In Amman

So i made it into Amman Wednesday night and have been training the new team the past two days.
The weather is their normal fall, : in the 60's, rainy and overecast. They did the time change on Sunday as well and that means it gets dark really early, today it was dark at 4:30!

The staff members are amazing people. They are so excited to be working for our brand and a already very knowledgable about many things i am talking about from their own online research and studying the website. So i am vey impressed. They are also the nicest people i have ever trained. YesterdAy when we went to lunch the one sales associate paid for me and would not take no for an answer. When we left last night another offered to drive me back to the hotel so i wouldn't have to fight for a cab during rush hour. Then this morning when i came in there was a diet coke on the front table ( diet coke is impossible to find here as well) and one of the associates had overheard me joking with the store manager that i can never find diet coke in the middle east. How nice is that!

The hotel is great. Just renovated older sheraton. It is in a decent location, central to both the place we are training and the new mall. Which by the way i went to the mall this morning with the store manager. There are only 10 stores opening next saturday at the malls grand opening. This is a big big mall- three stories, huge. Only ten stores. .???... I cant tell if this is good or bad. The funny thing is that there is body shop, my store, and VS all in the same hallway, all selling the same thing. So 1/3 of the stores are personal care! The one thing that we have though is our amazing well trained staff. So we will by far be the best. :-)

I have found out some things since i've been here:
The dead sea is only 45 minutes away and is the lowest spot on earth. Pretty cool.
Petra is huge and is way further away then i thought. 3 1/2 hrs away. One way.
The huge and hostile issue of Palastinians versus Isreal is very much a part of society here. I made a mistake by asking how far it was from amman to the mediteranean sea. I said you have to drive through ( Jerusalem) and they immediately said "no, you drive through palestine" and gave me a look. Now I know.
The unemployment rate here us sooo high for people under 30 that they are working for 1 jd an hour in some cases. Just to have a job. That is $1.5 and hour. It is also so low because the currency is very undervalued here. I took a cab for 5 jd, $7.50 from the hotel to the training site and i thout the store manager was going to lose her mind. She told me to never pay any more than 2 jd (3.25) for a cab riede anywhere in the city. To even get in a cab in dubai the base charge is $3.

Overall I am having a good time. I havent had any time to site see yet, or go anywhere in the city but will when i have a day off next week.
And I'm in Amman! How crazy is this! The dead sea, petra, jerusalem is an hour away! Seriously amazing. :-)