Our sense of belonging to our neighborhoods never ceases to surprise me. In this case, a grieved family blocked the street to grieve their loved one.

Mohammed, from Al natheef:

“I think it is normal, there is no venue here for funerals. The only available venue is too expensive. Therefore, people have no choice”

Arwad: from Al Ashrafiah:

“it is so thoughtless, If they own the street, I would say may Allah help us.  besides, if everyone wants to close the street for their happy and sad occasions. then let’s close Amman down u khalas… “

Um Islam: From Jabal Al Mareekh

“I am against closing down the street; I have to make a huge detour to get here in the rain… “

Zubaida from Al Natheef:

“We don’t have a space, so where are we supposed to carry it out?  Besides in Jabal  natheef, we are like a family , and everyone understands… My uncle died a few months ago for example and we didn’t have a space and therfore, we closed down the street…. no one complained and everyone came to help and take part in the funeral”

Abdel Rahman from Al natheef:

“I don’t agree, there are schools, there are employees, there are families… closing the street affects everyone.”

Suha from Al Musdar

“I understand why people would do it… I mean where do you expect people to carry out their funerals and weddings?  as long as it is not harmful;  and in this case, it is not harmful because people can use the parallel streets”

Saed from Jabal Amman:

“I hate people who are so self centered and who use the resources of the city for their own self interest.”

 

The thing is at least  12 Centimetres long… As a matter of fact, I am not sure I saw a screw this long before ( are they called screws?) Luckily we were driving uphill on the road that takes you from the municipality to Deir ghbar… and the car was not fast.

Out of curiosity, where could  it have come from?

These wonderful people came to give the people of Natheef a concert. I was very worried, as the consensus here is that music is 7aram. At the time of the concert the hall filled with people, mostly children… they heard about something called a “concert” and curiosity drove them there.

Like me, these children realized that their lives have been unmusical. I felt a pang in my heart for our children who are deprived of everything, while in Scotland children start learning music at the age of 8.

In our schools music has zero importance… hell, in some schools children are zero important! People are too busy with contradictions… they are still debating whether music is 7aram or halal…. but they don’t mind trashy commercial music… (If it is Arabic, then it is less 7aram for some odd reason)

It truly saddened me to see how happy the children were after the concert. I wondered how we are expected to be creative or to think out of the box… ?

This child asked a very inspiring question: “What do I have to have in order to be able to play music” Donald answered: “ you have it! What would you like to play?” “ The guitar”, Mohammad answered.

For me this was a reminder of my Arab identity… I realized that no matter how angry I get with the Egyptian government, I have very warm feeling towards the Egyptian people.

 Congratulations for Egypt… inshalla they will always win and make the Arab world proud.

I have just recently moved back to Jordan after living in the US for about 8 years which is enough time to make you go crazy or become so engrossed in the culture that you find it hard to leave again. I would like to think I’m in the middle. I enjoyed my experiences in the US and felt like it was time for me to move on. I have been in Amman for about 2 months now (it seems like a long time!) and have noticed simple differences between life in the US and Jordan.

One of the first things that I have noticed is that people don’t use napkins here…they use fine. I’m not a fan of this practice because I think a napkin in more durable than fine and it honestly just grosses me out. Another thing I have noticed is that taxis honk if they want to get your attention. It makes me feel like I don’t have eyes and I might just need their services if they honk at me, because I can’t see or hear them coming up behind me. Or in-front of me and when they do come by and I look they tend to honk again. It seems like the first honk is “hey, trying to get your attention” second one is “Hey, you know I’m here but I just want to make sure you see me” third honk “hey, I really want to make sure that you did see me and that hand wasn’t paralyzed”. I really don’t understand it.

Women drivers are treated like the plague or if they can do it then they are considered to be courageous. I do realize driving in Jordan is a little different than what I am used to but I don’t understand how it takes someone with a lot of courage to drive period. I can’t tell you how many taxi drivers complain about women drivers! It’s like I’m not a woman. Or maybe they think I am better because I have chosen not to drive and take a taxi. I haven’t ever asked for fear of getting into an accident or something of that sort. I am a woman driver and don’t think I am a horrible driver. Men drive ten times worse than woman do and cause more accidents. I understand why Jordan has the rule about no –cell phones while driving, because your brain is going to focus on the thing that you have done longer and that would be talking and your attention won’t be on the road which is where it should be!

There is another thing that is interesting. When I am out with friends or family and we get the check, they don’t put down 10% of the total down, they put less than 5%. When I asked why, they said it’s the norm. I don’t always think that the wait-staff is very good but I usually give them a decent tip because I would want to get something decent as well. Maybe that is just me but it’s been an interesting point of discussion. They aren’t treated very nicely either. When I am done with a meal I usually try to clean up after myself and my father asked me if I wanted to work at the restaurant. I thought I was being courteous but I guess it’s not the norm.

People place a lot of emphasis on what you have and where you live. If you live in a place like abdoun, swefiah, and khaldi then you are a better person or if you have the latest clothes, car or cell phone. I don’t understand this attitude because I don’t think the person I am is dictated by where I live…but by the person I am.

I am not saying that Jordan is a bad place or that US is better…because I don’t think either. I just notice differences between but I think that is to be expected and you can’t change it sometimes, just learn to live with it.

شو اللحظة اللي تحولوا بياعين الجرايد من اصحاب مهنه لشحادين؟ وقت غلاء الأسعار اللي ضرب الأردن ب2007 و 2008؟ ولا الأزمة المالية ب2009؟ ولا كانت الأممر دائما هيك، بس انا ما كنت منتبهة؟

“Food’s sake buy from me” said Mohamed, the guy that sells newspapers at the traffic light near my house. “Buy from me, let me buy lunch for my children, I swear, I have not sold anything yet and you see these floods”

When was the moment that newspaper sellers were transformed into beggars? Was it the rise in prices that hit Jordan in 2007 and 2008? Or was it the financial crisis that hit the world in 2009? Or this is how it always have been, but I was oblivious?

I wonder what was going on. If it is really the mall… I wonder if opening a mall is worth messing up a whole city?  (it kind of reminded me when McDonald’s opened a few years ago, and the street closed for three days)

If there was a fear of a terrorist act, I truly would like to know what we are facing here.

Does anyone know?