Welcome to Jordan

I arrived here in Amman on Sunday evening just a little after 4 PM after a really wonderful flight. I sat next to this retired man named Gabe who was originally from Syria and had been living in Connecticut for the past 35 years or so, and we talked for almost two hours about my journey to the Middle East. He explained some hot topics concerning culture, customs, hospitality, food (and tips on how to best wash lettuce), and attempted to teach me some Arabic. He was traveling with his eighty-something-year-old mother who was going back to Syria to spend some time with his sister. Gabe was continuing on to Germany by car with one of his brothers a few days after arriving in Syria. His mother offered me (in Arabic and translated through Gabe) a place to stay if I ever found myself in Syria somewhere around three hours north of Damascus. Good to know.

In my experience so far, everyone I've met is just as hospitable.

After landing, I made a fairly smooth transition through customs and collected my baggage. The Conservatory sent someone to pick me up, and he brought me to my apartment on First Circle. My roommate, Jonathan, helped me move my baggage into the apartment and get relatively settled. Our apartment has three bedrooms and is HUGE - far more space than we really know what to do with!

We made a trip out to a place called Carefour that night - a Jordanian Walmart-type store. And by that I mean, they have everything you could ever want to purchase at an unreasonably low price (but hopefully without my concerns for the workers)... We bought much produce, lentils, beans, bread, juice, and a blender. Beautiful.

I honestly don't remember going to sleep that evening. The next day, after a trip to the Conservatory and practicing, I forced myself to stay awake to fight the jet lag. Allyss, Artie, Tim, Christina, Yoo Jin, Chih-Hao, Jonathan, Mary Ellen (one of the music therapists here), and I all went out to dinner at a Chinese restaurant. It was delicious. I was kind of amused (and still am) that my first "real" meal here was not Arabic-influenced at all. Since it's Ramadan, it seems like you have to go out of your way to find local cuisine, especially since they aren't open until after 8:30 or 9:00 pm. I'm still looking forward to this.

Our stove wasn't working our first few days here, but it is now, and we made a feast of lentils, rice, and a hodge-podge of delicious fresh vegetables and tomatoes. So delicious. The produce here is so organic and the fruit is seriously the best I've ever tasted. Fresh pears, plums, peaches... and local bananas! Needless to say, my smoothies have been pretty fantastic.

I made my first visit to the downtown today - I will write more on this later after my first rehearsal!

Seriously, life could not be much better right now.