Sights

Hey all. I have now officially spent a week here, and I’m having some adjustment troubles, so to speak. Being in a new country is always a physiological shock, and I’ve been off sick for two days this week. It’s frustrating, yesterday I had to drop my plans to go to East Amman and then a concert in order to go home and sleep. I do feel a bit like this program is slowly crushing me. Inshallah I will adjust and shall soon be flitting about and gabbing away like normal.

I’ve been slowly getting to know Amman. Today we had a scavenger hunt which was kind of silly, but did get us out to different parts of the city. I am particularly enamoured of Paris Square, which marks the French part of Amman. The French Cultural Centre is there, as well as this fabulous little French bookshop/café/bar combination. I’m definitely going back there to work soon. Amman’s extremely hilly topography means you get these amazing cafes and restaurants that are full of greenery, but are totally hidden. You’ll go through a grubby door and find yourself in a leafy oasis, it’s really cool. We espied such a place through the slats of a fence, but because it was so early, it was closed. I also saw hookahs with hollowed-out fresh fruit holding the tobacco, rather than the usual ceramic pot.

We also visited the upscale part of Amman, which I think is called the Fourth Circle. It was a little surreal, because it seemed quite unlike the grubby, Arabic Amman I’ve seen so far. They had a Starbucks (!) a jazz/blues place called the Blue Fig, and all sorts of Westernized places – including a Houston Sports Bar. All the signs were in English, and all these scantily dressed Arab women were driving around in Mercedes. By which I mean they were wearing tank tops, which does actually seem quite shocking after a while in a conservative country. It was a nice area though, and I might be going back tonight.

Today, I also experienced Habibeh Sweets, which is the best Arab sweets place in Amman. I can believe it. Arab sweets are rather like the Greek baklava you guys know, with a variety of fillings and styles. When I was there I met my first Saudis, who were by far the most friendly people I’ve met here. They were an older couple and their two kids. It’s funny, when Arab women are nice they are nice, they act so happy to have met you. The mum was just beaming through our whole conversation and I kind of wanted to hug her, but that would have been awkward. Or maybe not, actually.

Anyway, in sum, being here is difficult but stimulating. Sort of dreading the next week of class! I imagine that with time it will all become less overwhelming and I’ll relax into it more. I’m also sorry for my failure to upload pictures, the internet here is s-l-o-w and it took fifteen minutes to upload that picture yesterday. Which, by the way, is of the biggest flag I’ve ever seen. It’s visible from all over the city, and because it’s so massive it looks like it’s rippling really slowly and not frantically snapping like a lot of flags do. It’s rather awe inspiring.