Saying Goodbye to Jordan

We've had a lot of changes, but I don't want to give up on documenting things for my family, so I'm going to try and do a couple summary blogs to catch up on the past year. By May of 2025, we had made the decision that the girls and I would move back to the States to be near my family, so we had to say goodbye to all the wonderful people we had met in Amman and go into summer transition mode. Luckily, the girls are old hands at that by now.

In May, they had a recital (piano for Elena, voice for Vivi), and they were both fantastic. A couple weeks after that, Vivi and I went to the high school graduation to support the people we knew who were graduating. They do the ceremony in an ancient Roman amphitheater, so it's quite the setting. Viv and I got there early and played tourist.

Later that week Elena graduated from elementary school. They had a nice ceremony where each kid got to say their best memory from elementary school. Elena has had some really excellent elementary school teachers, but her favorite will always be her 2nd grade teacher, Miss Lisa, so that was her memory. Lisa helped Elena transition back to "regular" school after covid, and she truly did a phenomenal job with all of those kids. 

I was very proud that I found Elena flowers that came with a graduation cap. She thought it was a bit ridiculous, but humored me for a picture.

Vivian's Spanish teacher's son was getting married the following weekend, and the advanced Spanish students (and many of the teachers) were invited. It was the first wedding that Vivian has attended, and they certainly set the bar high.

It was a beautiful setting with lots of dancing and more food than I have ever seen at a wedding. At a Jordanian wedding, you dance first to work up your appetite, and then you feel fully justified as you feast on all the delicious food. There's more dancing after dinner, but Viv and I said goodbye and thank you rather than stay and party all night.

While leaving Jordan was the right decision for us, it was definitely a difficult one to make. Jordan and the friends we made there will always have a special place in our hearts.

Wrapping Up Denmark

On Mondays, a lot of things in Copenhagen are closed, so I had made a plan for us to travel about an hour out of the city by train and visit Frederiksborg Castle. The train was quick, easy, and covered with our Copenhagen Card.

We had to walk a ways to the castle from the train station, but it was easy to find.

Elena needed to go to the bathroom, so we discovered that its windows overlooked the lake.

Also, there was an interesting display in the basement all about the different sculptures, which our artist appreciated.

The rooms in the castle were incredible. Each one had fascinating portraits and artifacts. We could have spent the whole day there.

The sun finally came out, so we were able to walk around the grounds a bit too.

Elena had spotted a ribs place across the street from the castle. That girl loves her ribs.

After lunch, we took the train back. It was a successful day's outing. The next day was also sunny, so we took advantage of the good weather to go to the zoo, which is a really excellent one. We were greeted by lions, and there's a strategic window next to the sunny corner, so you could get up close to them, which was awesome.

Next, we found the polar bears, and, yes, that IS a polar bear, just a very dirty one. To keep them active and engaged, they get their fish frozen in a tub full of water, and then they have to figure out how to get it out. This bear flipped and stomped on his plastic tub, and you could see how he got so dirty.

A slightly savvier bear, chucked the whole thing in the pen's water feature, which helped the ice melt faster and also made for a cleaner coat.

There were lots of other cute animals, and also lots of fun things to climb and play on.

Right near the zoo is the original Carlsberg brewery which is now a museum, so we stopped there as well. They did a really great job with the museum part. They got actors to portray the father and son (Carl) who founded the brewery. As you went room to room, they told their stories, and I got really invested. When they finally started speaking again after a disagreement that kept them apart for years, I welled up.

The basement houses one of, if that not the, biggest beer collection in the world. Their goal is to have a bottle of every beer ever made anywhere in the world. I'm no expert, but it looks like they did a pretty good job of it.

For our final day, we visited one more castle, and, of course, the park had a play area.

This is where the royal family has their official throne room and keeps the crown jewels. They actually live at a more "modern" palace on the other side of the city.

On our way to lunch, we also encountered the royal guard marching through the city.

Even though it was a bit chilly, Denmark was the perfect spring break from Amman.