14. The Other Amman… And Happy New Year. 12/31/22

Happy New Year –

Taking a few minutes out to write up today’s report, before we head out to celebrate New Year’s (and my birthday).

Today, we decided to walk in the neighborhood close to our hotel (and to the upscale apartment and office buildings close by). It was like entering another world from where we walked yesterday amid the cluttered vendor stalls and markets, where everyday Jordanians were shopping and eating and visiting; where traffic was backed up at all times; where the smells of spices and fresh meats and fish could be sensed around us; where cats roamed free; and where kids hawked for people to chose goods from their parents’ shops. 

One other thing, apparently on the day of or day before graduation (college, masters, doctorate), graduates pose with books that are clues to their academic years—technical, travel, etc.) and families and professional photographers photograph them.

Two or three blocks from our hotel is a giant indoor/outdoor mall that could have been dropped in from any city in the US, complete with stores like Zara, L’Occitane, H&M, Ecco, and of course McDonald’s, KFC, and Starbucks where Jordanians (mostly young with simple hijabs) lingered with lattes—computers going and everyone on the phone. And in this zone, there are marked pedestrian crosswalks, where cars actually stop or slow down .. sometimes. You could have been anywhere except for the abundance of hijabs and the occasional burqa. The Abdali Mall also acknowledged Christmas with Santas and decorated trees and other holiday goodies. After people-watching in the mall (watching burqa-clad women stroll past stores selling lingerie and mini-skirt outfits), we continued to walk from this upscale area (where likely the Jordanian 1- or 2-percenters live and where foreigners living in Amman probably reside if they are here with international companies). We walked past what looked like a very modern hospital (good to know in case of an emergency).

As we walked, the nature of the neighborhood changed quickly and we were soon back in the more normal areas of Amman – low rise, 5-story walk-up apartments, ground floor tine shops, traffic buzzing around and difficulty crossing streets. At one shop on a busy street, I noticed beautiful calligraphy on a table inside and lots of tools that calligraphers use. I looked inside and actually entered the space and made eye contact with the man I correctly assumed to be the calligrapher/owner. He didn’t speak any English but we sort of communicated. I explained that I was trained as an artist and I think he understood. By then he was showing us portfolios full of his work, and then he phoned someone and gave me his phone. It was his son who spoke English (fairly well). Obviously the father was now trying to sell us one of his works. The son soon arrived to be the translator.

The father seems to take on commissions to craft these artworks—all with Arabic letterforms. He does peoples’ names and he also does lovely poetry. It seems as if he charges by the word, and he is a well-known calligrapher in Jordan. Well, ofcourse, we just had to have something (especially since we had now been in the studio for about 30 minutes). The cost of doing both of our names was pretty steep, and the cost for one of Kahil Gibran’s simple one line poems was way out of our league. So Mike decided it would just be my name (after all it is my birthday). It would take two hours, so we headed to our initial destination (lunch at Najla’s Kitchen—a simple vegetarian restaurant about a 40-minute walk from the hotel, on what google maps called “mostly flat” but which required some pretty steep climbing uphill and when descending). 

We arrived at Najla’s which was quite wonderful, but I think all this pita bread (which is beyond fantastic and made fresh everywhere) is very fattening. Turns out that the woman who runs the restaurant is from Austria. Najla is named for her brother-in-law’s mother (or maybe grandmother; the story was complicated) who was a great cook. The little restaurant is furnished with all of the stuff from the mother/grandmother’s house and they use her recipes.

After lunch, we strolled back to pick up our little calligraphic art piece (which we will frame and hang in Oakland). As it turned out he combined both of our names on the piece. 

Now we are back at the hotel, packing for our drive to Petra tomorrow. We have a rental car and will drive ourselves. Wish us luck. We figure we’ve driven all through Thailand, and much of Latin America, so how much worse might Jordan be? We shall see and let you know. I’ll also let you know how our dinner at Fakhreldin tonight. It’s supposed to be the best independent restaurant in the city; the woman at Najla said we will love it. That’s a good recommendation for us.

More tomorrow

Fern