Saturdays, they have always been quite wonderful to me and in the Middle East it is no different. I am completely free of all other distractions and have an entire day to do nothing productive except have a TON of fun and cool experiences! Are you ready for this amazing day? Read on and enjoy...
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| The outside, it was my favorite building |
Today I decided that I would explore the city of Amman on my own and have a wonderful day doing tons of different things. I had a whole lists of things that I wanted to do but I should have known, as I have learned many times, that the best way to be unproductive in Jordan is to make a plan. The first thing I want to do was to go see "The Citadel" in the middle of Amman. The Citadel is a giant flat hill in downtown Amman that is full of ruins and apparently has a great view of the city. All I knew was that it had some Roman ruins up there and that sounded like fun so I got in a taxi and after a bit of trying was able to finally communicate to the taxi driver where I wanted to go (quite a feat when you don't know a ton of Arabic). The Citadel was amazing, especially for the small price of only 2 JDs (about 3 bucks). The Roman ruins were probably the least cool part of the entire citadel with caves being used back to the Stone Age, Byzantines, Abassids, Umayyads and everything in between. Also, in Jordan they aren't very much about actually preserving the ruins... instead you get to climb over everything and look into every little nook and cranny you want. My favorite part was the Umayyad palace with a rebuilt dome and colonnaded streets. Also there was an awesome Archaeological Museum with artifacts from all over Jordan. I saw the first example of sculpture and a ton of other really cool objects before walking outside and hearing the prayer calls echoing through the city.
Can I just say that this is my most favorite part of being in the Middle East? It is odd, because in Arabic culture they don't really support the arts of dance, instrumental or voice music (at least from what I have been able to gather). In fact, the largest theatre in the country was built two thousand years ago by the Romans! However, the caller to prayer is literally one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard. I have heard some of the best instrumentalists and vocalists in the world in amazing venues like Philadelphia, Chicago and New York but the simple and humble prayer car is greater than them all. Perhaps it is because I am a religious man and there is something about the praises of God ringing and echoing through a modern city that is poetic but I think it is more than that. I think it is a combination of the exotic sound, the simplicity, and beauty with which it echoes and resounds from hill to hill in Amman. Truly, it is amazing and I don't believe I will ever get sick of it. I think everyone should hear it at least once in their life!
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| What's left of the Temple of Hercules |
After looking around the citadel for awhile I sat down at a viewing area overlooking down town Amman and just pondered for awhile. I highly recommend some good pondering time for everyone in the world, it really calms the mind and just gives you some time to be with yourself. Anyway, I was thoroughly enjoying myself just sitting watching and thinking and then this nice Jordanian fellow came by and sat next to me. We started talking and I had a great time learning some more Arabic and practicing mine with him. I couldn't believe it, but I actually carried on a reasonable conversation with him for about an hour! Who would have thunk it? It was sad, though, when he asked about my work in America and realized that I make more as a student working part time in a week than he does working 14 hour days 6 days a week. The inequality of the world order has been starkly placed in front of my face here in Jordan, another thing that I think each of us should do in order to remember the wonderful blessings we have. Anyway, that was really fun and then as the park was closing I got a taxi to head over to my favorite barbershop in town and get my second wonderful Jordanian shave.
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| I just thought this was a cool picture |
I got the shave, and it was glorious like always (I've decided to get a shave there every week and that's the only time I'm gonna shave in Jordan! Heck yeah), and then started walking to the downtown to catch a service taxi home to go grocery shopping and do some of the things that I needed to get down today. Well, that was the plan until I was walking along and I saw this shop that had beautiful Arabic calligraphy hanging up and the guys were making a frame right in front of me. I vacillated back and forth about whether I should go in and finally I asked one of the guys how much the calligraphy cost. He looked at me for a second and invited me in to the shop and asked me to sit down. This then precipitated them purchasing me soft drinks and talking to me for the next almost 3 hours! Two of the guys had amazing English, one of them lived in America for a while and the other studied accounting in the American University in Cairo. We talked about all types of things, they told me about their homes in Jerusalem and what it was like to live here in Jordan. One of them was a photographer and told me I have to look up his pictures on the internet. We had a great talk and they were amazed that I had any prior knowledge of Islam, I only had a rough knowledge, and said I was a smart foreigner. I also got to ask them some of their feelings about Palestine and Israel and when I did their entire demeener changed, but I was able to pass it off on being just a stupid American. It wasn't until after we were finished and they were all getting ready to go home that I was finally able to ask them what the calligraphy cost. It took five minutes and I got a straight answer, and then I was on the road heading home.
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| The amazing view from where I sat and pondered |
Now, the reason I loved this experience (in case it isn't obvious) is because of how different it makes me feel. As a visitor or a western tourist I do not expect be treated like a guest when entering a business, nor do I expect the people in that business to buy me drinks and introduce me to random friends of theirs who live close to me. In the west, good business includes being cordial but getting me in and out of your store without actually making a connection. This was amazingly different, and so wonderful. Also, it shows how we as westerners need to interact with the Arab people. I am not saying that I am a paragon of cultural awareness, I say and do amazingly stupid things everyday, but we must be patient and enjoy the culture simply for the culture, not seek to be in a country just to take pictures and bring our country with it. I think in a later blog post I am going to write about the difference between a tourist, and what I have so far called a culturalist (I'm seeking for a better term). Anyway, it was simply a spectacular experience that left me so grateful for a wonderful day full of adventures on my own, new friends and some great conversations in Arabic. In the end, I feel like this is what life is really about (excuse my soapbox) but we need to build relationships, gain knowledge, and seek to know that which we find strange or scary. Life is too short for me to build a box and spend my whole life within it, it is up to us to break our comfortable little boxes and seek to understand others better so that all of us can have better, more vivid existences.
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| I think this picture turned out alright |
I hope you are enjoying reading about My Journey to Jordan! If you have any questions or things you have wondered about, please post them here or email me and I would be glad to give my opinion on them or the opinions of the Arab friends I have here! Ma'sallama!
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