Jordan Part 1 - Amman عمان
Despite Tariq Ali's repeated overtures that it is nothing more than an American-Israeli protectorate (which in the political sense of the word, does have some merit) Jordan is a fantastic country.
I was kidding when I thought I could fit this stuff into one post so I've decided to do a number of Jordan-related posts, starting with this one.
For the most part, I was wandering (and often cabbing through) the wonderful streets of Amman, Jordan's capital, which apparently has 2 million inhabitants but it feels like a hell of a lot more when walking through nus-il-Balad (downtown).
While Amman isn't the most beautiful city in terms of architecture or infrastructure (parts of it are decidedly run down and still show traces of Black September, the Palestinian insurrection, battle and eventual expulsion). But it shows the beauty of life, the city feels much more alive than Manama, possibly because it's far more congested, people are more poor and therefore don't all drive, so people are actually constatly out on the streets enjoying each other's company.
The area of Jebel Amman where I spent most of my time (because I was staying there) is particularly cool because it is a hill (ie. Jebel) and although a tough climb at times, has many excellent random views and places to chill overlooking the city.
A lot of my time in Amman was spent frequenting a couple of coffee shops, namely a place called
Danesi and a place called
Books@Cafe. I prefer the former but the latter had faster wireless, free coffee refills and friendly staff. Their food, however, was disgusting to put it mildly, and their patronage was comprised of Amman's gay community (who annoyed me with flirtatious bluetooth messages) and annoying expats ("Jordan is like so whatever"). They also did, however, have a very cool rooftop courtyard with amazing views of Amman... and did I mention the wireless?
Apart from this cafe, I also managed to go to a cool bar where I had some reasonably decent Spanish wine.
Mecca Mall (whose name I disagree with, dont think the Holy City should be associated with such materialistic pursuits) which was pretty crap in terms of what was on offer fashion-wise but DID have a fantastic bookshop. Great places downtown like:
Hashem, the eatery that even the King frequented once, which has great hummous and ta'miyah but average fuul;
al-Rashid ecotourism coffee shop, perched on a nice balcony above the Downtown hustle and bustle, smoking an 'argileh', drinking some coffee and playing a game of chess is a good way to pass the time - even if the shisha itself was fairly average. The other place I miss is
Lebanese Pastries which was this awesome lebanese takeaway outside Dewar Thani (2nd circle), near the girls' place, which had simply amazing lebanese sandwiches... God I'd kill for one right now. And also
Reem Shawarma which was also next to Dewar Thani, I have never had to wait in a line of 50 people for a shawarma before but, I must admit, it was a pretty damn good shawarma.
All in all, Amman is now one of my favourite cities. Thanks to its wonderfully friendly and hospitable people here are my key Amman people-related experiences :
- Various family and amman-related conversations with taxi drivers, all seemingly named Ahmed.
- Ahmed pulling over to buy me coffee on the way to the airport
- Busdriver offering me coffee while I was waiting for his bus to depart... by giving me the coffee he just bought for himself. I went and bought him another though and had...
- Interesting political conversation with Palestinian coffee maker ("we are all Arab").
- Walking through downtown Amman and marvelling at how alive the streets feel after the sleepyness of Manama
- Walking through the windy backstreets of Jebel Amman and stopping every 10 mins to admire the fantastic view that coincides with a very nice looking place to sit.
- Exploring Amman from a cab window, cigarrette and coffee in hand as the wind slaps your face.
- Sitting on Jebel Amman and looking down on the beehive of activity below as the call to prayer rings out over the city
I'll probably update with more later, peace :)
Labels: jordan, people, travel
A belated Eid Mubarak
Ramadan is Khalas (finished).
It's long overdue for me to get down my thoughts on Ramadan and how it went. I managed to fast for every single day during Ramadan without respite and I'm clearly proud of that, although I must say that sleeping til 4pm on weekends made some of the easiest fasting days ever! (Particularly when compared to some of my more religious friends that got up and prayed during prayer times while I snoozed, feel bad about that one, hehe)
So reflecting on whether I hit my goals for Ramadan and what I learnt, here is what Ramadan is about for me:
- Ramadan is about supporting each other, asking about each other's health and fasting process. It's about a community that shifts as one, to a new schedule, a new outlook on life, a new thought process.
- Ramadan is about thinking about the poor and the needy, remembering how they feel not being able to eat during the day, not having ready access to water. Although we drive expensive cars, have huge dinners after sundown with food they can only dream of, maintain our luxurious lifestyles and all the other contradictions, somehow Ramadan at least gives us that window of opportunity from sun-up to sun-down, to remember those people every time our stomach growls or our parched throat hurts.
- Ramadan is about being able to adjust your earthly lifestyle to something different, more important, more spiritual, more conscientious. The spiritual aspect is about sharing with other people, discussions on how things work and the importance of things. It's about conversations with yourself and what you hold as important, what your philosophical outlook on life is, etc.
- Ramadan is about big communal futoors (meal to break the fast at sundown) and ghabges (big buffet at around 11, as a second meal, usually with lashings of rice and fish).
- Ramadan is about keeping your ear finely tuned to that iftar call from the mosque and about keeping the Ramadan calendar on your desktop so you know exactly how much longer you have to fast today and how much longer you have to eat and drink until the first call to prayer.
- Ramadan is about that suhoor with a friend, fuul and hummous and conversations about life at 2-3am (Thanks to Simi, my suhoor buddy for fuul, shisha, life and anything in between :))
- Ramadan is about burgers and shawarmas when you need to a quick feed, omlettes (which you can smell cooking but cannot taste) when you wanna conserve cash and eat at home, big grocery shops with housemates when you're salivating in Jazira supermarket at all of the options
- Ramadan is about the best home-made meals ever at your friend's houses, or when they bring food for you, Bahraini food, Sudanese food, Egyptian food, Bedouin food, any kind of damn food you can get your hands on as long as it's dutifully prepared by a friend, friend's mother, friend's maid, etc. (Thank you so much to Slais, Hamdi, Ali Shaikh and Mariam Kamal for making sure I was well fed and not lonely at iftar).
- Ramadan is about the best smokes and glasses of juice ever, the first smoke and glass of juice after your first meal, thinking about contentedness and the night ahead and the last smoke and glass of juice on our wondrous balcony, gazing out over the street, thinking about ramadan, life, sleep and everything else...
- Ramadan is about conversations with your Chinese friend/roommate/intern about Arab culture and life. (Thanks Dingkun!)
- Ramadan is about sleep-working through your day, trying to motivate yourself to get something done while you are tempted by random chats and scrabulous, and sharing that with someone who knows all too well what it's like (Thanks Saba!), while you are tempted by random conversations that flicker and flow from the nothing to the something, but all totally meaningful
- Ramadan is about sharing an office with someone who has experienced the ups + downs of Ramadan for many many years and is part of the very culture you speak of, observing their habits and learning to understand them and to respect them. (Thanks Sahar!)
- Ramadan is about answering questions "Why are you fasting?", "Are you converting to Islam?", "What's Ramadan really like?" and all the questions about Islam and Arab culture that stem from that. Too many people to mention here but I'm sure y'all know who you are, particularly anyone who I said "Read my blog!" to... sorry about that, should've come up with a more personalised reply :P
- Ramadan is about a schedule... about filling yourself to the brim with futoor (not healthy, i Know) but looking forward to that first coffee (best coffee ever) at your favourite places (thanks Veranda, Costa (Adliya + Juffair) and Cinnzeo... and all their staff!) and that conversation you've been needing so badly, about seeing someone's smile on webcam and it making your day.
- Ramadan is about late night msn and google talk chats, whiling away the time towards the end of suhoor, something about those late night chats has a special feeling about them, even if they are totally random or hardcore philosophical/political... not ur regular online chat (Thanks to Fatima, Annika, Sara, Saaim, Dalia, Shahira and anyone I forgot... sorry!)
- Ramadan is about reading the ramadan blog on nomadlife and being happy whenever there's a posting so you can share and understand other people's thoughts on the Holy month from whatever background or country they come from/are in (too bad it was not very active this year, gotta lift it for next year guys!)
- Most importantly, Ramadan is about connecting with an incredible culture, a rich history, a psyche, a religion, a global community and a lifestyle that are so finely intertwined it is difficult to separate them almost any of the time. I can't pretend I've gone anywhere close to really understanding Arabs, Islam or the Middle Eastern region properly but I can definitely say Ramadan has helped me a great deal to make headway.
Peace out y'all, will post about my trip to Jordan soon.
Labels: people, ramadan, social life
Albert Camus - The Fall
'Haven't you noticed that our society is organised for this kind of liquidation? You have heard, of course, of those tiny fish in the rivers of Brazil that attack the unwary swimmer by thousands and with swift little nibbles clean him up in a few minutes, leaving only an immaculate skeleton? Well, that's what their organisation is. "Do you want a good clean life? Like anybody else?" You say yes, of course. How can one say no? "O.K. You'll be cleaned up. Here's a job, a family, an dorganised leisure activities." And the little teeth attack the flish, right down to the bone. But I am unjust. I shouldn't say their
organisation. It is ours
, after all.'
The thing I love about reading Camus is that he absolutely justifies my cynicism in the absurdity of every day life. Comparing middle-class society with a swarm of piranha fish, now that's something.
'I knew a man who gave twenty years of his life to a scatterbrained woman, sacrificing everything to her, his friendships, his work, the very respectability of his life, and who one evening recognised that he had never loved her. He had been bored, that's all, bored like most people. Hence he had made himself out of whole cloth a life full of complications and drama. Something must happen - and that explains most human commitments. Something must happen, even loveless slavery, even war or death.'
The problem with reading Camus is that he lulls you into a false sense of security with his easy-going style and characters who muse away about life's eccentricities and absurdities. But what he exposes in his characters, particularly the protagonist of this novel, is a cold cynical skeleton of a man bored of life and its folly with seemingly very little to live for. So many of his examples can be related to that one can't help but be a little depressed at how right he appears to be.
'I am well aware that one can't get along without domineering or being served. Every man needs slaves as he needs fresh air. Commanding is breathing - you agree with me? And even the most destitute manage to breathe. The lowest man in the social scale still has his wife or his child. If he's unmarried, a dog. The essential thing, after all, is being able to get angry with someone who has no right to talk back. "One doesn't talk back to one's father" - you know the expression? In one way it is very odd. To whom should one talk back in this world if not to what one loves? In another way, it is convincing. Somebody has to have the last word. Otherwise, every reason can be answered with another one and there would never be an end to it. Power, on the other hand, settles everything.'
While I struggle to identify personally with this last excerpt because, maybe I am not self aware enough but, i have not realised in myself this inherent lust for power and domination over my fellow man. But it certainly does explain some people's attitudes to responsibility and human relationships. And the comment about power solving disputes does make sense, especially in those situations where the dispute seems endless and the reason from both sides seems logical.
More Camus-ness and possibly a post about Amman soon...
Labels: literature, philosophy
