Sunrise at King's Academy just outside of Madaba...the deep voiced call to prayer is also a call to wake up to Jordan. Today we toured Amman--a city that I have traveled through more than once, but never stopped to get to know. Today we had a chance to visit ancient Roman (1,800+ years ago) and Umayyad (1,300+ years ago) ruins, look at modern architectural wonders, feast on newly prepared but traditional food, and all the while in the midst of 90+ temperatures.Amman is a city of tolerance and even acceptance. Next to the King Abdullah Mosque, one of the city's main mosques, is a Christian church and the Ministry of Education.
While touring the mosque many of the fellow teachers left their purses in the mini-bus. Although the driver was with us in the mosque complex for the beginning, there wasn't a worry about theft...at least not on the part of the Jordanians! Amman is a safe city for the most part. The drivers even are much more tolerant of pedestrians than other drivers in the region (Syria, Turkey, Lebanon). Drivers actually slow down and allow walkers time to cross the road--most drivers don't even use their car horns to scold slow walkers into speeding up.
