The first thing that comes to mind when I think of Jordan: dates. A co-worker at JP Morgan went to Jordan every year and brought back savory dates – chocolate covered, cinnamon laced, almond filled. Sorry to digress, but dates in the Middle East are just heavenly. After sampling many types of these delicacies, the top two are Kimia (Iranian dates) and Saudi madjoul dates. These both are the softer versions and slowly melt in your mouth as your eat them…yum.
Walking around old Amman near my hotel, I felt very self conscious. The people were staring as there weren’t many women walking around and especially alone. And when they spoke to me in Arabic, I pretended to understand, just like in Dubai and Lebanon. I notice the poverty in Jordan, which is a bitter contrast to the extravagance of Dubai. This country was not as lucky as its oil rich neighbors and has limited natural resources. But the uprisings here have not been as intense as other countries in the region as King Abdullah is making efforts for reform, but we will see how long that lasts or how it pans out. I walked to the Roman amphitheater and to the Sheikh Hassan mosque but a bad time, since it was close to iftar; at 7, I see people running around with large trays of food in preparation to break fast. At around 7:30, people are all together inside of their shops sharing this traditional meal. It is nice to see this togetherness during the holy month of Ramadan. Some of them even invite me to join them as they think I am fasting as well.
I had made plans to meet my friend Hana (another summer intern from Dubai) as she is from Jordan. Hana and her friend show me around old Amman, and the circles of the city. It is built on 7 mountains with 8 circles, which kind of reminds me of Amsterdam and the circles of canals (though those are more reminiscent of the concentric circles of hell from Dante’s Inferno). As we drive up and down the narrow streets of the circles, I see how alive the city is at night, similar to any other cities in the region after iftar. They take me to this charming outdoor restaurant on top of the 3rd circle which affords a view of the entire city, the mountains and the citadel. As I mention my future travel plans, I learn that my friend is actually Palestinian but her family had moved to Jordan in the 30’s. She was saying how lucky I was to be able to visit Israel and Palestine, something which would be nearly impossible for her. And apparently even if you are Jordanian, it is difficult to visit Israel. Which came as a surprise to me since Israel has peace treaties with only 2 Arab nations (Jordan & Egypt), but folks were not allowed to move into and out of these countries freely. I suppose these countries are just a conduit for tourists from other nations to visit Israel. That’s the one convenient aspect of living and traveling in the Middle East, I am able to get a more in depth understanding of each of these countries and how they differ. Just because shit is blowing up in Syria (which shares a border with Jordan), does not mean it is unsafe to come to Jordan. So we bid each other farewell at the end of the night, wondering when we will meet again.
Walking around old Amman near my hotel, I felt very self conscious. The people were staring as there weren’t many women walking around and especially alone. And when they spoke to me in Arabic, I pretended to understand, just like in Dubai and Lebanon. I notice the poverty in Jordan, which is a bitter contrast to the extravagance of Dubai. This country was not as lucky as its oil rich neighbors and has limited natural resources. But the uprisings here have not been as intense as other countries in the region as King Abdullah is making efforts for reform, but we will see how long that lasts or how it pans out. I walked to the Roman amphitheater and to the Sheikh Hassan mosque but a bad time, since it was close to iftar; at 7, I see people running around with large trays of food in preparation to break fast. At around 7:30, people are all together inside of their shops sharing this traditional meal. It is nice to see this togetherness during the holy month of Ramadan. Some of them even invite me to join them as they think I am fasting as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment