Time Flies

Can you believe it’s almost the middle of November and the year is rapidly drawing to an end?  Time, as they say, indeed flies. 

We never quite made it to the new Jordan Museum two weekends ago.  The museum is only open three days a week and only between 10 am and 2 pm.  We were going to visit after André had finished work last Saturday, but a flooded warehouse and key staff members threatening to resign kept TVoR at work too late, so no museum for us.  Maybe in December?

Why not go sooner, you may ask? Well…  There is a skydiving boogie on at the Dead Sea at the moment, hosted by the Royal Aero Sports Club of Jordan and a team of jumpers from Czechoslovakia, which of course has TVoR beside himself with excitement.  Did someone say “skydive”? 

The boogie, mostly aimed at people who want to do tandem jumps over the Dead Sea, but also open for fun jumpers with over 500 jumps, is on for the entire month of November, until 5 December.  Normal weekend activities will resume after that.

Last week rang in the year 1435 of the Hijri (Islamic) calendar and a long weekend was proclaimed in Jordan.  Of course, this meant one extra day of skydiving. 

We got up early on Thursday morning, took a leisurely drive to the Dead Sea, where TVoR did three quick skydives.  Despite it already being quite chilly in Amman, the weather at the Dead Sea is still pleasant, no sweaters required yet. 

Friday morning and it was a case of rinse and repeat.  Got up early (luckily not the usual 3am get-up we would do for a day of skydiving in South Africa!), drove to the Dead Sea with just enough soft rain falling to dirty the car.  Got to the drop zone and it was very overcast, with determined little beams of sunlight fighting to get through the clouds here and there.  Three jumps in quick succession and off we went again. 

Must say, this is the kind of skydiving morning I can deal with: very pleasant atmosphere at the DZ, friendly staff, excited tandem passengers and quick turn-around times for the jumps.  Hubby happy, wife happy.  All’s good.

I have been on many DZ’s over the past fourteen years and seen many tandem passengers before and after their jumps.  One thing the majority of them always had in common was the terrified look on their faces before the jump, the not-knowing-what-to-expect, the anticipation, nervous energy, fear.  

Curiously, I don’t see any of that nervousness or fear in the Jordanian tandem passengers.  They all seem extremely excited and you can tell that they cannot wait for their turn to skydive, taking and posting selfies and group pictures, giggling (even the men), eager.  I wonder why the big difference in attitudes?  Hmmm… will have to investigate that phenomenon. 

What else happened last week?  Oh, met some friends for a tea morning that turned into a late lunch.  So much to discuss, so little time.  Also, Wednesday saw the official re-instating of Date Night.  No need for married couples to stop dating, as long as they date each other, right?  We went to one of our all-time favourite restaurants, Romero’s, where we had excellent food as always.  We fell in love with the place during our first visit to Jordan back in November 2005 and I am glad to report that it still remains a firm favourite.

I was signed up to attend a Pilates class last Thursday, as mentioned in a previous blog.  Because of the long weekend, that class was moved to Sunday but, sadly, the instructor’s children got sick and the class was again moved to this coming Sunday.  Wonder if this Pilates thing is maybe not meant to be?  I was so excited to try it, as I have to find a different form of exercise now that aqua aerobics is no longer an option.  The excitement, however, is dwindling fast.

Anyone who knows me can tell you that I am not a fan of any kind of exercise other than water based ones like swimming or aqua aerobics (my Swiss stepmother-in-law calls it aqua aerobatics!).  I was hoping that the Pilates bug might bite me so I can at least get some form of exercise in other than doing the laundry twice a week. 

All these postponements, however, are not conducive to getting a couch potato like me moving, so I do hope that Sunday’s class will happen and I also really, really hope that I will like it.  I have my forty-third birthday coming up and gravity, well, it sucks, doesn’t it?

Before I go… I have been staring at my television screen in disbelief this morning. I found myself in tears as footage of the devastation left in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan that hit part of the Philippines flickered across the screen.  With an estimated 10 000 people dead in one province alone and millions misplaced,  I could not help but be overwhelmed by a great sadness for those affected. 

I cannot even begin to imagine the hell these people are in at the moment, fighting to find survivors and trying to find shelter, medical assistance, water and food.  

So, if you will, please take a minute after you have read this to spare a thought, if not a prayer, for the people of the Philippines.  

There but for the Grace of God…