Traveling To Jordan: Day 1: Hotel Arrival and Exploration

So this is the start of my trip to Jordan, which was just amazing. I traveled with 2 colleagues/friends, Rhoda (pictured in the top photo), and Tammy (pictured in the 2nd photo). I work with both of them at the school. We were very excited to travel to Jordan together and have the chance to explore somewhere totally new. So we began our trip with an early morning flight into Amman, the capital of Jordan. We immediately noticed that Jordan is very different from Bahrain. First, Jordan is cold. It has been nonstop summer weather here in Bahrain, but in Jordan, it is chilly, just like it would be in the states. As you can see, I had to wear a coat and scarf, and often wore a hat as well. Second, Jordan has a variety of landscapes. In Bahrain, it is flat and a sandy beige color. In Jordan, there were hills, and mountains, and even greenery! Not all of the houses and buildings were the same color either. Third, there is far less English spoken in Jordan than in Bahrain. In Bahrain, everyone speaks English, so you really don't get so much opportunity to speak Arabic. However, in Jordan, especially in the city, not so many people speak English. We stopped at a place to get schwarma (a type of wrap with meat, sort of like a gyro), and no one there spoke English, so this presented somewhat of a challenge. Fourth, if you were a single lady looking for a man, Jordan might be a good place to go. While we walked around and explored the city, it seemed like all we saw were men. I figured that for every 1 lady we saw, we saw 5 men. And being a lady in an area where there is mostly men, gets you a lot of attention to say the least. Finally, there are not as many traditionally dressed people as there are in Bahrain. Here in Bahrain, there are many men that wear thobes (the long white garment, similar to a dress), and the women are covered in black with their hair covered. In Jordan however, far less people wear the traditional clothing.   So, these are some things that we noticed during our initial exploration of Amman. I figured this would be a fun and interesting learning experience, and was excited to see what kinds of fun things would happen next.