Katja's first plane ride

I wasn't sure how it would go... The flight from Amman to Montreal takes 12 hours, which can even be rough on most adults. She was great! She slept for about 8 hours; while she was awake she was in such a great mood. She only cried a bit while the plane was descending to land, since the pressure was a bit much for her little ears to handle. People kept coming up to me and saying what a great baby she is. Even the cabin crew was crazy about her :)


Katja with the Royal Jordanian flight attendants

Inspiring... (I wonder if something like this could be organised in Jordan?)

I had been hearing about this campaign to clean up Slovenia in one day, mostly from former students of mine. I thought it was an excellent idea and was very sad that I am no longer in Slovenia to participate in something so wonderful. The idea was inspired by a documentary about a similar campaign, which took place in Estonia in 2008. It was organised by the organisation "Ecology without Borders" and took place yesterday. The most inspiring part of it is that about 250,000 volunteers showed up, removing about 80,000 cubic metres of garbage!
Now, I wonder if it would be possible to organise something like this here in Jordan?
Here are some articles about the campaign:
Link 1
Link 2
Link 3 (in Slovenian)

Chat Roulette

My dear friend Tara sent me a link to this article. To be honest, I had never heard of chat roulette. At first, I assumed it was like on-line speed dating or something. Maybe it's something I would have tried out had it existed 16 years ago, back when we'd run to the McGill computer labs at 3am to go on IRC. It doesn't seem like something I'll be getting into anytime soon.

A WALK TO REMEMBER: 60 MINUTES IN AMMAN

Ok, so it was much longer than 60 minutes….but that’s besides the point…
When I heard about this event, I was extremely eager to attend. I hadn’t ever been to a Fastwalk event, though I do walk with Katja on what is almost a daily basis. Luckily, I live near the Sport City complex, which allows me to take these daily walks. Otherwise, I might not be as eager to do so.
You see, although I’ve had my driver’s licence for 20 years now, when I am in a city, I much prefer to experience it either on foot, by bicycle or public transport. Unfortunately, none of these things are at all pleasant in Amman. Sidewalks are pathetic, rendering Katja’s stroller useless for anywhere but a shopping mall. Good luck crossing the street, as drivers here might stop if you’re lucky; quite often they won’t.
Anyhow, back to the event… As I mentioned earlier, the walk lasted much more than an hour. It was a great way to observe the city and seeing pedestrians claim back the streets.
Here are some pics I took before and during the walk:

Me & Roba

Roba & Moose :)

Nice to see I wasn't the only one who brought a baby

The crowd

Michael Sorkin, author of 20 Minutes in Manhattan, encouraging us to reclaim the streets

Scenes from the actual walk:

Amazing...