I'm down with the Hashemite Kingdom
I got back from Jordan on Monday night and basically it was an awesome trip. Naseeb's dad found out that girls were going and put the smack down so it was just 5 of us. It took 8 hours to drive from Beirut to Amman. It usually takes about 6 but it turns out that Katherine needed her expired Lebanese passport and all of our bags got searched at the Syrian/Jordanian border. We showed up at Abood's apartment in Amman around 11:30 at night and ate dinner. His family is very nice and also conservative. Everyone in his family has hardcore religious names. For example, Abood's real name is Abdurahman (servant of God). Because we were invited to stay at their house, we had to conform to some of their customs like wearing long sleeves in the house. I learned a lot about religious conservatism and societal conformity from staying with Abood's family and traveling with two Muslim boys in general.
Also, Jordan is very different from Lebanon. Amman is no Beirut. It's clean and quiet and all the buildings look the same (and aren't bombed out). Most women veil and many men wear the red and white Yasser Arafat head-dress. It's mostly a desert and the entire country is run by strict rules. Abood got pulled over twice "just for a check." After viewing his license both officers apologized for stopping him. Apparently the Beni Hani tribe (Abood's last name) has a lot of power in Jordan. It seems like there is a wealthy upper class who has an in with the King, a small middle class the gets by, and a huge lower class that is very poor and very religious.
We all bonded in the car on the way back from Petra. I learned that Anas had a girlfriend and Abood used to throw wild parties. They learned about my Jewishness. They'd both never met a Jew before and we were super shocked. I feel a lot better now that they know.
I got to see Israeli/Palestine too, which was really moving. The Dead Sea is really skinny so from the Jordanian side you see look out onto the Israeli mountains. I almost saw the Saudi and Iraqi borders too because we got lost.
It's nice to be in Beirut again. Lebanon may know how to push my buttons, but it is starting to feel like a home.
Here are the pictures I took. There are a lot more on Abood's camera that I will post later. Enjoy:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=15cadunn.edeb6m7&x=0&y=-c2velr
Also, Jordan is very different from Lebanon. Amman is no Beirut. It's clean and quiet and all the buildings look the same (and aren't bombed out). Most women veil and many men wear the red and white Yasser Arafat head-dress. It's mostly a desert and the entire country is run by strict rules. Abood got pulled over twice "just for a check." After viewing his license both officers apologized for stopping him. Apparently the Beni Hani tribe (Abood's last name) has a lot of power in Jordan. It seems like there is a wealthy upper class who has an in with the King, a small middle class the gets by, and a huge lower class that is very poor and very religious.
We all bonded in the car on the way back from Petra. I learned that Anas had a girlfriend and Abood used to throw wild parties. They learned about my Jewishness. They'd both never met a Jew before and we were super shocked. I feel a lot better now that they know.
I got to see Israeli/Palestine too, which was really moving. The Dead Sea is really skinny so from the Jordanian side you see look out onto the Israeli mountains. I almost saw the Saudi and Iraqi borders too because we got lost.
It's nice to be in Beirut again. Lebanon may know how to push my buttons, but it is starting to feel like a home.
Here are the pictures I took. There are a lot more on Abood's camera that I will post later. Enjoy:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=15cadunn.edeb6m7&x=0&y=-c2velr