Safe and Sound in Amman

Hamdil'allah! Hamdil'allah! Yes, we've made it to Amman! It looked a bit iffy when my dean, Betsy Beaulieu, were stuck in Burlington waiting out the storm in New York. At one point Betsy and I both had flights on JetBlue and Delta, but in the end Delta won out and we made it to JFK in plenty of time to catch the connector to Amman. The flight to Amman was reasonably uneventful - or at least as uneventful as an eleven hour flight can be. For me the big thing is sitting next to someone who doesn't talk, and the gentleman on this flight said excuse me twice - which is just about at my limit (I want quiet). The driver was waiting for me and we cajoled him into taking Betsy and Lee (Betsy's best friend) along as well for a few JD more. We dropped them off at the Amman International Hotel and then I made my way to ACOR. This time is staying in a room that I didn't even know existed. This is my fifth stay at ACOR and I never managed to see this room squirreled away the end of a hall (the bathroom is outside in the hallway) in the basement. That said, it's safe, it's centrally located, and it's room and board for $30 a night. Later I made it back to the Amman International (actually, it's very close to ACOR and I just walked across a field to get there) and met up with Betsy, Lee and Al Capone (who made it in yesterday). We walked down the hill and had Lebanese fast food and then some ice cream at a Dunkin Donuts knock-off. We have meetings tomorrow at the University of Jordan for Global Module business, etc. and a tour for the other folks and then lunch at the cafeteria. We're still working on our plans for the rest of the day. Wednesday is going to be taken up by an all-day trip to Petra and Al and I are flying out on Thursday so this leg of the trip is going to fly by.