Stars Are Closer and Clouds Are Nutritious Under Golden Trees

Tuesday, November 5th

8 am. Today I can finally start the morning in a more relaxed way. We have breakfast together with Yannick, a friend of Lea from Germany who is currently traveling and has been staying in our apartment in the last few days. Our huge sofas are practically made for overnight guests. Today he will continue his journey to Irbid, in the north of Jordan, and from there to Israel and Palestine. Definitely a trip that I still need to take as well.

The rest of the morning is truly relaxing, and I can calmly study my Arabic materials and play my guitar before heading to our Arabic class at 2 pm. As always, we have a good hour of free time between the class and our evening lecture, which I want to spend with Sophia at the Wild Jordan Center. Sophia suggests taking a different route there today, and we climb up unfamiliar stairs until we suddenly find ourselves among huge old buildings.

The paths and small courtyards in front of the beautiful villas are planted with trees, umbrellas, and seating areas. We turn right into a small garden where orange and pomegranate trees are planted, and then we stand in front of the large entrance of one of the villas. There is no door, only an open archway, so we enter the building with amazement. It has the charm of an old villa, with high ceilings, old tiles on the floor, but clean and freshly painted walls. We notice that each room is painted in a different color, and various artworks are hanging on the walls - an art exhibition. Outside, a balcony leads through a large, open archway, offering a beautiful view of Amman as usual. There is also a large table with chairs and benches - as if it was made for us!

Sophia and I spread out our things when a young man joins us on the balcony, and we start a conversation. His name is Bashar, he is an architecture student at GJU, and he works here as a part-time job after university. Bashar now explains to us what these building complexes are all about: it is the property of the MMAG Foundation for Arts and Culture in Amman. There is a small library here that is accessible to everyone, and a café. The remaining rooms host various art exhibitions, currently about the French author Jean Genet, under the name "Stars Are Closer and Clouds Are Nutritious Under Golden Trees". Sophia and I have never heard of this name before, but Bashar now takes us through the premises and the exhibited works, taking his time to explain everything to us. Jean Genet was a novelist, playwright, and poet, and a fascinating personality. He was sentenced to lifelong imprisonment for various offenses and wrote many autobiographically influenced works. Bashar recommends his most famous book, "Prisoner of Love", which can also be borrowed from the library here.

Bashar then shows us the lower floor of the house, where two different movies are shown in a loop. All the rooms are elegantly prepared, and we are handed two meticulously designed and high-quality booklets about the house exhibition. Obviously, the foundation is not lacking in funds. Sophia and I have truly discovered a small treasure here. We will definitely spend a lot of time here. But now we have to go to university.

After our lecture, I meet up with Sophia, Rudaina, and Clara at a restaurant in Weibdeh. We are in a group for one of our seminars, where we have to plan and implement a project in an organization, and now we do that between shisha, hummus, and labaneh. Work and pleasure can be very well combined. Today I will go to sleep completely satisfied.