I had a long layover in Istanbul and then my flight from Istanbul to Amman was a little longer than normal because it had to be diverted over Cairo to avoid Israeli/Palestinian airspace. I’ve never been anywhere in Africa before, so it was kind of cool to see the Cairo lights from the sky. When I got to Queen Alia airport it was still dark and I was very tired, but the airport was quite pretty!

I saw a driver with my name soon after I exited Customs. It was slightly rainy and cold when I exited the airport, and if I didn’t know better I would’ve sworn that I was still in Washington, D.C. - the weather was almost exactly the same. The driver who picked me up works for a taxi company here in Amman. He’s originally from Khartoum in Sudan, and has been in Amman for 6 years. He was very kind and asked a lot of questions about what I would be doing in Amman. He told me that his favorite thing about Jordan is how kind the people are, and that his least favorite thing is how dry it gets. Which was a little shocking to hear since we were driving in the middle of a rainstorm! But apparently January is the wettest month in Amman, so I’m getting a skewed view of the weather :).

As we got closer to Amman, the fog started to lift. Around 5:30am, we reached the Landmark Hotel, which is where we will be staying and teaching. It was still dark, but there’s a 24 hour receptionist, and they let me know that if I could stay awake for an hour, the breakfast buffet would open. I was pretty bone-tired at that point, so I bid farewell to the driver, and headed to bed. Here’s a quick picture of the view from my room in the pre-dusk light!

I set myself an alarm for 9am, so that I could take advantage of the hotel breakfast before it closed. The breakfast is extensive! There’s a whole table with labneh and hummus and pickled vegetables and various salads, so I had a much more nutritious breakfast than I normally do (my default is oatmeal with nothing in it, but maybe this month I’ll level up).

The view from my room in the daylight.
Now that the rainstorm is over,
the sky is so blue!

Once I finished breakfast, I took a little bit of time to explore the hotel. It’s very nice! We have access to a gym and a nice terrace on the second floor. From our rooms you can see views of the Jabal Al Lweibdeh neighborhood - here’s a picture of the view from my room, this time in the daylight.

The first of the other instructors started arriving around midday. I ended up spending most of the day napping and working on my curriculum, but when it came time for dinner, Kinan and I took a walk over to Abdali Boulevard, which is a trendy shopping area that’s about a 10 minute walk from the hotel. We walked past a bunch of shops with baklava and other sweets - I’m a big dessert aficionado so I’m looking forward to trying all the desserts here!

I’m looking forward to exploring the city more with my fellow instructors in the weeks to come :)