Taxi drivers named Ahmad

I am now in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. This morning I woke up at 4:30 to the call to prayer. Because there are two mosques close to where we live, this will be a routine wake up call. After a few minutes I was able to fall back asleep, only to wake up at 6:40 hearing the same voice reciting the Quran over the loudspeaker. Finally, the headmaster of the school down the street started a pep talk to his students on a loudspeaker at around 8:00. No need for an alarm clock here.

View from the window of my apartment

Today I made some new friends and saw an old one. Coincidentally, my buddy Josh Wittwer from my mission days was visiting Amman today with his family. He called me on the phone, told me where his hotel was, and I jumped in a taxi heading towards his hotel. Or so I thought.

My taxi driver’s name was Ahmad. Some of the few English words he knew were “counterstrike” (after a favorite video game), “Manchester” (after a favorite soccer team), “good” (after the word implying that which is desired or approved of), Sylvester Stallone (after an American actor who starred in five too many boxing movies), and a choice expletive. He looked about 19 years old, was extremely nice, told me that no one in Jordan wears seatbelts, and tried hard to find the hotel I was looking for. After about 20 minutes of driving and asking people where the Fonduk Misk (Hotel Misk) was, I told him we could just head back to the place where he picked me up. Being the champion that he was, he asked me if “Pepsi is good?” I said yes. He then pulled over, bought two Pepsis and a pack of cigarettes. I gladly took the Pepsi, but declined his kind offer of carcinogens. He couldn’t believe I don’t smoke. But I guess that’s just more for him. Ahmad told me that American music was good, turned on the radio, and we drove back to my apartment rocking out to Kelly Clarkson. What a good man.

When I got back to my apartment, Josh called again. We decided to meet at the Safeway store nearby his hotel. I jumped in another taxi, meeting yet another driver named Ahmad. Maybe one day I’ll come to find out that Ahmad is Arabic for “driver.” Ahmad version 2.0 was also nice, had a sweet beard, and was able to get me to my destination quickly. Josh, his younger brother Sam, and I decided to go downtown and explore the market. The city center was bustling with people buying anything from knock-off Ray-Ban sunglasses (called Riy-Don), to used desktop computer keyboards. Vendors were selling tons of t-shirts with English phrases that didn’t make sense and words spelled in funny ways (like “mayster” instead of “mister”). I was laughing my head off. 

 Sporting my new, flashy Riy-Don sunglasses with Josh

Josh, Sam, and I finished off the day by eating dinner with his parents back at their hotel. It was great to see Josh again and meet some of his family.

All in all, a successful first day. Tomorrow I head to the concrete manufacturing business where I will be doing a lot of my consulting work. I hope I meet another Ahmad there.