Fun with Analogies

It would be impossible to provide an "accurate" (re: complete) picture of Amman to someone who has never been here, especially as someone who lacks a complete picture herself.  We've only been here about a month and a half now, and still have never ventured into the mythical "East Amman," where the impoverished are neatly segregated (sound familiar Oakland folks?).  But I feel like, narrow view that I have, I can still share my experiences and draw a few tentative conclusions, always open to revision.  During our Qasid orientation, we were told a little statistic: Arabic language students who had studied abroad in the Middle East made more negative generalizations about the region than their counterparts who hadn't studied abroad.  The last thing I want is for this blog to be an excuse for people's distrust of the Middle East (yes, Mein Kampf is a big seller here. That is TRUE, but obviously not an isolated truth.  Jordan's population is almost entirely made up of displaced peoples from surrounding countries, primarily Palestine.  Amman's population may be as high as 90% Palestinian).  All in all, Amman is an incredible city, massive, diverse, beautiful, sometimes noisy, sometimes peaceful, crawling with kittens, dotted with pine and olive trees, and very, very beige.  So this post is about adding more parts to the picture, by trying my hand at making comparisons to familiar US sites.  Yalla.

1)  Amman is big.  Population-wise it's Chicago.  Geography-wise it looks more like LA; rolling hills covered with buildings as far as you can see in every direction.  Neighborhoods are highly distinctive and pretty segregated by economic status and national origin.  Think Oakland.  Our neighborhood borders the University and is firmly middle class (by West Amman standards -- factor in East Amman and it appears wealthy).  Mostly white collar workers (like teachers) and their families live around us.

2)  Amman has odors.  Think Mission district of SF.  "Name that smell" is a great game to play here.  Typically the answer would be sewage.  All things considered Amman is very sanitary -- trash almost always is confined to dumpsters, and sewage is disposed of properly.  But the pipes are old, and they drain slowly, and smells make their way to the street.  Again, not unlike the Mission.  Amman also, at times, smells amazing.  Jasmine bushes grow over walls and buildings, coffee vendors stand on corners doling out cups of Turkish coffee (finely ground, flavored with cardamom), and there's nothing like the smell of fresh falafel bubbling in oil.

3)  Amman is dry.  Very dry.  Jordan is the third dryest nation in the world.  It is, in plain terms, a desert, and looks VERY similar to the high desert of Southern California and Northern Mexico.  Amman itself has quite a lot of greenery: olive, pine, and palm trees, jasmine bushes, and many houses and buildings are covered with ivy.  But no grass.  No big loss, if you ask me.

4)  Amman is beige.  Not unlike Santa Barbara, the architecture in Amman is very uniform.  Buildings are rectangular, flat-roofed (it barely rains, so why not?), and made out of large bricks of yellow/white sandstone.  Most buildings are tallish, between 4 and 7 floors, with recessed entrances, sometimes behind a simple archway.

5) Amman stays up late.  It would make sense to compare to NYC here, but it's not quite like that.  It's actually quite normal to see whole families (babies, toddlers, grandmas) hanging out in cafes until midnight or later, drinking tea, eating sweets, and shooting the shit.  As far as we've seen, kids have no special schedule or rules -- they're just part of the family and do whatever the adults do.  This reality has led some of my classmates to the conclusion that Jordanian kids are spoiled, which definitely makes sense.  People do seem to be way more accepting of what we would call "bad behavior" from children, which is odd considering how important politeness is in adulthood.

In other words, Amman is different but the same.  I am constantly shocked both by the ways in which it's different and the ways in which it's familiar.  I'm sure you all would be too.

Well you're probably tired from reading all that.  I know I am.  Please comment or email my mom with requests if there's something you want to hear about!  This post is dedicated to Sara!  I miss you!