Jordan

No, I have never been to Jordan.  But this evening, I picked my daughter up at the airport, and I learned a lot about Jordan on the drive home.  Jenna, the wanderer, spent the last week in Amsterdam, Jordan, and Paris.  And it was Jordan that captured her heart.

The fact that she was ten kilometers from the Syrian border might make a mother take pause . . . but she insists that she felt safe the entire time she was there.  Xenophobia is just not a word in her vocabulary.  She embraced the culture fully.  And she is already plotting a return.

Upon our return home, she offered pistachio treats, demonstrated how to wear a traditional head scarf, and detailed all the highlights of her adventure.  She rode a camel.  She did not smoke a hookah (although that is a popular pastime in Jordan). She explored the ancient city of Petra by herself.  She traveled to a monastery on a donkey.  She swam in The Dead Sea.

Here, you can see the facial that she received at The Dead Sea.  She seems pretty happy about it, doesn't she?

The most stunning thing that Jenna told me on the drive home was how much she appreciates the slower pace of life in the countries she has visited.  And I am not surprised about that observation.  Seriously, what the hell are we doing here?  Christmas shopping on Thanksgiving?  Road rage?  Tailgating?  Getting in line for the latest technology?  Ugh!

I could easily fall in love with a slower pace.  So today, I will fall in love vicariously with a different culture.  I will fall in love with Jordan, a place I have never been, but one that has just been added to my bucket list.