Carpet for dessert

The past few days have been packed with fun adventures for man, woman, and child. On Saturday we decided to go explore the Citadel, which is an area with a bunch of old Roman and medieval ruins on top of a hill near downtown Amman. As we walked up the hill, we could hear the call to prayer coming from mosques all over the city. That was pretty dang cool. Also, the Citadel was great. Imagine most other ancient Roman ruins you may have been to or seen, and you’re not far off from what it looks like. In fact, here are a couple of photos for your viewing pleasure:

 That is me standing under a very old Roman structure. Apparently some of the ruins are neon green. Or the internet messed up my photo. Take your pick.

A couple of Arabs saying "that's pretty neat."

That very day I was also introduced to a dessert called kenafeh. It looks like a random piece of 1970s shag carpet with bits of mystery food that have accumulated in its long strands over the years. But looks can be deceiving. What it really contains is shredded wheat coated with sugar smothered on top of what tastes like a giant blob of mozzarella cheese. Sounds weird? It is. But you’d be surprised at how tasty that stuff is. I think one piece covers your whole calorie intake for the day. It’s not for the faint of heart.

Eating some kenafeh with Steve.

We topped off our Saturday by going to see The Avengers (my third time) and then watching the Champion’s League final (basically like the Super Bowl of European soccer) at a café. We had some avid Chelsea fans with us, so everyone else in the café decided to cheer for Bayern Munich. Too bad they lost. It was an awesome game.

 Just watching a soccer game.

Yesterday we went to the birthday party of George, a man in the English branch out here. He is the nicest man ever and bought us all dinner for his birthday. We ate chicken, hummus, pita bread, French fries, salad, and cake to celebrate his day of birth. Matt McKnight and I then kicked off the evening with some karaoke. I never realized how much I sound like Elvis when I sing “You Ain’t Nothin’ But a Hound Dog.” Yeah, I’m pretty dang good. Other renditions may or may not have included songs by Chuck Berry, Justin Bieber, and various Disney movies.

All in all, a fun weekend. Work continues to roll on at the concrete company. And now it is time for me to retire to bed for the night. Buenos noches.