Snow on palm trees

Yesterday it snowed in Amman.

You wouldn't believe what an even that was for people here. Before even leaving the house in the morning, I got a call from Mustafa, one of my class mates.
He asked if I was going to university.
"Sure", I replied "aren't you?"
"Probably not. Normally university closes when it snows."

And it did. But only at lunchtime. So on the bus that morning, the radio presenter was shouting with excitement and telling the involuntary listeners crammed into the little bus, that his radio station had put up cameras all around Amman, so that "all Jordanians all over the world can enjoy the amazing view of snow in the capital Amman".

When I got off at the University's Agriculture Faculty, the snow flakes were thick and sinking calmly to the sludgy ground. Two palm trees looked a little misplaced with their fan-shaped, giant green leafs covered in a thick layer of white. A group of three guys were holding onto each other, screaming as they slid down the path from the Engineering Building.

Dr. Butros, the director of the Water Centre greeted me as I walked up the corridor - late as ever - "We will close after lunch. Make sure you get out as soon as you can, otherwise the roads will close and you'll have to walk home. You know, we're not prepared for snow in this country."
I went to our classroom and checked my eMail quickly before the lecturer arrived: an eMail from Mustafa entitled "snow near my house". It contained 8 sketchy, random phone-camera photos of views from his home windows...

Today, when I walked up the stairs to the Faculty, the trees' drooping branches were slowly letting go of the heavy snow, weighed down by this morning's drizzle. The slush on the ground immediately disintegrated under my soles, as if waiting to return to water after the straining structure of ice.
It was a short adventure, I guess... but I surely wouldn't have thought that it would be in Jordan that I first step on snow this year.