The Dead Sea

I did try to get a postcard to you, however.......the post office closes at 4pm. After a mad scramble after work arrived at the PO at 3.55, to finally be told there were no stamps left at 4pm when I had made my way to the head of the queue. Everything has its own system and only Inshallah (‘God willing’) will you get what you want, despite all the new apartments being built and trendy cafes in my part of Amman.

The view out of the plane on the way from Dubai to here was astounding – I thought we were in the desert in South America -but nothing like flying over from Dubai to here. Made a quick exit after changing money and getting a visa in a very confusing aisle, as chaotic as the traffic outside. There will be no bike riding here unfortunately. Not only have I been strongly advised against it, I can see for myself it would be extreme - no one is looking out for anyone let alone a cyclist.

My new boss met me at the airport. I was about to get my bags to put in the car but the driver did that. There’s a ton of people for each job (unemployment is high) - that doesn’t mean efficiency though. In every part of bustling Amman, white stone buildings edged the streets through which we drove. It was as if we were making our way through a forest of chalky-coloured boulders. My apartment is fine with two bedrooms and two bathrooms and a huge TV and internet connection.The afternoon I spent starting feel the effects of jet lag after a cleaning jag. There is a fine pepper dust under my finger that is reinvented soon after a clean down. Wandering the streets in the heat of autumn (what must it be like in summer?) in a maze of sandstone apartments, this new area seemed to go on and on to the outskirts of desert. Feeling very strange I took to my bed at last. 5am is my wake up call to prayer.

My first shopping experience was learning how to hold back from pawing over dates figs nuts and feta cheeses. Everything I want is here including rolled oats even soy milk. At a price. The cost of living here is high.

My first day of school I met Queen Rania's sister (the director of the school) and one of the princesses who go to school here. Photos of the royal family show the Queen to be gorgeous. The Jordan Times has many articles about her good charitable works. The money in this school is astounding. Two computer suites, music and art rooms library all come with specialised staff as well as an Arabic teacher. The new gym is being built and school grounds landscaped. The school has been designed by an architect with some far fetched ideas in the design but a sight to behold.

I have a trained local teacher and another assistant to work with me sounds good however 24 three- four year olds who can't sit for very long - a sea of faces but with all the help for the chores not to mention the music, art, ICT, PE and Arabic classes that I am released from teaching. Mind you when the kids are there it is full on and there’s no let up. I forgot what they were like at that age, whew it's not easy.

The Dead Sea. I set off with butterflies, last Friday, my first weekend here. (Friday and Saturdays are the weekend.) Negotiating what and where I did not know but took heart from my experiences in Japan spending my first day off climbing a mountain with the same butterflies in my tummy and that went very well despite the confusion.

No other teachers appear to catch public buses here. Mind you when I asked for the bus station I got taken to another bus station from where I had to take another bus to get to the original station I'd wanted, then to the station I needed. As I was getting a tour around the city I wasn’t too phased. As luck would have it two nice young Taiwanese boys and I teamed up to share a taxi for the last kms where there really was no public transport. However I was traveling with the locals and that's how I like it. Coming down the desert mountain 1000 metres was amazing, with the Dead Sea a vision. The whole experience in the water with the salt that felt thick, bobbing about as if I was doing aqua aerobics without the float was fun! To think that just over the way is Palestine.

A late lunch back in Amman - went to a place awash with families dining, women in burka. Very few cover the face here. Jordan is accepting of all cultures and religions. It's the whiteys who draw attention to themselves ...at the Dead Sea a westerner was hanging out of a bikini - and as the locals swim with their clothes on; she certainly got the attention.