We do not live in a 100% Jordanian-centric world - in fact, by working in an American office and being married to each other are lives are very American. I have recently noticed the "averaging out" effect of American and Jordanian sense of time at events here in Amman.
If I have a one-on-one meeting with someone here I am prompt. By prompt I mean I arrive at the time scheduled (although I have been told serving in Switzerland or Austria will make one reassess their own natural promptness). When I arrive on-time, my Jordanian contact is available and expecting me - they know that a 10:00 appointment with an American happens at 10:00.
When I go to primarily Jordanian events, even business events, they never start on time but instead typically start 45-60 minutes late with no one at the event at its start time, and people in the hallway near the event smoking starting at 15 minutes late. Some Jordanian event invitations do note at what time an important minister (or non-King member of the Royal Family) will be making the opening remarks and indeed everyone is there by that time.
The timing of events is trickier when a gathering has a mix of American and Jordanians and it seems to me that the lateness sort of averages out with an event starting 20-30 minutes late but everyone there at the venue smoking at the start time.
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