Good Times at the Dead Sea

Here are a few more fun photos at the Dead Sea with my future in-laws. Little did I know that in a few hours I would be engaged. I still can't believe it!!

The Big Question!!

I am happy to say that I am officially engaged!! It was the most beautiful and romantic moment of my life so far. Brian managed after 7 years of knowing each other to completely surprise me to the point that I was speechless. His parents are still in town and we all went down to the Dead Sea last night to stay at a very beautiful hotel. Halfway through the day Brian told me that the hotel asked him to do a photo shoot of our balcony set up with room service and in exchange we could eat the food afterwards. As Brian has done this for many jobs in the past I was not suspicious at all. The crazy thing is that while he was setting up, I was helping arrange the flowers for the shoot. Next thing I know he tells me his parents are coming over for some champagne to watch the sun set before the photo shoot. As we sit down Brian says he wants to take a picture of all of us. As I am posing for the picture I look over and Brian is holding a ring and says, "we should get married". He then waited for my reply until I said, "you didn't ask me a question yet". After he realized his blunder he asked me if I would marry him and of course I said YES. I slowly found out that the whole thing was set up and there was no photo shoot. We then had the most delicious Thai food brought to our room and spent the night eating, drinking and celebrating. On top of all of this, my engagement ring was his great-grandmothers and Brian's mom gave it to Brian for the big occasion. I still can't believe it and am feeling so incredibly lucky and blessed right now! Brian had a remote control and at the moment he asked me he took these pictures ( if you look carefully you can see it in his one hand). Leave it to the professional photographer to capture this moment on camera!!!

The Duke's Paradise

Brian's parents are in town so a few days ago we took a drive to the most northern part of Jordan to a town called Umm Qais. The Duke (a friend of ours) owns property that has a natural hot spring on it. Many years ago he designed several small villas on the property and then re-routed the hot spring to run through the small community. There is a large pool that has a small waterfall running into it. The day we were there was rather full of people so I didn't get a good picture of the main pool. We will be going back some time soon and I will add a few more pictures. The top picture is inside The Duke's private bathroom. He has a huge tub that is filled with the hot spring water and as you can see, several murals on the walls and doors. This was one of the most beautiful places I have been to in Jordan yet.

Heads, teeth and eyeballs.....mmmmm!

Last night was a very special night for me. Brian and I were invited over to a new friend's house to partake in a long standing tradition of eating Mansef. Mansef is the national dish of Jordan and I am told it is served on special occasions or to honored guests. The lamb is pressure cooked in its own fat and covered with a dried yogurt-like product called jameed. It is served on a huge platter (about 3 ft wide) first covered with a layer of flat bread, then topped with rice, incredibly tender meat (head and all) and garnished with almonds or pine nuts. Lastly, the sour yogurt-type sauce is poured all over the whole dish. Fortunately Brian had his camera with him so I made him take a picture of the finished product. Having been the only one there who had never had Mansef before, they had to teach me how to eat it. Everyone sits in a circle around the dish and eats with their hands. You are suppose to take a small pinch full with three fingers and get a little rice, meat and sauce, ball it up and pop it in your mouth. Last night we weren't quite as delicate and everyone was using their whole hand to grab some of the dish and mush it together in mouthfuls. Brian was more of a shover than a popper and I kept dropping it on the floor before it got into my mouth but no one seemed to mind. From the visual of two lamb heads staring at me (eyes, teeth and tongues in tact), the smell of the sour yogurt sauce and the sound of the Mansef squishing in between everyones fingers it was an experience I will never forget(and probably don't need to repeat). I was kindly offered an eye ball and the brains but declined. Add to the night many glasses of Arak (a traditional drink which is an anise flavored alcohol that is mixed with water) and I felt like a true local.

Cambodia and Laos

Brian and I spent a little over two weeks in Cambodia and Laos. We stayed in Phnom Phen for 4 nights (Cambodia) and then went to Vientiane, Luang Prabang and Nong Kiow in Laos. We had a really good time and were happy to be back in this region of the world. I had some of the best food of my life in Laos and we could not get over how cheap everything was! A really nice dinner with drinks included was around $12.00 total. Here in Jordan that would cover about 2 crappy Amstel beers. One of my favorite days was in Luang Prabang when we rented bikes and rode around the town looking in little shops for souvenirs and riding along overlooking the Mekong River. We rented a scooter for several days to explore outside of the major towns and Brian took some amazing photos of the people living in small villages. I don't know how he does it, but before I know it Brian is inside some family's house with about 10 children clinging to his side and making everyone laugh. I am not quite as bold and stuck to photos of nature and food. I included a few pictures from the markets. One is of all different types of medicine and I included the couple with fish and meat for my food safety/nutrition friends back home. The very bottom picture is of a "gas station". I couldn't get enough of all the green landscapes and knew I would love Cambodia when we were driving to the hotel the first day and saw community exercise classes in the city parks along the road!

House Hunters International

Long story short, we got invited to be on House Hunters International to talk about our move from Portland to Jordan. They flew us back to the US a few weeks ago to film us in our old house in Portland(we had to get permission from the current owners). Just this past weekend we filmed the Amman portion of the show. We tried our best to make it silly and not super dorky but with the power of editing I feel they could spin it any way they want. The crew was a few guys our age and we had quite a few laughs while filming. Brian's jokes were non-stop and half the time inappropriate but the crew didn't seem to mind (probably because they don't have to edit the show). We were told it would be about 4-6 months before it airs. Brian took this picture while they were interviewing me about an apartment we looked at earlier. I just hope Brian can handle the fact that he is no longer the only famous one in the relationship!!

Proof she made it!

Sorry Jessy, I really didn't think you would make it. I haven't seen my sister in over 2 years (we think, we can't really remember). Jessy stayed for a week and we crammed as much in as possible. Here is a picture Brian took of us relaxing with Dead Sea mud all over us, it makes your skin really soft afterwards.