First Blog Anniversary and a Road Trip to Irbid

Who would have known time could run so fast! Browsing through the archive it just struck me that I missed Qahwa Saada's first year anniversary, which was supposedly on the 17th of January, boo. Accordingly, I'm actually six days late, but come to think about it, I guess I had an exam then, can't be too harsh on myself now, can I?

If you're worrying how yesterday went with all the packing, the road trip to Irbid one-on-one with a Jordanian gendermerie personnel, the unpacking, and the cleaning, I would like to comfort you and tell you that I made it back to Amman in one piece, I think.

First of, the guy came about three hours late, which prevented me from enjoying my falafel sandwich the way I was supposed to. Bought it from the Abu Jbara Medina St restaurant, and I payed a good deal more than I usually do for falafel sandwiches. So it turned out breakfast was rushed through for no reason. After I loaded everything into the KIA truck with his kind supervision, we set of on our journey.

Can't say I enjoyed the ride, it took about 45 minutes longer than it usually does, probably because I was in a truck full of furniture rather than a speeding 2011 Ferrari GTO rusty old Daio bus. To add to that, the trip was spent listening to overly loud Qur'an cassettes, traffic horns, and a load of interesting swear words. Plus, the driver had no idea where he was going. Irony. Things progressed pretty smoothly from there, I found out my key to the apartment neither opened nor closed the front door, and all I got was an order to get new keys from the shop around the corner.

As much as I love the city of Irbid, the second largest in Jordan after Amman, and the hometown of my ancestors, one can't help but note how dirty the city is, and by dirty I mean plastic bags and tin cans blanketing the lands all around. This brings me to how clean I found my kitchen and bathroom to be; my stove was drenched in greasy remains, with a lot of grease stains infiltrating the counter top. Stepping into a puddle I also found a leaking pipe in the bathroom, and the best thing of it all was the toilet. No other words would describe it than utterly befouled. Now luckily the water bill isn't on me, and I wouldn't consider myself a person who gets disgusted easily, so I took the situation lightheartedly and started with the cleanups and repairs.

Then it came to me that I should hurry if I was to make it back to Amman, and to add to my luck I was greeted by a lovely young taxi driver who offered to drive me there for 4 JDs, a total rip off. Some stubborn travelers stood by my choice in not taking the taxi, and we found a lad who agreed to drive us to Amman for 2JDs and a half; not too good a price, but it was the best offer I was getting for the night. So we got to Amman, and after walking a bit, I finally made it home at 10pm - stinky and soggy with a broken back and a dead phone that is.