About 1 week after our reunion in DC, Anthon was told that he would be sent to Amman, Jordan, to work as a TDY facility manager at the embassy there. To our surprise, Anthon was notified about 2 days before the flight to Amman.
Because the trip was long enough (34 days) and we didn't want to be separated again, we decided that I should come with. Anthon first had to check if I could even come with him, but luckily I could. I think I had never done such a spontaneous and long trip!
My family never travelled that much and I think the furthest city in the east I had ever been to was Vienna. I had never been to a country, where I couldn't understand the language (except to Prague for a couple of hours), and I had never been Muslim country...so, Jordan is a whole new experience for me (and I guess for Anthon, too).
Anthon had to work during the week, but luckily he had most weekends (Fr/Sa) off, so we got to discover the area.
As soon as we exited our air plane, I felt I was in a totally different world. I felt like everybody was staring at me (and they probably did). I saw women in groups and black abayas and niqabs walking by, men in their white thobes, with their red & white keffiyeh- Yes, I was definitely not in the US anymore!
I think I stared just as much at the people, as they did at me...hahaha... but at least, I tried to make it less obvious.
We arrived late at night, so we went straight to "our" apartment. When we arrived and entered the apartment, we probably used the word "holy cow" a lot. The apartment was definitely a couple of steps up from what we are used to and I had no idea what to do with all that space. There was furniture everywhere, but it was so empty, considering that we only came with 3 suitcases, of which 1 was designated for food only.
Amman
On our first weekend here in Amman, one of Anthon's co-workers took us down town and showed us around. We first went to the Roman Theater, which was built in the 2nd century CE. It's amazing how well preserved the theater is.
The little hike and the steep stairs up to the top is definitely worth it- the view from there is amazing!
For some more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_theater_(Jordan)
It was pretty neat to test the acoustics. Unfortunately, blogspot.com doesn't let me upload the video with Anthon demonstrating the acoustics... :-( It's pretty cool!
There is also a museum on the complex that houses mainly traditional clothes, jewelry, and old mosaics.
We then went up to the Citadel, also called Jabal al- Qal'a. The hill as an impressive amount of ruins from all different kinds of periods (especially neolithic, Roman, Muslim). Famous is the Temple of Hercules that was built during the 2nd century AD, the Byzantine basilica from the 5-6th century and the Umayyad Mosque from the 8th century.
When I see ancient ruins, I always wish I was an archeologist. What a cool job that must be!
There is also a small, but neat museum with statue heads, jewelry, oil lamps, skulls, etc that were found around Amman.
After that, we went down town and walked through the market. It was crazy busy, so I only took one picture there.
Honestly, we didn't see anything that we were interested in or that we thought our family members and friends could be interested in, so don't expect us to bring any souvenirs unless you tell us of something specific you would like from here. ;-)
On the market, they mainly sell traditional clothing for men and women, suits, cheap shoes, fake perfume, water pipes (narghile), fruit and veggies, dried herbs and flower pedals, nuts, "interesting" candy, and stuff from China.
What we did get was some fake perfume (soooo cheap!). I only had 3 kinds of perfume that smelled like the original. But Anthon got quite a few men's perfume that smells really good and smells all day long- impressive!
For lunch, we went to a nearby restaurant, where Anthon's co-worker ordered a couple of traditional dishes for us. The food was really, really good. The lamb was soooo tender that it melt in your mouth!
Unfortunately, hygiene is a little bit different over here and water is not filtered....soooooo.....
In the evening, Anthon suddenly got really, really sick....so sick that we had to go to the ER the next morning. It was really scary to see Anthon soooo weak. Anthon felt so sick and weak that he thought he would die...
But the doctors did some magic and Anthon was soon doing better and finally recovered from his food poisoning. Since that day, the name of the dish we had "Mansaf" is a forbidden word around Anthon's presence, and every co-worker knows that.
Although Anthon normally loves trying different kinds of foods, he doesn't get very excited about eating out in Jordan anymore (unless it's a restaurant for mainly tourists) :-(
In the evenings, we often went to the nearby mall "Taj Mall". Gerard has the best ice-cream! It was fun trying some untypical flavors like "Arabic" and "Dates".
We became addicted to their "Dark Chocolate" ice-cream. It is sooooo amazing! I've never had better, darker, creamier ice-cream like that in my life.
Anthon and I are still talking about that ice-cream 4 months later.
I forgot to mention that soon after we got to Jordan, Ramadan started. Here are some Ramadan pastries.
There is so much to tell, but I think this is enough about our first Saturday in Jordan. More adventures in the next post.
Because the trip was long enough (34 days) and we didn't want to be separated again, we decided that I should come with. Anthon first had to check if I could even come with him, but luckily I could. I think I had never done such a spontaneous and long trip!
That's all we had for 3,5 months... crazy!
My family never travelled that much and I think the furthest city in the east I had ever been to was Vienna. I had never been to a country, where I couldn't understand the language (except to Prague for a couple of hours), and I had never been Muslim country...so, Jordan is a whole new experience for me (and I guess for Anthon, too).
Anthon had to work during the week, but luckily he had most weekends (Fr/Sa) off, so we got to discover the area.
As soon as we exited our air plane, I felt I was in a totally different world. I felt like everybody was staring at me (and they probably did). I saw women in groups and black abayas and niqabs walking by, men in their white thobes, with their red & white keffiyeh- Yes, I was definitely not in the US anymore!
I think I stared just as much at the people, as they did at me...hahaha... but at least, I tried to make it less obvious.
We arrived late at night, so we went straight to "our" apartment. When we arrived and entered the apartment, we probably used the word "holy cow" a lot. The apartment was definitely a couple of steps up from what we are used to and I had no idea what to do with all that space. There was furniture everywhere, but it was so empty, considering that we only came with 3 suitcases, of which 1 was designated for food only.
Amman
On our first weekend here in Amman, one of Anthon's co-workers took us down town and showed us around. We first went to the Roman Theater, which was built in the 2nd century CE. It's amazing how well preserved the theater is.
The little hike and the steep stairs up to the top is definitely worth it- the view from there is amazing!
For some more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_theater_(Jordan)
Sitting there, where the emperor once sat.
I have to say that it was pretty steep and kind of scary climbing up!
It was pretty neat to test the acoustics. Unfortunately, blogspot.com doesn't let me upload the video with Anthon demonstrating the acoustics... :-( It's pretty cool!
There is also a museum on the complex that houses mainly traditional clothes, jewelry, and old mosaics.
The guys getting hungry...
The Forum right next to the theater.
We then went up to the Citadel, also called Jabal al- Qal'a. The hill as an impressive amount of ruins from all different kinds of periods (especially neolithic, Roman, Muslim). Famous is the Temple of Hercules that was built during the 2nd century AD, the Byzantine basilica from the 5-6th century and the Umayyad Mosque from the 8th century.
When I see ancient ruins, I always wish I was an archeologist. What a cool job that must be!
From the Citadel, you have an amazing view over Amman.
Isn't it amazing how tall these columns are?!? Anthon looks like a little bug in this picture.
There is also a small, but neat museum with statue heads, jewelry, oil lamps, skulls, etc that were found around Amman.
After that, we went down town and walked through the market. It was crazy busy, so I only took one picture there.
Honestly, we didn't see anything that we were interested in or that we thought our family members and friends could be interested in, so don't expect us to bring any souvenirs unless you tell us of something specific you would like from here. ;-)
On the market, they mainly sell traditional clothing for men and women, suits, cheap shoes, fake perfume, water pipes (narghile), fruit and veggies, dried herbs and flower pedals, nuts, "interesting" candy, and stuff from China.
What we did get was some fake perfume (soooo cheap!). I only had 3 kinds of perfume that smelled like the original. But Anthon got quite a few men's perfume that smells really good and smells all day long- impressive!
For lunch, we went to a nearby restaurant, where Anthon's co-worker ordered a couple of traditional dishes for us. The food was really, really good. The lamb was soooo tender that it melt in your mouth!
Unfortunately, hygiene is a little bit different over here and water is not filtered....soooooo.....
In the evening, Anthon suddenly got really, really sick....so sick that we had to go to the ER the next morning. It was really scary to see Anthon soooo weak. Anthon felt so sick and weak that he thought he would die...
But the doctors did some magic and Anthon was soon doing better and finally recovered from his food poisoning. Since that day, the name of the dish we had "Mansaf" is a forbidden word around Anthon's presence, and every co-worker knows that.
Although Anthon normally loves trying different kinds of foods, he doesn't get very excited about eating out in Jordan anymore (unless it's a restaurant for mainly tourists) :-(
In the evenings, we often went to the nearby mall "Taj Mall". Gerard has the best ice-cream! It was fun trying some untypical flavors like "Arabic" and "Dates".
We became addicted to their "Dark Chocolate" ice-cream. It is sooooo amazing! I've never had better, darker, creamier ice-cream like that in my life.
Anthon and I are still talking about that ice-cream 4 months later.
I forgot to mention that soon after we got to Jordan, Ramadan started. Here are some Ramadan pastries.
There is so much to tell, but I think this is enough about our first Saturday in Jordan. More adventures in the next post.
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