Arrival in Amman - 1st post

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One day in Amman and I already have a ton to write about. I'll start with the flight from Amsterdam to Amman.

I sat next to an elderly Dutch couple. They were nice and very social and I learned all about Holland and Amsterdam. I was actually enjoying the conversation... the first hour. The lady talked to me the entire final 3 hours of the flight. I seriously could not wait to get off that plane.

As we were flying into Amman I could see mile after mile of desert; the vast landscape I thought was very beautiful. I've always had an inner connection to the desert. Maybe it's the expansiveness and the serenity of the desert; a perfect place to collect your thoughts and just reflect.

Anyways, we landed in Amman and we had to take a bus from the ramp to the terminal and the processing station. There was a flight from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia that was being processed at the same time. That was interesting. Since I had thought ahead of time and got my Visa stamped in the U.S. I went to a different line than the rest of the people I was on the plane with. I was completely surrounded by Saudi women in all black; most wore a hijab but some wore the full burqa. There were a ton of kids running around. There's just something kind of creepy about Saudi women. It's not that they are dressed head to toe in very traditional and conservative clothing, it's that they never make eye contact. The women in Jordan definitely don't act that way. But I knew before I came here that the cultures in Jordan and Saudi Arabia were different, but it's another thin when you actually experience it.

The processing took 45 minutes and then I got my bags and there was my homey Tareq Abu Quaik! Man it was good seeing that brother! It hit me right there that I was in Tareq's stomping ground. We got in the car and headed to the city.

The airport is about 20 minutes outside of the city. This drive was an experience in and of itself. As we are driving on this highway there people literally walking down the side of the road, completely oblivious of the fact that cars are flying by them at high speeds and only at a couple arms lengths away from them. Imagine driving down an interstate in the U.S. and there are just tons of people on the shoulder just walking down the road. And then I started to see cars parked on the side of the road. You know how people in the U.S. go to the lake or the park to barbecue and hang out? People in Jordan go to the side of the road. It was Friday and everyone was out, grilling, socializing, and just having a great time on the side of the road. To illustrate the difference in the people, as I was riding down this road there were very traditional and conservative people on the side of the road, women in hijab, under a tent bedouin syle having a family gathering on the side of the road at the same time we get passed by dudes on Harleys with leather jackets that say 'Jordan Bikers'.

I'll have to cut this post short because, as I'll describe in a later post, I had a long night and Tareq and I are going to go out and get some hangover food. Part 2 will be up later.

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