it or not a friend of mine did! Anyway, it was a very nice evening.
Next day I was invited to a dinner with apero on occasion of the birth of a baby boy of my lovely Italian friend with whom we spent New Years Eve. She gave birth one week ago and mom, child and dad are all fine :-) So I went to the place after a long day and I was running late and all were already there and had ordered their pizza. The place is liked for two reasons: the pizza is good and you can bring your own booze :-) So here I am, got introduced to all and I start to shake hands with all… one guy was there I never met or seen before. We had pizza and the others had beer. I did not as I was preparing for the run. So towards the end of the evening the person I did not know got up and answered the phone and had a long call on the terrace. I thought it was a bit over the top…how important can that be I asked myself. So when he was out we were ready to leave and one guy says: ”Let’s all leave and let the Ambassador alone on the balcony! He will be surprised when he comes back!” So finally I found out who the guy was and why it was so important ;-) I just met the Italian Ambassador! We waited of course for the Ambassador and left all together.
The next evening I had to work out as I was still preparing for the run on the weekend. I spent one hour on the treadmill and went back home where Katja and her best friend were and just came back from their stay in Petra and Wadi Rum.
The next day was not off but we were invited to the national day of the Austrians. They booked a hotel and celebrated their national day in the ballroom. Outside they had organized a fantastic buffet. All and everything you can imagine but especially Austrian specialties like “Wiener Schnitzel” nad “Kaiserschmarrn”. Fantastic stuff and just delicious!! So we spent the evening there and hung out with the same people we hung out at the Lufthansa event two nights before ;-) Very lovely evening too, the only problem was the temperature. No not too hot, believe it or not: too cold! As fall started here, temperature drops in the evening and it goes down to 10-12 C at night. As the food was served outside and the door was kept open, the room was just cold… but all in all we really enjoyed the Austrian hospitality and all our friends.
Next day (again) was not off but we were invited at the Australian Embassy for “Oktoberfest”. I had to get up at 0530 to be ready at 0700 for my run. Katja had to get up at 0100 to go to the airport to go and pick up the other friend who was arriving. The other friend left us the night before. So wisely as we are, we decided to skip the Aussie Party (you cannot imagine how much I would have loved to go there as the parties always kick a**!). I went to bed early and Katja slept on the couch as she had to get up in the middle of the night and would come back in the middle of the night again from the airport. Everything went fine and she picked up her friend from the airport and I did not hear them coming home (maybe because I sleep with ear plugs ;-) Earlier the evening I realized that I did not have the number and no information where to go and what to do the next day for the running event… I checked my e-mails and there it was! I just did not check my e-mails and the e-mail they sent me said that I had to go to the Marathon Village and pick up my bag between Tuesday and Thursday 2100 the latest. It was exactly 2040!! I jumped into my car and drove there. Luckily enough the Viallage was in the big park next to where we live, the “King Hussein Park”. So I managed to get all my stuff. It was mainly the starting number and a chip you have to put on your shoe which measures the time you need.
So next day was the “big day”. I never run a competition in my life before and to be honest I do not really like running either… don’t ask me why I signed up for the run but I did and took it serious as mz goal was to run it without walking. Also I was really curious to see how it would be organized by my Jordanian friends. They told me the evening before when I went to pick up the bag that I had to be there at 0700. Unfortunately, exactly that night daylight saving ended and so I was not really sure what time. The homepage gave also ambiguous information but I thought that they considered it and so I put the alarm for 0530 without daylight saving and went to bed. Unfortunately Katja set the alarm on her radio which was in the edroom but forgot to change the time (and of course her radio does not adjust automatically…) So beside of having slept not really good anyway, the first alarm rung at 0430… I managed to turn it of and by the time I fell asleep again my alarm rung… AAAAHHHHH! Good start I tell you. I got up, shower, shaved (you want to look good on the picture, don’t you? ,-) and had breakfast. Our friend told Katja the night that if she heard us she’d join us. I think she did not want to hear us as they came back roughly at 330ish and we got up at 0530… The goal was to be at the gathering point at 0700ish as I was really not sure when the race would start. So we left at 0645 and arrived at 0715 at the gathering point which was at the so called “Sports City”. A huge place where all the people were able to gather. Loud music and hundreds of people were already there. It was so nice to see all different people. Young, old, sporty and pleasure, macho and serious, with headscarf of very sexy. This is what is the biggest strength of Jordan is in my eyes: a great society where people can live together regardless how they look and are! It was fantastic and although we found out that the race would start not before 0830, time flew by! There was so much to see, so many different people and such a nice atmosphere… that alone worth to be there and run the race. The whole thing was organized really in a professional way. At 0815 they invited all runners to walk to the starting point which was a 5 minute walk away from the gathering point on one of the main roads that circumvents the park. There was the starting point with a plastic contact on the floor. Once you step on it it starts counting your time and stops wehen you arrive at the goal. Obviously being a rookie I was not used to all those stuff and having no experience I didn’t know what makes more sense: start very early or wait until the crowd left… I decided to go for the second. …mistake… the race started and I waited some 10 minutes until I started. Even worse I went to check out the starting area and most probably came too close and the timer started … so finally I decided to start my run.\. Unfortunately I realized that the main street on which we started hit a circle very soon and as many people were there it was like a bottleneck! And from there on it took me some 15 minutes until the streets were cleared that I really was able to run my pace. Before I was always surrounded by people how did not run or even worse were throwing the water bottles on the street… bad thing. The streets were so slippery at the water stations that a guy in front of me slipped and fell! Also you only realize how the streets are when you run on them. All the holes you don’t realize while driving by car became a deadly potential ankle breaking trap. Also the stupid small speed bumps are deadly for your ankles if you don’t pay attention. The track first went up until we hit the fourth circle and from then on it almost went down until we ended at the Roman Theater after some detours. Everything was fine until we reached the area downtown around the Roman Theater. I was running on the street and around a corner when all the sudden I saw cars coming aginst us on our side of the street! Somebody just fucked up and forgot to block the street or they just forced their way in…whatever it was but we found ourselves running in the middle of cars and after a moment when we arrived at Abdali bus station we had to cross a street on which the busses were driving! I tell you, this is also something I wanted to do it… this stuff you will live it only here welcome to Jordan! We finished and the area where the finish line was was right next to the Roman Theater and again a fantastic atmosphere there! Luckily enough Katja was already there as she had to drive all around as the main street was blocked due to the run. So she picked me up and we were at home some half hour after I run over the finish line. Our friend was up and we started the day with breakfast (my second ;-)
We were all tired for different resons: I gslept bad, got up early and run, Katja had to get up to pick up her friend and get up soon again and our friend because she flew over night. So we all went to bed and slept all afternoon but mostly because we were goimg to a crazy Helloween party in the evening and we didn't want to fall asleep there!
The Hellween party was a blast! The venue was in the Le Meridien Hotel in a bar which was jsut great! Lost of funny people, lots of the dressed up and even more in a fantastic great party mood! We danced all night away and had a great time there with all our expat friends! We stayed until early morning but then we all got tired and we finally hit the sack at around 0230ish. The week was really busy as I had to work on backlog from the trip in Beijing and Madrid. Not bad enough I got a bad cold that forced me to stay in bed almost all week. I tried to go to work but I couldn't and had to go back to bed at noon time. I managed to get through the week but I had to fly to Singapore the weekend... Thursday evening I stayed at home although we wanted to go for supper to the Lebanese with our friend. I went to bed early and stayed in also on Friday. Thanks to all the sleep (and maybe the pharmaceutical industry) I managed to be back on track by Friday evening when my flight was leaving for Singapore. My flight left at around 0130 in the morning and I arrived in Singapore (after a stop over in Bagkok) late evening. Singapore was a business meeting. i went there although I was on Eid holiday.Eid Al Adha is the holiday when Muslim go on Hajj and is a very important holiday in the Muslim world. Singapore is a great city and it was interesting to hear that even there they are complaining about not having enough water!! I couldn't believe it... they should all come here and see what "No Water!" means... Luckily fall started here and now and then it rains. Temperature dropped also and in the evening it is chilly but during the day the weather is still gorgeous. Sunny and blue sky... Jordan just has the nicest weather I have ever seen...
So that's it for the moment! I have another trip coming up. I will tell you next time how it was...
Take care wherever you are in this world! Big hug from Amman!
The week started with an invitation to a kick off dinner by Lufthansa/Austrian/bmi group. I thought it would be a plus minus formal gathering until I entered the ball room they rented... It was the big ballroom with tables and seats for 300 people! Almost all expats I know were there... We enjoyed a nice dinner and they had a fantastic raffle. They raffled a flight for two persons to any destination where Lufthansa flies with their A380!! Needless to say that I did not win but believe it or not a friend of mine did! Anyway, it was a very nice evening.
Next day I was invited to a dinner with apero on occasion of the birth of a baby boy of my lovely Italian friend with whom we spent New Years Eve. She gave birth one week ago and mom, child and dad are all fine :-) So I went to the place after a long day and I was running late and all were already there and had ordered their pizza. The place is liked for two reasons: the pizza is good and you can bring your own booze :-) So here I am, got introduced to all and I start to shake hands with all… one guy was there I never met or seen before. We had pizza and the others had beer. I did not as I was preparing for the run. So towards the end of the evening the person I did not know got up and answered the phone and had a long call on the terrace. I thought it was a bit over the top…how important can that be I asked myself. So when he was out we were ready to leave and one guy says: ”Let’s all leave and let the Ambassador alone on the balcony! He will be surprised when he comes back!” So finally I found out who the guy was and why it was so important ;-) I just met the Italian Ambassador! We waited of course for the Ambassador and left all together.
The next evening I had to work out as I was still preparing for the run on the weekend. I spent one hour on the treadmill and went back home where Katja and her best friend were and just came back from their stay in Petra and Wadi Rum.
The next day was not off but we were invited to the national day of the Austrians. They booked a hotel and celebrated their national day in the ballroom. Outside they had organized a fantastic buffet. All and everything you can imagine but especially Austrian specialties like “Wiener Schnitzel” nad “Kaiserschmarrn”. Fantastic stuff and just delicious!! So we spent the evening there and hung out with the same people we hung out at the Lufthansa event two nights before ;-) Very lovely evening too, the only problem was the temperature. No not too hot, believe it or not: too cold! As fall started here, temperature drops in the evening and it goes down to 10-12 C at night. As the food was served outside and the door was kept open, the room was just cold… but all in all we really enjoyed the Austrian hospitality and all our friends.
Next day (again) was not off but we were invited at the Australian Embassy for “Oktoberfest”. I had to get up at 0530 to be ready at 0700 for my run. Katja had to get up at 0100 to go to the airport to go and pick up the other friend who was arriving. The other friend left us the night before. So wisely as we are, we decided to skip the Aussie Party (you cannot imagine how much I would have loved to go there as the parties always kick a**!). I went to bed early and Katja slept on the couch as she had to get up in the middle of the night and would come back in the middle of the night again from the airport. Everything went fine and she picked up her friend from the airport and I did not hear them coming home (maybe because I sleep with ear plugs ;-) Earlier the evening I realized that I did not have the number and no information where to go and what to do the next day for the running event… I checked my e-mails and there it was! I just did not check my e-mails and the e-mail they sent me said that I had to go to the Marathon Village and pick up my bag between Tuesday and Thursday 2100 the latest. It was exactly 2040!! I jumped into my car and drove there. Luckily enough the Viallage was in the big park next to where we live, the “King Hussein Park”. So I managed to get all my stuff. It was mainly the starting number and a chip you have to put on your shoe which measures the time you need.
So next day was the “big day”. I never run a competition in my life before and to be honest I do not really like running either… don’t ask me why I signed up for the run but I did and took it serious as mz goal was to run it without walking. Also I was really curious to see how it would be organized by my Jordanian friends. They told me the evening before when I went to pick up the bag that I had to be there at 0700. Unfortunately, exactly that night daylight saving ended and so I was not really sure what time. The homepage gave also ambiguous information but I thought that they considered it and so I put the alarm for 0530 without daylight saving and went to bed. Unfortunately Katja set the alarm on her radio which was in the edroom but forgot to change the time (and of course her radio does not adjust automatically…) So beside of having slept not really good anyway, the first alarm rung at 0430… I managed to turn it of and by the time I fell asleep again my alarm rung… AAAAHHHHH! Good start I tell you. I got up, shower, shaved (you want to look good on the picture, don’t you? ,-) and had breakfast. Our friend told Katja the night that if she heard us she’d join us. I think she did not want to hear us as they came back roughly at 330ish and we got up at 0530… The goal was to be at the gathering point at 0700ish as I was really not sure when the race would start. So we left at 0645 and arrived at 0715 at the gathering point which was at the so called “Sports City”. A huge place where all the people were able to gather. Loud music and hundreds of people were already there. It was so nice to see all different people. Young, old, sporty and pleasure, macho and serious, with headscarf of very sexy. This is what is the biggest strength of Jordan is in my eyes: a great society where people can live together regardless how they look and are! It was fantastic and although we found out that the race would start not before 0830, time flew by! There was so much to see, so many different people and such a nice atmosphere… that alone worth to be there and run the race. The whole thing was organized really in a professional way. At 0815 they invited all runners to walk to the starting point which was a 5 minute walk away from the gathering point on one of the main roads that circumvents the park. There was the starting point with a plastic contact on the floor. Once you step on it it starts counting your time and stops wehen you arrive at the goal. Obviously being a rookie I was not used to all those stuff and having no experience I didn’t know what makes more sense: start very early or wait until the crowd left… I decided to go for the second. …mistake… the race started and I waited some 10 minutes until I started. Even worse I went to check out the starting area and most probably came too close and the timer started … so finally I decided to start my run.\. Unfortunately I realized that the main street on which we started hit a circle very soon and as many people were there it was like a bottleneck! And from there on it took me some 15 minutes until the streets were cleared that I really was able to run my pace. Before I was always surrounded by people how did not run or even worse were throwing the water bottles on the street… bad thing. The streets were so slippery at the water stations that a guy in front of me slipped and fell! Also you only realize how the streets are when you run on them. All the holes you don’t realize while driving by car became a deadly potential ankle breaking trap. Also the stupid small speed bumps are deadly for your ankles if you don’t pay attention. The track first went up until we hit the fourth circle and from then on it almost went down until we ended at the Roman Theater after some detours. Everything was fine until we reached the area downtown around the Roman Theater. I was running on the street and around a corner when all the sudden I saw cars coming aginst us on our side of the street! Somebody just fucked up and forgot to block the street or they just forced their way in…whatever it was but we found ourselves running in the middle of cars and after a moment when we arrived at Abdali bus station we had to cross a street on which the busses were driving! I tell you, this is also something I wanted to do it… this stuff you will live it only here welcome to Jordan! We finished and the area where the finish line was was right next to the Roman Theater and again a fantastic atmosphere there! Luckily enough Katja was already there as she had to drive all around as the main street was blocked due to the run. So she picked me up and we were at home some half hour after I run over the finish line. Our friend was up and we started the day with breakfast (my second ;-)
We were all tired for different resons: I gslept bad, got up early and run, Katja had to get up to pick up her friend and get up soon again and our friend because she flew over night. So we all went to bed and slept all afternoon but mostly because we were goimg to a crazy Helloween party in the evening and we didn't want to fall asleep there!
The Hellween party was a blast! The venue was in the Le Meridien Hotel in a bar which was jsut great! Lost of funny people, lots of the dressed up and even more in a fantastic great party mood! We danced all night away and had a great time there with all our expat friends! We stayed until early morning but then we all got tired and we finally hit the sack at around 0230ish. The week was really busy as I had to work on backlog from the trip in Beijing and Madrid. Not bad enough I got a bad cold that forced me to stay in bed almost all week. I tried to go to work but I couldn't and had to go back to bed at noon time. I managed to get through the week but I had to fly to Singapore the weekend... Thursday evening I stayed at home although we wanted to go for supper to the Lebanese with our friend. I went to bed early and stayed in also on Friday. Thanks to all the sleep (and maybe the pharmaceutical industry) I managed to be back on track by Friday evening when my flight was leaving for Singapore. My flight left at around 0130 in the morning and I arrived in Singapore (after a stop over in Bagkok) late evening. Singapore was a business meeting. i went there although I was on Eid holiday.Eid Al Adha is the holiday when Muslim go on Hajj and is a very important holiday in the Muslim world. Singapore is a great city and it was interesting to hear that even there they are complaining about not having enough water!! I couldn't believe it... they should all come here and see what "No Water!" means... Luckily fall started here and now and then it rains. Temperature dropped also and in the evening it is chilly but during the day the weather is still gorgeous. Sunny and blue sky... Jordan just has the nicest weather I have ever seen...
So that's it for the moment! I have another trip coming up. I will tell you next time how it was...
Take care wherever you are in this world! Big hug from Amman!
Theater in Singapore
Skyline Singapore
Flying back from somewhere...
Gathering point for the Amman Run
Looking freah before the run...
Not so fresh anymore after the run...
Arrival zone in front of the Roman Theater downtown Amman
Rain over Amman
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