Just Hanging Out in Amman

Howdy fellas,

Today was a good day. I woke up at 11 o'clock and decided that I would meet up with my SIT friends and go into Amman for some exploring. I quickly showered, threw my hair up in a pony tail and hailed a cab. By the way, I have been wearing my hair in a pony tail not because I feel I need to hide it or anything like that. I simply just want to head out into the city and do things. I don't want to spend time doing my hair when I can be out in Amman. I am also always wearing scarves because I like scarves. I usually wear one in the US, but I am not photographed as often in the US. I just want people reading and seeing my pictures to know this. While it is important to dress modestly in Jordan, I can show my hair and neck. I'm not being oppressed and I'm not depressed. In fact, I am quiet happy and adjusting pretty well.

I talked to my friend Meg on Facebook this morning and got her address. I would take a taxi to her house and meet her there and then we would meet the group on Rainbow street together. Meg and I live in the same neighborhood, but we still cannot walk to each other. Meg told me that she got lost last night coming back from downtown with some group members. She does not speak Arabic and found it hard to get home. As a result, she wanted me to come get her so that she could make sure that things would be ok. While I was nervous about this, I did it. I figured it was a short ride and I could make it. Turns out, houses are hard to find! My taxi driver had to stop and ask for directions many different times to find my friends house. Eventually, Meg found a hotel a few blocks from where she lived and the taxi recognized the hotel. That's how I found Meg.

Once we reached Rainbow Street we met up with 8 SIT people in a cafe called Turtle Green. It was a nice place and I enjoyed it. Cafes are important in the Middle East as it is a source for internet, coffee and friends. I once again got not only one bottle of water, but two! I drank one and pocketed the other. I can get two bottles of water for 1JD. I was a happy camper.

Shannon and I at Turtle Green

My friend Shannon and I walked around Rainbow Street for a bit after the cafe. I wanted to go back to the craft store, Jordan River Foundation and look for the tapestry that I saw there previously when I had done my drop off. It is a tapestry showing different scenes from the story A Thousand and One Nights. I took plenty of pictures, but left the tapestry there. It was hand embroidered and is absolutely gorgeous.  I can't believe that someone could have made something so beautiful! The woman who sewed that is simply amazing. Later on Shannon and I met up with the rest of the group and walked downtown to look for a place to eat. Walking to and around downtown was hard. There were steep hills everywhere! After all, Amman was built on seven hills, much like Rome. A couple of girls and I said that we felt like fat kids in a gym class. We were out of breath and annoyed that the guys in the group seemed to be running up the hill. Men!

A girl in the group directed us to a restaurant, Hashem's, that she and her group had eaten at during the drop off. This is the most famous and first restaurant in Amman. All the King's of Jordan have eaten here as well as other presidents and leaders. I believe that Saddam Hussein ate at Hashems once and most likely a US President or two. This place is a whole in the wall and not a place that you would expect leaders to eat at. The restaurant is known for its cleaniness as well. We feasted on falafel, different types of hummus, pita bread, french fries and a salad with mint, tomatoes, and raw onions. This is what is served at Hashims as there is no menu. Six of us shared a table and ate for 9JD. Great food for a great price.

Below is a link about Hashem's restaurant that I think is good to read.
http://www.anothertravelguide.com/eng/asia/jordan/amman/destinations/restaurants/hashem

After our meal, we walked around a bit. We walked into a hookah store. I would say 90% of the group is planning on buying a hookah to take home. None of us brought one today, but we wanted to shop around for styles and prices. Everyone is the group kept pointing out the pink hookahs to me. I found this funny. Below are some of the pictures of hookahs. In Jordan, hookahs are called Argeela. The tobacco produces a sweet smell that is pleasant. Below are some pictures of what I saw in Downtown Amman.

Beautiful Argeelas

Argeela hoses for smoking hookahs. I love the color. Jesse is in the background

A little pink hookah

Bedouin Silver Daggers. Love these

Kind of Hard to see, but in the distance is a very decorated mosque. I forget its name but I want to go to it at some point.

After our window shopping, the 8 of us walked to a cafe that some of the guys knew well. It was a beautiful, modern place with plenty of seats. We sat down together at a long table with an outdoor heater. Most of the group bought pitchers of beer or mixed drinks. Since I haven't been feeling great due to a lack of water, I drank a strawberry juice. My friend Grace also got a mint lemonade. The cafe gave some students an opportunity to check their email and Facebook as not all the homestay families have internet. I am so so so so so so so happy I have internet. The two days at the hotel without decent internet almost caused me a melt down, and I wasn't alone as others felt the same way and appeared to be on the edge. Under the cafe is a bookstore and we had fun walking around and looking at the books, some were popular English tittles and others were popular Arabic tittles.

Nice Cafe with the group

Since it was getting dark, Meg and I decided to leave the cafe. We did not want our host families to worry. Our friend Jesse (a guy) was also leaving and we split a cab. The cab driver was nice and tried to teach us some Arabic. He mostly taught us directions, such as right and left, which I already knew. I did appreciate that he was trying. Jesse got off first, then Meg and then I was alone with the driver. He seemed unclear as to where I lived, but still kept trying to teach me Arabic. I was getting annoyed because I wanted to focus on where he was going and I wanted him to focus on where to go. I tried to be polite, but I was also annoyed he was trying to teach me colors. I already know colors in Arabic, I just don't know where I live. He took me to a mosque near my house and asked me where my house was. I could not see my house and I started to panic. I called my host mom and she talked to the driver and directed him to the house which was a few streets over. It is important to remind the readers that in Amman, a street address is not great. While I gave my taxi driver the address, he wanted the landmark. The card SIT gave me with directions to my house said that I live near a certain mosque. As a result, I ended up at the mosque. I would have like to have left the house and came back without having to ask my mother for help. This hurt my pride, but I need to get over it. My host mom was nice about it.

After coming home, I talked with my host mom and her friend who came over. We talked in Arabic and I enjoyed being part of the conversation. We talked about English films and actors. Eventually, they switched to English, but I was happy they worked with me on my Arabic. My mom's friend did not like the movie Les Miserables with Hugh Jackman. I disagreed with her and told her it was amazing and why. We had a good laugh. DVDs cost only 1JD here as there are no copy right laws. Movies are often illegally sold as well. Awesome place to find movies!

I talked with Jesse at the cafe today as well and he told me that he was frustrated, like I was, about the lack of Arabic we were speaking in the household. After talking to the other students, Jesse and I determined that SIT placed the intro level students with families that had no to limited English abilities while they put Jesse and I, who are higher level students, with families fluent in English. We figured that SIT knew students, such as Jesse and I, would push for the Arabic and want to try while students in Level 1 would speak only in English since that is their comfort zone. After figuring this out, Jesse and I felt better. The Level one students present, however, were a bit frustrated. I felt better knowing that Jesse had the same feelings towards language. Jesse and I spoke in Arabic on the way home to the driver, which was fun.

Well that is all for now. The first day of classes are tomorrow. I am taking bets as to whether my Arabic professor will smile or laugh once during the class. My bets are on no, but I will get him to laugh at some point. I am too gosh darn cute not to get at least one laugh or smile.

Most importantly, please feel free to leave comments on my blog if you have questions or comments about things I have posted. I would like to know if anyone is reading or if I could more clearly document things.