Day 170 - Lunch with Ali and family - Xmas dinner party
Thursday, December 20th, 2018.
Gregory and I woke up at 9:00am. The kids were already awake and doing homework on their own. Or at least I hope they were doing homework. But again, they're good kids. In any case, we had a very nice and slow morning just hanging in the house. Plus it is raining outside, and it feels nice to have a warm and cozy space to write.
Ali, a Rotarian from Jordan Gregory met last night came to pick us up at 2:00pm to take us to his home for lunch with his family. It was a very nice experience to meet and chat with a local family. Their home was big and fancy. They had 3 living rooms, which probably means that gatherings and events are important here, just like in Mexico. We sat in the living room with Ali and his daughter Yasmine, who was 16 years old. Her English was really good because she goes to an international school, and she was genuinely interested in our trip. I was so happy to see how open-minded and outgoing she was. I thought she was going to click with Sunshine immediately, but unfortunately, she left right after lunch and they didn’t get to talk. We had a great time and an amazing meal. We walked into the big dining room and the whole table was covered with traditional Arabic food. I had to ask if they ate that much every day and they said no, that they only do when they have guests.
We met Ali’s wife, who was very pretty and open minded. The Arabic culture continues to remind me of my own Mexican culture, the whole family eating together, the way they dressed, the schooling, the neighborhoods, the driving... I guess educated and well-traveled people are more open-minded, and I feel that we can relate and connect with them. We had some interesting conversations about Israel, Syria, and Jordan. Ali’s wife was actually Palestinian, and Ali was Syrian. We also met his cousin, her daughter, and her two grandkids who were visiting from Syria. It was interesting to hear Ali’s youngest daughter (five years old) and her little cousin (three years old) speaking English. Ali's daughters go to international schools, and English is their first language.
Little by little people started to disappear from the dining room table, including Ali and his wife who said that they had to go to work. Awkward, I thought, but then I realized that it was time to go. Ali, our host, said he would send his driver to take us to our home. We waited with his cousin and Salma, his 11-year-old daughter. She was so cute and talkative. She had so many questions for us to answer and we asked her a lot of questions as well. I wanted to know what she thought of the downtown and the people that live in that area, and she said, oh, I don’t like to go downtown, it is dirty.
I told Gregory that downtown was not her area, like in Mexico, downtown is where most of the low-class people live and shop (and where Gregory likes to stay).
The driver took us home, by then it was raining hard and the drivers were honking like crazy. We rested for a few hours and then we got ready to go to the second event, a Christmas party. I honestly didn’t want to go. I had a stomachache and I wanted to stay home with the kiddos. But Gregory had said yes to the invitation because it was from a Rotarian. Later I found out that we had to pay to go and when I asked Gregory why didn’t he tell me, he said, “because you wouldn’t have come.” I was so mad and didn't know what to do. I felt so uncomfortable because everyone was so dressed up and I was wearing my jeans and tennis shoes, my only winter clothes! I have to confess that I spend a good amount of time in the bathroom, but then I realized that I couldn’t spend all night there.
Gregory introduced to a lady named Moona, who then introduced me to a Mexican girl named Claudia. My salvation, I thought. I wanted to ask her a lot of questions, but she then introduced to the ambassadors of Mexico and Panama, Abel and Thomas. We mostly talked about our trip, which they were fascinated by. Very agreeable men. The best part about the party is that Thomas had been in Egypt before, and he gave us a lot of good advice. Gregory met another guy from Switzerland who gave us great advice about Africa. All the people were so friendly and welcoming. They had a birthday cake for all the December birthdays and of course, they started to sing to me as well. The music was loud and I was worried about the neighbors getting mad, but Moona told me not to worry since the host owned the whole building.
After a big dinner and dessert, they started to play salsa music and of course, I wanted to dance and Gregory was ready to go. It is always like this, I don’t want to go to parties at first (it is hard to get out of the house) but once I’m out, I want to party. We danced, then we tried to leave, but like in Mexico, a half hour after all the goodbyes, we were finally outside waiting for an Uber! Yes, there is Uber in Jordan and it is very convenient! We got home around 1:00am and I thanked Gregory for taking me to that fun party!
Gregory and I woke up at 9:00am. The kids were already awake and doing homework on their own. Or at least I hope they were doing homework. But again, they're good kids. In any case, we had a very nice and slow morning just hanging in the house. Plus it is raining outside, and it feels nice to have a warm and cozy space to write.
Ali, a Rotarian from Jordan Gregory met last night came to pick us up at 2:00pm to take us to his home for lunch with his family. It was a very nice experience to meet and chat with a local family. Their home was big and fancy. They had 3 living rooms, which probably means that gatherings and events are important here, just like in Mexico. We sat in the living room with Ali and his daughter Yasmine, who was 16 years old. Her English was really good because she goes to an international school, and she was genuinely interested in our trip. I was so happy to see how open-minded and outgoing she was. I thought she was going to click with Sunshine immediately, but unfortunately, she left right after lunch and they didn’t get to talk. We had a great time and an amazing meal. We walked into the big dining room and the whole table was covered with traditional Arabic food. I had to ask if they ate that much every day and they said no, that they only do when they have guests.
We met Ali’s wife, who was very pretty and open minded. The Arabic culture continues to remind me of my own Mexican culture, the whole family eating together, the way they dressed, the schooling, the neighborhoods, the driving... I guess educated and well-traveled people are more open-minded, and I feel that we can relate and connect with them. We had some interesting conversations about Israel, Syria, and Jordan. Ali’s wife was actually Palestinian, and Ali was Syrian. We also met his cousin, her daughter, and her two grandkids who were visiting from Syria. It was interesting to hear Ali’s youngest daughter (five years old) and her little cousin (three years old) speaking English. Ali's daughters go to international schools, and English is their first language.
Little by little people started to disappear from the dining room table, including Ali and his wife who said that they had to go to work. Awkward, I thought, but then I realized that it was time to go. Ali, our host, said he would send his driver to take us to our home. We waited with his cousin and Salma, his 11-year-old daughter. She was so cute and talkative. She had so many questions for us to answer and we asked her a lot of questions as well. I wanted to know what she thought of the downtown and the people that live in that area, and she said, oh, I don’t like to go downtown, it is dirty.
I told Gregory that downtown was not her area, like in Mexico, downtown is where most of the low-class people live and shop (and where Gregory likes to stay).
The driver took us home, by then it was raining hard and the drivers were honking like crazy. We rested for a few hours and then we got ready to go to the second event, a Christmas party. I honestly didn’t want to go. I had a stomachache and I wanted to stay home with the kiddos. But Gregory had said yes to the invitation because it was from a Rotarian. Later I found out that we had to pay to go and when I asked Gregory why didn’t he tell me, he said, “because you wouldn’t have come.” I was so mad and didn't know what to do. I felt so uncomfortable because everyone was so dressed up and I was wearing my jeans and tennis shoes, my only winter clothes! I have to confess that I spend a good amount of time in the bathroom, but then I realized that I couldn’t spend all night there.
Gregory introduced to a lady named Moona, who then introduced me to a Mexican girl named Claudia. My salvation, I thought. I wanted to ask her a lot of questions, but she then introduced to the ambassadors of Mexico and Panama, Abel and Thomas. We mostly talked about our trip, which they were fascinated by. Very agreeable men. The best part about the party is that Thomas had been in Egypt before, and he gave us a lot of good advice. Gregory met another guy from Switzerland who gave us great advice about Africa. All the people were so friendly and welcoming. They had a birthday cake for all the December birthdays and of course, they started to sing to me as well. The music was loud and I was worried about the neighbors getting mad, but Moona told me not to worry since the host owned the whole building.
After a big dinner and dessert, they started to play salsa music and of course, I wanted to dance and Gregory was ready to go. It is always like this, I don’t want to go to parties at first (it is hard to get out of the house) but once I’m out, I want to party. We danced, then we tried to leave, but like in Mexico, a half hour after all the goodbyes, we were finally outside waiting for an Uber! Yes, there is Uber in Jordan and it is very convenient! We got home around 1:00am and I thanked Gregory for taking me to that fun party!
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| Santa and Claudia from Mexico! |
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| One girl was from Amman and another from Sarajevo. We had a nice chat with them! |
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| There was a big table full of food but I forgot to take a picture. |
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| Some of the leftover food! |
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| Dessert |
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| The Rotarian host, Moona, Gregory, Lili and ? |
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| Wasseem, Moona, Lili and Gregory at the Christmas party. |
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| A small video of the Christmas party! |
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