Going somewhere and getting nowhere
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Over the past few weekends, I've been in a bus/cab going somewhere - Damascus, Aqaba, Damascus again..its another long weekend and it feels rather weird to be in Amman, despite the fact that I spend most of my weekends in the city.
I've lived here for a little over a year now (375 days to be precise) and I now feel oddly disconnected. I can't seem to put my finger on it, but something has changed in how I view the city and the people. I don't know if its disillusion, recent events, or the realizations that bubble up to your head when you have the time to sit and reflect about your life. I hope the feeling goes away soon because I want to look back on my last days here with a sense of accomplishment and happiness..and not this.
In other news - I have unfortunately had to see - the worst talent show known to mankind - Star Academy. We were driving back from the fantastic reception event at Huda's only to see a huge congregation of people at Abdoun. Apparently a huge screen had been put up since one of the finalists was Jordanian. Memories of the endless campaign that was 'vote for Petra as one of the new seven wonders..' came to mind, and a bunch of us saw a bit of the final at Books@ when we ended up there.
Simon Cowell would have had a field day. Heck - any one with even the least bit of musical sense would have had a field day. It made for great entertainment value though - the screechy voices, the elaborate sets, the backup dancers, staring with shock at the elaborate nature of the show and trying to figure out who was the worst of the lot.
I spent last night laughing insanely over Skype/Gtalk with Sharz and Rabia. Many a devious plan and fictional scenario were devised and brilliant memories from university relived. I woke up this morning and was trying to guess what time it when the phone rang with aapa and my sister on the other end, having breakfast together. Yay for all the amazing people in my life :)
In other random news - the taxi driver sagas continue (the servees driver from Damascus got into a huge argument with another passenger over buying cigarettes from the duty free, yesterday one driver told me that I could only learn Arabic if I live in an Arab country (yes, finally some common sense!), and everyone who has tried to extort money off me for nominal fares has been yelled at.)
And cultural diversity has taken a new turn - atleast four of the waiters at Hashem yesterday could speak a smattering of English (new guys hired to withstand the onslaught of the tourist season?) I'm making plans to have a Bollywood movie session with an intern from the US and might cook biryani and chapatis with a Kenyan intern, and most surprising of all - Alex (who, as the oft repeated story goes, is originally from Belarus, grew up in Australia and lives in Bahrain) pronounces Arabic letters way better than I ever will.
Off to enjoy the rest of the long weekend. Did I mention its Independence Day today? And we're off to see what is rumored to be a military parade. (I have already started getting flak for this from Sharz, but I'm justifying this as its fine when the country isn't really ruled by the military..)
Update: And Nadim's blog has the sad saga of the parade that didn't happen..
I've lived here for a little over a year now (375 days to be precise) and I now feel oddly disconnected. I can't seem to put my finger on it, but something has changed in how I view the city and the people. I don't know if its disillusion, recent events, or the realizations that bubble up to your head when you have the time to sit and reflect about your life. I hope the feeling goes away soon because I want to look back on my last days here with a sense of accomplishment and happiness..and not this.
In other news - I have unfortunately had to see - the worst talent show known to mankind - Star Academy. We were driving back from the fantastic reception event at Huda's only to see a huge congregation of people at Abdoun. Apparently a huge screen had been put up since one of the finalists was Jordanian. Memories of the endless campaign that was 'vote for Petra as one of the new seven wonders..' came to mind, and a bunch of us saw a bit of the final at Books@ when we ended up there.
Simon Cowell would have had a field day. Heck - any one with even the least bit of musical sense would have had a field day. It made for great entertainment value though - the screechy voices, the elaborate sets, the backup dancers, staring with shock at the elaborate nature of the show and trying to figure out who was the worst of the lot.
I spent last night laughing insanely over Skype/Gtalk with Sharz and Rabia. Many a devious plan and fictional scenario were devised and brilliant memories from university relived. I woke up this morning and was trying to guess what time it when the phone rang with aapa and my sister on the other end, having breakfast together. Yay for all the amazing people in my life :)
In other random news - the taxi driver sagas continue (the servees driver from Damascus got into a huge argument with another passenger over buying cigarettes from the duty free, yesterday one driver told me that I could only learn Arabic if I live in an Arab country (yes, finally some common sense!), and everyone who has tried to extort money off me for nominal fares has been yelled at.)
And cultural diversity has taken a new turn - atleast four of the waiters at Hashem yesterday could speak a smattering of English (new guys hired to withstand the onslaught of the tourist season?) I'm making plans to have a Bollywood movie session with an intern from the US and might cook biryani and chapatis with a Kenyan intern, and most surprising of all - Alex (who, as the oft repeated story goes, is originally from Belarus, grew up in Australia and lives in Bahrain) pronounces Arabic letters way better than I ever will.
Off to enjoy the rest of the long weekend. Did I mention its Independence Day today? And we're off to see what is rumored to be a military parade. (I have already started getting flak for this from Sharz, but I'm justifying this as its fine when the country isn't really ruled by the military..)
Update: And Nadim's blog has the sad saga of the parade that didn't happen..
Labels: jordan journal, random musings
posted by saba at 1:59 PM, | 
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