Downtown Amman

My sister, Hannah and I took our first trip to downtown Amman. It was a very cloudy day, dust clouds. If it was just regular clouds, it would have cleared off by noon. As it is, even mid-afternoon the sky is overcast with a yellow hue. This is "dust season" says my sister, but it is also the best time of the year to visit because the weather is so mild (long sleeves all day, sweater at night), and everything is green for a short time.

We ran downtown to exchange money. They have a gentleman who has been doing this for them and their friends for several years. He is trustworthy and meets them in a convenient place. Quite a service! He makes a good living doing this. We drove downtown to a predetermined place. When we saw him approaching, we just pulled over to the side of the road, he walked up to the car window, we exchanged greetings and money. He was wearing a suit, spoke just a tiny bit of English and was very friendly.

Amman is a city originally built on 7 hills - yes, like Rome. Lisa and Dan's area of town isn't as dense as these pictures, but on the outskirts of downtown, the apartments and houses are packed together as you can see here. They've really figured out how to use all their space, even the steep hills.

Downtown Amman felt a lot like the town we grew up in. Seeing all those little shops and alleyways made me want to hop out of the van and go shopping! I'll have to do that another day...maybe when Hannah isn't with us. My sister and I will probably leave Hannah with a sitter for a couple mornings and try to do some powershopping. ;-) Sisters and shopping. Sounds pretty good to me.

My cold has turned into just a tiny, nagging cough, but I'm sure it won't last long. I'm sleeping well and am pretty much adjusted to the time here. I think of all of you very often! Hope you're enjoying this. Write me!