36... maybe 37... weekends left in Amman.

Promotion list comes out in the next couple weeks.

Assignments come out in right around a month.

Come on already!

Giant's Causeway

Some of the natural formations are truly hexagonal.  And even though there were hundreds of people at the site it was easy enough to get to an area that was clear of others.  

You'll notice he's in a tshirt.  An hour before
it was pouring rain and hailing.

The weather didn't know what it was doing.

Jonathon ran off elsewhere.

Naturally occurring and naturally falling.

Giant's Causeway was one of the highlights of our R&R for me.  I'd actually not planned on going even though N. Ireland isn't that big because our house was practically on the east coast and GC was on the west.  Scheduled spontaneity kicked in and off we went.  Not only did we have some of the best food on the trip at the nearby "The Nook," but Giant's Causeway is something to behold.  

Food from our trip

There always has to be a post about food, right?

Murphy's Pub in Downpatrick

Grilling at the house in Strangford.

The Nook at Giant's Causeway.

Fish chowder at The Nook.

The Nook.

Stew at The Nook.

Truffled mac&cheese at Bistro 401 at Titanic, Belfast.

Bistro 401.

The Lobster Pot in Strangford.

Haggis Bonbons at The Inn on the Mile, Edinburgh.

Soupbox

Right next to the Embassy was Jordan's first Soapbox Derby, or Soupbox with the local accent.  Over 60 entries prepared to run the downhill.  It was great fun to watch, but like anything in Jordan it wasn't really a smooth event.  The 1 p.m. start time pushed to 2:30 p.m.  No seating. Little shade. Blazing hot.  And roughly 10 to 1 of Jordanian males to anyone else.  Even with the big screens following the cars as they took the course, it's hard to watch when really tall people are along the fence with umbrellas right over their heads.  Seriously.

According to the people running the event, much of the delay was due to people wandering onto the course.  Over the rails, over the hay bales, just wandering around.  Seriously.  And then once the races finally did start, people decided that between the rails and the hay bales were great places to sit.  Even after one car smashed straight through the hay, crunched a course marshal, and slammed into the rail.  People did not move until they were yelled at, and then they thought it was all jolly good fun.  Stupid.

We watched about 8 cars go by, and would have stayed for more but for the folks (with the umbrellas) who started smoking, and the sun was glaring down on those of us without hats.

Dudes with umbrellas.

Towards the bottom.

This was a dentist car.  It lost it's upper teeth at the first ramp.

Supposed to look like the dome on City Mall.

Plow digger machine thing.

Three entries were from the Embassy but we didn't stick around to see them.  We thought we should have camped out earlier, set up our tent with chairs and a cooler and everything.  That would have been great, but I'm not so sure our space would have been respected.

I'd say "Next year" but... you know...