So I haven’t really written yet because it’s been really hectic since I’ve arrived. I’ve barely had free time, except for a few hours at night, but everything will hopefully calm down soon.
Right now, I’m still in the process of apartment hunting, and am staying at the same budget hotel from the time I arrived Monday night. It’s not bad since its only $20 a night, is in the heart of downtown, and has wi-fi, but it’s kind of far from the University and where I’ll be volunteering.
Without recounting my initial days in too much detail, here’s how it’s been:
My direct flight from New York wasn’t too bad at all, even though it began with a choir of babies crying for the first hour that made me feel a little apprehensive. They luckily tuckered out after a while, and I managed to sleep for a few hours on the plane, which is rare for me. I also managed to watch two movies on the plane: The Fighter and Unknown. I thought the former was alright, but it was “modified for content,” meaning to cursing or drug use, which I feel was a big part of the film. The latter was your generic thriller, but it kept me entertained for 2 hours. These choices are also oddly similar to the movies I watched on my way home from Cairo- The Wrestler (A drama about a violent sport) and Taken (another thriller starring Liam Neeson).
I got into Amman around 5 PM the next day, and got a visa at the airport with no problem. The supervisor of the place where I’ll be volunteering, Ramez, was waiting at the airport with a co-worker, Suheir, and they picked me up and drove me to Amman. It was very nice of them, and was even nicer that I had a home-cooked meal of zucchini stuffed with rice at Suheir’s family’s house that night. After that, we drove through the very Westernized part of Amman before heading into downtown where my hotel is located. I walked around a little bit that night just to see the surrounding blocks, but didn’t want to stray too far since I was by myself.
The next day, my first full day in Jordan, I took a taxi to the office where I’ll be working, and my supervisor gave me an old cell phone to use while I’m in Jordan. While it’s a lot more basic than my US Android smartphone in that it can only call and text (it’s almost identical to the phone I had in Cairo), it will be fine for two months. After that, Ramez offered to help me look for an apartment by having his co-worker Amr drive me around and search apartment buildings near Jordan University for studio apartments for two months. However, since Amr speaks English as well as I speak Arabic, there was a real language disconnect, and I could mostly just smile and say “okay” after Amr spoke to me in Arabic.
Apartment hunting is no easier here than it is in the US, and on that first day the only affordable place was kind of a dump. The other places were usually nice, but were actually far more expensive than my apartment in DC, which is not something I was planning on. We didn’t search too long before I got kind of stressed out due to the heat and lack of success, and we then returned to the office, where I just sat around for a while and learned a bit about the organization. I’ll hopefully be doing a field visit to the area where they do development work soon though.
That night, I met up with another GWU student studying in Jordan this summer, Justin, and we ate dinner in a very Westernized part of Amman called Jebel (Mountain) Amman. I got loaded nachos for dinner, not particularly traditional Middle Eastern food, but it was kind of comforting after that day. I recognized this area as being one of the more Western-areas I saw the last time I was in Amman, and I feel like that visit kind of gave me a slightly false impression that all of Amman was just like it. Downtown Amman, where I’ve been staying, is much less Westernized, and is a lot like Cairo.
Today I made the trek to University of Jordan to register for my summer Arabic classes, and aside from getting a little lost in its relatively large campus for a while, this went off without a hitch. The University is a lot different from the American University in Cairo in that it’s not an English-language University, so all of the signs were in Arabic and I only saw a handful of non-Jordanians there. Students, while dressed in good clothes, tended to dress more conservatively than AUC students, and there were no Western fast food chains or giant advertisements on campus. However, registering for my Arabic class was a lot easier than the bureaucratic AUC process. I start there next Monday with an Arabic placement test, which I’m kind of nervous about, and then have orientation the next day.
I made a few calls and sent out a few e-mails about apartments today, but only ended up seeing one. It was a really nice apartment near the University, one of the nicest apartments I’ve seen in my life actually, but was quite expensive. If I find a roommate it could be manageable, but whether or not I take it remains to be decided.
Tonight I met up with Justin again, and I had my first real Middle Eastern meal here consisting of hummus, fuul (fava beans), falafel, and French fries of all things served with pita bread. It was delicious, and cost less than $4! I feel like I might be eating this kind of food more as time goes on to save money, and loaded nachos will be an occasional treat.
I realize this is just kind of rambling about my experiences here, and I’m sorry that there’s no pictures; the hotel I’m staying in now says there’s a 100 MB internet usage limit per day, and I don’t really want to test what happens if I go over that. Youtube is even blocked in this hotel to keep intensive internet usage down.
Anyway, here are some general first impressions of Amman:
-What I’ve read about there being “two Ammans” in my guide book seems to be true. Some neighborhoods, particularly in West Amman, are very Westernized and modern, and these are the areas that made me think “am I really in the Middle East?” when I visited Amman in 2009. Restaurants serve American comforts, women tend to dress in Western clothing, and Western food chains are everywhere. However, downtown Amman and most of East Amman is not as upscale and is much more crowded and chaotic. It also hosts some Palestinian refugee camps, which are largely indistinguishable from the surround city blocks. It reminds me a lot of downtown Cairo, albeit slightly less conservative, and seems to be busy around the clock.
-Pictures of the King of Jordan, King Abdullah II, are as abundant as I remember, and can be found in every office, restaurant, and street corner. He appears to be smiling in most pictures, so it’s more welcoming than the scowling portraits of Mubarak that lined most streets in Cairo while I was there.
-Amman only two major tourist attractions that are fairly close to each other and are right in the heart of downtown- the Umayyad/Byzantine ruins and Roman Amphitheater I mentioned before. I have yet to formally re-visit both sites, but it’s definitely interesting to pass by both of them all the time.
-Unlike Cairo and Beirut, most cabs here use their fare meter, and cab fares are cheap relative to the US. The 15-20 minute cab ride I’ve been taking to and from the office is only about 3 JD ($4.25), although this number really depends on traffic. I’ve only had one cab driver so far not use the meter.
-While the last time I was in Jordan I got the impression that almost everyone spoke English, perhaps with the exception of cab drivers, this has been only somewhat accurate so far. I’ve met many people who know no English or only a few phrases, yet I would say that the majority of people I’ve interacted with know English fairly well. I’ve even had a couple cab drivers speak English very well. I usually start conversations in Arabic, but since it’s fairly obvious that it’s not my native tongue, most English-speakers will respond in English to help me out. I’m at least using Arabic fairly regularly.
-You can hear the call to prayer 5 times a day just as you could in Cairo, since Jordan is about 94% Muslim and 6% Christian.
-Traffic laws here are fairly lax, and the idea of organized traffic lanes are usually ignored. They are not as lax as Cairo however, in that there are actually traffic lights or traffic police in many places. Crossing the street is just as disorganized and as Frogger-like as Cairo though.
-While the Jordanian Dinar is worth $1.40, its purchasing power really varies depending on the area. In more upscale areas, Dinars will be treated almost like the US Dollar, much to my wallet’s dismay, while in smaller stores and budget restaurants a few Dinars will get you a lot. It made me long for the exchange rate of 5.5 Egyptian Pounds to the US Dollar.
-Many stores seem to strongly dislike or just be unable to give change, meaning carrying small bills is a necessity most of the time. Even breaking 5 JD has been a hassle at times, and I think very few businesses will accept a 50 JD note. This was commonplace in Egypt as well, and was one of the more frustrating aspects of living there.
I’ll hopefully update again soon, and it will hopefully be posted from an apartment! It will also contain pictures!
