An American in Jordan

Well folks, it looks as though my time here in Jordan has come to an end. I’m not going to go into details, but the short and skinny of it is that I’ll be leaving in just a couple of days.

I’m going to truly miss Jordan and the wonderful friends I’ve made here. This country and its people will always have a special place in my heart. My wish is to one day see Jordan reach its potential as the jewel of the Middle East. There are still many things that must be accomplished before that goal is reached, but it is obtainable and you (yes, you) can make difference.

I’ll be sure to keep in touch with my close friends, and I’ll still be reading all of my favorite Jordanian blogs in order to stay current with local news and cultural happenings. Until (and if) we meet again, I bid you Adieu.

Dave
(The person formally known as The American in Jordan)

I love the idea that Jordan is now the 27th international country to have a Papa John’s Pizza. Papa John’s is the third largest carryout and delivery pizza restaurant in the United States behind Pizza Hut and Dominoes Pizza. Most Americans I know consider Papa John’s to be the best delivery-style pizza available.

Amman’s new branch is located in Swefiyeh across from Wakalat Street at the site of the old Burger King. I had a friend bring me a menu so I could have some pizza delivered to determine if Jordanian Papa John’s was, in fact, as good as the original stuff I was used to.

I called the number on the front of the menu (the one listed under the words “Home Delivery”), only to be informed by a very confused young woman on the other end of the line that they don’t offer delivery. I said, “Well, you’re advertising home delivery on the front of your menus.” She informed me that it’s just not available yet.

So I drove to Swefiyeh to order the pizza directly. I spoke to a very friendly manager who informed me that delivery would be available in one week…er…10 days. So I’m going to use my knowledge of the culture to interpret this statement and inform everyone that Papa John’s will begin their home delivery in one month.

Every so often I Google myself, just to see what’s out there on the World Wide Web about me. What I generally discover is historical location photographs that I have taken in the past that are being used (with permission and/or credit) by cultural, historical, religious and encyclopedic websites and online documents.

But occasionally I find something different. And while none of it is too exciting, I did happen across an online article entitled Swiss Girl Meets Steven Spielberg, Spends Time on Indiana Jones 4 Set, where a different style photo of mine was used as the article illustration. Notice the photo of Indiana Jones getting his face punched in by a Nazi goon? Yeah, that’s mine.

In this series of Flickr Favorites, I’d like to highlight just a couple of the many worldwide portraits that I enjoy. Obviously I can’t list all of my favorites, but these are some of the most recent and a decent variety, I think.

Be sure to look back at previous favorites: Series 5, Series 4, Series 3, Series 2 and Series 1.

The price to park at Queen Alia International Airport just tripled over the last month. The charge for parking (if I recall correctly) used to be thirty piasters per half hour. But the new charge is one dinar for every hour or increment of an hour.

So you want to park for five minutes? One dinar. Fifty-five minutes? One dinar. One hour and five minutes? Cha-ching, two dinars.

As far as I can tell, none of the parking services have improved. There’s the same lackluster security monitoring ignoring the parking lots. And there’s still the overcrowding and the double parking. So in essence, it’s the same crappy experience, only now we get to pay triple the price for it.