My dad arrived last night to come visit me in Amman for a few days. I was driven out to the airport by a very nice driver that takes me to the airport whenever I need to go to pick up my dad at around 10pm last night.

After pretty quickly getting my dad and getting back in the car in the airport parking lot, Mazan (the driver) was getting a bit frustrated at how much insane and really unorganized traffic there was in the parking lot. It really was such a mess, with a million lines of cars all trying to get into one lane and then the parking guards keeping two of the 4 lanes closed for no reason.

Honking from everyone and after a few failed but awesome tries to escape the lot from random getaway areas, we were hit by another car as we finally had gotten to our turn to merge into the other lane. We were hit at a very slow speed, so everyone was fine, except for the scratches to Mazan's car. This of course became quiet the scene for everyone around us and took an extra hour of just hanging out in the parking lot to wait for the police that never came.

Mazan and the other people in the other car pulled over to talk...yet in true Jordanian style, a guy that had nothing to do with the accident at all and was about 4 cars away from us got really really angry. This guy decided to take all of his unrelated and unreasonable frustrations out on Mazan and the other driver. He started to shove Mazan and shoved him in the face as well. Many other guys came running in to help and pull the guy away. Mazan did a fantastic job at not reacting and just staying calm. All of this happened right behind our car as my dad and I just sat there and watched. My father having been in Jordan and for that matter in the Middle East for the first time ever for all of 6 minutes, just turned and looked at me.... to which my response was:

"Welcome to Jordan Dad!"

After the "fight" was over, my dad and I just sat there and talked for an hour or so while we waited for things to get settled. At the end of it all, my dad got a kick out of the whole thing and now has a super random story to tell the people at his work about his first 10 minutes in the Middle East. All and all everything turned out fine.

The other driver felt badly and just gave Mzana some money to fix his car and Mazan kept telling me how sorry he was that he made a bad impression on my father. It was very sweet that Mazan cared so much and my father didn't at all mind about any of it. felt kinda badly for him mostly.

Exciting beginning.

Today we went to the Citadel that sits on a very high hill in Downtown Amman to see the city form such a nice view. My dad really loved seeing Amman like that and since it was his first time in the Middle East even, it was a great way for him to really see the city and get a better understanding. Later we went to grab him some coffee at Starbucks because you can take the man out of America, but you can't take America out of the man.

After a little rest so my dad could recover from the jetlag, we walked down to Rainbow Street to go to dinner and walk around a bit. We stumbled upon a street market that I had no idea happens, but it was a perfect surprise. My dad bought a few souvenirs and it was great to see at of the little crafts in Amman.

All and all a really nice and weird, but mostly nice time!