Hello from David

Hello friends from surprising Amman, Jordan. Terry and I are settling into our apartment with few difficulties and it's time for my first post. As family and friends know, Terry was named a Fulbright Scholar in a nationwide competition and will teach academic writing to doctoral students in the faculty of nursing at the University of Jordan here in Amman.

As her dependent here my role is planner, fixer, dutiful husband, hanger-on, and as my dermatologist so aptly put it--eye candy; all roles I take very seriously.

So far we have found both Jordanians and expats to be enormously welcoming. The city is an interesting blend of East and West. For example, where else can you eat in PF Chang's in an unbelievably modern mall while listening to the evening call to prayer amplified on loudspeakers from local mosques while surrounded by fellow diners in every imaginable regional garb? It's still the summer season here so Saudis and other Gulf State citizens (U.A.E., Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait) flock here on vacation to see the sights and escape the heat as the elevation of Amman is 2,500' (which means 100 degrees Fahrenheit instead of 120).

We decided to locate in Abduon, a wealthy area of West Amman home to many expats and one block from the American Embassy. Originally we thought about living near the University but it is in a far more traditional area. While planning this adventure online we came upon a young Arab-American woman from Redlands, California now living in Amman. She advised that the traditional experience was too intense even for her and steered us to Abduon; advice we took.

Early in the planning process I stumbled upon an organization for expats with chapters in 390 cities around the world called Internations. It isn't just for expats though, so there are Jordanian members. Though many of their activities seem geared toward singles it has been a wealth of information for us about Amman. Through it I have found potential tennis partners, advice about apartments as I mentioned, and a number of promising contacts. Shortly after arrival Terry and I went to an event where we met a high ranking U.S. Embassy  official with six weeks under his belt in Amman thus making him a grizzled and trusted veteran of everything local. To our delight he adopted us and two days later gave us the grand tour of our mutual neighborhood. Since we're on foot here (or in taxis which is a story for a later time) his tour gave us a real jumpstart on restaurants, supermarkets, specialty stores, etc. This guy is a force of nature. After 28 years in the U.S. Military and Foreign Service he finally landed in Amman, a posting he requested. He says it is the most advanced country in which he has been posted and his family will be here for three years.



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