Erling, a married man with three children, took social media in Karak by storm with his vlogs about life in Karak.

In one of his more popular videos, Erling tells the story about the time his Arabic teacher wished him a long life - “Allah ytawil ‘umrak”- which Erling misheard as -”Allah ytawil ummak”-, may God make your mother taller.

Evidently well-versed in Jordanian taboos, Erling was taken aback by what his teacher had said, or so he made it sound as he reenacted the scene in his vlog.

He expressed his confusion over his teacher’s invocations, saying, “my mother is already tall, why would God make her taller?”, which incited a wave of laughter on social media across the Kingdom, with three thousand people interacting with the video.

The 33-year-old Norwegian expat went on to make another video on Facebook, documenting a run-in with Jordanian soldiers at a security checkpoint, who mused over his car’s rooftop cargo carrier.

When asked about the content of his strange rooftop trunk, Erling said that he had his mother-in-law stored in it, which the Jordanian soldiers found to be hilarious.

One of the laughing soldiers said, “you are 100% Jordanian.”

Erling is a project consultant for Vision Hope International, running a project for Syrian and Jordanian children in Karak, like a kindergarten, and an afternoon program for schoolchildren to help them adapt to the Jordanian school system.

When asked why he chose to live in Karak, Erling said that he could help people in need in the Jordanian city. He also praised Karak’s mansaf - which is the most popular mansaf in the Kingdom.

Erling found Jordanians to be very hospitable people, expressing gratitude for the tea, coffee, and mansaf he was invited to consume by the people of Jordan.

One of the difficulties Erling has faced living in Jordan was his struggle to learn Arabic.

“I have studied languages, but Arabic is the hardest one. You have a beautiful language with a lot of culture connected to it, and I hope I will master it one day,” he said.

We look forward to seeing more of Erling’s posts and videos about his experiences in Jordan, and we hope, if anything, to see him document his experience with Karaki mansaf very soon.