Thursday, May 21, 2009

Ending with a bang...

My last few weeks here have definitely been fun and exciting so far. I've been going out far more than I have before, and now that the warmer (and now hot) weather has come, there are more events going on throughout Amman. Last week I went to an Arabic music concert which was held in the ruins of the old Roman Ampitheater in downtown Amman. A bunch of us went down to the main floor area and joined the shabab (Arabic youth) in some dabke (Arabic dancing). I don't really know how to do it except when watching the shabab around me. Although, it doesn't help when they are doing a few different types of dabke, or are looking at me when I seem to know what I'm doing and in reality don't!

Rotary International President Dong Kurn Lee came to Jordan for a visit and I attended a dinner with the Rotary and Rotaract clubs. It was very nice to meet him. I don't have a copy of the photos that were taken when I was with him, but will hopefully get them soon. The dinner was very long and towards the end it seemed like he was falling asleep!

The other week the Pope came to Amman on a trip to various holy sites in the region. Omar, the Rotarian I go to church with, took me to the airport to wait with the crowds to greet him on his arrival. Unfortunately, he was either sped past in a tinted security vehicle or was escorted via military helicopter. Thousands showed up and were very disapointed. He held a public mass in the Amman sports stadium with tens of thousands in attendance. A priest of my parish came to Jordan a few weeks before and tried to formally request that I be one of the recipients of communion from him. Unfortunately, for some reason my request was not acknowledged by the local coordinators and I received no response. The mass was very nice and the thundering enthusiasm of everyone was very nice to see. After the mass Omar and I went to the Baptism site where His Holiness spoke and gave his blessings for the building of two new churches on the site. The King and Queen as well as Prince Ghazi who is the custodian of the site were in attendence. Security for that week was extremely tight, with armed troops and humvees with the mounted 50cal on the back all throughout the city.

I also went out to a unique place for dinner called Abu Musa, where they serve miscellaneous parts of a sheep. So we tried various parts of the head (the cheek, tongue, eye and brain) as well as pig intestine, feet and stuffed stomach. While all of it wasn't bad, it wasn't seasoned too much and most of it tasted very similar. After getting over the textures (especially the eye), the food was manageable. Later on that night however, we did go to Hashims (a very famous Hummus and Falafel restaurant).

Another night I went Salsa dancing with some Bulgarian girls and other friends from the Language center. It worked out great because the girls and I didn't know how to salsa dance. One girl, Magdena, and I managed to figure out a basic step pattern for ourselves and improvise the rest. Later that night we went back to our friend Eamon's place, where the adventure continued. We ended up getting stuck in the elevator. Fortuantely, it was just the doors that wouldn't open...so after a while of trying to pry open the doors and figure out the locking mechanism we freed ourselves.

Last weekend I went to Aqaba with some friends. We rented a car and I finally drove in Jordan! Talk about an adventure. Lanes exist in theory (and in paint on the roads) however, drivers seldom drive within them, and often find ways to make more lanes than there should be on any given road. There are also many circles throughout the city which is a major source of disorganization. The highway out of Amman are tolerable. They are the one main area in driving that is often regulated by traffic police: there are many speed traps along the way to Aqaba where traffic police use a radar gun to catch anyone silghtly over the limit. However, the innovative Jordanian drivers came up with a system to circumvent this. Cars coming from the opposite direction will flash their lights to warn drivers of an upcoming speed trap, so temporarily the speedlimit can be followed. Needless to say, driving, like many other things, feels like a game where the few rules that do apply can be bent.

Recently there have been many going away dinners. Last night I went to a cafe/bar and walked around the beautiful Jabal Amman area (which has a very European city feel to it). The best part of the night was splitting a half kilo of Shawarma from the most famous shawarma place in Jordan (Shawarma Reem) in the middle of the busy circle.

Next weekend I leave to Bahrain. When I get back I have a day and a half until I go to the airport to begin my trip home. On my way home I will be meeting up with a friend in Germany for a few days.

The president of Rotary International with the presidents of Jordan Rotary clubs



The Pope's visit to Jordan:




A night of new foods...







Salsa dancing with some Bulgarians and getting stuck in an elevator...




"Dancing" the Dabke with some shabab