We start our trip in Jordan in the capital Amman. Amman is a great city and also has a lot of possibilities for daytrips. Jerash is one of these possibilities. Jerash is the largest Roman site of Jordan which is why a lot of tourists decide to go see these ruins. Of course, where tourists are, there are souvenir shops and salesmen trying to sell you all kinds of local products. One of these salesmen is Morad and he tried to sell us the typical scarves of Jordan.
At first, I felt really annoyed as we were not even through the main gate of the ruins and already ended up in a shop, but after a while we saw that he was actually a very nice guy. He looked our age and was just doing his job. Men working in tourist shops often are seen as pushy and annoying and I also sometimes try to avoid an encounter with them. However, Morad made me look differently at these people.
We spend way too much time in his shop talking with him and ended up both buying a scarf. Afterwards he made us necklaces which he gave to us and then he invited us for lunch the next day at his home. His mother would cook a traditional meal for us. My boyfriend gave his phone number and we promised to stay in contact.
To be honest, I was a bit scared. I did not fully trust the situation but I was also curious about the experience. We decided to do it and arranged an appointment with him for the day after. The next day we took a taxi back to Jerash and the whole way I was picturing everything that could go wrong in my head. But now I am thinking: what were these scary images based on?