Zaid's entry: The last couple of days have been a bit slow here. There was quite a bit of rain the past couple of days (Wed. and Thurs.) and as such I didn't get out too much.

Wed. I spent a couple of hours walking around a shopping-type area a short distance from our place. There was a mall there (didn't go in it) and a bunch of cafes, restaurants, and other shops you'd typically encounter in a shopping district.

Thurs. I decided to go to the art gallery of Amman with plans to go to the archaeological museum at the University. The art gallery was not bad - kind of your typical art gallery wit displays from various regional artists (Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq...). If there was an overlying "theme" in the works, I'd say it was the struggle that the arab world (especially, Palestine) has had with sovereignty and self-determination - obviously a very precarious subject.

I decided to skip the museum of archaeology and go there another day. Instead I went to my aunt's house and lunch lunch with her and my cousins. The national dish of Jordan was on the menu - mansaf. Mansaf is a rice-based dish with lamb and a yogurt sauce. The rice is laid out on a platter with stewed lamb placed on top of the rice. The rice and lamb are plated and then the yogurt sauce is drenched over top. It's a very traditional Jordanian bedouin meal with associated traditions (which may or may not be practiced depending on the occasion). It is usually eaten with the right hand such that you grab some rice with sauce, roll in into a golf-ball sized ball and pop it in your mouth. Very messy as you can imagine. Also, the head of the lamb is usually placed on the platter and the guest of honour is offered one of the eyeballs to eat (while the host gets the other). This is supposedly the best part of the meal. No eyeballs were served yesterday. Finally, if you ever have a chance to eat mansaf and you are served the tongue, be wary as this means you have somehow offended the host or the guests or you talk too much!!! Mansaf is something that had always scared me since I was a kid (the smell of the yogurt, the head on the platter, the messiness of it, etc.) but its actually not too bad. I'd recommend folks try it if you have the chance.

Finally, another cousin picked me up from my aunt's and took me to my dad's hometown called Madaba. Madaba is full of history for me as the modern city was founded in the late 1800's by my great grandfather's family and a couple other families (the families together forming a cohesive tribe). My dad's home as a kid has now been converted by cousins into a local craft/restaurant complex (though the original architecture has remained in tact) called Haret J'Doudna (Our House). Quite nice! There's one room with plenty of pictures of my ancestors - it was great to see. I didn't take many pictures there because I'm sure we will have a big party there sometime in the next couple of weeks.

A pretty laid back few days but nice none-the-less. Take a look at the brief album to see the art gallery, mansaf, and Haret J'Doudna.