Water - Blog Action Day 2010

A few months ago, there was a series of articles in the Jordan Times concerning water problems in Jordan. I started a post that unfortunately I never finished. Today is Blog Action Day - an event held every 15th October - and this year's topic is water. Today is time for me to finish my post.

Jordan is the 4th most water deprived country in the world. I was actually very surprised to learn that. Obviously I knew it was bad but I didn't think it was that bad. The water distribution per capita in Jordan is 150 cubic metres. The international poverty line is of 1'000 cubic metres per capita. So as you can see we have a huge problem in Jordan.

One of the main sources of Amman's drinking water come from the wells in the south of the capital, and in June there were some serious cases of water theft. People have being pumping 100s of cubic meter per day over the last 6 months. The water is then used to irrigate farms, greenhouses (a greenhouse needs 800 cm/day and the thief in question had 40 of them) and of course filling swimming pools. The water company estimates that 7% of the capital's water is lost due to theft. In the whole of Amman, 700 violations are recorded monthly!
But then there are things I don't understand, and as for many things the Jordanian people need to be educated - well for those who have water because I am sure that in other areas of Amman you don't see what I see everyday:  misuse of water. Every morning when I walk with Bibs I see some example of how much people don't care, the water is there no? So why not wash the pavement in front of the buildings? It's so useful isn't it? the sand will only be back in a couple of minutes! or the immaculate green grass, or the really lush gardens with beautiful flowers, even in August when it is 45 degrees outside and the sun is burning, or the burst water pipes you see here or there.

I have always been very careful with the use of water. I come from a "non-bathtub" family haha - my mum got rid of them as soon as we moved into our house in Callas, France. When I was kid, we could go for weeks during the summer without water for most of the hours of the day. Of course today the problems don't exist anymore (the region is now linked up to a water canal), but during the summer it is still forbidden to fill swimming pools or to water gardens. Small things can make a big difference: stop the running water when brushing the teeth/washing hands, keep the water from the sink (when washing vegetables for example) to water the plants, forget the baths obviously and make the shower short. Here is a link for water preservation tips.

National Gallery of Fine Arts

This has been on my to-do-list for a little while, and yesterday I finally made it: to the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts.

The gallery is located in 2 different buildings, on each side of a small park and houses a permanent collection of contemporary art from Jordan, the Arab world and other developing countries, mainly Africa and Asia.

Building number 1 as it is called, the one with the terrace on the top on the picture, is definitely the most interesting out of the 2. It is much bigger and the collection, I found, easier to understand and more approachable. I thought this one was impressive: it is views of street walls in Palestine.

On the 2nd floor there is a small library, specialised in arts of course. They have a small selection is Arabic, English and French.

There is also a small cafe, unfortunately closed when we were there. And then a small terrace with an amazing view over Amman and the Blue Mosque.

I found this picture very interesting. You can see the King Abdullah Mosque, aka the Blue Mosque, recognisable with its blue dome. It was built as memorial to the late King Hussein's grandfather. It is possible to visit it, so I really want to go. Just in front there is a church, other mosques around and then of course the building sites, squattered across Amman.

In the second building there is a small souk Zara outlet. It is handcrafts type of shop which can also be found mainly in hotels in Amman (Grand Hyatt, Intercontinental) but also in other hotels across the kingdom (Dead Sea, Petra, Aqaba). They offer jewelry, ceramics, postcards, woodwork, mosaics... Unfortunately it was closed in the middle of the afternoon... The entrance is 5JD per person (we didn't pay for my friend's daughter who is 10).

We had a nice afternoon. It is a small but interesting museum. There is access to strollers, wheelchairs... A good point as it is rare in this country.

There is also a nice garden and a cafe, will talk about that in a separate post. I took also plenty of pictures of the area, because the architecture is very different to the part of Amman where we live. All to come...

Iftar @ the Sheraton Amman

So last night we finally made it for Iftar - quite good considering it was the last night! Ramadan ends tonight. We had a nice evening - with good food and loud music. It started at 7pm, and we were there at 7.05 and most tables were already in full swing eating enormous plates from the buffet.

The dinner started with a lentil soup - that was already on the table. And then food from the buffet. I thought the buffet was really nice... As you can see not many people there considering that there were seats for 350 people and all tables were full! They were all busy eating.

The Buffet

I thought the buffet had a very nice layout. Pricewise it was 26JD plus tax and service charge.

There was also a music band, playing traditional music and loud, but that is part of the ambiance. Unfortunately the picture I took was not that good, so we will have to pass on that!

In the Newz: Sri Lankan Maids and cyber crime

A month ago Sri Lanka banned domestic helpers to be sent to Jordan because of salary problems. Several Sri Lankan maids had contacted their embassy because they were not paid their salary in full, they are here through an agency. In Jordan, you can mainly find maids from the Philippines or Sri Lanka. Filipinos are usually paid more. So the contracts for the Sri Lankan maids - and here we talk live-in maids - stipulate a salary of $200/month, ouch not an awful lot. I wouldn't be surprised if most of them were working 7 days a week from dawn to late night. Some would argue that they are better here, at least they can eat, have a sheltered place to sleep blabla bla. Yes, I agree there is a reason why they are here and not at home in Sri Lanka - but I think their conditions are a little worse than what they expected when they arrived here. I am writing like everybody treat their maids badly and that is of course NOT the case... However, there must be a reason why Sri Lanka put the ban in place to start with. So the article says that the domestic helpers were only paid $150/month (that's less that I pay my housekeeper who comes 4 mornings in the week). I'd be more than happy if they can sort this out and if the maids get their salary... but here comes the cherry on the cake: these recruitment agencies have of course lost money in the process so they are urging the government to speed up things so that they can start recruitment from other countries, like Ethiopia.Why? because it is becoming more expensive to recruit in Sri Lanka (or other countries like Indonesia or the Philippines). So what's the idea, pay the Ethiopian girls $100?
I think this is really one of the cultural differences I trouble the most with. When we rented our apartment, the owner showed us around and went in to a small room behind the kitchen and went "and this is for the maid". That room is 2x2m - yes there is also a shower and a toilet and a lock on the door. I just smiled nicely. I know for some it's normal, but not for me. You can read the full story form the Jordan Times here.

The second and more controversial subject in the papers is the Information Systems Crime Law 2010 which has been recently introduced and has come under great fire. Several articles can be found, including: cyber crimes law helps electronic media, where Marwan Juma, the Minister of Information and Communications Technology explains that the law is there to protect everyone and speaks primarily about cyber crimes such hacking and data interception. He also says that "The law penalises with a fine anyone who disseminates data or information, via the Internet or any information system, that involves defamation, contempt or slander of any person". Finally he talks about the article 13 (the most controversial) which gives the right to the police to raid "any place suspected of having been used to commit cyber crimes" with permission from the public prosecutor.
There is then another article in the Jordan Times: 'No linkage between cyber crimes law and blocking access to certain sites', and this one explains that the government has started banning access to certain sites because: "one hour wasted per day by each of the 100,000 public sector employees who have Internet access costs the government around JD70 million a year". OK this one I follow! In the private sector all kind of social networks (facebook, myspace...) are often restricted because yes it does cost a lot of money having employees updating their status, ranting about their job, the weather... but news websites?
Then to the more controversial article on AmmonNews.net: Is Jordan the latest enemy of press freedom online? This article argues that the law is very vague - and it would allow the government to interpret the way they want - that it is an attempt to silence the critics and the local news sites. It also underlines the fact that the law is a temporary one and thus many say unconstitutional and " accuse the government of acting as if the state of emergency lifted 20 years ago is still in force. The Jordan Professional Associations Complex said the government "has once again violated the constitution by issuing more temporary laws that are not of an urgent nature, as stipulated in Article 94a of the Jordanian constitution." This articles also says that the police can do the raid mentioned above, without prior authorisation from the public prosecutor.


So the question is: what is defamation, contempt or slander?

Drawing from the International Herald Tribune

The other workforce

Earlier this week in the JT (this stands for Jordanian Times and not "Journal Televise" - the abbreviation used for the French TV news), there was a very interesting article about "Women participation" in the Jordanian labour force. Feminists out there you better take a seat: only 14.9% of the workforce is represented by women - really bad considering the average in the whole Middle East - North Africa region where it's 28% (not glamorous, but slightly better).

I don't really know what kind of positions women hold in this country. I guess where I have seen the highest concentration is at our bank. Wherever you go, it is always men serving you: bars, restaurants, the baker, the fruit stalls. I have seen one female police officer since we arrived 5 months ago, even in baby shops, shoe shops or female clothes shops you have young men - and with it really loud music, usually techno. When you do groceries you'll see a woman here and there, but even most cashier positions (which are typical a woman's job in Europe) are held by men. Higher skilled positions, like teachers, journalists, lawyers, I don't have any relation with at all so I don't know.

The same goes for driving, for exemple. When we arrived to Amman, I started straight away - I thought I could as well just do it. The first day or so when I took the car and Bobs wasn't there, the doorman very sweetly commented on the fact that I was taking the car by myself and added something along the lines " my wife has always lived in Amman and she doesn't know how to get to City Mall!". We joked about it and I have asked him since if he has paid some driving lessons to his wife!? Probably not. But then there is the other problem what does she do with her 9months old baby while she is driving anyway? The use of baby seats is not wide spread and you usually see the kids crawling around in the car, poking their faces out on the windows and the mums sitting with the smaller ones on their lap (those ones also poking their faces out).

So why is it? Can Jordanian women not work and have a family? Don't they want to? Is it pure sexism? Just tradition? Are the Jordanian educated women leaving Jordan to get a well paid job somewhere else? I don't have an answer for all these questions, I certainly don't know the Jordanian population well enough to comment on them. But I know that in France for exemple, every year new reports come out and wage discrimination, job parity are always discussed.

Am no feminist - am a stay at home mum, I liked working, but I don't believe that I can work and give 100% and be a mum and give 100%. Of course if I had no choice I would have worked, but I can stay at home and I love it! However some women crave for independence, want to have their own money, a career, get out of the house - all this I totally understand - and they should have the possibility, no, the right to work, make good money (or at least as much as men!) and enjoy it as well.

Afternoon visit at Ajloun Castle

Yesterday we went for a small visit at Ajloun Castle. It took us about an hour from Amman to reach it. I thought it was a lovely drive, specially the stretch from Jerash, through valleys full of olive groves and pine trees. It is a very different nature up there, it reminded me a bit of Southern Europe. Ajloun is atop of the tallest mountain in Jordan: 1'240m.

On our way to Qa'lat Ar-Rabad

The Castle, formally known as Qa'lat Ar-Rabad, is a very well preserved and great exemple of Medieval Islamic architecture. It was first built in 1184 by one of Saladin's generals (who was also his nephew) to oppose the crusaders as they tried to occupy Nothern Jordan. The Castle was then further expanded in 1214 to its current configuration. So what is there to see? a dry moat, the fortified entrance gate, the south tower; inside is a succession of steps, rooms: it's like a labyrinth (and I must say it is a terrific playground - I would have loved it as kid) with vaulted passages, small and winding staircases, dining halls...

Different views of inside the Castle

From the top of the Castle, there are some very beautiful panoramic views of the Jordan Valley and Northern Jordan.

There is also a small museum inside the castle. It contains exhibits from different periods, including the pre-pottery Neolithic, the early Bronze Age, the Byzantine & the Islamic periods. The items exposed are mainly potteries, but also tools, coins...

The entry to the castle is JD1, the museum is free. You have the possibility to rent (I suppose) audio guides before the entrance to the castle - I just saw the sign! There are also a few shops selling souvenirs and a street vendor who makes excellent mint tea and strong coffee. 

A nice afternoon excursion, not too far from Amman. I liked, I think Bobs thought it was a bit boring! It's true there is nothing inside the castle, no furniture, no signs explaining where you are or the purpose of the rooms... it could be made a bit more "exciting" I suppose. There are a few other things to visit in the area - it can be a whole day excursion... Ajloun has a very old Mosque, there is Tel Mar Elias (the birthplace of St Elias - which is a meeting point for a Muslims, Jews and Christians) and also the Ajloun Nature Reserve. 

A movie, some education and a glass of wine

There are a couple of interesting articles in today's Jordan Times, and a couple of other things that I thought I would mention. The newspaper has a small section, what's on, in which one can find out some of the things going on in Amman: exhibitions, markets, theater representations... and today it mentions the Scandinavian Film Festival. Okay, it is not a huge festival - only 3 movies - but on the 31st they show Babette's Feast. It is a long and slow movie about the life of 2 elderly sisters and their French housekeeper, living in a small Protestant community in rural Denmark during the 19th century. Long and slow - but funny, interesting and so attaching. You can read more about the plot here. 

Then, this one made me smile, how should I put it? Well I guess that there are some words which are not (yet?) acceptable in my Jordanian newspaper. So "Sexual Education Module" becomes "a Family Health Training Manual". You see, that's cute! It is a small correction to an article from yesterday's paper. The power of words, I tell you. Of course you have to call a cat a cat, and sexual education is... sexual education. However,  I also think that sometimes you can present things a bit nicer and when as here there is religion involved in the same sentence, "family health" is much more appropriate.

On to some bigger articles now. First, Jordanian wines. There is an article about Saint Georges wines, the owner Omar Zumot has decided he wants to put Jordan on the wine world map. There is no reason why not. Wine had been grown in Jordan for centuries, the oldest wine making history in the world? It is naturally convenient to grow wine in Jordan; this country has a great soil and an ideal climate, with a coldish and wet winter and a sunny, completely dry summer. The interesting thing is, that his wine is organic. Because there is no humidity in the summer months, there is no growth of fungus, small spiders or insects and Zumot can rely on birds doing the pest work - I like that! It is explained that the wines are not exported to the EU yet, let's hope that the needed entity to validate the wines will make it's appearance soon in Jordan.

The last one links to another post I am working on and is regarding the Dana Biosphere Reserve. You may, or may not know, that Jordan has quite a few Nature Reserves worth a visit, one of them, Dana, is located north of Petra. The idea is to open a new trail going from the reserve to Petra. It will take 3 nights of camping in which one can discover some of the 216 types of birds (many of these are globally threatened), 38 mammals and the 4 bio-geographical zones in which lies the reserve. Did I mention the 833 types of vegetation? I am not so much into camping (well to be honest I have never tried), but this reserve, the largest in Jordan, seems amazing. 


It is week-end tonight. I feel like watching a good movie with a nice glass of red wine, then go to bed and enjoy my book. Bliss! 

A couple of Museums in Amman

Located at the Amphitheater in downtown Amman are 2 small museums: the Jordan Folklore Museum and the Museum of Popular traditions. The museums are small but interesting.

At the right end of the amphitheater you can find the Folklore Museum. This one displays a collection of items showing the traditional Jordanian way of life, including home furnishings, musical instruments and handicrafts.

This represents a typical village home

Top right hand corner: a woman doing embroidery. This was done on folk costume, headdresses and veils, usually in geometric designs. To the left: a woman using a Rahhah, commonly utilised for grinding wheat. 

These are different looms: one for waving straw mats, the vertical one was used by villagers to wave tents from goats hair and the horizontal loom was used to make hair rugs for camels, called "figeh".

"Beit Shaar"

The tents where the Bedouins live are called "Beit Shaar". These ae weaved with goat hair and is completely waterproof. The tents are divided into 2 living areas: "el Muhram" for the women and "el Shigg" for men. To the left hand of the picture there is a man grinding coffee. The instrument is called a "Mihbash" - it is used to ground the coffee after it is roasted, in the process the grinder is making rhythmic musical sounds, accompanied by singing - so the "Mihbash" is also considered a musical instrument.

At the other end of the amphitheater stage is located the second museum: Popular traditions. This museum displays the traditional costumes of Jordan's people. One of the things displayed here are embroideries and dresses. They are really beautiful and differ from town to town.

In the basement, you can find a collection of mosaics from Madaba and other Byzantine Churches in Jordan.

Between Amman & the Dead Sea

It takes approximately 45 minutes to drive from Amman to the Dead Sea. It is a very beautiful road (and a bit dangereous as well), specially here in spring time as the trees are blossoming and everything is green. So I thought I would share a few pictures. They are all taken from the car. It is not easy to stop on the road and with Bibs in the car I prefer not to.

It goes down and down and down... Amman is between 800m and 1400m in the mountains and the shores of the Dead Sea are at 420 under sea level. All that in roughly 40km!

We are at sea level. 18 kilometers still to go. 

A road check before you arrive to the hotel area by the Dead Sea. The car in front of us was stopped and the guard asked some questions, the car behind us was send to the side, I suppose for a search. We were waved through and that's a good thing: first of all I always panic when asked questions by the police or the army, don't know why. It's

like I have done something wrong even when I haven't! and then I suddenly remembered that I had forgotten my drivers licence at home, because I changed my bag and forgot to take it! So shortly after Bobs took the wheel for the rest of the journey... Not easy if we get stopped to explain to a non-english-speaking jordanian police officer that I still have a (post) pregnancy brain!!

One thing you see everywhere specially on Fridays is people having a picnic. They just stop on the side of the road, find a tree a sit under it. So you have cars parked everywhere on the side of the road. They even make a fire to have a barbeque! They only thing is that they also leave the garbage behind them instead of taking it with them to throw it out... so you often see plenty of platic bags hanging in the trees...Ashame...

Something else on the side of the road: vegetables! You see women, men and children selling small or big amounts of fruits and vegetables. It can be just one sorts: oranges, eggplants, tomatoes, courgettes... or a stall with many different varieties. And then you have others just selling random things!

A little note on... security

I must admit that one of my biggest concerns when we moved to Jordan was security. Jordan is good friends with all it's neighbours, but still... we didn't really know what to expect. And then, we don't hear many things about the small Kingdom of Jordan in European newspapers.

Ovisously everybody know about the terror attacks which happened in Nov 2005, where 3 hotels were hit by suicide bombers and sadly 57 persons died.

But I have to say I feel as much in security here as in Geneva or Copenhagen - certainly more than in Paris or Los Angeles (don't be offended please!). So what is giving that sense of security? Well first of all there is a large amount of police and army around. But that is not the only thing. Hotels have drastic security measures: when somebody drives up to a hotel, the car is searched, boot can be opened and questions might be asked. The number plate of each vehicule is noted. Luggage/hand bags are scanned and all men go through a metal detector, then searched; women are only searched. It is the same measures in all malls, supermarkets and though I thought it was a bit weird in the beginning now it is just part of the routine and I find it somehow reassuring. As well, when you drive out of Amman it is very common to see road blocks, where cars can be searched, papers checked. Nobody are offended, it is normal.

I suppose there are areas in Amman where you don't go, but that's the case everywhere.

So, yes I feel safe in Amman. Even my mum is reassured (and that's no easy task!!). So if you are thinking about a visit to Jordan or thinking about coming to live here that is one thing you don't need to be so concerned about!

Shame, Shame on You, Lady!

It is a well known fact that the persons living in the Gulf (Saudi, Qatari...) do in some cases not treat their live-in-maids very well. I remember, when I used to work in Paris, each summer there were cases where maids escaped from the family they were travelling with and go to the police. In the hotel where I worked a family would have big suites and their maids sleep on the floor in the next room. A disgrace. Here in Jordan, it seems to be happen as well that maids are not treated very well, I kind of expected it. What I didn't expect was what I saw the other day while I was in Carrefour.

In the middle of the vegetables, I see this poor Filipino (the majority of maids/nannies are from the Philippines) been shouted at... by an American lady. I was shocked. I mean, she should know better! It doesn't really matter what the one-sided screaming was about (something with vegetables as she was showing here 2 bags of different veggies). This poor girl was just looking on the floor, her eyes filling with tears. Unfortunately Bobs wasn't there so I was alone with Bibs, otherwise I would have told this American lady so full of herself to be very very ashamed of what she was doing.

What is it with people and power? Does she forget how to behave just because she can treat this poor girl like dirt?

Shame, Shame on You, Lady!

Well deserved one for Mr Harres!

So here it comes, the well deserved post about our Handy-Man. Poor guy, I still don't know his name!

First of all, he is Egyptian and he lives on floor -2 of our apartment block. Yep -2. On the intercom of the apartment I have a button so I can call him directly should I need him - ok a bit difficult as I can't explain what I need or want but, he quite happily seems to find his way up to the 1st floor where we have a small dicussion with our hands and also quite often a giggle cause we don't understand eachother!

So Mr Handy-Man is called a "Harres" in Arab (pronounce Harry's like in Harry's Bar) and he takes care of the building. He floads the stairs when he needs to clean them and takes down the garbage for you, 10 times during the day should you need it, you just put it out in front of the door and poof suddenly it's gone. To give you an idea here is a small list of things he has done for us: removed some of the furnitures we didn't want, moved others because I wanted them in an other place. Need a ladder? he brings one. Need a meter? he brings one. Need a srewdriver to put some batteries into Bib's toy? he takes the toy and does it. Arriving with the luggage he'll carry it, the same for the groceries. Just call him and he is there. Amazing. Ah forgot! Need something from the small nearby so called "supermarket", he'll go and buy it. All this for 150JD/per year. Ok and then because we feel bad and are not used to all this we tend to give hime a little something here and there - and he always looks as surprised when he gets something - so I guess it is not the norm.

Thumbs up for Mr Harres!

My street

This morning I was watering my 2 green plants - I only have 2 for the moment!!, well 3 if you count the pot of basil in the kitchen - and I saw 2 things which you very commonly see here in Amman - so I thought I would share them.

The guy yes is cleaning his taxi! Just there parked in my street...

Ok, I admit a more common sight in Europe as well, somebody making a u-turn. The interresting thing in Amman is that: they won't for the only car to pass to do it - when the driver decides it's the time, he just does it and then our street is fairly quiet, but you see this in the middle of a much busier road as well.

And then I haven't mentionned it but it has been pouring down for the past 4 days and I took a couple of pictures as well. When it rains in Amman, it really rains... Apparently it is very unusual that it rains so many days in a row, which is fortunate cause I didn't move to Jordan to get stuck at home because of the rain!

Let's be fair!

So yes there are things not working so well in Jordan - but it's everywhere isn't it? So let's be fair and talk about the things I really find makes things a lot easier, yes yes there are things like that as well...

For exemple, this morning I had a coffee table delivered. Not only did they call me yesterday to confirm that they were coming between 10am-12pm (not like 8am-5pm in the uk). They were actually here on time and the best of the best they were 3 guys and they asked if they should mount it. It took 10 minutes and they were out again. Oh yes, the delivery and the putting-the-table-together-thing are free of charge! I know labour is cheap here but still, some stores back in Europe could learn from that, instead of making money on their customers back all the time. I don't know about you but in Europe I always have the impression that you do the shops a favour by shopping with them, whereas here it is still the opposite, and I hope it will last!

The other thing is also absolutely amazing: Friday we went to do our groceries in Miles (very nice supermarket located in Mecca Mall) and this is what I love: first of all Valet parking when you arrive. Ok it's 1JD but it's nice! When you finish your groceries and you arrive to the till: there is somebody to take the things out of the trolley and put it on the belt, then the packs everything for you; and he even seperates the different sort of items: fruit and veg, cleaning products... Say that you are jealous! but it doesn't stop there: you can even have somebody to push your trolley up to your car and load it. And when you get home you have your favourite "Mr Handy-Man" to take it up to your apartment for you. And if you have a maid with you well she pushes your trolley when doing your groceries and puts the things in the fridge when you come home... Don't worry I can still manage to push my trolley!!

Nothing is never easy in Jordan...

I grew up in South of France where NOTHING is easy - you have to work yourself through the administration for the smallest thing, the plumber says he comes at 10am and your are lucky if he shows up the next day at 4pm - ok i am exaggerating a little bit, but not too much. Well welcome to Amman it's the same story! Some examples:

- When you land at Queen Alia Airport: need to queue to exchange some money, because nobody tells you that you need 10 JD/per person to queue to get the visa; then you queue with immigration... and finally you queue to show your passport... Don't you just love it??

- If you are to be resident you have the whole blood test/police station thing - which I am sure must be a pain in the butt (excuse my french) should you miss one tiny piece of paper... I wonder when we will get ours. Nobody can really say how long it takes, I guess it all depends if Bob's employer pushes for it or not. And then to get your things out of the port of Aqaba, should you have send some, is probably very interesting as well! We have somebody from the hotel doing it for us, otherwise it is a drive to Aqaba (about 4hours with a baby) and some lengthy talks with somebody who goes through every single thing that you wish to bring into the country and one to pay import fees. I know somebody who was asked to pay 2000JD to get their stuff, they bargained it down to 800JD, still to get your own used things...

- Our dishwasher has arrived! Youpi! well it is still in the middle of the kitchen because it wasn't the right tap, and though the tap has been fitted now, well I don't really know when the guys who should get it up and running, are going to make a reappearance!

- When we moved in 3 days ago the heating was still not quite working, we were told it could take some time because the floors are so cold - good thing we are in Jordan and not northern Europe! The central heating button was on, but one day, two days went past and the floors remained stubbornly cold! So this morning an engineer from the hotel came and... the valves were not open. And as you can see there are a lot of valves. I guess there is one for every room/bathroom/cupboard in the apartment!

- We have a little red light that shows that the water level is low in the building. Well it as been on since we moved in... and last night no more water! So we call our favourite handy-man (and yes the guy-without-a-name will get his own post soon, he really deserves it) and up he comes, Bobs shows the tap: goes no water?? and he bla bla bla in Arabic (Mr Handy-man not Bobs)... Off he goes and 5 minutes later he is back and so is the water. Well apparently the tank was closed! Why don't know?!? And there is just so much one can understand when taking with the hands.

And finally this has nothing to do with the administration, or the apartment... When you are going grocery shopping: 2 things... First don't assume that because a supermarket had something last week that they will have it next week: if you like it, buy it!! and... people just randomly stops in an random aisle and speak with random people (no ok they probably know the persons they stop and talk to): so there you are heading for the tomatoes and suddenly you have these 2 guys chatting away about random things in front of your tomatoes...

Patience, patience is a key word in Jordan!

A few lunches & snacks around town

The first place we headed for a snack when we arrived to Amman was of course to the 2nd circle and Reem. Jordanians & Non Jordanians agree: the best shawarmas in town, in Jordan, in the World :) Come on even the New York Times has had an article about Reem this winter! And yes they are indeed very tasty, the best? I don't know, but it is always packed with people buying these tiny sharwamas. Cars are parked in the circle, in front of the shop, and double parked, it's really something to see. Everybody comes there poor, rich, locals, tourists! Really a place that's worth the visit! Bobs went to buy them, it was late and Bibs was in the car so I can't really comment on the "buying" experience - for sure they don't speak english - but Bobs succeeded in coming back with them! ...so I guess everybody can! Oh yes and of course this is clearly to put in the inexpensive section - though you can get bigger sharwama's in other places for the same price! - under 1JD.

Bibs has met some of her friends at 2 restaurants lately, both located in Abdoun. The first is Casper & Gambinis; - a trendy upscale restaurant, which very proudly shows off their "hygiene" certificates. It has a lovely terrasse, the service was ok - not the fastest but not bad either - and the food was good but quite expensive. I had a fruit smoothy, a bottle of water and a salad for a total of 16JD - that's what I call London prices :) but they were ok with 6 babies and their mums so they deserve a medal for that! The second place we went is the Blue Fig - they serve some really nice small kind of pizzas (5JD), I had one with pesto and grilled vegetables, it was Yummy. There is a little couch area where we sat, a lovely terrace and seating on 2 floors. They gave us a baguette each when we left, I don't know if they also sell it, but i did see some breads displayed, so maybe!

The last one we visited was Ren Chai a fine dining chinese restaurant. It is located at fourth circle, behind the French Embassy. It seems very popular, with many large tables filling up as we left: Jordanians eat lunch very late (compared to northern Europe) at around 2.30pm onwards. Well I can safely say that it is the last time we come there! The food was uninteresting and really not worth the money (total bill of 46JD for 2 for lunch with a bottle of water), the service was OK, apart from one waiter who was plainly rude.

I need to add a couple of things: in front of every restaurant the parking spaces are allocated to valet parking so let's say that the guy at Casper's was not immensely impressed when he found me parked right in front of the restaurant as he came back from his break! Tough luck for him, haha, but to be honest I am so not used to it, that it didn't even cross my mind when I parked! He didn't say anything, but I did see him leaned against my car the whole time (2hours) we were there. The other thing is that all prices in restaurants are excluding VAT & service charge so you always have to add 26% to the prices on the menu: important if you order a good bottle of wine, not so much if you buy a sharwama of course (I think those come all included!!).

At the bottom of the page is a link to map where I put the location of all the restaurants.

One of these days...

You know, that day where you should have stayed in bed; the one where, without anything majorly bad happens, everything just seems to go wrong??? Well I had my day today!

It starts with that I wake up with a terribly stiff neck. No, it starts at 4am when Bibs has decided that she wants to feed every 30 min or so, then the bad neck and the headache that goes with it, bouh. The temperature has dropped (to normal) and the wind picked up, bouh. The Director of Guest Services calls Bibs: Isabella - which was our fancy gold fish that we had to leave behind (poor Isabella, now dead), bouh. A couple of hours where nothing happens. I am now at a friends apartment for a so called "baby group" - been there 30mins, Homecentre calls to say that our coffee table is on the way, so I have to leave - too early, didn't even finish my juice and Bibs is playing so nicely, bouh. Reverse out of the parking space and "boom" into a parked car. My first accident in Jordan, bouh. To my defence the car is parked about a meter from the pavement... Leave my phone number and explain I am in a rush - at least there is a lady who understands a bit of English. Get to the apartment, and guess what: The table is already there! So accident for nothing, double bouh! Drive back to the car-parked-in-the-middle-of-the-street. The whole family now is involved - Father, Daughter, Son, and baby girl, even neighbours. I have to wait cause the police needs to come to make a statement, bouh. Back to my friend's place. This time I get a cup of coffee. After 30mins the police comes, he asks me for the papers and what happened. So I explain and he says "you need to pay 25JD", so I say "Why" - and here comes the obvious: because it's my fault, bouh & rebouh. Mr Policeman and myself get invited on the terrace of the owner of the car-parked-in-the-middle-of-the-street, we get a glass of juice while he does the paper work. I don't think that kind of thing would happen in Europe! Get Bobs on the phone who tells me I need to watch where I am going when I am driving (thank you!) and say I have to go back to our apartment, because something is wrong with the boiler and they need access, BOUH. I am tired now, it's 4pm I still haven't had lunch, you guessed bouh!!

So all in all a very Bouh-Bouh day! Then I look at my beautiful daughter, who has been a star through this day and ok I am short of a couple of hundred JDs for the insurance, my neck still hurts and I am hungry but I know that I am blessed with a fantastic baby-girl and a wonderful husband, so it doesn't matter.

Was still a bouh day though...

I like my new hair & my chat with the street vendor at the red light

This morning I decided to go the hair dresser. Now that we know where we are going to live, I chose one not to far from our new "home" and went to "Pace & Luce" at the Sheraton. All the big hotels have their hair dresser and it is very common to come from the outside. So I put Bibs in her pushchair and off we went. I had already been there a couple of weeks ago to have a pedicure done (8JD) and Mary-Lou had told me I could bring Bibs and she would look after her while I had my hair done! So I took her word for it... and she did entertain her the whole time I sat there. And though I was a bit sceptical when the hairdresser started I must say I love my new hair, just need to get some highlights done now as well, maybe next week. It cost me 28JD not cheap but not a price I find too stiff either, far cheaper than the UK or my dear hairdresser Cyril in Paris - I miss his "sexy" haircuts!

I wanted to check out a Chicco store that I saw last time on Naser Ben Jameel Street. Just after 5th circle at the red light was this street vendor selling Jordanian flags that you can put on your window screen and I thougt I'll have one. So I called him over and handed him 1JD, he gave me the flag and said 2 JD. It went on for a little while, "1JD... 2JD" and he said "got 2 babies, please come back tomorrow ms" and I said "OK maybe". I continued my way to the Chicco store and Bibs as usual got plenty of things. It is a very well furnished shop, with toys, travel systems, cots, baths, clothes. Got Bibs a walker (65JD) and a few toys, including a phone in hope she will leave my cell phone alone now... wishful thinking! Wish one would you prefer??

On the way back we meet the flag guy again! And of course he recognises me; he comes over to the car and makes a sign so that I open the window. And he goes "2JD" and "I have 2 babies" - this times he shows me how small with his hands - seems very newborn to me, maybe twins?!? lol. So I tell him: jordanian price 1/2 JD, but me 2JD? and he goes "YES" with a big smile and gives me another flag! So I guess he deserves his other JD for being so honest; even if he is not married and has no children! Bless him.