Born again

when you travel, you sort of feel a sense of rebirth. Your in a completely new environments, the days last longer, the sun hangs in the sky a bit longer, and in most places you dont even speak the language. Its what being a baby entering the world for the first time must have felt like. You see the wonder in everything because its all so new. This is explains the simple feeling of happiness that comes with traveling. Every incidence becomes so much more important. Everything is so clear. Sounds, sights, smells and touch are as vivid as can possibly be. Being in a foreign environment also forces one to tear down the "isolated self" that we so often build in America. You open yourself up to complete strangers because they are the best, if not the only resource you have in difficult circumstances.
The most ordinary of events, such as witnessing someone daydreaming, feels like an episode created by God only for your viewing. This is an episode I never want to miss. Its the only show im eternally addicted to.

I have been in Amman for a little more then a week now. And although the city itself is taking some getting used to, i find the culture and people almost second nature. Middle-east is in my blood. It feels good to see what the world is like which my parents and ancestors have seen for centuries. One of the oldest continuously settled cities in the world, Amman has seen its share of rising and fallen empires. The city is situated on vast, steep rolling hills. As such, the city has a vast network of centuries old brick walls to keep the neighborhoods from pouring downhill. Neighborhoods look bizarrely similar and the roads look like someone threw spaghetti on a piece of paper and decided to use that as a blueprint for a road system. Being the pro-transit fanatic that I am, I decided to take a bus to work on my first week. Lets just say I ended up in what looked to be the beginnings of the Sahara Desert.

After realizing bussing it just wasn't going to work, Ive resorted to walking. I begin morning with a 2.5 mile walk underneath an orange sky, up and down steep hills along symmetrically aligned houses all in uniform brick and concrete construction. I'll take a break midway at Kelhat cafe, where I usually drink 2-3 arab coffees with some lebna and zahtar bread. The menus are in arabic, since I'm illiterate, the waiter just let me go to the kitchen and point to what i want.

Amman has experienced short explosive growth periods. Once with hundreds of thousands of palestinians in early 1950s, and again recently with the arrival of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees (may God be with them). Because of the huge inmigration periods, half settled districts and camps have appeared on the outer fringes of the city. One can notice dozens of proudly displayed Iraq and Palestine Flags dotting the lowskyline of the districts.

Its 2 a.m. Shortly, I will be awaken by the first Withan (muslim prayer call on loudspeakers). However, I have grown to like this. The first call is at 3:45ish, its like waking up to a short lullaby and being able to fall soundly asleep for a few more hours. I must admit, its rather calming.