The Nasty Bits: Things no one will tell you

Nasty Bit #1: Driving

“Oh Lord sweet Jesus don’t let me die” is generally what I mumble under my breath before I get into a taxi around here. The driving in Amman makes driving in ANY city in America look like a piece of cake.

The drivers here are absolutely bonkers. For instance, on my way back from Mecca Mall to get my wonderfully not- to be-taken-for-granted high-speed Internet, I about was in a car accident, oh, 17 times. And that’s normal around here.\

Deductions:

1.     .Amman has no real traffic system. There are speed limits. No one obeys them.

2.     There are no lanes of traffic. Drivers speed up and cut each other off, just to get right back into the same lane they were in previously.

3     No one uses turn signals. They are stupid, apparently. Instead, one honks an obscene amount of times at the car in front. That driver will get annoyed and stick his hand out the window, showing, he will, in fact, let you pass.

4.     Taxis are UBER cheap. A taxi ride across Amman should only cost oh, at max 3 JD or about 5 bucks.

5.    Women sit in back. Men NEVER sit in back if it is just them. It is disrespectful.

6.     NEVER enter from the left side. It’s illegal. Don’t ask me why.

Nasty Bit #2 Bargaining

This morning I went to Abdali market. It happens every Friday and is a big flea market selling used clothes, pirated movies, shoes, one of the guys on our program bought a nightstick just for kicks. Fresh produce is abundant. I bought grapes and had a delicious Falafel sandwich for about 45 cents! Getting it down to 45 cents was not fun. The man making the sandwiches gave back a male customer in front of us more change then the ladies behind him. One girl got very angry and began yelling at him until we got our correct change.

Spices at Abdali

At Abdali I had the pleasure to buy AWESOME pants. They are fun and polka dotted and breathable for only about $1.40! The market itself was insane. People were everywhere. Children were hawking used clothing, men were smoking, and people were generally interested in getting the best deal. And this market went on for blocks.

(Really) Nasty Bit #3 Plumbing

So as Jordan is the 4^th water poorest country in the world, there plumbing system is a bit different. Meaning—it sucks. In an effort to save water, toilets don’t really have any in them. Which means, it can’t handle toilet paper.

So, next to toilets there are lovely little buckets to throw your used toilet paper in.

Of course, this is only an issue if you can FIND a public toilet. There aren’t really any. Not in any cheap budget restaurant anyway (McDonalds BTW is a nice restaurant, you dress up to go there, and Applebee’s is out of this world expensive for the average Jordanian.)

The restrooms at the University of Jordan are pretttty sketchy as well. No toilet paper and squat toilets are the name of the game. And this whole no hand soap in any bathroom thing—what’s up with that?!