Thursday, May 20, 2010

Jordan- Amman

I am in a different world and feel like a total outsider here. I am really in the middle east.
I stayed two nights in Amman the capitol of Jordan and the "modern" city. It is a modern city for jordan but nothing like a western modern city. Since its a muslim culture there isn't any alcohol. Its not illegal its just impossible to find and no one drinks it. They make a non-alcholic beer that some men drink but that's it. Also every woman is completely covered in head scarf's and full dresses; some of the men wear red checkered head scarf's and white robes, but mostly the men are wearing jeans and t-shits. Walking around I made sure I was covered but still I don't think they are use to a single woman in jeans. I never felt endanger or anything just a little uncomfortable at times. Even going two blocks by myself I could feel everyone, the men the women, looking at me. Whenever I could I'd try to get a guy to go with me just to feel a little better. I know nothing is going to happen it just makes me feel more comfortable. I would love to know what the women think of me and what I wear. There are a great deal of women that wear the full veil and dress all in black. For some reason they always make me nervous I guess its because I can't see their face or what their thinking.
Amman also doesn't have any crosswalks and if there is a crosswalk that doesn't mean that the cars will stop. Its blind faith to cross the street.
Amman has a really cool market that is right across the street from my hostel. A lot of fruit and spices so its the most colorful market I ve ever been to. The streets are just trashed with old produce and trash so the entire city looks messy. Ever since I got to israel I haven't had much of an appetite, I think my body is constantly thirsty and doesn't get hungry. But its odd how much I'm not eating. In amman I only ate breakfast which was great yogurt, cucumber, tomatoes, and pita.
There are a couple of old roman ruins in Amman. The big one is the Roman theatre, I climbed to the top of the theatre but it was hard because it was so hot. The city is just ridiculously hot its hard to do anything for too long. There is an old roman bath house that is just guarded by a small wire fence. A guy from my hostel and I just started walking around and climbing on it. Out of nowhere this old man appears and starts showing us around he was really nice didn't speak much english but was so happy to show us. Everyone that I've met in Jordan has been super super nice. The people are just incredible and want to help as much as possible. I didn't really find much else to do in Amman but I also think I was completely heat stricken and couldn't do anything else.

No comments:

Post a Comment