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Published: September 16th 2008
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Arrival:
My trip to Amman started with a 5 hour rain delay that resulted in a late arrival to Chicago, my first and only stop on the way to Amman. Before I arrived in Chicago, I knew that I had already missed my flight to Amman and resigned myself to the fact that I would be spend 24 hours in Chicago waiting on the next flight to Jordan. When I finally reached the gate of my flight a day later, I was ready to board the plane and get the show on the road. Little did I know that I would spend the next 12 hours beside a unique older man.
As I approached my spot on the plane, I noticed that I was seated next to the window with an older Jordanian man of 70+ years old guarding the aisle to my left. Although I could tell by the man’s body language that he was pleasant, he had a certain air about him that smelled similar to the interesting smell that hits you when you enter an old folks home. I knew it would be survivable, but nonetheless it was a welcome relief to reach the clear air of
the Amman airport. However, there was a benefit of sitting beside him during the 12 hour flight. He seemed to be having bladder or bowel trouble as well which forced him to the restroom every 30-45 minutes giving me a welcome relief and also allowing me to get up and walk around the cabin to get the blood flowing through my body again.
Royal Jordanian Airlines is nothing special but it definitely beats American and some of the other dinosaur carriers in the States. The staff was friendly, the food was much better than a plastic wrap sandwich, and there was plenty of legroom. There other noticeable difference was the number of families on the plane returning home to visit their friends and family for the holy month of Ramadan. During the entire flight children where either crying, running up and down the aisle of climbing over the seatbacks. If I would have been 5 years old on that flight, I would have made a bunch on new friends and had a blast.
Arriving to Amman’s airport was great. The place in not new but it is small, functional, and clean. After retrieving my bags, I headed out
to what I expected to be a sea of pushy cab drivers and only found a dozen people quietly holding signs with people’s names on them, one of which was my own.
Orientation:
The orientation group was made up on about 35 people the majority of which were Fulbright scholars to Jordan and the remained consisted of my small group of EMDAP advisors, 6 in all. I arrived to Jordan on a Saturday night and the orientation began bright and early Sunday morning (remember that the work week runs from Sunday to Thursday). Orientation included 5 days of seminars on all the topics you might expect: security, religion, history, culture, culture shock, and research techniques in Jordan. Although the orientation sessions were useful, I was more focused on my housing hunt every afternoon.
Simply put 1BR apartments are VERY hard to come by in Amman. In a culture that is focused on the group, and the primary group being the family, individuals generally don’t live by themselves. Traditionally, children live with their parents until marriage and then occupy an apartment in their groom’s parents’ building. It is conceivable that a newly wed couple could occupy a small 1
BR apartment, but the reality is that marriage is simply a precursor to a new family, which will require more than just one room. So, Amman is blanketed with 3 and 4 bedroom apartments, but finding a simple 1 BD is difficult to say the least. I was lucky to run into some Jordanians the second night in town that knew someone, who know someone who I called and ended up renting from. (See photos of the view from the balcony looking south over the lesser-developed area of Amman).
Initial Impression of Work:
I started work this past Sunday and as in most Jordanian offices the majority of the staff is under the age of 35. My floor in the office has about 25 people on it and all but 4 of them are under 30. I keep hearing different statistics, but it is something like 60%!o(MISSING)f the Jordanian population is under 30. As you know this is the trend across most of the developing world, especially Africa and the Middle East. My co-workers are all well educated, all hold at least a B.A. and many hold Masters degrees, and frankly the women are more motivated than the
men. (If you ever had the stereotype in your head that Muslim women are submissive, I beg you to come to my office and watch these women work. They maintain their femininity while driving hard, making their opinions heard, and getting things done. I realize that Jordan, and particularly Amman, is more modern that other parts of the Muslim world, but I think the point still stands.) So, far I am not overly bogged down with work, but I am now supposed to be heading 5 projects that I suspect with begin to overwhelm me at some point. For instance, I spent almost all day today doing the initial outline for a program to promote strategic thinking, particularly with respect to market entry strategies in Europe and the U.S., among Jordanian businesses. I will be submitting it by the end of this week and then hopefully after a few weeks of back and forth with my boss, we will have something that we can move forward on.
Travel to Dead Sea:
On Saturday, I became a bit restless and decided to take a trip to the Dead Sea. The drive is amazing! It takes all of a short 45
minutes, but you literally drive the entire way down to the sea coming out the hills on which Amman is built and into one of the lowest places on earth. The mountain-scape views are stunning and off in the hazy blue distance you can see Palestine & Israel. I didn’t expect this at all and was blown away.
The Dead Sea itself is one of those experiences which can be explained to you 1,000 times, but until you actually experience it yourself, you will not understand. In this case, the experience is hopping in the salty water and feeling what it does to your skin and body. WARNING: Do NOT dive into the water like some yahoo. Your eyes will be on fire for the next 30 mins if you try that bonehead move. I saw some Spanish guy drive in headfirst and he immediately ran out of the water holding his face and crying like a little child. On a more positive note, when you slowly lower yourself into the ultra-salty water, you literally float. It’s amazing. No matter how hard you try to push yourself towards the bottom, the water propels you back to the surface. I
Dead Sea
Tourists floating thought folks were exaggerating when they told me this before, but it is the honest to God truth. In addition to floating, the water has an oily-sandy feel to it that some people claim is medicinal. No matter its corporal values, after a good half an hour in the salt bath, you are ready to rinse yourself off and head for a regular pool. Luckily at the Amman Beach they have a well-maintained pool complex that you can hang out at all day for about $15. So, I paid the cash and then made 3 trips from the Dead Sea to the pool and back while intermittently reading a book and a couple magazines. I admit, not a bad life.
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Erika
non-member comment
Amman a roll!
I am so glad you are chronicling this experience and are sharing it with the rest of us. Your post made me even more enthusiastic about the Jordan Winterim. You are doing all of this great reconnaissance work, learning the ins and outs, finding he hidden treasures...and I plan to take full advantage. We do miss you on campus, though!