30 August 2011
The Imperial Palace Hotel
Amman, Jordan
9:13pm
Greetings,
Traveling went without a hickup, and I just finished my first day in Amman. The city is absolutely beautiful. It is built on a series of hills and most of the buildings are flats built into the sides of the hills. Here is a basic run down of the day.
Got in about 8:00 last night and chose not to go out on the town with my classmates, despite the fact that it is the beginning of 3eed (The 3 is there on purpose. It is an American transliteration of an Arabic letter. It makes the same sound as A, but a little harder) the celebration of the end of Ramadan. The festivities were glorious I’m sure. I’d been up for 36 hours and chose to go to bed, figuring it would be the best way to get on Amman time. (Also there is that little problem where I hate fun).
This morning I had breakfast with some of my classmates (thankfully the hotel provides American coffee- I think it will take me a while to get used to the instant coffee people drink here). My classmates and I hit it off right away. Everyone is pretty nerdy, much like myself. We talk about politics and current events. It's lovely.
This is the house across from our school. It is pretty typical of the houses in Abdoun
After breakfast we went to the school, which is held in a villa in a suburb of Amman called Abdoun. Abdoun in the richest part of Amman, and the houses are really nice. It is also a block away from the British Embassy and two blocks away from the US embassy. There is a kitchen there for us to use and a beautiful patio and porches. We were issued local and after a few months with my iPhone having this phone is like going back to the dark ages (First World problems).
We also watched a short video about Amman. We'll get more information when orientation starts tomorrow, but because half the group is still stranded by Hurricane Irene they held off on that for a while.
After the morning getting used to the school we went on a walking tour of Amman. We started on Rainbow Street, a main through fair in the town, about 5 minutes from Abdoun. Because today is 3eed the city is pretty empty. 3eed is like the Islamic version of Christmas. Everyone spends it with his or her family, eating and visiting. It was kind of nice, because we got to tour the city when it wasn't packed and there was relatively little traffic.
We had lunch at a little restaurant (the only one open on Rainbow street) and ate on the street. I can't remember the name of our meal, but it was a flat bread wrapped around grilled peppers, chicken, yogurt sauce, and onions.
Empty Rainbow street. Ignore the shot of my classmates in the foreground
After lunch we walked downtown, through an open-air market (pretty closed because of the holiday- but I bet its really something when it is not) and down to the Roman amphitheater. I climbed all the way to the top, which was great, going down was a little more sketchy. The amphitheater is 2000 years old and costs 1 JD to get in. That is 75 cents to see something that was build before Christ was born! And you can climb right to the top. Can you imagine if something like that was in America? The pictures don't do it justice, it is way way steeper than it looks.
A view of the oldest part of Amman. You can see the citadel on the hill behind the city
King Hussein Mosque. Most things here are named Hussein or Abdullah
While we were at the top of the theater we heard the afternoon call to prayer. It was beautiful and haunting and very cool. Probably my favorite part of the day. I don't know if I'll ever get tired of hearing it- its one of those "Wow. This really IS the Middle East" moments, but give me four months and then ask me.
The way up
The way down
You can see the other side of the Citadel on the hill.
5 Things You Should Know About Amman (AKA “If you skip all of Barbara’s boring rambling in the beginning read this part and look at the pictures”) (Also Titled “Things Barbara Should Have Known but Learned Today)
1. Amman is the Arab renaming of the ancient city of Philadelphia (The one St John writes to in the book of Revelation). Some one told me that it was named after Ptolomey conquered the city and married his sister (thus the “Brotherly Love” but I have no idea if that it true.
2. Amman was originally built on seven hills, just like Rome, but it now covers 21 hills due to urban sprawl.
3. Most people in Amman don’t drink the water. There are a lot of issues surrounding water in the region (which I hope to explore further this semester) but one of the issues is that it makes people sick- even the locals. At dinner tonight we had water in little cups sealed with foil. Almost everyone buys bottled water for their house.
4. )The city streets are laid out on circles, like DC, but less confusing. All the circles have names, but every one calls them “First Circle, Second Circle…” and so on. There are eight main ones and several smaller ones.
5. Recently there has been a movement to gentrify and simultaneously preserve the oldest parts of the city. The Jamal Amman Residents Association (JARA) has taken the lead on this project. I’m not entirely sure what this entails, but I’m for it.
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