Trip outside of my comfort zone, alone in the middle east

I had just landed in this new country, Jordan. I was all alone, surrounded by people speaking language I had never heard before and I had no idea where I was going. I walked out of the airport terminal and everything looked familiar but at the same time so different to everything I knew. I was here, I had made it to Jordan!
To be honest I hadn´t thought much about what I would do when I finally arrived in Jordan, my plan was to spend a week in Amman and I hadn´t made any plans except booking a hotel. I was there to see Petra and swimming in the Red Sea, the rest was up to my mood.
I went into the taxi line and when it was my turn I could see how thrilled the taxi driver was to be the one driving the white girl, he freaked me out a bit, but I needed a taxi so on I went. After a long and scary source for my hotel we finally arrived, but I didn't receive a pleasant reception and I was told that they didn't have the hotel room I had booked and I would have to pay 7x more than I had planed for each night at the hotel. It was late and I was alone so I took one night but went out that same night searching for a new place to stay.
When I got out to the street I met this local man who approached me when he noticed how lost I was. He helped me find a better hostel so I was thrilled I bumped into him. He took me out and showed me the city, starting with a famous fast food stand in the middle of Amman where I, on my first night in Jordan, broke all my doctor´s advices of staying far away from street food while travelling in the middle east. The shawarma I had that night was delicious and it was only the beginning of all the street food I would keep eating on my trip to Jordan and Egypt that summer. There was no turning back now!
This new friend of mine became my local guide throughout my trip to Amman. He would come and join me for a walk around the city when he was free and show me the hidden gems I wouldn´t have noticed alone. He invited me to his family´s home for a lunch and it was amazing experience to eat arabic food with arabic family and drinking tea and talk about life and have his little cousins teach me few arabic words and show me around their home. I may have gone to Jordan for Petra and the Red Sea, but this little family became one of the highlights of my trip. Nothing is like meeting locals when traveling and one should always try to spend time with the people of the city in order to know the city.