Random Stories
During my first week in Amman I lived with Mueen’s wife’s parents (and sister). More of the family lives in the top floor of the building, almost like townhouses but each one is a floor with at least three bedrooms, a huge kitchen, dining room, TV room, several bathrooms and a large formal sitting room for receiving guests.
Since then I have moved into the lower level of the house three houses down from them, which means I have a floor to myself, with all the rooms described above and maybe then some. It is huge. Unfortunately it hasn’t been lived in for some time, resulting in problems like spiders and leaks, and with so much space I spent several nights thinking someone was in there with me because the doors of other rooms would open and close from the breeze (and coming from my cramped NYC living quarters all this space is quite a shock!) When I first moved in we met with the family upstairs. They own the building and were very concerned about me being comfortable down there (I think the idea of a woman alone was difficult for them). They told me if I felt at all uncomfortable just to let them know and they would send the maid down to sleep with me.
Needless to say I have been fine, however, the space has an array of issues and we’re looking for a new apartment. That being said, right now I have a 30-minute walk to work, which is more of an event than it sounds like for several reasons.
First of all, no one walks here. At all. There are virtually no sidewalks and even when there exist it tends to be easier to walk in the street.
The streets have no lines so everyone makes up their own driving rules. Luckily the larger roads (usually divided with three lanes in each direction) have walking bridges to get across. As I mentioned before Amman is extremely hilly and luckily my walk to work is mostly down. After attempting to walk the easy route down the main roads my first day, I was determined to find an alternate route because the fume inhalation and near-death experiences were just unacceptable. I spent an afternoon finding a new path through the residential neighborhood, which is an interesting walk with better scenery and less traffic. My two favorite buildings are a large mosque at the top of the hill, so I know which way to head home (and that I’m almost there when I reach it) and the Holiday Inn, which I can see most of the way and is near my office so keeps me headed in the right direction.
(I tried to add more pictures...but the dialup connection is just not cooperating...)
The second major factor about my walk, or really my time in public for any reason at all, is that I am obviously foreign. I can dress as conservatively as I please but it doesn’t make me stick out any less. And this makes me quite an entertaining novelty to pretty much everyone. Walking or being outside tends to result in honking, staring and hissing from most people. A majority of the honking is actually from cabs that are sure I need a ride, and most people just stare openly, with some men or groups of men hissing or making comments, but more in an entertained than harassing sort of way (that’s not very clear but I hope it makes sense). By that I mean that it isn’t threatening, I feel much safer here than I ever did in NYC, no one would ever dare approach me or touch me, and every person I actually speak with is incredibly friendly and polite. It is just the people I’m passing by, and the only thing that makes me uncomfortable is not being able to understand anything they might say. It’s also hard as an American woman to not stare right back in that ‘I see you looking at me so knock it off’ sort of way. This does not work here and can have the reverse response of enticing comments or being misconstrued as an invitation. This is very hard to not do. I was raised to make eye contact with people, I like to smile, and not being able to do either is hard.
As far as clothing is concerned, I see everything from sleeveless shirts to full black burkas up to the eyes on the women, sometimes even with a string between the eyes to pull the fabric as close as possible. But neither of those are common. Most women are in long skirts or regular western clothes with colorful headscarves. I see plenty of jeans, especially on younger people, and those boys and girls are often walking with their parents, who will be in sweeping (and comfortable-looking) traditional robes. No one, male or female, wears shorts or anything showing more than a few inches of the legs. I have worn short-sleeves a few times but am generally airing on the conservative side.
My Arabic teacher is here so back to work for me, but just a side note for you DCers, I have found a Surprise Safeway! Can you believe it?!? I couldn’t go to one in NYC but there’s one here! Add it to the list...
I was also taken to a Starbucks this weekend by two Jordanian girls. I tried to resist but they insisted, they love it there. It was huge! Two stories, indoor and outdoor seating and a huge parking lot! Very strange, but did feel like the US when I was standing at the counter.
On a coffee note...I have discovered that although I don’t like American coffee at all, I actually do like Arabic coffee much better. I thought it would be worse because it’s stronger, but I honestly like it (as long as it’s sweetened)! Which is good because it is almost always served at meetings and whenever we go to visit people. Tuhamie even made me make it today and I didn’t ruin it. Sweet. That is my triumph of the day.
Not to be outdone by yesterday, when I had to go get blood taken to prove that I don’t have AIDS so I can get my visa to stay in the country. Thank goodness for Tuhamie. I cannot imagine trying to navigate this entire process alone.
First we went to file my visa extension at the police station, a stark building with sterile hallways, uniformed men with machine guns and less English than anywhere I’ve been so far. And as much as my Arabic has progressed in the last few weeks, I honestly understood very little of the conversation but I definitely need my blood test results even for an extension visa (and not the resident visa I plan to apply for later). So then we took a cab to the health center, where I understood even less. This huge building had long lines of mostly 20- to 40-year-old men winding down the street and up the stairs to various unmarked floors. Tuhamie led me through the lines and after speaking with several people at various windows, I paid 20JD and we headed to the third floor, where I waited in a short line, had my blood drawn, and off we went (results will be ready in two days, then back to the police station!) May the adventures continue!
Since then I have moved into the lower level of the house three houses down from them, which means I have a floor to myself, with all the rooms described above and maybe then some. It is huge. Unfortunately it hasn’t been lived in for some time, resulting in problems like spiders and leaks, and with so much space I spent several nights thinking someone was in there with me because the doors of other rooms would open and close from the breeze (and coming from my cramped NYC living quarters all this space is quite a shock!) When I first moved in we met with the family upstairs. They own the building and were very concerned about me being comfortable down there (I think the idea of a woman alone was difficult for them). They told me if I felt at all uncomfortable just to let them know and they would send the maid down to sleep with me.
Needless to say I have been fine, however, the space has an array of issues and we’re looking for a new apartment. That being said, right now I have a 30-minute walk to work, which is more of an event than it sounds like for several reasons.
First of all, no one walks here. At all. There are virtually no sidewalks and even when there exist it tends to be easier to walk in the street.
The streets have no lines so everyone makes up their own driving rules. Luckily the larger roads (usually divided with three lanes in each direction) have walking bridges to get across. As I mentioned before Amman is extremely hilly and luckily my walk to work is mostly down. After attempting to walk the easy route down the main roads my first day, I was determined to find an alternate route because the fume inhalation and near-death experiences were just unacceptable. I spent an afternoon finding a new path through the residential neighborhood, which is an interesting walk with better scenery and less traffic. My two favorite buildings are a large mosque at the top of the hill, so I know which way to head home (and that I’m almost there when I reach it) and the Holiday Inn, which I can see most of the way and is near my office so keeps me headed in the right direction.
(I tried to add more pictures...but the dialup connection is just not cooperating...)
The second major factor about my walk, or really my time in public for any reason at all, is that I am obviously foreign. I can dress as conservatively as I please but it doesn’t make me stick out any less. And this makes me quite an entertaining novelty to pretty much everyone. Walking or being outside tends to result in honking, staring and hissing from most people. A majority of the honking is actually from cabs that are sure I need a ride, and most people just stare openly, with some men or groups of men hissing or making comments, but more in an entertained than harassing sort of way (that’s not very clear but I hope it makes sense). By that I mean that it isn’t threatening, I feel much safer here than I ever did in NYC, no one would ever dare approach me or touch me, and every person I actually speak with is incredibly friendly and polite. It is just the people I’m passing by, and the only thing that makes me uncomfortable is not being able to understand anything they might say. It’s also hard as an American woman to not stare right back in that ‘I see you looking at me so knock it off’ sort of way. This does not work here and can have the reverse response of enticing comments or being misconstrued as an invitation. This is very hard to not do. I was raised to make eye contact with people, I like to smile, and not being able to do either is hard.
As far as clothing is concerned, I see everything from sleeveless shirts to full black burkas up to the eyes on the women, sometimes even with a string between the eyes to pull the fabric as close as possible. But neither of those are common. Most women are in long skirts or regular western clothes with colorful headscarves. I see plenty of jeans, especially on younger people, and those boys and girls are often walking with their parents, who will be in sweeping (and comfortable-looking) traditional robes. No one, male or female, wears shorts or anything showing more than a few inches of the legs. I have worn short-sleeves a few times but am generally airing on the conservative side.
My Arabic teacher is here so back to work for me, but just a side note for you DCers, I have found a Surprise Safeway! Can you believe it?!? I couldn’t go to one in NYC but there’s one here! Add it to the list...
I was also taken to a Starbucks this weekend by two Jordanian girls. I tried to resist but they insisted, they love it there. It was huge! Two stories, indoor and outdoor seating and a huge parking lot! Very strange, but did feel like the US when I was standing at the counter.
On a coffee note...I have discovered that although I don’t like American coffee at all, I actually do like Arabic coffee much better. I thought it would be worse because it’s stronger, but I honestly like it (as long as it’s sweetened)! Which is good because it is almost always served at meetings and whenever we go to visit people. Tuhamie even made me make it today and I didn’t ruin it. Sweet. That is my triumph of the day.
Not to be outdone by yesterday, when I had to go get blood taken to prove that I don’t have AIDS so I can get my visa to stay in the country. Thank goodness for Tuhamie. I cannot imagine trying to navigate this entire process alone.
First we went to file my visa extension at the police station, a stark building with sterile hallways, uniformed men with machine guns and less English than anywhere I’ve been so far. And as much as my Arabic has progressed in the last few weeks, I honestly understood very little of the conversation but I definitely need my blood test results even for an extension visa (and not the resident visa I plan to apply for later). So then we took a cab to the health center, where I understood even less. This huge building had long lines of mostly 20- to 40-year-old men winding down the street and up the stairs to various unmarked floors. Tuhamie led me through the lines and after speaking with several people at various windows, I paid 20JD and we headed to the third floor, where I waited in a short line, had my blood drawn, and off we went (results will be ready in two days, then back to the police station!) May the adventures continue!
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