9 September 2011
Arjan- Amman, Amman Jordan
7:53pm
Greetings,
Note: I am going to talk about gender, but not right now, because I have PICTURES for this post. Speaking of pictures, I did something wonderful today that I took 200 pictures of. Be on the lookout.
Last night we went exploring in downtown Amman. I had declared that I was not going back to Rainbow street, because if I wanted to pay too much for coffee and be surrounded by hipsters I would have stayed in San Diego.
We ended up finding a great place that was above a hostel, up some sketchy looking stairs. The café was very sparsely furnished, just card tables and chairs and no decoration, visited entirely by Arab men between the ages of 65 and 95 playing cards, batgamon, and smoking argeela (in the US people call it hooka, but I told one of Hiba’s friends that and she laughed at me). Four American college students stood out like a flashing neon sign (a neon light that said “AMERICAN”) but the staff was very polite- giving us a place on the narrow balcony. We ordered ageela (don’t worry Loma, I had hot tea with mint) and looked at the sweeping view of downtown.
Welcome to the "Barbara is creepy and takes pictures of people she doesn't know" Picture of the Week
I couldn’t help but think about the fact that such an operation would have been shut down faster than you can say “Amman” if one was in San Diego. The balcony was very narrow- more of a ledge than anything, and the rail was too low for “safety”. The only way up to the place is up three flights of narrow, slippery stairs- not ADA approved. I hate regulation.
Downtown Amman
While we were sitting and smoking (except for those of us who were drinking tea) I looked across the street and said “Woah, there is Hiba!”. My family had gone out to eat at Hashem’s restaurant, a famous establishment in Amman that has been around since 1956- making it one of the oldest as well. I waved at them and Hiba called to tell me to come eat with them. I wasn’t about to pass up world famous Hashem’s falafel, so I scampered past the card playing men, down the sketchy stairs, and across the street.
Hashem’s food is everything it is cracked up to be. I can’t even begin to describe it, but I will tell you that I ate too much. Hashem’s is the sort of place that is frequented by tourists, but locals keep coming back because the food is good and the price is right. I might or might not have gone back today for lunch-4.5JD for hummus, falafel, falafel stuffed with onion, two bowls of delicious things that I can’t remember the name of, coke, and tea.
Ignore how stiff and awkward I look in these pictures and look at how cute my host family is.
After dinner I met back with Alexandra and the others and we wandered around downtown for a while. It was wonderful and refreshing to be doing something that was so non-touristy and non-American. As I sat on the balcony/ledge at the unnamed sketchy café I thought, “This is what I came to Jordan for.” What can I say? I’m a girl with weird tastes.
American's on the balcony
I should probably just stop trying to be artistic.
Thats all for now!
B
No comments:
Post a Comment