A Very Arab New Year

The party hall

People dancing

Me and Arab Santa (creepy, I know)

Some of the band

Amy and I

The belly dancer, and Arab Santa dancing with another man

This is the first new years since high school where I have not had to work. For once in my life, I was not stuck working at a restaurant/bar on New Year's Eve. However, I still didn't get to enjoy a home celebration. After flying from Pittsburgh to Chicago, I then flew from Chicago to Jordan, where I then had an 18 and a half hour layover. Due to such a long layover, I was once again put in a hotel by Royal Jordanian. And again, I stayed at the Golden Tulip. Upon arrival, I was relieved to see a sign in the lobby announcing that the hotel would be hosting a New Year's Eve event that evening. So, I immediately bought a ticket. I figured I would much rather attend this even than sit in my room feeling lonely and sad that I'm by myself. When I got to my room, I had to take a nap, since I had just spent a very long time traveling, and was looking pretty bad, with bloodshot eyes and washed-out skin.

I woke up from the nap and got ready for the party. The event was very nice. The dining hall was decorated and held about 200 or so people. The party would include dinner buffet, a d.j., a band, and a belly dancer. Of course, I didn't know a single soul, but I did make my way to a table of 3 people, sat down, and introduced myself. The others at the table (1 girl, 2 guys), were there by themselves as well, so we all had that in common. Although I do not remember the names of the guys at the table, the girl I sat with was Amy, and she was very nice company for the evening. 

The dinner buffet was very nice, and had a big variety of food. The only part that wasn't so good about it was that alcohol was not included, not even for a champagne toast at midnight. We enjoyed our food, and ordered drinks from the bar. The band and d.j. were pretty good too. After a while, Amy and I were ready to dance. We immediately noticed a creepy Arab man dressed up as Santa, dancing out on the floor. I felt obligated to take a photo with such a creepy character. However, this photo op caused me to be stuck with Arab Santa for much of the evening. After taking the photo, he wanted to dance with me the WHOLE night. After the midnight countdown, and some more dancing, the belly dancer came to the floor. I must say, I was very disappointed. She did not do a good job at all. There was not much enthusiasm put into her dance, and she seemed to barely move. I believe I could have done a better job. 

After about 3 or 4 minutes, the belly dancer left the dance floor, and began to dance around the room. During this time, Arab Santa pulled me out to the dance floor, so it was just the 2 of us dancing! At one point he got down and stopped dancing, and wanted me to dance by myself and belly dance in front of the entire crowd of 200 people. Now, although I am not a shy person, this was a bit too intimidating for me to be put on the spot like this, so I told him to get up and dance with me, until I could dance my way off the dance floor. I don't like being the center of attention in a situation like this.

Finally, around 3am the party came to a close. I was exhausted and so ready to sleep. I said my goodbyes to the table and Amy, and headed to sleep.

New Years turned out much better than I had anticipated, and I didn't have to spend it totally alone. Although I would have loved to have been in Pittsburgh, New Year's Eve in Jordan was ok in my book!