Citylife Amman.

15th - 31st October. Part 2

The fact that I walk as many routes as possible here in Amman has paid off: after almost exactly one month in Amman, I already feel at home here. It has become part of my daily routine to navigate through the downtown buzz, cross the busy streets with a sense of risk-taking (if you want to stop at a pedestrian crossing, you really have to have patience and time, which I, as a chronic latecomer, hardly ever have), visit my favorite vendors at the downtown market, and take a moment to listen to musicians playing a few tunes on one of Amman's numerous stairways. I only unconsciously notice the daily "Allahu Akbar" from the mosques, just like the melody of the gas and the sales calls of the vegetable vans. My strategy of ignoring everyone who shouts "Welcome to Jordan" at me usually works and only shows its flaws when, like last week, I accidentally ignore Adib, who greeted me loudly but in vain from his car as he drove past me.

I have also now understood why people here can recognize at a glance that I am not from Jordan (aside from my relatively light hair and eyes): my backpack is the culprit. It is only when Mubarak asks me why "we guys" always carry a backpack with us that I realize how few people walk around the city with larger backpacks. But I stick to it: a backpack is practical. And it helps to reduce the flood of plastic bags that confronts you here every day, at least a little bit. For that, I am happy to ignore a few more "Welcome!" calls.

When we are not walking, Uber taxis have proven to be the most reliable means of transportation. The regular yellow taxis are actually cheaper, but not for us - we still need to practice negotiating or rather dealing with the taxi drivers. Just a few days ago, a taxi driver demanded 5 JD from us for a route that we only paid 1.5 JD for on the way there. Safe negotiating will definitely improve with growing Arabic knowledge. I still don't feel like I can have meaningful conversations in Arabic, even though I try really hard: I now attend our Arabic course at GJU twice a week, the private lesson for Sophia and me with Rose once a week, and the Modern Standard Arabic course on Saturdays, where there is at least some progress: in our last lesson, I was no longer ignored and even received translation help during class. Additionally, Ammar gives us an extra private lesson about once a week, and I occasionally practice new vocabulary with Musa. Musa is the owner of the small supermarket around the corner from our previous AirBnB apartment, where we were regular customers, and I still visit him regularly, which he and Abdu (his only employee) are always happy about. I know that speaking more is the only way to truly learn the language, but I have to overcome myself again every time.

Other than that, there is an important event: a guitar! Sophia and I bought one together. The work at Tarabot during the internship inspired us. But more on that in the next post.