Candy shops everywhere!

Beautiful Jordanian technologist

Heather and I both wore scarves today and the girls thought it great fun to dress us up "Jordanian" style! Too funny!

Teaching techs positioning - good job!

Lunch during conference yesterday...not all men sit together...all women the same.

Beautiful Jordanian technologists

King Hussein Cancer Center

Children with cancer at KHCC

Heather, Mike, Dick and Dr. Layla reviewing digitial images at KHCC

Mike, Heather, Dick, me and 2 Jordanian radiologists

King Hussein Cancer Center

Children's day care at King Hussein Cancer Center

Digital mammography at King Hussein Cancer Center

Group photo. Where's Waldo? (Dick).....oh, here he comes!

Dinner in Amman.

Special meal for special guy. Mike is highly allergic to nuts...so everything with chickpeas is off limits...which means almost all of tonite's meal!

Mike and I were fascinated by his little box of fries and "Hello" mayonnaise.

All veggie yumfest! Hummus, fallafel, eggplant, pita etc. etc.

Part of our team. Back row: Dick, me, Heather, Mike and Dr. Mousan Front row: Rana, Janice and Linda

Teaching

Another long but rewarding day teaching. The schedule was all messed up as was the equipment but somehow it all seems to work. Docs and techs are most eager students but have less knowledge than we anticipated. I guess we should have known. Nothing is ever as you expect it to be. I did a positioning workshop for the MDs this afternoon...something that we had to fight to get in the schedule. They tried their best to get out of it but when Mike, Dick and Heather insisted they attend, they reluctantly came. I think they were shocked with how much it takes to perform a mammogram. It was standing room only...with about 20 docs, me and Laura (who graciously agreed to be the model). Finally someone turned on the AC.....otherwise it was about 100 degrees with all of us crammed in a 8x10 room. At least they had AC to turn on. Conditions elsewhere are very third world....big surprise.
Everyone is SO friendly and helpful.....and appreciative. And the "team" is very compatable. All 9 of us congregate in my room (big surprise, again!) each night for wine and conversation. One of the MDs is coming to take us to dinner tonite. Tomorrow night we are going shopping in "old" Amman and Thursday night some big dinner with a drug company as our hosts. Then I am off Friday morning. Time is flying. Being so busy keeps me from being homesick. ;o))

Amman

Arrived in Amman late yesterday afternoon after driving from the Dead Sea. Along the way saw herds of goats being guided across the freeway and camels grazing in large pastures along the road. Drivers almost rivaling the craziness in Cairo but not quite. The hotel is ok....but very clean and safe. Our receptionist who is very, very nice had on the best pair of earrings I ever saw. Of course I have to have them! She directed me to the jewelry stores in the area. No luck. Oh well. Me up with Sue Cross (a tech from Australia)...walked around a bit...mostly to find a liquor store to buy some wine...ha ha. Then joined up with Heather MacNaughton ( a radiologist from Canada). About 2 hours later the rest of the crew arrived. There are 9 of us total. Had a fun dinner, laughed alot and got to know those we don't know and plan for today.
The conference has about 50 attendees...techs and MDs. All very attentive and interested. But when I got up to talk after lunch, our 3 esteemed radiologists were all busted for falling asleep in their chairs while I lectured! Imagine that!! Nice. Obviously jet lag had caught up with them because no one falls asleep during my very exciting and entertaining lectures. ha ha. Meanwhile, the other techs scoped out the machine/processor at the hospital. Not good. Nothing was working correctly and needed major adjustments. Not good at all. But by the close of day, all was well....or almost. We'll see how it goes tomorrow which is Day 2 of the conference and then we split off to oversee mammograms being performed on patients and then interpreted under our MDs guidance.
The food has been excellent and very much like Isreal's. The shopping opportunities have yet to be explored. I have only 3 more nights...after tonite and then I am on my way home....well, back to the US. Time had gone so quickly. What a wonderful opportunity....to see so many things and have such great experiences. And to think I almost did not come at all. ;o(
Returned to our hotel this afteroon an Nawar (our receptionist) was wearing yet another pair of wonderful earrings. This is a girl after my own heart!! I told her I had looked for the earrings like she had on yesterday and couldn't find them so she told me she would bring them to me tomorrow. Meanwhile I told her how much I like the ones she had on today and she told me that she made them! I asked her if I could pay her to make some for me and she said no....take these! She took them out of her ears and gave them to me. I told her "no....I can't take them. Please let me pay you for them." She insisted that they must be a gift. This is typical of most Jordanians: friendly, hospitable, most wecoming and generous.
Time for bed and a good night's sleep.

The Dead Sea - Amazing color of blue

Floating like a cork! You just can't sink!

Slathering up in the Dead Sea mud

View from the pool. That' Israel in the background.

Nice room and patio with a real view!

Walking on water