So cats. They are everywhere. Their slinky bodies will show up pawing at the kitchen door, jump out from behind the wheels of the car, or my personal favorite, rattle around in dumpster so that it scares the living daylights out of me. They scamper across the walkways at the university and hide out along sidewalks.
Cats here are scavengers, so when I see, oh 8 hissing over food some rotting food, it’s a little gross, but not out of the ordinary. What’s even more perturbing than the over abundance of cats is the lack of dogs. WHERE ARE THE DOGS?
Since I’ve been here I’ve seen 3. Only three. Once I saw a woman walking a dog. That was weird. I looked twice. I guess dogs are considered dirty in Islam, which explains why there aren’t any. But according to my friend Erin, she saw two steroid-ed men walking Pomeranians in Abdoun. So I guess there is hope?
Now the begging children. It may seem a little cruel to lump cats and kids together, but hey, they both annoy me. Kids around Petra hawk postcards. The kids in Amman sell gum.
They are usually dirty, wearing clothes that obviously haven’t been washed in a while. They come up to people sitting and try to sell penny gum. Once, a kid was crying because somebody wrecked his gum and spilled it all over the street. That was sad. Erin gave him money. I didn’t. I’m cruel, I guess.
There is also this other tyke. He can’t be any more than 5, and his mother or grandmother can be found begging for change daily on the stairs to the underpass to the university. She always wears a black burka, has her head down, and holds her hands out as you pass. On one particular day, the child received some money and was running while screaming “fooloose” (money). It’s strange though. For the high population density, homelessness is very uncommon. I haven’t seen more than two people this entire time. It’s a testament to the power of family in this culture.
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