Travels in the Levant

Tomorrow is our last day of class before our long weekend. 9 people are flying to Egpyt and staying at an awsome hotel on the Nile River. I am staying in Amman with Monica, Bruce, Ian, and Jessica; we have all got home stays planned and hope to be able to experience more of what family life is like in Jordan. I brought taffy and jam (made in NC!) for my family. I am seriously hoping that they will serve something beyond hummus and fallafel and pitas; as much as I loved all those foods in the US I am entirely sick of the chick pea. Eating vegetarian really hasn’t been that difficult here, excpept for all the chick peas. In Arabic, the word for chick pea and hummus is the same, which I think is kind of scary.

Today we had a big quiz in Arab Histories so a bunch of us went to the Starbucks in Abdoun to study; unfortunately, the Jordanians don’t seem to have caught onto the European phenomenon of coffee shopds so its often difficult to find a nice place to study here. The Starbucks here is much nicer than the one in Chapel Hill and is where all the Amman elite hang out. Drinks are just as expensive but so many of us are craving American coffee (and all of its caffeine) that it was well worth it. The coffee mainly served here is Turkish coffee, which comes in a very small cup. It is very thick, with coffee silt on the bottom and is flavored with cardamom, creating a very potent flavor. I don’t think Jordanians, however, are nearly as addicted to caffeine as Americans.

One other bizzare aspect of Amman, and probably the Arab world in general, is the way that people are supposed to cross the street. There are no cross walks or pedestrian signs in Amman and the roads/highways are often 6 or more lanes across. To cross the street, the idea is that you just wait until there’s a lull in the traffic and run to the middle of the road at full speed. You are then supposed to wait on the middle island until there’s a break in the traffick coming the other way. On particularly busy streets, like Universtiy Street (now Queen Rania Street) where we live, there have been so many pedestrian deaths that they built a fence in the middle of the road to prevent pedestrians from walking. There is a tunnel under the road that allows us to get from the Al-Amera to UJ safely. If you walk a few blocks up the street, however, the fence ends and you’re forced use your best judgement. This street is often so busy that the traffick never stops completely. From what I’ve heard, the idea is to cross this type of street one lane at a time, waiting until there’s a lull in the traffick in each lane. I prefer to find Jordanians who are crossing and cross with them, as they seem to know a little better what they’re doing. This definitely takes some getting used to, but I’ve ceased to fear for my life everytime I cross the street.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 21st, 2005 at 2:25 am and is filed under Amman, Jordan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.