Friday, June 19

      Finally seeing Ryan & Brian fee al-ordun!!! I can not believe that we have been here for ~five weeks and we haven't seen each other yet.  I guess it makes sense because we have been very busy, and this is our first real free day since we have felt comfortable in the country (if that makes sense??).  Anyway, we woke up at 9:30- a FULL hour later than usual. Ate breakfast and went to where we thought we could get a taxi.  Fridays are like Saturdays here (week-wise, but they're REALLY like Sundays because everything's totally closed until after afternoon prayer...).   No taxis were running from where we expected them to be, but two drivers stopped by us and were very helpful.  We got in a yellow cab, and the driver agreed to take us basically to Ryan's door, which we thought was a treat, but it turns out that he over charged us (~1 USD, so whatever).  I did not sleep in the cab (it was only an hour or so).  We got off at the Sheraton (close to Ryan's apartment) and had to walk a little to get there.  Amman is obviously much bigger than Irbid, and my first impression was that it was cleaner, but I also knew that we were in the nicer area (hence the Sheraton and Four Seasons)...  Ryan picked us up at the corner and we went to his NICE apartment.  We sat for a while and caught up, then Brian came over and we went to get some lunch.  I was not that hungry, but ended up eating TWO shwarma wraps because they were the most delicious that I have ever had.  They were lamb-not chicken- and had (simple) tomatoes, onions and tahini in it, but it was AWESOME.  Reminded me of a steak sandy.  We all got only one to start, and then we just HAD to get another one.  Even Jack & Sarah (shwarma h8ers) loved them and got two too (tutu). 

        We walked around a little bit.  Saw Brian's favorite wings & beer place... (biiiiig difference between Irbid & Amman).  We went to a bootleg DVD STORE.  It was SO nice.  In Morocco, people sold DVDs on the street, but in Jordan there are legitimate stores with copied DVDs.  Each disc was one dinar- with a special 6 for 5 deal.  Naturally, I got 6 discs.  I got the third season of 30 Rock to watch in Morocco.  After a lot of time in the DVD store, we walked around a little more.  We saw the citadel from a distance, and (I think) a mosque. Then we got into cabs to go to the Souq Abduli.  It was essentially a huge outdoor Salvation Army.  There were a LOT of American products- Fresh Produce, Target brands,  Guess, Dolce Vita etc. It was interesting to look through, but I don't really even shop at SalVo in the states, so I wasn't really expecting to find anything.  I WAS very amused by the things for sale, and I wish I wrote everything down at the time.  There were a lot of cheap toys and small kitchen appliances.  There were a few families, but I imagine it gets MUCH more crowded as the day goes on...

           When we were getting ready to go we were standing by a shoe table (similar to the one seen in the pic below...) and something caught my eye.  I looked closer and I saw what looked like a pair of Jack Rogers.  Upon further examination, it turns out that they WERE.  This exact pair of sandals (black/white, size 8- I might be a 9, but IDC...).  They're REAL.  I know this because they are extremely heavy.  I asked the man how much they were, and he told me 5 dinar (~7 USD).  I put on my bargaining face, and got them down to THREE DINAR (~4.25).  I feel like I really took advantage of him, but I was (/still am) so happy and proud.  I have to stretch them out a little bit, so I have been wearing them around the apartment.  

        After the market we went for lunch/dinner (even though I was still full from the two schwarmas....).  We went to Hashem's in Amman.  Not sure if it's a chain (we went to a Hashem's in Irbid before one of our trips...) but it prob is because they're equally delicious.  We got "kul shee" (everything) which turned out to be EVERYTHING.  So much food.  It was normal Jordanian food (hummus, baba, ful, TWO types of falafel [one spicy w/onions-- SO good], bread [duh], and some tomatoes etc), but it was particularly good.  It might have been so good b/c the "iyans" (Ryan and Brian as a twosome) told me that King Abdullah eats there during Ramadan... 

          After lunch we went to get knafa (a knafa a day.....), but ordered the wrong type, so it was a little weird and not as delicious as usual... 

          We were incredibly stuffed, and it was getting to be time to leave (we didn't want to miss the taxis...) so we snapped this photo and then went home.  

        Our taxi ride back was during prime magic hour.  It was a nice & painless ride back.  Sarah and I went to Zam Zam to get soda once we got back.  Then we went home and watched movies with the soda & some microwave popcorn that we bought at the beginning of our trip- GREAT, GREAT DAY.