Morhaba auzeezee,
Another weekend has come and gone and I am sitting at home on a Saturday (the equivalent of Sunday for those of you Westerners) staring at the pile of homework in front of me and procrastinating. Actually, ( Fee Al’hakeek see if I put in some Arabic words it’s like I’m studying right?) I have a nasty stomach ache currently. We’ll get to how this came about later in this blog though…first things first, Thursday!
This Thursday David and I cut class thirty minutes to go meet our habibtee Mariam. Mariam had promised to bring us to Hashemite University (out in the desert). Hashemite University is competing with Jordan Uni as the best government school in Jordan. It is about 27,000 students I think? More importantly, our friends Muhammad, Munir, and Sina (Mariam’s sister) go there. Once meeting up with Mariam, we followed her like little ducklings to the Raghadan bus station and then out into the desert. It’s amazing how cheaply you can travel by bus in Jordan. A 1 hour bus ride from downtown Amman to Hashemite University was a measly 1 JD. Talking to other CIEE kids it appears that most have stuck to the quick and convenient Taxi ride, but I (Wylie of Arabia) dare to face the language barriers and smelly public transports. I’m slowly (and blindly) navigating myself through the public transportation system. With help from my Arab friends I will be a professional in no time. Anyways, back to our trip…
Once at the school we stepped out into a desert-like landscape with huge beige buildings blotting the landscape. Hashemite, David and I quickly noticed, was much smaller, but much hotter than JU. The lack of trees and tall buildings made for a scarcity of shade. Waddling after Mariam like a bunch of naïve tourists, David and I snapped shots of the surroundings. We met a lot of people, whose names I can’t remember, except the two African cousins both named Ahmad who dressed like gangsters. One thing I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned or not is that Jordanians are very fashionable. The men put me to shame. Hopefully I’ll get some cheap new threads and fit in better later this summer.
The next few hours we spent wandering around to different colleges (departments) and joking around with one another. All of our friends on this trip spoke fluent English so it Is very easy to communicate freely and with ample sarcasm. David joked that we are corrupting poor little Mariam, but as for Muhammad and Sina, they got just as sarcastic palates as us. We had a blast just walking around and taking pictures of one another. At one point a group of rowdy guys made us photograph them with David saying they were “Barack Obama” and “Mubarek,” who would have thought Hashemite had so many influential people studying there…
Upon return to Amman Muhammad, Munir, David, and I took off to first circle to meet some CIEE friends at a bar called Amigos. Mariam and Sina took off to go home because they have a very early curfew and are not allowed to such establishments. Amigo’s was interesting. Essentially it turned into another situation of Westerners congregating to do what we do back home: get drunk. Not my cup of Shae (tea). It was however, quite amusing to watch Muhammad (who has been drunk 3 times in his life) get silly off of two drinks. About an hour in Muhammad got a text to go to a café called books@cafe where his friends were. Wanting to shake the growing happy hour crowd of 30 CIEE students David and I accompanied (more like carried) him to the café.
Books@cafe turned out to be even worse than Amigos, if you can imagine. It was an interesting idea for a café; the entrance is a bookshop with a small flight of stairs leading up to a luxurious café with loud music, loud people, seductive lights, and an attractive atmosphere. I learned later that this spot is known as the “gay” café in Jordan, because the owner is gay (I didn’t get this feeling, I actually thought it was probably the most hipster thing I’d found in Jordan so far). Anyways, we arrived to find that the place was jam packed, there was no room to sit with Muhammad’s friends (who were gorgeous African princesses!!) and we got placed in a room where we couldn’t even smoke argila, although they allowed everyone around us to blow stinky cigarette smoke in our faces (really logical).
The night was a bit disappointing but a good lesson for Amman weekend activities. The next day I slept in and met up with David to go to the gym. Afterwards we met his friend Sarah, who lives in the outskirts of Amman. Sarah brought us to first circle to meet her friends Yeza and Dina. The three were very nice, but obviously came from very wealthy backgrounds. All three drove brand new prius’ or civics and they brought us to a café where a shae cost 3 dinar. Afterwards they brought us to a bar called AlKalla (I think) where we had a glass of wine and talked about the best place to go for spring break. My friend Becca and I have decided it’s going to be Turkey (for now). The night progressed as we jumped from place to place to meet other well to do Jordanians who had either studied in Montreal, the US, or England. Everyone we met was very nice and generous, but what I learned the most from this night was the astounding divide in social classes in Amman. These kids had all studied abroad at private universities and were all in their mid 20s. They all had brand new cars and steady jobs. If I based my whole trip on this one experience I would have thought I was at Skidmore College in Jordan. David and I rode home that night thankful for having such connections, but with pretty empty wallets. We decided we would save time with these friends to once a month so as not to burn through our bank accounts in 2 weeks.
Today (Saturday) was the best day I’ve had in Amman so far. I slept in till 10:30 and woke up to a beautiful breakfast prepared by Salim, per usual. Then I took off to meet my friend Huda at the Halifa building (where CIEE is located). We met and caught a bus downtown to go have my first sample of Hashims (an old restaurant famous for having the best hummus and falafel in Jordan). Hashims was nothing like what I expected. It was very run-down, with plastic tables and chairs scattered in between an alley and under a slight over-hang. The food was fantastic! The best falafel I’ve had so far in Jordan, and the sabaha (like hummus) blew my mind! To top it all off the meal was one of the cheapest I’ve had here so far.
After Hashims Huda and I wandered the streets stopping at street vendors to peruse. I bought Huda 6 DVDs for 5 JD so she could experience my favorite films and David some prayer beads that he’d been craving. I tried to find some classical piano CDs for Salim, but Jordanians have a complete lack of interest for classical music so I failed in this venture. After lunch we got Kenafi (a traditional Jordanian desert that has some orange topping and cheese in the middle). While we were sitting Huda and I were approached by two cute little girls who I assumed were just playing while their parents ate. Turned out they were street peddlers. The girls immediately won my heart after telling me that I had beautiful eyes and I managed to convince them to pose for a picture with Huda (for half a JD). After our meal Huda and I went to my favorite café Gafra where we had argila and talked about life. I met one of the servers who was replenishing our (fahem) coals. He told me he was a free lance photographer for magazines and was hoping to be making a trip to New York City soon for a job.
At the end of the day Huda brought me back to Raghadan bus station and I navigated my way home. The day was everything I was looking for here and I’m glad to have spent a weekend in Amman. I truly experienced two social classes throughout the weekend. There were the Prius driving, 3 JD shae drinking kids in 1st circle and there was the bus riding, Hashims eating trip with Huda to Jabal Amman. Knowing myself I’m not surprised that I enjoyed the latter more. While walking around the Raghadan bus station, Huda pointed out a social welfare building where she had volunteered the year before. She said she had volunteered to visit low income families and asses whether or not they would receive government aid. I was stunned by how much I have learned about Huda, who is quickly becoming my best friend in Jordan. I’ve learned that she is top of her class, has already seen a patient die, worked at Burger King, and volunteered for the needy. She has truly inspired me to study and work harder during my time in Amman.
Yours truly,
Wylie of Arabia
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