It has been some time since my last post. For a good reason, I have been extremely busy. It is now a little more than 3 month that I am in Jordan. A wonderful time.

It starts with the signboard above. The word "Welcome" is the whole essence of Jordan. Very welcoming, very friendly and very warm people. Smiley people. And yet, Jordan, as many other countries, has its problems too. In particular now with the influx of Syrian refugees in big number. Prices increase, jobs are getting scarce mainly at laborer level. And yet, the "easy going" but very efficient way is hiding it a bit.

Amman is a bustling town.

I am living in the older part which is "Jebel Amman". This is where the city was built first, originally on 7 hills. I was told that today the city spreads over 19 hills. I have to check that. But the fact is that the roads are going up and down all the time in the city. And I can see that daily when I move around with taxis.

A very good way to move in town. The distance from my home to the office is around 9 kilometers and the fare is about 2 dollars for this trip. The taxis have meters and the amount varies according to the travel time. And when I see a taxi driver stopping for me and he smokes, I say: "Oh, you smoke" and then the driver wants to get rid of the cigarette and I say: "No, I will smoke with you". Because Jordan is a smoker's paradise. Everybody, well almost everybody smokes, men and women. In my residential area is Rainbow Street with dozens of cafes. Where one relaxes drinking a coffee or a tea and smokes, cigarettes and Shisha, the water-pipe.

I will talk in future more about Amman, a very pleasant city.

But Jordan has a lot to offer. Also on this I will dwell longer in the future.

Petra, the historic site with its churches built into the mountain is on my agenda for a visit.

And recently, I had the chance to go to the Dead Sea.

I did stick my finger in the water and licked it. It is indeed very, (very, very) salty.

I am enjoying my stay in Jordan very much even though the work is harsh. You will read more about it. End of this month I am going home for a break and to renew my passport which is about to expire (and does not have empty pages anymore) and next year I will come back to Jordan.