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.