Amman

Well I am one week into Jordan and I am loving life.

This week I has been my first week at school. We went to the JLA (Jordan Language Academy) bright and early on Monday morning for a 9am test. We sat down eager to show what we could do and it turns out we can't do very much. The test was nigh impossible! Nevertheless I wasn't immediately sent packing and the lessons began.

The JLA is a small building that is just off the 7th Circle, the people of Amman like to pretend that their road system is not complicated by saying that there is one main street with 8 circles (دوار) along it. However there are lots of main streets and lots of roundabouts and therefore this one street doesn't really help all that much. Just look at a map of Amman it is unnavigable.

The lessons were great and I am learning so much so quickly. The influx of new vocab is alarming and it is impossible to remember all of it, but the more I use it the more it sticks in my head. I have directions down now, so I can always tell the taxi driver where to go.

The Taxi drivers are great here! I nearly always chat to them. The other day I only had a twenty JD note and I told the driver this near the start of the journey, so for payment he pulled over and I bought him a coffee and some cigarettes.

There is too much to say as I have left it so long since my last blog so I'll leave it until I have done some more exploring and taken more photos to fill you in on the inner workings of Amman living, but for now I will leave you with two little bytes.

When everyone lives in flats sometimes the only way to get furniture into a building is a pully system up the side. This picture was taken whilst we were sitting at the JLA with the Manchester students who are all very nice. This was the building opposite where Amin is going to live so this may even have been his new sofa!

Tailoring is renowned for being for the wealthy. To have perfectly fitted trousers and shirts and jackets is a luxury. Not in Amman! Elias took Awat and me to downtown to buy Awat some new trousers. So he bought some for 9JD and then we crossed the street and went through a door flanked by two burly men who were sitting there sowing. Then up some old tiny stairs to a tiny room where we found this lovely gentlemen. He measured Awat up and within 20 minutes had shortened and tightened the trousers all for 1.500JD (£1.50)!! This is the price all tailoring should be!