Apple Pie in Jordan

May 30, 2006 - 12:05 PM by

Sustainable Apple Pie writes about her exciting journey across the border:

As some of you know, about a third of my friends in the Middle East are Jordanian. I have studied with them in Israel and have grown as close to them as any good friend I could have. Which is crazy, when I think about it, because two years ago I would have been able to honestly tell you that I had never spoken to an Arab- Palestinian, Jordanian, Egyptian, American, or otherwise.

This weekend, however, I found myself crossing the border from Eilat to Aqaba and on a bus heading north to Amman. It was my first visit to Jordan and I was equally nervous and excited. Nervous because despite my many Arabic-speaking friends, my Arabic consists of only a few words: mabrook (congratulations), shukran (thank you), keif allik (how are you?/what’s up?), majnoun (crazy), salaam (peace). Excited because I was going to a wedding of a friend and was to meet up in Amman with ten other friends from Israel also there to celebrate the occasion.

I crossed the border in Aqaba with my friend Ruba (Jordanian, from Amman) and took the Trust Company bus to Amman. Arabic music and movies were shown with the sound at full blast the entire four hours. Arrived in Amman and was picked up by Ruba’s sister and husband and taken back to her home. Her family greeted me with kisses on the cheek (one on the left, then two on the right) and tried to feed me everything they had in the house. Then it was off to meet the rest of the group who had gathered at my new favorite bookstore Books Cafe. It is situated in an amazing building with the first floor an English and Arabic bookstore, the second floor a beautifully painted and furnished cafe, and the rooftop a bar with a fantastic view of the city. But Books is only open until about midnight, so we had to move ourselves to a new location. So it was off to the Dove Hotel’s Irish Pub. Irish, because the walls are painted green and they have pictures of Guiness on the walls. Drunk internationals mingle with locals, dance on the small dance floor, and puke outside on the street. Classy. At 2 am, we were all tired of the scene and ready for bed.

The next morning, we woke up early for a 9 am tour with our personal tour guide, Mohammed (an alum from our program) who took us through downtown Amman. We ate breakfast at Hashem, the restaurant in Amman which is now open 24 hours a day and incredibly popular with both tourists and locals because of its INCREDIBLE falafel. After that, we burned some calories by climbing the stairs to the top of the Roman Amphitheatre and sat at the top in the shade discussing environmental issues in Amman and Jordan (I have the most amazing friends!). Then it was time to tackle the souq (that’s shuk in Hebrew, or market in English). Blocks and blocks of fruit stands, meat, fish, clothing, housewares. Far too overwhelming for me to be able to purchase anything.

Back to another friend’s apartment, T., our main headquarters during our stay. T. is an American Jewish woman living in Amman and studying Arabic for the year. We completely took over her apartment, but she was an incredibly gracious host. But had no qualms with reminding us to conserve water and clean up after ourselves. In Jordan, every house receives water from the municipality for two hours each day. Almost every home has some sort of cistern in which to store that water so that there will not be a shortage, but it definitely happens from time to time. Our showers had to be about 2 minutes long, primarily rinsing off the sweat and grime that had accumulated over the course of the day.

We had one last outing before heading to the wedding. Rainbow Street, where every Friday there is a small craft market in which independent artists sell their wares to a much higher class than what we experienced at the souq. At the end of the market is the Royal Conservation Society of Jordan’s main headquarters, Wild Jordan. It is a gorgeous building highlighting the many nature reserves in the country, promoting eco-tourism, and has an incredible view of the city from it’s outdoor restaurant which serves healthy, fresh food. I ate a Strawberry Muesli Parfait from the dessert menu, yum!

Back at the apartment, we rushed to get ready for the wedding and it felt a little bit like prom: putting on each other’s make-up, sharing clothes, exchanging jewelry. We arrived at the hotel in time to see the bride and groom making their way up the stairs accompanied by family, friends, a group of drummers in traditional Syrian costume. All of it being videotaped in one of the most elaborate wedding videos I have ever seen. The bride and groom went to get photographed and the guests seated themselves at tables in the ballroom awaiting their return. When they came back the lights were turned down low and they began a night of dancing with a slow dance. Soon, the tempo picked up and we danced the night away to Arabic music that was so loud that it is still stuck in my head.

It was amazing. I know I have used that word way too much in this post, but that is about the only word I have to describe the night: Amazing. Amazing. Amazing.

The dancing ended at 1 am and we went out on the town for more fun (this time with a bit of alcohol). Got back at 3:45 am when the call to prayer started echoing across the city. Beautiful.

Tags: • Category: Travel 

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