Amman - Day One!

First "real" day one in Jordan. I woke up to the call to prayer at about 5am, I think. I wasn’t sure at first what was happening because I heard it in my dreams. You know, like when your alarm goes off and somehow you dream about it before you actually wake up, and I had only gone to sleep about 3 hours before that with the help of a sleeping pill—and it was very, very dark out still. I was expecting to hear it at some point, well probably at many points, however I certainly wasn’t expecting it to wake me up. It was strange, yet comforting, and not scary at all. It’s a very soothing, and clearly very Arabic, rhythmic chanting. All the mosques play the call to prayer five times a day, and I believe we must be in the center of it all because it went on for about a half hour. Right when I thought it went away, it would roll back around and get louder and louder again. I think I must have fallen back to sleep because when I got up again, it was very sunny and bright in my room and I guess around 630-7am.

View from my room - UJ is down the hill and to the right.


So this was my first time looking out my window and really seeing where I was. It’s pretty spectacular. We are perched on one of the sides of one of the many hills that make up Amman. Square, white-ish buildings surround ACOR with some large patches of dirt here and there, basically the equivalent of empty lots—just much dustier and no vegetation. As far as I can see, there are large portrait pictures of King Abdullah scattered about. Many cats around – no dogs. A fairly busy main drag down the hill and across that street and just down to the left is the University of Jordan.

Cats everywhere - no Elaine, you can't pet these ones - although they look like everyday housecats, not tomcats or alleycats. No dogs anywhere.


I hadn’t spoken to Gary yet and suddenly I felt some manic rush to get ready for whatever today was going to be, so I drank my EmergenC got in the military shower (not a real one, you just can’t keep the water running the whole time, water conservation is simply a way of life here). Because I only have one outlet adaptor, everything has to be timed. Things need to be plugged and unplugged and everything gets their turn with the juice. My hairdryer almost blew up because sparks flew when I plugged it in and it started to smell like it was burning – thank god I only needed it for a short time, otherwise I might be bald right now.

I got ready in record time, and went downstairs to grab coffee and breakfast from the kitchen and wait to see Scudder. There’s a dining area next to the lobby with a large kitchen where everyone can grab what they want to eat for breakie that you have to prepare yourself: eggs, toast, cereal, coffee, tea, milk—whatever’s around. Then lunch is a more formal affair and served @ 2pm. You must tell them if you are going to attend because they are big on NOT wasting food. There is a family that has been cooking here for something like 30 or 40 years and because they are Muslim, there will never be pork served here, nor can you bring it in out of respect.

The dining room adjacent to the lobby at ACOR - kitchen is through a door to the right.


Lobby of ACOR


Scudder arrived somewhat disheveled – the airline lost his luggage again. Ack! This happened when he went to Morocco during his past trip. He got in later than expected (3am) due to filling out the missing luggage forms and all that jazz. I was introduced to Char at breakfast who I’ve heard a lot about. She is a professor from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, (near where I grew up) and a good friend of Scudder’s. She is in the heat of her sabbatical and teaching online classes for now. Last time she was here she brought a troupe of students from Washington—a neat lady who we will be having dinner with later tonight.

I went with Gary to grab some toiletries so he could be somewhat groomed for his presentation at the University of Jordan this morning. I think men aren’t supposed to sit with women, or maybe they are supposed to sit up front for directions. But I sit in the back and Gary sits up front. It cost him about 30 dollars to grab some shaving essentials, shampoo, etc. Yikes! However, there wasn’t any time to get him any new clothes, so the two-day old clothes were going to have to suffice for now.

Front of ACOR


Front Courtyard of ACOR


One of the views from the deck - there are many plants and flowers Mom would love.


View from back of ACOR - my room is second window down from far left


Olive trees everywhere