Day 21, Friday - Amman

I saw rain today! It has been cooling off the past couple of days and is now around 70F. We drove up North to see Motaz’s parents and on the way it rained. It rained on and off through the afternoon and it smells wonderful. 

You can't really see it, but the car is saying that it is 66F outside

We spent another traditional afternoon eating, talking, eating cake, and drinking tea. When we arrived they offered us all whiskey. Now I don’t drink, so I declined, and that was fine (though they did ask me again later if I was sure I didn’t want any; however, the young American guy, William, who is staying with Yassar’s parents for a three-month study abroad session, was having a harder time convincing them that he didn’t want any. They kept asking him and he kept saying he just wanted water. 

Maybe it was a guy/girl thing, but I couldn’t help thinking it was funny that I could choose rather easily of I wanted or didn’t want it, while he really had to convince them that he only wanted water. I have found that, as a girl in situations like this, I have a little more freedom when it comes to hospitality. 

After lunch, I got to see the family’s small orchard where they have lemon and olive trees, among others. Jordan, as it turns out, is a great place to grow olives for oil and the local people pool their olives together at the local press to make fresh oil, which they use in almost all of their cooking. 

A little later on we had cake and I took a few pictures.

Left to right: Moataz's great aunt, father, and daughter Tina

Left to right: Moataz's mother, Yassar's father, Moataz, and William

Tina and Yassar

Back in Amman, we put Tina to bed before heading out to Casanova for the last time. When we got there, Yassar’s mother was playing cards with a few other women and smoking on shisha, so I took a picture to try to capture how we had been spending the evenings. *Side note, I am getting better at taking covert pictures, I don't think they noticed this one…

Moataz and Yasser wanted to take me on a drive through Amman at night and so we went, along with Yassar’s sister and her husband. We drove through the old Amman district and Rainbow St., which is where the popular coffee shops and clubs are. We stopped to get ice cream and I got Nutella flavor, which is quite possibly one of the best I have ever had. My tour also consisted of driving over a very cool looking suspension bridge with lights, and we also saw this:

Yes, McDonald's valet parking. Also, McDonald's delivers here. When I told them that they don't deliver in the States, they asked if I meant just in Seattle or in the whole country (they sounded quite surprised). To my knowledge we don’t have any in the US, but if you know of one, please correct me. And if you have photo evidence I would love to see it. 

That just about wraps up my adventures in Jordan, as tomorrow I head to the airport. Jordan has been a wonderful place to visit and everyone has been so kind. Thank you to all my hosts!

A bit of Amman at night