Hello There, Amman!

It's the end of my first day in Jordan, and I'm pretty exhausted. I've been pumped full of all sorts of vitamins and minerals, so I'm hoping my cold will be kicked by tomorrow, but only time will tell. My cousin (the one who has offered me this internship/opportunity) gets in tonight and will be putting me to work (hopefully). I don't know how much time I'll have to blog the next couple of days, but I will do my best to post daily, if only to give a brief explanation of what I'm doing and where I'm going.

I figured out how to take pictures and upload them, so that won't be a problem when I'm actually out and about doing this press tour. I didn't take any today, I was sadly ill equipped (and half out of my mind from exhaustion and jet lag).

Today we went to pick up some pictures that my aunt had framed, as well as dropping off a suitcase to be mended. I don't really know how to describe Amman... it's unlike anywhere I've ever been. First off, Amman is built on seven hills (like Rome), so there's a lot of vertical loss and gain when you're driving around. It is also one of the oldest cities, so the streets and buildings are very narrow and winding in areas, definitely not streets that were created with cars in mind.

A picture of Amman I took last March.

It's a bizzarre city of confined spaces and random lots left alone. Not to mention the drivers... traffic here is crazy, though I have yet to see someone get into an accident (on this trip). I mean, the drivers aren't like Indian drivers, but it's still a lot different than the U.S.

There's also an interesting interaction between people here of different nationalities. There are a lot of Filipino women working as maids and nannies, similar to Mexican and Latin American women in the United States. There is a huge market for them to work in the Middle East, which may seem strange, but apparently there are little to no opportunities in the Philippines, particularly for women, and they make a decent wage here. I know things are different everywhere you go, but I love actually seeing the differences and similarities. Small things, like the nationality of immigrant workers, isn't something you necessarily think about unless you actually go to the country.

I did hear a somewhat disturbing story about a Filipino (Filipina?) woman who happened to get pregnant out of wedlock while she was working here in Jordan that was later legally charged for not being married and having a child. Apparently it is a very serious concern over here. Some hospitals won't give unmarried couples their children until they can prove that they have tied the knot. I'm loathe to judge other people and a culture in general, but hearing that made me uncomfortable. I'm a total lefty; women's rights, social equality, the whole she-bang. So even my most accepting of cultural filters went into code red hearing about this. What a shame. Just goes to show that even the most forward thinking and 'westernized' country can still have a lot of ignorance and shame about certain subjects (I use 'westernized' loosely because it's not as if the U.S. can brag. If certain wing nut Republicans get their way then we might be looking at a similar situation in the future).

But at least I know now, right? And knowledge is power.

Well, I'm going to call it a night there. Sorry to end things on a bit of low note, but hopefully I'll have more positive things to write about tomorrow... like the amazingness of the country in general!

Cheers!