Caesar's and The Dead Sea

It’s not like I lost momentum with my blog – it’s just that until this weekend, I hadn’t done anything other than work in the shop. I’m now working the evening shift every day from 3-9 so I spend my mornings mooching around Amman and then the day seems to disappear. But this weekend was amazing.

On Thursday morning I was running errands with Lubna, Nadia’s sister. She’s taken me under her wing as surrogate daughter (another parent for me here in Jordan!). Amongst other things we did was stop off the shop where Lubna is buying her tiles for her house renovation. Lubna introduced me to the mother and daughter (Mais) who run the shop. Towards the end of our conversations in the shop (which I didn’t contribute to as 1) I don’t speak Arabic 2)I know bugger all about bathroom tiles), Mais’s brother Tareq came into the shop. We said hi, and not much else was exchanged. At work later, I got a call from Tareq – Lubna had given him my number and he was calling me inviting me to a house party he was going to later that evening. He seemed like a nice guy, and Lubna had told him to “look after me or else” so I leapt at the opportunity at a spot of socialising. So at 10pm after work I ended up hopping in a taxi. It was when I was sitting in this taxi that I started to feel pangs of awkwardness about just turning unashamedly up to party where the only person I knew was someone I’d said a brief “hello” to earlier. I needn’t have worried – I ended up having a FANTASTIC night. Somehow or another, Tareq knows a whole load of students on their year abroad from Manchester University and the house party was at the apartment of two guys called Christian and Patrick. These guys go to the Jordan Language Academy and had friends from there over too. The majority of people were English, which was a relief in some respects as I didn’t have to feel guilty about people constantly having to translate Arabic conversations for me. With two bottles of Haddad Rum (Jordan’s Finest) we set about playing a game of Articulate , which was great, especially when everyone started to feel the effects of a 10JD bottle of rum. We then decided to head out to a club – I was so excited about this as I’ve heard a lot of mixed stories about the Amman clubbing scene since I’ve been here. I wasn’t disappointed. A smaller group – Chris, Patrick, Tareq and two friends of his and I – headed to a club called Caesar’s which is in Jebel Webdeih. Having got to the front door, we were told by someone coming out that we should only go in if we “liked sweaty Jordanian men, Arabic music and chest hair”. We unanimously agreed that this was exactly what we were in the market for and I had a classic night. The music was GREAT – proper Arabic music with tambourines etc and there were big circles of guys doing traditional Jordanian dancing. The atmosphere in there was pretty liberal – there were quite a few expat types and a lot of drunk Jordanian girls with a lot of flesh on show. I had a great time and my highlight of the night would have to be seeing Patrick on the end of a Jordanian equivalent of a conga, bouncing along with a look of pure confusion on his face. We stayed until about half three and then Tareq drove me home. I had such a fun night and met such a cracking group of people. We’re definitely going to go out again soon.

I had to struggle through hung-over work the next day, but was looking forward to going down Rainbow Street and seeing some of the Americans that I’ve met since I’ve been here. As I was walking home, I got a call off Diala who invivted me out with the rest of them to 7 Barrels. As I already had vague plans I said that I’d see her soon and decided to head down to Rainbow Street. I had a look at the souk that opens every Friday night (a  bit lacklustre compared to other souks!) and then met up with Hannah and some other AMIDEAST people in a bar called La Calle. It was nice hanging out with them but after I while I decided that I’d call Diala and see what those guys were up to – I had fun with them the other night and she is such a babe. She told me to get to 7 Barrels – so I got in a taxi and went to meet them. When I got there I saw a lot of the same guys, plus some new people. As soon as I saw her Diala told me – “sweetie, yalla, we’re going to the Dead Sea”. One of the guys that I hadn’t met before is called Yazan and is a very strict Muslim, so they weren’t drinking out of respect for him. So we piled in various cars with Yazan (with Kais riding on the back) on his 3-wheeler motorbike and we headed off to the Dead Sea. I wasn’t quite sure what we were going to do when we got there but I was definitely up for a bit of an adventure and I haven’t got down to the Dead Sea for a good eight years so I was keen! We stopped off for some food on the way and ended up parking on a ‘panoramic’ spot that overlooks the Dead Sea. On a clear day you’d be able to see over into Palestine, but seeing as it was 1 in the morning, there wasn’t much to see apart from some Palestinian lights. We had music playing out the car, and we basically sat around and chatted for an hour or so. The boys all wanted a go on the motorbike and when Kais found out that I’d never been on one, he and Yazan both took me for a spin. I’m definitely a new convert to motorsports…the roads were completely empty and straight so we did a couple of laps of a circuit around the road. SO FUN. Because the motorbike has 3 wheels it’s more of a quadbike than anything else. I felt completely safe whizzing along at speeds that my Renault Clio could never achieve…it was a total ‘inshallah’ moment and it was amazing fun. The group was as accommodating as ever and even when they were speaking Arabic, I understood the jist of the conversations, which was nice. We drove home at 2.30 and Kais dropped me home once we got back to Amman and I didn’t get to bed until around 4. My social life here is significantly more risqué than it is in Haywards Heath and I bloody love it. It felt pretty spontaneous (for me – they do it all the time) and I have just had the BEST WEEKEND EVER. But now back into the working routine…going to try and meet up with some of the new guys I’ve met as they were really good fun and we got on really well.

It is hard being here on my own – every foreigner I’ve met since being here is in Jordan with some kind of structured programme and so they have a pool of people to socialise with right from the get-go. I’m here as a result of nostalgia (and no significant life plans being in place when I graduated).

Being a lone ranger means that I do need to put myself out there more than usual, something that makes me cringe, but as I’ve found out this week, is definitely worth it. Cracking weekend.

Wasta

Although sassy and glamorous, wearing an all black ensemble for work with Nadia is a little problematic - for one, when I got into work yesterday, my co-worker asked me concernedly if I was ill because I was sweating so much. Being a westerner, I definitely can't take the risks with my clothing that some of the Jordanian girls do, and as a result I get really rather hot and bothered on my walk to work in the 34 degree heat. Especially if I'm wearing 120 denier tights. Just thinking about having to cross those busy, busy roads makes me break out in a sweat - the traffic is unrelenting and unpredictable so there's always the chance I may get mowed down by a rogue taxi driver who is lighting up a Marlboro Red instead of holding onto the steering wheel (happened to me the other day whilst we were driving around a roundabout. Taxi drivers are crazy). After informing Dalia that I didn't have to be rushed to hospital because of illness, she still looked concerned. When I asked her what was wrong, she asked me "what is wrong with your eyebrows?". Having never really considered my eyebrows, I was a little taken aback when she told me that they desperately needed tattooing (Mum, don't worry -this blog post doesn't end with me getting my eyebrows tattooed). In an attempt to show me what I am missing out on in the realm of eyebrow definition, I was swiftly taken behind the shop to have my eyebrows coloured in. Unfortunately, Dalia's attempt to make me look more sophisticated was thwarted by my sweaty brow, so I ended up looking like a poor man's Freida Kahlo. A great way to start the day.

The rest of the day in the shop went innocuously enough - a bit of marketing here and there. I had plans to go out for tea with some of Dad's old friends after work and got a call from Talal al-Rifai telling me that his son Nazir would pick me up.After making sure my eyebrows were back to normal, I waited outside the shop for Nazir.  I can't remember meeting Nazir as a kid, so I didn't know what to expect. What I definitely was not expecting was hearing a ginormous roar on the street of the InterCon and a bright yellow monster truck swing around the corner with a smiling Nazir in it. This car is ridiculous, and any descriptionI give it won't do it justice. Named the 'Rumble-Bee' it is a vivid yellow pick up truck that practically took me a running leap to climb into as its wheels are at least 4ft high, if not more (Nazir's car has bigger wheels than the one in the picture, but this is the Rumble-Bee!). It's also fitted with a special engine that means that when we were speeding along the streets of Amman on the way back to the family house, we stood out a fair bit. Nazir is lovely - 29 and recently moved back to Amman from Dubai, he didn't mind coming to pick me up at all and we had a good chat on our way back to his house - or at least I think we did. I couldn't really hear what he was saying over the engine. We got to the family house, a beautiful mansion in Dabbouq, and I met with the rest of the Rifai's - Talal and Zainab are still as lovely and welcoming as ever, and I re-met their other son, Kais and his gorgeous fiance Diala. We sat and had tea and cake (so English) and chatted away about the old times. Nazir has a new puppy - called Sexy (which sounds so good said in a Jordanian accent) and he was tinkering away on his car with Kais whilst the girls and Talal talked. Talal and Zainab might just be the most hospitable people I've ever met - within five minutes of being re-introduced, they told me that they considered me as a daughter and that I should sack off living in my apartment and come live with them. They called themselves 'my new parents' and told me to call them every day to tell them how I'm getting on - I've already had a lengthy chat with Talal today as he called me at work, so they are being true to their word. They are so kind and considerate, I felt very honoured to be able to be invited to be part of their home, and not only because Zainab's poppy seed cake is truly exceptional. Talal called Dad off his mobile and a slightly comic conversation ensued where a bemused Rhodders, sat in the car in France, was talking to us sat around in Amman. The al-Rifai's are a big influential family in Amman, with many members holding important governmental positions. This was really brought home to me, as when I was telling the family about the road I live on, Abdul Mun'em al-Rifai, I was told that Abdul Mun'em is actually Talal's uncle! Outrageous 'wasta' in Dabbouq (the Arabic word for connections that pretty much sums up the Amman scene - nepotism gone wild).


Diala and Kais invited me to go out with them afterwards and I ended up having such a crazy evening. It was so fun! I got taken under Diala's wing, which was great as she is really lovely. She is 25 and a school teacher, whereas Kais is 26 and finishing off a degree at University in Amman and they're getting married in June. I got in Diala's car and we chatted - she's Iraqi with an Australian passport, but has lived in Amman for a long time now. Kais meanwhile is crazy - he drag races in his free time and 'drifts' around Amman (as if you need to make the traffic any more difficult). He's got this pimped out BMW which he slides and turns into the gaps in traffic with ease. There's a massive drag racing/drifting scene in Amman and they go down to the Dead Sea a lot to practice down there (I wasn't part of anything as dramatic as this youtube clip). We dropped Kais's car off to be valeted, picked up their friend Abdulla and drove around Amman for a bit -went over the Abdoun bridge (which got put up after we left...very swish) and drove around Sweifieh before settling into their favourite coffee place, 'Cups and Kilos' in Abdoun. We met a few more friends and then went back to pick up Kais's car and dropped Diala's off (we did a lot of driving). Driving with Kais is crazy. People say I'm a nerve-wracking driver, but this was next level. Drifting is my new favourite thing...SO FUN. Urban thrillseeking - my new favourite genre of activity! You definitely couldn't get away with it anywhere else but Amman and I'm not sure our Renault Clio could handle it anyways...We drifted towards 7 Barrels, a bar in Jabal Amman, and sat around and chilled. 7 Barrels is a nice bar, which bar for the fact you can sit outside at 10pm on a Sunday night in September and wear only a t-shirt, it could be anywhere in Europe. The 'gang' is a real mixed bunch - cars and motorbikes is what most of them have in common and they are definitely a liberal group. They go out most nights with each other and seem to party a lot, and hard. The ages of the group went from 18-36 and everyone was very friendly and funny. Conversation flowed easily between English and Arabic, and anything I didn't understand I got translated by Diala. It was a really nice evening and I definitely feel like I stumbled across a slightly elite group - they're all pretty wealthy and live a fast, good lifestyle. They didn't make me feel like a burden at all either, and I'm definitely going to hang out with them again soon. We stayed out until around 11.30, which made my evening all the more wild - 11.30 on a work night! What am I like?!

In terms of work, I've now started working full time doing the evening shift 4-9, so work is about to pile up a lot more. I don't mind at all as I have a lot to do and am always busy, but it feels like a LOT of responsibility - for example, I had to close up the shop today all by myself after having seen it done only once. I better not balls this up or there will be trouble. I did manage to sell some jewellery though, and feel bloody smug about it too. I'm not going to have any time off properly to go travelling/exploring and whatnot before Nadia returns to Amman in mid-October, so my plate is pretty full. It's a nice feeling.

Anyways, had a fab evening and it seems that my fears of having to be a social hermit were unneccessary. In the last 24 hours I've managed to bag myself a slightly unexpected full time marketing job, a new set of parents in the al-Rifai's, and integrate myself into seemingly an elite car/biking circle in Amman. Who would have thought?
I think this might be a boring blog post about what was a really fun evening - I don't think I'm very good at expressing myself through writing. Maybe it's just as well that at the moment I don't have time to explore the journalistic route when I'm here or I'd get scoffed at. Anyways, yesterday was crazy and I'm so excited to have met so many fun people, as well as so many hospitable and caring people since I've been here. I cannot believe I haven't even been here a week. I love Amman. Feels so good to be back.

Arab MCs

...were awesome!

I finally moved into my new apartment and it's great! It's situated on a little street that runs parallel to Abdul Mun'em Riyadh street (the one with the Hyatt on it) and it's just far enough off 3rd circle to not feel like you're on a main road, but close enough to be able to catch a taxi within 30 seconds of leaving the house. The street itself is lovely - various embassies and residencies are here, so there are armed guards dotted all over the place, which is quite comforting. The apartment itself is way bigger than I was expecting - my room is MASSIVE. I've got a big double bed and more wardrobe space than I've ever had in my life. We are the basement flat, so have a really cute little courtyard running around the house which means I have a nice view of some shrubbery from my window. My new roommate, Chris, seems really nice too - he's very friendly and having been in Amman for a year and Jordan for three more, he is a pretty good person to have as a knowledge source. He used to work in the PeaceCorps and last night we had one of his friends stay on our couch, which was cool. Chris also has a dog, called Cajool (Arabic for shy) who was taken to the humane society in Amman after being found badly abused on the streets. Cajool is obviously therefore a bit scared of loud noises etc, but he's a lovely dog (a big, big compliment coming from a cat person) and is sooooo cute. He looks like a big fox.

After unpacking and sorting my life out, Hannah and I went down to Rainbow Street. We stopped by at Al Quds falafel downtown which might be my favourite restaurant of all time. It's no bigger than a cupboard and makes the BEST falafel sandwiches in the whole of Amman - 50 fils for a pitta filled with Jordanian goodness. Absolute bargain, and I'm definitely going to go back soon. We then headed to Star Cafe, got some mint tea, and sat and chatted for a while before we were joined by some of her friends on her course. We headed down to Books@Cafe (not seeing any penises on our way...refer to previous blog if you are confused) and bought tickets for this rap show that was going on. The band is called Arab MCs and they were so, so good! It was a fundraising concert that was collecting for a charity that helps Palestinian children get a better education in the West Bank (definitely something I can get behind), and cost 3JDs. It was hosted on the newly constructed rooftop of Books@, so it was a crazy setting - the twinkling lights of downtown Amman Wadi's glittering in the background and the green neon lights of minarets made it a ridiculously cool backdrop. We also seem to have stumbled across the entire population of Amman's hipsters who were totally in their element. Feeling a bit dangerous, we ordered mojitos and a watermelon shisha (both delicious) and sat back and enjoyed. They had a few warm up acts - two beat boxers who were amazing. One of them was a massive joker and did the beatboxing version of 'In the Jungle' before singing a sad lament about Palestine (in Arabic)...I'm not sure he chose his song set too carefully. This Jordanian girl called Amanda also came up and sang and she was outrageously good. It was such a chilled out setting on the rooftop, and her songs were great.
Then Arab MCs came on - one tall guy (who was wearing a 'Wicked" the musical t-shirt that had 'Defying Gravity' written on the back) and a shorter black guy who was a right hipster with his edgy shades. They got straight into their rapping, which, as you might be able to guess from their name, was all in Arabic. Although it would have been a bonus to understand more than 2% of what they were saying, it didn't matter as they were so entertaining and their music was cracking. Out of one song, I did manage to extrapolate a few words - Hitler, jihad, and Sayyid Qutb (one of the jihadist thinkers I wrote my dissertation on)....so whatever they were rapping about definitely had a powerful message! I'm adding a video of one of their songs that I recorded. It's a bit dark and doesn't reflect how cool it was last night.

It went on for about an hour and a half, so we hung around afterwards for a bit before heading back. I got home at about midnight and was buzzing and ready for my first work shift the next day.

I got into the shop at 11am this morning and had a shift with Dalia, a local woman who is very glamorous and really lovely. She showed me the ropes of the sales aspect of the shop, but it wasn't long before Nadia was skyping and giving me a whole host of jobs to do (which include consolidating the entire back catalogue of pictures of jewellery into one file). Unfortunately the shop wasn't busy at all today, so I didn't get to talk to any customers, but I got on with my jobs and was shown how everything works even further by the evening member of staff, Regina. Having been told by Nadia that she wants me to teach them professionalism, there was a bit of a strange power vacuum today, as I definitely seem to have upset the balance of the shop's dynamic. They will get used to it and Nadia is very clear about our roles, which is lucky as it makes sure there's no awkwardness. Dalia, Regina and I do seem to get on well (easy to say after day one....) so I'm looking forward to going in tomorrow! I'm also going out to dinner with one of Dad's old friends tomorrow night after work, which will be lovely. I have to be on my best behaviour and not make myself sound like an ignoramus/stupid English girl. Inshallah!

Also, I'm now in charge of the Nadia Dajani Facebook page, and will be posting and updating from there daily. Nadia is involved in loads of cool things (today, her jewellery started being sold in the new wing of the Louvre, par exemple) so there's a lot to say. I recommend it (obviously).

Now, time to watch a film and ready myself for more image-moving tomorrow. Khalas.
                                                                                                                                           

The One With The Alley

WHAT a day today has been!

The apartment block now at 78, Uqbah bin
Nafe Street

I got a taxi at 9.15am this morning and got Yousef to drive to where our old house used to be, on Uqbah bin Nafe Street. We knew that it had been knocked down and turned into apartments since we'd left, but it was important for me to go back and have a look at the place that had so many happy memories for us. What sums up Jordanian taxi drivers is that I had to basically point out the way, despite him navigating around this crazy city for a living and me not having returned for eight years. Anyways - got there and the new apartment block is ugly but it was a nice trip down memory lane to stand and look at it for a while. In a testament to just how developed Amman has become now, the beautiful mosque across the Wadi that we used to be able to see from our windows in now completely blocked by more apartments. I had to walk a long way down the road to even get this snap, and it was only through a gap between to apartments. It's a real shame, as that was a lovely view.

The mosque we could see from
our old house, now blocked from view

I then meandered along very familiar streets, down past the little corner shop (still going strong), until I reached 4th circle, where I had the displeasure of trying to cross the road at the height of apparent rush hour. I must have been there for ten minutes before I thought "inshallah" (this city is rubbing off on me)  and just went for it. I'm still here to tell the tale, so maybe there really is something to that mentality.
I then wandered down Zahran Street. One thing that is really noticeable about Amman is that no-one walks around. The only company I had on the pavements were the Jordanian police/guards patrolling outside the various embassies and residencies along the street. When I got to 3rd circle, I popped into the InterContinental to see where I'll be working and it's a BEAUTIFUL shop, full of gorgeous jewellery. Also air-conditioned, which is a massive bonus as it's hot for September - it was 34 degrees today. My aim in today's ramble was to try and see as much as the city as possible, and walk about the kind of area that I'll be close to when I move into my apartment tomorrow. I wanted to walk to 1st circle, which is a really vibrant area. One street in particular was pointed out to me - Rainbow Street. It's full of cafes and shisha bars and is really bustling. I wandered up Rainbow St. a little bit, and decided to go and get a drink in a cafe...this is where the story gets 'interesting'.

Photo of downtown taken just
before "the ordeal"

Having looked in the guidebook, I decided that I would try and find Books@Cafe, a downtown cafe I remember from ages ago. The instructions in the guidebook were not that clear, so I decided to ask someone on the street where it was - I ended up talking to this really nice English guy who pointed me in the general direction and gave me some pretty vague instructions. I headed on my way, and after deliberating whether or not to take a right turn, I decided to carry on walking down the hill. I soon figured that this was not the right thing to do, so when I got to the bottom of the hill, I had another look at my map to see if I could cut back to the right street. I decided to take some photos of the downtown hillsides as I had stopped. An old Jordanian man, who had been walking down the hill at the same time as me approached me and asked if I was lost. I asked if he knew the Books@Cafe - he said yes, and pointed me up an flight of stairs up an alley on our righthand side.  This made geographical sense to where I needed to get, so I started making a move towards it. Up the alley, we were being watched by some other guy sitting on his apartment balcony who was having a cup of tea. Pretty soon I realised that the guy giving me some directions is not an adorable old Arab man trying to help. I'd taken one step into the alley before he moved close to me and put his hand on my back. I immediately ducked away from him, pushing him away and saying 'la, la, la' (arabic for no, no no). As I went to shove him off me, I looked down and saw that he had kindly removed his penis from his trousers. I pushed him really hard off me so that he stumbled and fell, shouted "YOU'RE DISGUSTING" and walked away pretty sharpish (an understatement...I cantered away). This guy whose apartment's balcony extended over the alleyway saw what had happened, and as I turned back on my way round the corner, I saw this guy shouting angry Arabic at this old man, and wielding a hammer. I don't know what happened to him next, but he was a bonafide creep. I should have been more careful too, and I'm so thankful to the hammer-man for yelling at this creep when I couldn't. I was only two steps away from the road, so I legged it, a bit flustered after this altercation, back up the hill and ended up bumping back into the nice English guy who, when I told him what had happened was horrified and very apologetic for not being clearer with his instructions. He offered to walk me to the local police station, but there wasn't really any point. He did clearly show me where to go, and I ended up finding Books@BloodyCafe although I just wanted to get back home at this stage. I had a quick Pepsi, and headed back home after a short while.

My evening has been a lot better, and the whole affair this morning is totally ridiculous, very lucky, and has made me realise I'm not in a European city - I do need to be careful. Although it was definitely an isolated incident with some loser who is clearly not right in the head.It's lucky I'm made of sterner stuff than that, otherwise it could have been an awful experience, and one that put me off Amman completely. Anyways....after all that, Pat and Hamed invited over the daughter of old friends, Hannah, who is from the US and is living here on a study abroad programme for a while. We got take-away hummus and mezze and had a lovely evening sitting by the fire pit, listening to loud Arabic music coming from a wedding across the Wadi and seeing the accompanying fireworks. Hannah and I got along well, and tomorrow night we are going to an Arabic rap show tomorrow night....at Books@Cafe...at least I know my way now! This event will actually be great - here's a video of the group, Arab MCs. Arabic rap is quite something....

Moving into my apartment tomorrow, which will be really good. I'll feel properly settled then. Work with Nadia is now starting on Saturday - I met one of my colleagues, who seems really sweet so all is well in that world!

What a day.

Day 1

My first full day in Amman is complete. I feel like I've achieved so much, when in reality all I've done is go shopping. 

I woke up this morning a bit bleary eyed - the 2 hour time different from London is enough to make having a wake up call from the mosque at 5am seem a bit bewildering. That being said, I don't think I've ever been so pleased to wake up so early. The call to prayer is something I absolutely love hearing and so when I heard this morning it was a metaphorical wakeup call too - it brought home that I really am back in Amman. 
Got tucked into a beautiful traditional breakfast - I used to love Jordanian food, so having za'atar this morning was like a food orgasm that I've been waiting for for the last eight years. I know taking photos of food is so cliched, but I had to. 

Yum

After a stint on the eliptical and a spot of Al Jazeera, I had a bit more za'atar and headed on my way to City Mall, a twenty minute walk away from where I am currently staying, as I wanted to buy a Jordanian phone. Making the error of going at  half 12 when the sun is unrelenting, I was hot before I'd even left home. Having taken great care to wear conservative clothing and take an extra cover with me, I still stuck out like a sore thumb on my walk to City Mall. A crude estimate of how many times I got beeped at by cars driving past me would be something around 80. Cars slowed down with Jordanian guys hanging out the window, staring at me and beeping their high-pitched, girly horns at me every single step of the way. It was actually very funny as they are completely unthreatening and just seem like pillocks. This behaviour, although not something I got when I was 11, is perhaps to be expected to some extent when you come to this region. The icing on the cake was having a Jordanian police car slow right down next to me as I walked (seeing heat waves by this stage). This policeman cruised next to me for about thirty seconds, staring at me and being completely silent as he did so. What a pillar of the community. Nice shots of Amman to be seen though - these pictures are taken in the general direction of the old ICS building, an area I got to know well when we took Bus 4 to school every morning. 

Towards the ICS area

Fairly typical Amman scene

What struck me when I finally arrived at City Mall (which for any Amman buffs out there is on King Abdullah St., not far from the King Hussein Medical Centre) is that how much Jordan has been influenced by the West since 2004. Back then, the highlight of the year was when a BHS opened up. That was the highlight of sophistication back then - perhaps the only time in recent history BHS can make such a claim. There were some European shops such as Pull and Bear and Mango, but that was generally it. Now, it's a completely different story. I walked into the Mall and could have stopped at either a Starbucks or Paul, the French boulangerie. If I was hoping for a new wardrobe, I could take my pick from H&M, Berksha, Aldo, Debenhams, Promod, and Monsoon. There's even a Clarks shoe-shop for God's sake. If it hadn't been for the people in City Mall you could very easily believe you were somewhere in Europe. There was a real mixed bag of people in City Mall today. From women covered in Burqa's and headscarfs, to other Arab women who are really pushing the boundaries of what, in a Muslim country, could be considered 'appropriate'. At aged 11, tank tops at a British International School were only reserved for the cool girls with liberal parents. I was actually shocked by quite how much flesh was being bared by local girls. Even the girls with the headscarfs on were wearing pretty revealing clothes. Seems that a set of different rules apply. Certainly the clothes that a lot of the shops I went into today cater for the frivolous, unseen side of these women - see-through lace tops, crop tops and mini shorts were all over the hangers and being snatched up by women in full burqas.  

When it came to the men, there were a few of them dressed in the traditional dish-dash, but most of them were wearing generic jeans and t-shirts. A small minority of , that generally have very slicked back hair and a bit of a prowling gait to their walk wear their trousers up so high that it borders on the ridiculous. Those are the guys that can make you feel a bit uncomfortable. But, by and large, everyone went about their sweet, Western-inspired way and ignored me completely. I managed (just about) to buy a phone in the GINORMOUS Carrefour (can't believe Jordan has one of those now) and so now ready to go and text both my mates in Amman. And walking back wasn't nearly as bad as the traffic was considerably less. So I was ready to conquer the world at this stage.

After a delicious supper, the Bakir's and I headed out for a walk around the local park. It's about five kilometres all in all, and was a great opportunity to see Amman and it's people out and about at night. People love to stay up late in this city, so there's always families roaming around with their kids, young couples on dates, a couple of boys playing football, or just groups of men sitting around chatting. On our way back we walked past the newly constructed King Hussein mosque, which is absolutely stunning. It's one of the biggest in Amman (being rivalled by the King Abdullah mosque downtown) and has got lovely terracotta coloured domes. The call to prayer from this mosque is especially melodic, and it's the one I can hear at prayer time from my bedroom. 

Sunset over the Wadi

The King Hussein Mosque lit up
at night

Fairly uneventful evening after that - watched a bit of a film and talked about the Israel-Palestine question. Great hearing the facts outside of a stuffy Al-Qasimi room in Durham and from a Palestinian whose life has been affected by it. Definitely food for thought.

Tomorrow I'm going to head downtown and check out the area where I'm going to be living. I'm going to walk downtown from the house that we used to live in on Uqbah bin Nafe St. It's quite a walk but I'm looking forward to retracing many previous (car)journeys. Also having my first taxi experience tomorrow, which is going to be interesting. I'm sure I'll have another rambling blog post ready by tomorrow evening. 

"Welcome to Jordan - where life is good"

Arrived in Amman at circa 7.50pm local time. Having felt a bit wobbly this morning, sitting on the plane I got chatting to the lovely lady sitting next to me and she calmed my worries - Jordanians are, largely speaking, so friendly and hospitable it's unreal. How could I be worried when in going to be surrounded by lovely people? Case in point - Pat. Pat is the mother of an old ICS friend, Abdo, and she came to pick me up from the airport. Driving the long road back from Queen Alia, it struck me how much and how little Jordan has changed - there are new roundabouts and new bridges, but some of the same old shops are there. I remember it much better than I thought I would, which makes me very happy. As did the 'LG' advert which was strategically placed on the road into the city that I've quoted as the title of this post. It was true in 2001 - let's hope the same principle applies in 2012!
Being welcomed into the Bakir's has made my arrival an absolute dream. They are lovely, practical people who are exactly the right people to have on your side! They live close enough to one of the new mega malls (Mecca Mall, eat your heart out) that Amman has cultivated in the 8 years since I left, so tomorrow I will go and buy myself a phone and become a real Jordanian (almost).
We also worked out exactly on a map where I'm going to be living and it's in such a great location, especially for my work in the InterContinental. Makes me feel a bit better, as coming back here has made me realise that Amman (and other parts of the Middle East) are completely hectic, and belong to a whole different world and set of rules which i wasn't really taking onto account. I did take a bit of a blind leap into finding this accommodation in downtown Amman, so I'm comforted by the idea that I haven't cocked up massively. Otherwise I would have to live in a tent with a donkey selling watermelons by the side of Abdoun circle.
Anyways. Busy day tomorrow integrating myself into crazy Arab life and walking around Amman. Will post again soon x

The First Post

Having been asked to start a blog (by my parents, admittedly), I decided it would be a good idea to try and create some way that people could keep up with what I'm up to as I embark upon the first stage of my Gap Year.

The first instalment of my Gap Year is taking me to Jordan. Having moved out there with my family in 2001 and staying for three years on a posting as a result of my Dad's job, I have always known that going back to the Middle East is something that I was interested in. Living out there has had a big effect on my academic interests - at Durham I studied International Relations and made sure that my degree was crammed with Middle Eastern politics. My dissertation was a comparative study of two jihadist thinkers and their varying views towards America. I'm hoping to be able to use a smidge of this knowledge practically out there - especially when I begin working for the Jordan Times at some stage in the near-distant future. The Jordan Times operates in both Arabic and English, is Amman-based and has no desire to reply to my emails of late. But I'm looking forward to the opportunity to be a part of a dynamic working environment that has a finger on the pulse of Middle Eastern politics and will turn up at their offices regardless of whether or not they want me. I'm fully prepared to be the biggest duffer in the workplace. I'm also busying myself working in Sales and Marketing for Nadia Dajani's eponymous jewellery company in the boutique close to the apartment I will be staying in. Nadia's work for me is going to be so interesting as she has given me a long, long list of things to do. My time in Amman isn't going to be all work and no play, however. I'm going to try to travel around the region as much as I can - definitely going to Egypt in October, and will try and re-visit Jerusalem sometime before Christmas. I think I'm going to be kept busy...

Looking at the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.
Can't find those sunglasses to take with me this time.

I'm excited about returning to Amman on an emotional level too - perhaps looking back on my childhood there with rosy-tinted glasses, I do remember those three years as being some of my happiest.  Eight years on from when I was last there, I can't imagine the changes Amman has gone through. It will have changed more than I can imagine, I reckon - it'll be a far more grown up city in many ways, but I hope it's still as scruffy as it used to be in some places. I can't imagine how it's going to feel touching down in Queen Alia tomorrow night. Having looked back at some old pictures of us in Jordan, at least I know that my fashion sense will have improved since I was last there.

Me and my brother being subjected to fancy-dress abuse
 from our parents. This was taken in the garden of the lovely
home we lived in, which has now been replaced by a block of flats.

However, it must be said that my Gap Year hasn't started well. My bag is over the weight limit and I haven't even finished packing yet as I spent most of today at the Travel desk getting my Dinars, waiting for Lisa to stop flirting with the security man.
To top it all off, before I can get cracking on my Amman adventure, I have to endure a six hour flight on EasyJet. Wish me luck.