Long Weekend!

Hello everyone!  So sorry for not posting more often over the last couple of weeks.  It was not by choice, believe me!  The internet connection in Amman had been absolutely terrible the last month or so.  First the Seacom undersea cable was cut and that affected not just Jordan, but even South Africa and today I heard that protesters stole some cables in Jordan over unpaid pension issues.  Don't know more facts around that issue, but there you have it. 

Funny how something like no internet connection can affect a person's mood.  I went into quite the funk last week.  Not being able to email friends and family was bad enough, but not being able to browse the internet depressed me terribly.  I have this ritual: first thing in the morning while I wait for the shower water to heat up, I check and answer emails, then I check local South African news websites to keep track of what is going on back home.  Then after my shower, I check Jordanian news websites, then CNN and only then do I allow myself to browse on the internet.  I believe it is important to know what celebrities are up to – my guilty pleasure, if you will – and then I play around on Facebook.  After that I normally research things, read up on little factoids that randomly entered my mind during the day.  This kills at least two to three hours of the day and, trust me, when the weather sucks outside and you are basically trapped inside an apartment with no transport of your own, this becomes very important.

So, being the creature of habit that I am, not being able to follow my usual rituals made my days very long and extremely boring.  Depression set in and I spent many a day just napping, reading, eating toast and then back to napping.  Of course, the fact that our cable TV connection also decided to pack up last week did not help at all!  I am hoping for an upturn in the situation soon. 

Ok, last week...

On Thursday André and I attended the nineteenth South African Freedom Day celebrations, hosted by the South African Ambassador and his lady wife at the Mövenpick hotel at the Dead Sea.  We decided to stay over at the Kempinski Ishtar hotel just next to the Mövenpick and what a fine time we had! 

The Freedom Day celebrations were in honour of South Africa's first democratic elections, held on 27^th April 1994. Dress code was formal, but they really could have made it smart casual, or even better, just plain casual, as one had to walk a very long way on very high heels (stupid, stupid choice, but flat shoes just does not go well with a little-ish black dress!) to get to the amphitheatre where the event was held.  I swear, next year I am wearing flats.  It really was a most enjoyable evening, with a short welcome speech by the ambassador, followed by the two national anthems.  Strange how hearing Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrica always brings a tear to the eye, no idea why.  Maybe I am just a sentimental fool? 

My gladdest glad-rags!

 

After the anthems, the entertainment for the evening started.  They had flown in the Three Afro Tenors from South Africa and what a show these three gentlemen put on!  I was mildly upset that they did not, in fact, sport huge afros, but soon forgot my disappointment when they started singing. 

 

The Three Afro Tenors in action

The Amphitheatre

 

 

Songs ranging from O Sole Mio, Amigos Para Siempre and Nessum Dorma to Impossible Dream were belted out in perfect harmony and the mostly non-South African crowd seemed to enjoy it a lot.  To my surprise and great amusement they even sang the Pretoria rugby team, the Blue Bulls' theme song, Liefling and even though that made me giggle, they executed it perfectly.  Wonder what Steve Hofmeyr would say about that? 

 

They ended off the show with a lovely rendition of Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World, but for me, the highlight of their show was a song I had never heard before, but one that I could have sworn brought a tear to my hubby's eyes:  Malaika.  The melody of this Swahili song is so hauntingly beautiful that I have been humming it on and off since I heard it on Thursday evening.  I have not been able to find the Three Afro Tenors' version on line, but here is a link to the Harry Belafonte version, featuring Miriam Makeba, to give you an idea...  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8jxALtWGVQ

Food was plentiful and delicious, but I was a bit disappointed that no South African dishes were offered.  Instead, they served the national Jordanian dish of Mansaf (flavoured, spiced rice, almonds and lamb cooked in dried yoghurt), which I love, so no complaints from my side.  Lots of other bits and pieces like grilled fish kebabs (this eating-fish-thing is growing on me, much to André's surprise and I suspect horror) and grilled veggies were on offer and I don't think anyone left the event hungry.  Desert was a giant South African flag-cake, a yummy red velvet concoction and I had two pieces, as one does!  Not every day you get to eat a flag...

I think it would be more than fair to say that André and I enjoyed our stay at the Kempinski hotel.  After the party at the Mövenpick, we wobbled back to our hotel for a shisha and a nightcap.  We have stayed at a number of hotels along the Dead Sea during the past year or so, but I have to say this was the best hotel of the lot.  I could sing the praises of the huge room, the superior quality of the linen on the bed or the lovely feather pillows, but the thing I loved most was the bed.  Had ourselves an exquisite night's sleep and am hoping to be able to return to the Kempinski-beds sometime in the near future.

Friday morning dawned in all its 34 degree glory and we had ourselves a champagne breakfast because, well, simply because we could.  After that we went straight to the beach for a swim, or is that a float?  Here's some pictures: 

Look Ma, no hands!  I find it so much easier to wear reef shoes to
swim in the Dead Sea, those stones and rocks are sharp!

The water was still cold, because up until now it has not been warm enough to sustain decent swimming/floating temperatures, but I did not let that deter me at all and I had myself a fine 40 minute swim.  André briefly braved the water but decided that the cold water was not for him, so we headed off to try almost every one of the many, many swimming pools at the hotel and finally decided on a warmish pool next to a bar lounge.  Suffice it to say that some shisha, beer and mojito's were consumed successfully and with enthusiasm – it was warm outside, after all!

The rest of the long weekend went by relatively quickly, watching dvd's and taking extended naps being our top priorities.  And of course, we ended the Palm Sunday long weekend with a superb lunch at Haret Jdoudna, where else?  We initially set off to find a different restaurant called Kan Zamman, but unfortunately André left the GPS at work, so we were unsuccessful and will endeavour to find it some other time. 

 

And that's all she wrote, for the moment, folks.  It seems like we have finally broken the back of this horrible winter, so I am looking forward to the rest of the sunny week ahead.