Our daily schedule has been getting lighter day by day. Our usual morning routine has been to travel to the destination of the children’s concert in the city of Amman. We traveled minimally this morning as our children’s concert will be at the King’s Academy, where we have been residing for the past week. Many members skipped breakfast this morning to get some extra sleep since we had been out quite late the previous night. There were only five FSO members at breakfast, including myself. After breakfast, we headed north to Mount Nebo where Moses was shown the Promised Land God was to give to the Jews. It was not far from the King’s Academy and it only took us about 20 minutes of travel time by bus. There were only a handful of us that took this trip as many members decided to rest for tonight’s big concert. Mount Nebo is an elevated ridge that is about 2680 feet above sea level. The view from the ridge is short of breathtaking. Not only can you see Israel, the Dead Sea can also been seen from this ridge. Unfortunately there was construction on the tour site and therefore we were not able to see everything.

After spending about an hour or so at Mount Nebo, we headed to a gift store on our way back. This was a really nice gift store and many of us bought souvenirs for friends and family. Some of us even haggled for a lower price on items in the store. As Maestro Fakhouri told us, you can pretty much haggle for everything in any gift store. We spent about an hour in the store and then headed back to the Academy. There was a downtime of two hours before lunch was served at 12:30PM. After lunch we headed to the Abdul Majeed Shoman Auditorium for our concert for the students of the Academy.

Maestro Fakhouri’s father, Kifah Fakhouri was there to represent us at the concert. Kifah Fakhouri is our host at Jordan and he has been the director of the National Music Conservatory of Jordan since 1988. He is also the Secretary General of the Arab Academy of Music in Jordan. We repeated the same children’s concert program we have been performing for the past week for the students of the Academy. Students of the Academy were very intelligent and speak English very well. So communication was not a problem. The concert ended at 2:50PM so that students of the Academy could return to their classes.

At 4:45PM, we headed to the concert hall at the NMC in Amman.  Throughout the day, there has been word that the Queen Noor of Jordan might be attending our concert. Those who attended our 50th Anniversary Concert might remember that Queen Noor was in attendance at that concert.  We were excited at the possibility of meeting her. Unfortunately, as the concert time approaches, we were informed that she was unable to attend our concert.  The Mayor of Amman was in attendance instead.

At 7:30PM, we began our concert. The program order was Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, followed by Mozart’s Don Giovanni Overture. The ‘main course’ of the evening was Antonin Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 in E minor (“From the New World”). The concert attendance was very good and we played well. As the concert came to a close, we were sad to say goodbye to our musician friends in Jordan. Many invited us back to Jordan in the future. Perhaps another trip to Jordan is in order? We certainly hope so.

After the concert, we headed over the famous Lebanese Fakhreldine Restaurant to celebrate our stay at Jordan. Maestro Fakhouri and his father Kifah Fakhouri with FSO Board President Dr. Richard Shereff and his wife, Susan Shereff, along with Mr. and Mrs. Carlos and Terri Zukowski were with us for our dinner celebration. The food was excellent and we had a great time there. Our board members even tried the hubbly bubbly or the nargilah! The nargilah is essentially a hookah that is used to smoke herbal fruits. Many FSO members tried the nargilah as well and soon the room is filled with fragrant fruit smells. Nargilah’s smell is very fragrant and there is no hint of the distinct smell associated with cigarette. I don’t think I have eaten so much before. The food was very good. Maestro Fakhouri explained some of the foods and how he usually eats them. Time passes really fast when you are having a good time. Before we know it, it’s 12:30AM. Before we depart, I took a group photo to commemorate our wonderful trip to Jordan. We then departed the restaurant and arrived shortly before 1:30AM at the King’s Academy. It’s time for bed since we will be devoting the entire next day exploring the famous Petra in Arabah. Petra is Jordan's No. 1 tourist attraction. The trip will take about 3 hours by bus in addition to several miles of hiking to reach the site. We will need all the energy we can conserve for tomorrow’s trip. Stay tuned for our final day at Jordan!

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"FSO Board President Dr. Richard Shereff and his wife Susan Shereff trying the nargilah"

"FSO musicians and friends at the Fakhreldine Restaurant in Jordan"

"View from the ridge at Mount Nebo"

"Inside the exhibition center at Mount Nebo"

"Warming up before the concert in the concert hall"