Whew...
Well, after 2 plane rides, and several cars we have finally arrived in Amman. While driving into the city from the airport, I noticed how little had changed since March - even though we are in a totally different season! Today, we settled into our hotel, and then did some exploring! We first got some wonderful Sharwma at a tiny shack right down the road from the hotel. This place was recommended by our driver as the best Sharwma in all of Jordan. After walking for about 2 hours after the Sharwma, I came to some conclusions about the city of Amman itself:
1. Even in the nice parts of Amman that we were in, the shops are crumbling and the signs are in poorer repair. All of these little details remind me that even in commercial areas, Amman has a special character and charm to it.
2. Arabic. Oh my goodness. When one travels to a European country like France or Italy, things aren't completely, totally, drastically different. On the signs the alphabet is the same, and one can often pick out words. In Jordan, it couldn't be more different. When I see written Arabic it really just looks like squiggly lines. The letters could mean almost anything! I could be looking at a clothing shop, grocery store, embassy, or office. I am currently completely lost with Arabic but hopefully that will get slightly better once my Arabic classes begin at school.
Spending time in Amman has been a really interesting and eye opening experience. It has taught me how regular people in Jordan live as well as the staggering differences between the United States and Jordan. I hope that these connections and realizations will continue, and that I will soon have some even vague idea of what signs are saying in Amman!
Kat
Hello, Katharine, and welcome to the big, wide world. I'm sitting in my office at Sonoma State University while eating my tuna fish sandwich and thinking about the trips I've taken that shook me to the very bone. And I survived and thrived! The big one was when, at 22, I packed an overnight bag in Ithaca, NY, and the next day got on a plane to San Francisco. I didn't have any friends out here but Uncle Rich and Aunt Dottie and Uncle Wayne and Aunt Fran were local. I stayed a few nights with the brother of a friend in NY who was attending UC Berkeley as an undergrad and went to the local supermarket and found an apartment notice and an employment agency notice. Within a week I had two new roommates, one a law student and one an English lit grad student, at UC Berkeley and a job as a secretary in the financial district of San Francisco! It was just like the tv show Mad Men back in those days. I commuted every day by bus from the apartment in North Oakland, not very far away from where your cousin Robin used to own her house, and spent my weekends living the life in the East Bay. It was a community bursting with exciting political ideas and filled with post-Watergate fever. So, your trip takes me back to what it was like being on my own when I really knew very little of myself beyond a few years away from living in the family home. So, I encourage you to explore both outer and inner worlds! Let us know what exciting things you are seeing, hearing, tasting, and feeling and how they are changing you. You will be a different person when next we all meet and I'm looking forward to it! All my love, Aunt Lane
ReplyDeleteSalaamu aleikum from Palo Alto!
ReplyDeleteIt is great to read your impressions of a far away world (to me) and to learn of your experiences with the people and places of that world...your descriptions increase my anticipation of seeing Amman myself! I am looking forward to hearing about your friends in Jordan, the school, and the day to day life that you are experiencing. Thank you for taking the time to keep us all involved in your adventure!
حمل علي!