Driving in Amman

I have big news! Huge! Awesome news…wait for it…Today I drove.  I know, not what you were really expecting but this is kind of a big deal.  One of my biggest concerns about moving here was the driving.  It is a driving city, meaning that in order to get pretty much anything done you need to drive to it.  People had told me that it was completely doable, but that driving is a bit crazy.  When we arrived and were being driven to our apartment, I was paying attention to the other drivers and the roads and I thought, “Okay I can do this. This isn’t too bad.”  Then I remembered that we had arrived near the end of Ramadan and many people were on vacation, businesses were closed – you get the picture – the driving I was seeing wasn’t actually all that real.

We had our first real taste of true Amman traffic on Wednesday when Bill got back from work and we decided to go to the grocery store before the start of Eid (the celebration of the end of Ramadan).  And yes before you ask, we actually needed some groceries in order to make it through the 4-day holiday weekend, where who knows what would be open and when.  Needless to say it took us an hour and a half to get to the store, which normally should take 15 minutes.  It was a rookie mistake, kind of like trying to buy a turkey the day before Thanksgiving, or going to the grocery store before an impeding mega-snowstorm.  I was thankful I wasn’t driving.

But today I did drive.  It’s a Friday – which is their Sunday equivalent here and extra bonus – a holiday, so the roads were pretty much empty and it was smooth sailing for me!  I also knew exactly where I was going as we had been to our destination previously, but still the point is – I drove.  Without having to turn around and with no damage to any vehicles or people.  I call that a huge success.

Just in case you are wondering this is what we are currently driving.  It’s from Bill’s office and is temporary, but still a nice car.

And because she is just too cute when she puts on these headphones, here is one of Mariel talking to her grandparents in PA.  It’s the 2013 way of doing things.

Love to all,

J in Jordan