When you want to write about a pleasant experience; it is a must that you are in a good mood so that you can give the story its right flavor and reflect the true essence of the experience. This Eid; I had a very nice experience that is worth writing about, but the flu delayed this post a little because of the bad mood it caused.

On the first day of Eid; I met one of the people that are on my “must meet” list; if I say that this was a pleasant refreshing encounter, that would be an understatement!

The land of the Nile sent us a present for this Eid; Sandmonkey was here and we enjoyed his visit exactly like he did and maybe more. He contacted me and said that he will be spending his Eid vacation in Amman; this was more than a nice surprise to me because I enjoy reading his blog and have heard about him from mutual friends, so you can imagine that I was anxious to finally meet him personally.

When I went to the hotel to pick him up; he greeted me with a lovely smile that promised me a day that is full of joy and laughs. We started out by going to Canvas to have lunch where we were joined by Jad, Bakkouz and Roba. The guys hit it the minute they said hello; I expected that they would although SM was reluctant and skeptical about him getting along with Bakkouz after their infamous encounter and he was not sure about Jad because this was the first time he hears of him; boy I am glad they got along and became friends

After lunch; we wanted to go for a cup of coffee and argeeleh for SM. Roba recommended that we go to a place next to Salute because they have a nice setting, but unfortunately; both places did not start their service before 6, so we headed to Old View Café that was closed and no one would answer our calls. Our last hope was Books @ Café and thank God it was open and serving everything we wanted. SM loved the place and found what he was looking for; we sat on the balcony and had a great time.

We discussed many issues and talked about things that concern Egyptians, Jordanians and Arabs in general. We agreed on almost all topics discussed and I can say that there was a nice harmony going on.

SM was everything I imagined him to be and even more; he is smart, outgoing, open-minded, bold, fearless and most importantly cynical. Add to all that his sense of humor; we really enjoyed some good laughs. He talks about serious things in a light manner that does not leave you space to miss the humor yet get the basic idea of what he is aiming at; bottom line; you cannot afford not to like the guy like we all did.

I had to leave them early because mom kept calling me saying that we have a full house and everyone was asking about me; first day of Eid and that is the normal practice. I was supposed to meet him again but flu stopped all plans and left me in a really bad mood because I missed seeing SM before he left and enjoying his company one more time.

I am glad that SM enjoyed his stay in Amman and maybe next time we will take him out of Amman to show him more of Jordan’s beauty.