I’m having a great weekend so far. Last night I was planning on going out with Mo (Jordanian friend from Brown), his friends and Claudia, another Brown kid in Amman. However, circumstances intervened and we ended up going to an Arab karaoke night. It was amazing. The male/female ratio was about 70/30 and the guys were absolutely freaking out dancing. It seems that in mixed environments here, the men dance more and the women watch, while in America/England I’d say it’s the other way around. Anyway, Arab dancing is great, it’s all from the shoulders as opposed to from the hips. I’m trying to get the hang of it. Of course, all the songs were in Arabic too. It’s funny, at home all Arab music sounds kind of the same to me (sorry) but here I’m getting much more attuned to it and really liking it. I’m not a music person, but I do like to dance, and Arabic music encourages a whole new way of moving that I’m greatly enjoying. Claudia and I may be taking belly-dancing classes at some point.
Anyway, so we were kicking back and enjoying the scene, and eventually we all start daring each other to sing. The Arabs in the group went up and sang…. So the pressure was on Claudia and me. In case anybody reading this doesn’t know (and assuming that anybody outside my family is actually reading) I really really can’t sing. Not in a modest, self-deprecating ‘Oh, really, I’m not that great’ kind of way, but in a can’t hold a tune way. However, I caved, and we sang All Star by Smashmouth – the song that opens Shrek, as I recall. I know all the words from summer camp. Suffice to say that it was the longest three minutes of my life. There was a point when I was listening to the music and wondered, ‘what’s that godawful noise?’ Of course, it was me. To make it worse, nobody there knew the song so nobody was singing along or dancing, they were just looking at us in a particularly judgmental way. Argh. Except for that debacle, I had a great time.
Today, there was an optional day trip to the Dead Sea. The CLS organised it for us, everybody was going to spend the day at a hotel with a Dead Sea beach. I debated going, but decided that I would rather explore the city with Claudia a bit than spend yet more time with the people in my program. I’m glad I did. I woke up at about noon this morning and met up with Claudia at souk Abdali, which was a distinctive shopping experience. Somehow, the stallholders get tons of customized American second-hand t-shirts. You can buy a commemorative ‘the 2005 Fieldstone, IL half-marathon,” shirt, a kid’s one that says ‘Aromas, CA Little League.’ It’s totally absurd. They have corporate t-shirts, retirement-home t-shirts etc. etc. I took some pictures of the funniest ones, and I’ll put them up. Anyway, it’s quite surreal looking at these legit pieces of Americana and wondering how in hell they got to downtown Amman. It’s great for ironic shirts too. Claudia got one that had a map of the Middle East on it, with guns and helicopters, titled ‘Operation Desert Storm.’ She said she had to buy so that nobody else would see it.
I got lots of fun things. I found this awesome little kid’s top with a really detailed paint-splatter pattern all over. Inside, the label has ‘jessica’ written on it in pen. Thanks, Jessica. I unearthed the National Volleyball Championship shirt of some Arab country – it’s got a little ball and “Volleyball Something” written on it Arabic. Rad. Also a plain white and a plain burnt-orange t-shirt. The nice thing about second hand shirts is that’s the cotton’s really soft. I also got part of a set of silk pajamas that I’ll wear as a jacket, and this crazy skirt that’s made of a dark greenish/gold see-through crinkly material. By the looks of it, it was made on someone’s sewing machine. Not to be worn here, of course. By the way, all of the above was ten dinars – about ten pounds, or fifteen dollars.
After this retail extravaganza, we were in need of food. We were walking in the downtown area, which is full of touristy restaurants, when I spotted a bunch of tables and chairs down an alley. It was full, so we decided it must be good. Much to our surprise, we were put in a separate seating area. It turns out that traditional places have a men’s area and then a family area, assuming that women don’t go out by themselves. Curious. The food was good though, we had all sorts of grilled meats.
We finished off the day at books@cafe, which is a gay landmark in Amman. The owner’s gay, and it’s an unofficial gay place. Claudia and Raillan, another Brown kid, are making a film about LGBTQ people in Amman, so they’ve interviewed the owner. It was the first internet café in the Middle East and has had a fairly chequered history. It’s supposed to be safe space for people who don’t necessarily fit into traditional Amman society, and it’s been arbitrarily shut down before. Apparently, the news item on the café’s temporary closure was the most visited website in Jordan.
So, that was that! It’s so nice to have time off to wander about, especially since we’re being ferried off to Petra next weekend. Until next time, amigos.
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