Last day of classes.....fil haqeeqa (really!)

Finished my Arabic classes today – I hope the FusHa final went well. I know of one rather egregious mistake I made: the word for “feelings” and the word for “hair” are very similar. I’m pretty sure I wrote “hair” instead of “feelings.”

Oh, well.

After class, I decided it was time to continue on my “eat at all the famous restaurants in Jordan” journey. I have tried Al-Quds and Hashem’s (and many other random hole in the wall cafeterias that may not pass sanitation review) and decided I needed to try Reem Shwarma today. My exams had finished by 12:30 and the entire afternoon stretched before me as a field of pleasure.

Now, Reem is located at the 2^nd circle. While I am sure there are busses that go quite close to there, I am not sure which ones they are. So I took the bus going to the 5^th circle, figuring I could catch but 26 that runs along the main street, Zahran, that connects all these roundabouts.

Uneventfully, I arrived at Duar Khamis, and walked a short distance to one of the few modern aspects of the bus system here – the bus-stop. Duly I waited for the bus, figuring there would be one every 15 minutes or so. I waited my 15 minutes, despairing of ever seeing a bus. Just as I was giving up hope, however, a bus appeared in view – and a bus that was nearly empty, at that.Alhamdulillah.

The bus, however, paid no heed to me as I stood and tried to wave it down. It ignored me, rumbling angrily by. Crestfallen, I turned to go, when I saw another bus. I tried to flag it; and it ignored me as well! Just on its bumper, however, was a third bus. That is, the third bus to ignore me!

Having been passed by three busses, I decided they were not worthy of my 40 piasters and decided that it was a lovely day for a walk.

So, walk I did. I went from the fifth to the fourth to the third and finally to the second circle – about an hour’s walk – finally arriving at the tiny shwarma stand. Braving the raging traffic, I crossed the street. Waiting in line, I gave my order and the correct, exact change an then waited some more to gain my well-earned prize. It was amusing to see the types of people waiting there: businessmen in suits, day-laborers, shebaab, a girl or two. I had wanted to take pictures of it – but figured that would ruin my sense of belonging. After all, one does not walk an hour through Amman traffic to find a tiny shwarma stand and give one’s order in Arabic only to take pictures like some tourist.

Getting my sandwich, I crossed into the circle and ate on a bench there in the middle of the city. It was good shwarma, but probably not worth two hours of walking. Definitely worth the 60 piasters I paid for it, however.

I then took a few surreptitious pictures of the shwarma stand – sorry they aren’t better, but I was being sneaky – and walked back to Duar Khamis. It took about the same amount of time, but it seemed so much shorter!

Still having time to kill, I hailed the microbus to Wadi As-Seer. On my earlier adventure there, I had stopped in a small “super market”, where I had seen boxes of Arabic gum, made in Jordan. What better souvenir could there be? So, I returned to the store and purchased three boxes;each box has 100 packets, with two pieces per packet.

I might have to return next week to buy another three boxes. Jus’ sayin.

Returned home, walking back from the 6^th circle. On my way, I walked through Abdoun and stopped at its mall. I felt woefully inadequate and out of place, dressed in my dusty shoes, sweaty shirt, and torn jeans and carrying a black plastic bag with my gum. However, I put on a swagger and pretended that I was an incredibly wealthy Euro-American – my father was a high ranking diplomat currently station in Amman, but just at the moment in London for a conference and my mother was a power attorney right now in New York. I was born in the states, but reared in England before returning and spending some time at Princeton, explaining my rather faded – but still quite posh – accent. No one, however, asked me about my life story, so I merely wandered about the mall for a while, before leaving to walk another hour to get home.

Finally I arrived and read for awhile, putting my poor feet up.

PS - Here is the link to all the pictures I took today, just of things I regularly see around Amman.