Weddings, BBQ and Folk Dancing

Weddings are a major production in the Middle East. Our hotel has a wedding nearly every night.

Thursday night there were fireworks with many spectacular displays outside the hotel. When I looked across the street at the Four Seasons there was a major wedding with a band playing and people clapping and cheering at the bride took about five minutes to procede down the staircase with major spotlights highlighting the descent.

Friday is a holy day in Islam. Friday, July 7th was our first down time. We had no classes and worked on our laundry and catching up with our rest. The city was very quiet like a Sunday morning in America. In the evening a BBQ to meet our families.

We were treated to Jordanian music and folk dancing by a group from Jordanian University name Al-Ramth. They were invited by a professor and associate dean for student affairs who graduated from Texas A&M.
The group mostly men danced in a line except for the lead dancer with a sword and dancing drummer who were extremely active and agile.


The lead dancer's moves reminded me of Mick Jagger in his energy and personality. He twirled the sword constantly.









This is the lead male singer. There was also a female singer, but they didn't sing together. The songs were very long maybe 20 minutes. They used big speakers and electronics for some of the instrumentation.





They needed some assistance from our group. At one point I was passed the sword by the Aggie graduate, figures. I tried to figure out how to twirl, but thought better of it.






I was given instruction in the Argeela. It was only scented tobacco.

It was a fun evening of food, music, and comradeship.