Category: Everyday Me

So, where have I been these past days?
I haven’t blogged for 4 days. That surely doesn’t seem like me, does it now?
Well, no worries, I’m still alive.

September 10th, We woke up really early and headed to Syria. My wife, her parents and myself.
We decided we didn’t have enough time to go to both Syria and Lebanon as we wished to, so we thought, this year Syria, and next time Lebanon.

Damascus, the capital of Syria, is actually closer to Amman than Aqaba (A Jordanian city) is, it’s basically a 2-3 hour drive.

I visited Damascus only once before when I studied here in Jordan, and it was for one day only. And no it wasn’t for what some of you dirty minded guys are thinking 😛 Just simple and quick micro-tourism 😉

Downtown Damascus is very old, it looks like it got stuck in the last century, but as you go further away from downtown it gets more modern.
But one thing you’ll surely find wherever you go in Syria are pictures, statues and more of the current president, his deceased father the ex-president, and his deceased brother (the would-have-become president).

Anyway, we didn’t really travel much and spent most of our time in Damascus, but we got to go to places like Qasyoon Mountain, Bloudan, Bouqein, Seidnaya, Maaloula and other not so far away places.

I took a bunch of nice pics, and will be posting some in a photolog.

It was a pretty good visit and we had a very nice time.
It was great to be back in Jordan though once we got back here.

I was just thinking the other day, and this is actually my first true vacation ever.

It’s the first time I get to get away from my everyday life, forget about almost everything and not even think about work for a fraction of a second.

Some people could argue that I took time off from work before, but well never without something else to do instead, I’d always have other things waiting for me to do in my vacation and it’d end up not feeling like one. In fact, I’d get so bored or tired I’d want to get back to work, lol.

This time, it’s totally different.
I have absolutely nothing to do.
The only thing I have to do is kill time.
And that feels great, lol.

I wish this could go on forever, lol.

So, these past 2 days and other than spending time with the family, we’ve also been trying to go around Amman as much as possible and see all the places we used to exist in.

It’s been really great seeing the places that have changed and the places that haven’t, watching the people, listening to the accent, living Jordan again.

It’s kind of a bit weird too. I feel as if I’m somehow living my present in the past or something like that.
It’s like when you’re playing a video game and you’ve passed a level, but then revisit it for a while for a certain reason and then go back to the level you’re in.

I haven’t seen anyone I know yet, but I sure am planning to see everyone I can and have contacts for.

Another thing is that I’ll truly have to go on a strict diet once I’m back to Tunisia to lose the weight I’ll be gaining here.
My mother-in-law cooks great Middle Eastern food, which I can’t miss, and on top of that I’m planning to eat at every restaurant I ever went to here. That’s a recipe for a lot of FAT, lol.

Thanks to the guys who recommended places for me to check out, they’re noted and hopefully I’ll be visiting them all 🙂

Will keep you updated…

We’re in Jordan at last…
Our plane got here at 10PM last night, and my wife’s family were there at the airport to welcome us.
It was great seeing them all after such a long time 🙂

On the way back to their place in Daheyat El Rasheed, we didn’t really see much of Jordan and if much changed in it, so we made up our minds to get out this morning to start checking it out.

So, today we picked ourselves up, went to Gardens street to change some money and started by heading to Mecca Mall, which is the biggest mall in Jordan for the time being. I hear that bigger ones are planned.
I really liked it, especially Prime Megastore and the Grand Cinema Theatres. The Food Court is quite impressive too with every fast food place you could ever imagine, reflecting the typical favourite Arab pass-time, eating 😛
Anyway, I’m sure I’ll be going back to Mecca Mall to buy a lot of stuff from Prime Megastore and to watch a number of movies.

After having lunch at KFC there, we left and went for a drive around Amman. El Medina Street, Al Rabyeh, Umm Udheina, El Sweifiyeh, …etc.

We later passed by Cozmo to get some stuff we need and some chocolates and sweets then headed home.

Today was more of a “Hi Amman, We’re Back” tour, and soon we’ll be going to more places and checking out more stuff.

Something I noticed though is that Amman is more crowded now than 2 years ago. More people, more cars, more buildings, more shopping places, more life.

Anyway, I’ll get going now.
Will post more about our stay here and Amman as we go out more and see more in the days to come 🙂

And hey for you guys who are here or who know Amman. If there are any places you would like to recommend to us, please leave a comment 🙂

In just a few minutes, we’ll be heading out to the airport, after having lunch at my parents’ place, to jump on our flight to Jordan.

It’s been 2 years since I last was in Jordan, and it feels like such a long long time.
I can’t wait to be there again, see what’s changed, what hasn’t, the family, the friends, the places …etc.

We have so many plans to visit places, eat at places, buy stuff and we’re lucky if we do half the things we want to do, lol.

This is my first real vacation in 2 years, and it feels great to know that I’ll have 3 weeks of relaxation away from the hectic everyday life.

I’ll be trying to hop online as often as I can to blog though, I’m too addicted to blogging to stay away from here for 3 weeks 😛

Anyway, cya all…
Next blog should be from Jordan 🙂

So my dear friend Dalia has given birth to a baby boy, and they’ve called him Sanad.

I just got the news a bit earlier today after checking my inbox to find an email from her announcing the happy news with some pics of the handsome baby boy 🙂

So, Congratulations Dalia & Duri, Alf Alf Mabrouk 🙂
I’m so happy for you 🙂

So, what went wrong with the blog yesterday?
All you’d get was a blank white page.

I’d love to say it was in support for some noble cause or another, but I’m sorry it wasn’t.

I don’t know why it happened, most probably a little technical glitch here or there.

Anyway, everything seems to be back to normal now.

Enjoy 🙂

A couple of days ago, I got a paper from the post office telling me I had something to pick up from there. I wasn’t really expecting anything so I got curious about what it could be and kept trying to convince myself it wasn’t another bullshit magazine from Oracle 😛

So, on my way to work this morning, I passed by the post office to pick it up. And well, what a pleasant surprise it was.

My French friend Jean-Fran