Around in Amman

So I made it out of my hotel last night- went to Mecca street and Mecca Mall. The cabs really are dirt cheap- it only cost 1.75 jd- around $3! I thought mecca was the newer mall, I was wrong- City's is the newer one. It showed. THe mall was more of a second teir, not very many branded stores, lots of knock off stores. Also- because it is a local mall you can smoke EVERYWHERE in the mall and boy do they ever! I woke up this morning with the worst sinus headache.

Yesterday was also a first for me- I saw "traveler people". This is the politically correct term for gypsy's/Nomads. I think they were more of the later because they were on Donkey- in the city! I was in a cab going across town to the training and all of a sudden I looked out my window and there were donkey's eating out of garbage bags on the side of the street- and I don't mean 1 or 2- I mean 12 donkeys grazing on a street in downtown Amman! Then I saw the men and women behind them on the sidewalk sitting down. My cab driver shouted something sounding angry, and we kept on driving. We are then sitting at the stop light and- sure enough- here they come on Donkey back, with their satchels trying to steer their donkey's down the street! I was just in awe. Really? Donkeys and Gypsies and cabbies Oh My! Come to find out this was not an everyday occurance as a few other people in the training had seen it too and were talking about it when I got to the hotel.

Then today we were in the store opening all the props and fixtures and I commented that we'd have to have 1-2 people take out all the cardboard. The store manager explained that we won't have too, there will be people to come and take it. "great" I thought- we can keep working all day on this. I usually have the team keep the trash in the boxes to keep the store clean. After an hour a security gaurd stepped into the store and started dumping out the boxes. WTH- I dont' have time to deal with a crazy security guard at this point so I got a translator and asked him what he was doing. Long story short- the boxes have to only cardboard- no trash, no plastic. Why you ask?? Because these people who are taking out the cardboard are not just cleaners- they are "pickers"- garbage pickers who sort stuff and then sell it. ...

So those two events, happening with 24 hrs, really put some context into where I am. There is always a Sheraton, always a store to set-up, always a team to train in every country I visit, but those are the experiences that I can say change how I look at the world. This trip especially- I have seen so many things that I have never thought I would see, or experience. It's amazing. It makes me sad sometimes. But mostly it makes me love life just that much more.