jordanWalking onto my Air France connection flight to in Amman in Paris created quite a different feeling for me compared to the one I felt in New York. As I walked down the aisle of the plane looking for seat 23A, I noticed the vast majority of the plane’s passengers to be of Arab descent. The interior of the Air France flight to Amman simply had a much different setting than the one to Paris as an alien language and cultural mood dominated the sound and looks of the flights. Nevertheless, the English language still remained a ubiquitous force as both the on-flight movie, “Little Manhattan”, and the other video offerings were available in English.
Flying over the Mediterranean during daylight was also a much more appealing sight than flying over the Atlantic at night. Other than the stretch of space between Greece and Israel though, I continually saw many small islands scattered throughout this sea of Ancient civilizations; however, even the blank stretch between Greece and Israel was quite exciting as the anticipation for my arrival in Jordan grew with each minute. Coming in the view was quite spectacular, reminding me of how the American Southwest appeared when I flew over it in the past. Seeing Amman though is very cool as you simply see a sprawling metropolis appear from the desert out of nowhere.
Walking out of the airplane, I could clearly tell I was in a different country. The first little difference I noticed was the windows of the airport not being completely square or rectangular but rather having a more coned or arc shape at the top. The subtle ubiquity of pictures of either King Abdullah II or his late father King Hussein was another minute difference that reminded me I was not in the U.S. or the West for that matter. These subtle differences, rather than the Jordanian flags outside the airport, were the main things that made me know I was now in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Even in this land so far away from America though, English was still widespread as I did not encounter anyone at the airport who could not speak English.
From the airport, my fellow SIT members and I rode in a coach bus with our academic director to the hotel we are staying at until Saturday when we will begin living with our host families. During my ride to the hotel, I felt like I was in a submarine as I was now able to completely observe the country but not yet able to interact with it. People parking their cars along the highway and huddling around fires was one unexpectedly common occurrence. Ranging from the run down to the glamorous, the cars we drove by all seemed like ones that I would see in the U.S. As we raced closer to Jordan’s capital city from the airport the influence of globalization and American culture became increasingly apparent as the billboards along the highway were adorned with an increasing amount of English and advertisements for American companies.
Once in Amman, the influence of Western culture was astounding. A bustling city even on a Monday, Amman is full of nightclubs and restaurants (even a few KFC’s!). My hotel is in one of the more posh districts of the city, and had very comfortable accommodations. For a quick dinner I went to a Burger King with a few of the other people in my program. Maybe it was the fact that the 17 year old at the register spoke perfect English or the fact that I watching Arabic music videos of scantily clad women on the TV’s in the restaurant, but either way, I felt like I was in an American Burger King while inside eating my Double Whopper Value Meal; however, the realization that I was in a different culture came instantly once I was outside as I saw three women standing outside in abayahs. As I went to sleep I knew that I was in a city quite different from American culture, but one that was also Westernized enough to get my feet settled before dealing with the more conservative elements of Jordanian society.
Burger King!
