Connecting in Amman

Left to right: Tara, Jean, Faye.

I had the most amazing weekend in Amman, Jordan! I was fortunate enough to meet my professional idol, Jean Watson. The occasion was a nursing conference of Middle Eastern Nurses Uniting in Caring.  We had a wonderful weekend filled with enlightenment, encouragement, and love. The conference was small and allowed for us to get to know one another fairly well. Of course, any time nurses get together they can find things in common! No shortage of comparing "war" stories about work and life. It was great to meet so many nurses from different countries and find that they face similar problems as we do. Jean was so accommodating and giving. What a wonderful soul! I am so happy to have met her and hope to see her again when she comes to Saudi Arabia next year.  I plan to attend this conference again next year if I am able.  And I would like to visit the nurses that I met in their home countries.

Physics experiment at the Dead Sea.

Then there was the Dead Sea.  We drove from Amman down to the Dead Sea. It is more than 400 meters below sea level and as the bottle on the left, demonstrated the pressure was changed as we went down!  To my surprise the empty water bottle I had in my bag started to squeeze in on itself. Our own little physics experiment. Cool! This was especially interesting to me because I have recently received my PADI certification and learned all about pressure at depth. And it was decidedly warmer at the Dead Sea. The temperature can be as much as 20 degrees Celsius warmer. When we the Dead sea we had the air conditioning on but the closer to Amman we got the cooler it became allowing us to open the windows.  Lovely weather in Amman at this time of year.


But of course we could not leave before getting wet! We had to see for ourselves what it was like. The water was a gorgeous blue and the shore was lined with resorts willing to allow you to use the beach for a fee, of course.  We decided to use Amman Beach because we only had a few hours and would not be able to take advantage of lunch. What a nice way to spend the morning.
 The water was crystal clear.  No particulate matter or swirling plankton to spoil the clear blue water. Faye had to take a picture of her feet through the water. It's her family tradition. Fun!

I hope to see Dr. Watson in Saudi Arabia next year when she comes for another conference.

A great time was had by all!