10-29-2009

10-29-2009

Had dinner last night with Scott Joyner, from Culver Academies. He is traveling through the middle east visiting schools to recruit students for (mostly) the summer program at Culver. We all had a wonderful time.

The weather is starting to cool a bit; it is in the mid-70's (f) today and actually a little cloudy. Rainy season approaches.

Bill's Arabic classes continue; he has a mid-term in early November. He is investigating getting a teaching certificate and has contacted some of the local schools about volunteering and substitute teaching.

TJ is continuing to work on emergency funding for projects in Iraq. There are always housing or water emergencies to deal with in Iraq. There has been a drought in both the southern and northern parts of the country.

Our aprtment in Amman after tweaks

The elevator that takes us up to our 4th floor roof top.


We bought this carpet in the old city of Amman in September

Sitting area in the bedroom

Our cozy kitchen

We had this bamboo set made for the balcony on Oct 12

We have a fabulous view of the city!

guest bath

This is where TJ sits in the kitchen when Bill makes her dinner

Ok. Yes, sometimes Bill gets to sit here too...

living room

Balconey on the other side of the house

Honeymoon Trip

On Thursday we concluded negotiations on a 2004 Peugeot and, having closed the deal, we used our “new” wheels to head off on our (belated) Honeymoon!TJ and I went to the Dead Sea for Phase One of our Honeymoon (Phase 2 will be Petra, etc). Here in the middle east the weekends are Friday and Saturday, which has taken some getting used to... We stayed at the Dead Sea Marriott Hotel, which was an absolutely fabulous place. The service, food and ambiance were all excellent. Our most pressing decision was which of the many pools did we want to use. We settled on the Infinity pool, which had a breath-taking view of the Dead Sea. On the West Bank we could see the city of Jericho and at night one could se the lights of Jerusalem on the distant hilltop. The other feature of the Infinity pool was that is was for 18+, which significantly cut down on the noise.After a wonderful Italian dinner on Thursday we wandered down to the bar near the beach. There was a small band (two guitars, and a singer playing bongo drums, plus the help of a sophisticated music machine filling in the rest of the sound). We each had a drink made of 100 proof Araco (good stuff!) and then the audience was entertained by a belly dancer. Very, very interesting!Friday morning was spent covering ourselves with Dead Sea mud and then floating in the Dead Sea. After that we wandered back to the Infinity pool. On Saturday we enjoyed the pool (and I took the opportunity for more Dead Sea mud and floating) and then checked out of the Marriott and headed for the Jordan River site of Jesus’ Baptism and then on to Mt. Nebo, where Moses viewed the Promised Land after his 40 years of wandering (that was before GPS).

Honeymoon at the Dead Sea!