Amman Activities!

Just because it’s the Middle East doesn’t mean it’s all the same! From day one, I’ve noticed how extremely different Jordan is Egypt in nearly all aspects – language, landscape, fashion, and personalities. Although living in Amman is 100% not what I was expecting this semester, I’m slowly falling in love with it. It’ll never be Cairo, but then it shouldn’t have to be. For the most part, everything I discussed in my “Going Out in Cairo” post is about the exact opposite in Jordan. Amman is an expansive, extremely mountainous city of around 2 million people, whose bed time is around midnight to 1 AM every night. It is different, yes, but I feel like I’m still having the most wonderful study abroad experience. In this post, I’ll try to parallel what I discussed about Cairo – restaurants, shopping, nightlife.
 Unfortunately, the Jordanian dinar is more expensive than the US dollar, prices for everything are inflated, and there is a 16% government tax and 10% sales tax on all goods. DESPITE THIS, living here can be cheap for a student like in Cairo and money can be spent wisely. Let’s begin with restaurants/food. All the food I’ve tried here is also delicious – my favorites still being hummus, foul, and falafel, but now with molokhia and mansaf. The latter two dishes are basically rice, chicken or lamb (you pick), and a delicious sauce you pour over top. Molokhia, well I can’t even describe it, but it’s a cooked-down, gooey, leafy sauce. And Mansaf is a creamy, yogurt sauce. For good Jordanian food, you pay anywhere from 30 piasters (cents) to 7 dinar. Not bad! It is when you eat at American chains, like Pizza Hut, KFC, and McDonald’s that things become very expensive. I have not discovered a Jordanian food chain like Cairo’s Gad, just mostly a random selection of restaurants or bakeries that make take-away food. It’s all delicious though, and most restaurants here have sheesha (called argeela here) available at any time of the day. There is usually a selection of very fruity flavors, all for around 3.50-5 JD. Middle Eastern food continues to impress!
I also can’t say I’ve experienced too much of Amman’s shopping scene simply because things are so expensive here. Several of the malls I’ve visited, such as Mecca Mall, City Mall, and Barkhat Mall, but I’ve made few purchases. These malls have the random clothing and shoe stores like in Cairo, but also have many American stores such as Converse and Forever 21. The converse shoes I bought were around 29 JD (~35 US dollars) and Forever 21 was about the same price as those found in the US. However, I noticed in Forever 21 that all the clothes were from several seasons ago – I found dresses in the store that I had bought the summer of 2009. It was really interesting to see; even some of the random, no-name stores had some boot-leg Hollister apparel. There is a Zara, Gap, and Adidas store on Wakalat St., near to my school building. Again these are pricey and styles don’t always match up for what is appropriate in Jordan. In downtown Amman, more tradition clothes are sold unlike in Cairo where downtown leads in fashion.
Nightlife in Amman is also extremely different than in Cairo – Amman has a bed-time and alcohol is much more difficult to come by affordably. Although downtown can be more traditional, there are several little alcoves of modernization. The main area for bars and lounges in Amman is Rainbow St. near first circle. Some of the best places on this stretch are Books @ café and Le Calle, while Amigos a little further away is a nice Mexican-themed hole in the wall. Again, your night must begin early to catch the happy hours for half priced drinks. Otherwise, you will end up paying around 20+ JD for a pitcher at Books. They tend to run from 5-7 PM. Aside from these locations, you can always check out some of the bars and pubs in the 5-star hotels here. My favorite is the Royale Hotel near 2^nd circle – happy hour is every night until 9 PM in their BeerKellar pub. Liquor stores are also few and far in between; most can be found in and around Rainbow St. If pre-gaming is on your agenda, I suggest purchasing a 10% Petra beer for only around 2 JD. I’ve nicknamed it Jordan’s Four Loko… the taste is similar and you only need one! We’ve also found some great places to take the party to. While general dancing clubs don’t exist in Jordan, every Wednesday is Salsa night at a club/bar called 7^th Heaven beside Abdoun Mall. For something more out-there (with cheap shots!), I suggest karaoke night at Café du Paris in Paris Square on Jabal Al-Lweibdeh. Here is a fun mixture of expats and young Jordanians and the karaoke selection is great. This begins around 9 on two Fridays each month, while the other two Fridays in the month have a DJ.
 From this post, you can tell Amman is not Cairo… it’s not even DC! It’s taken some adjusting, but fun can be had, and I’m not exaggerating when I say I’m truly happy to be here. Amman is really a city with a long history, filled with archaeological sites, and with deeply-embedded traditions. It’s a wonderful city all the same. Next week, I will talk about some of the sites and day-time activities in Amman. Also, I’ve just started my volunteer work with The Jordanian Women’s Union, so I hope to soon write about women’s issues in Jordan and compare these to the issues found in Cairo.