Time for blogger RESTECP.

Before I came to Jordan, I decided to check out the Jordanian blogging world. I was pleased to see that it was quite big, largely Amman-based, and that it had a lot of precious information about life in Amman. This was exactly the information that I was looking for. Personal recommendations for restaurants? Any new stores opening? What is the best place for wireless internet? What are the places no tourist ever goes, but are a must-see? Where can I find the perfect store for this-and-that?

I’ll point you to a couple of blogs that have provided me with a lot of information over the past month and a half.

And last but certainly not least: an Arab blogging network, Toot. Great stuff.

Thanks to And Far Away for those pictures

Welcome to the seven mountains of Amman. Last report featured a hot spring day, this one will highlight snow, hail, wind, and lot of rain. On Wednesday, a cold front rolled in. Rumour had it that it might bring snow on Thursday. I didn’t believe it. Come on, I was Amman for God’s sake. Right?

Wrong.

I got was texted at 8:15, telling me that work was off due to the weather. What weather exactly, I wondered? I looked out of my window, seeing a light dusting of snow and some rain. Not the weather to walk around in your shorts, but definitely not the weather to cancel a whole day of productivity either. But as I wandered out to get breakfast, it started to snow more heavily. Some random observations.

• With heavy rain or snow, Ammani public life stops. Shops close, offices close, ministries close.
• With heavy rain or snow, Ammani streets become rivers. Where’s the drainage? I’m wading here, guys.
• Kids make snow men from an inch of snow. It’s an art, I guess.
• Drivers tend to stay off the streets in bad weather. Those still driving are taxis or just plain mad.

It didn’t snow that much during the day. Mainly wet snow, disappearing on the roads creating mud. But at sunset, the show started. Roads become ice skating rinks, the snow thickened and you could see cars skidding in turns. Then in the morning, it was all gone, like nothing had happened. In conclusion, another nice surprise in Amman.

Check out the Flickr box on the right for photos.

First fantastic Spring day. It’s 25 degrees Celsius, clear skies, light breeze, and I just walked around the block for my lunch break. From my office neighbourhood, mainly consisting of villas and luxury apartment buildings, I crossed the busy street into the commercial district of Sweifiyeh. The base of Sweifiyeh is a block grid of 5-floor apartment buildings. Add long galleries instead of sidewalks, for the necessary shade. Then add a bunch of tiny shops with local brands. Let that simmer for a while. Then, add a lot, and I mean a lot, of chaotically placed signs indicating shop names, owner names, cars for sale, and traffic signs. As coup de grace, add two table spoons of extremely chaotic traffic, triple double parking and a pinch of honking. There you have it. Bon appetite! It’s a dish that may need some getting used to, but once you take a bite, you’re hooked.

Furthermore, I’m sad to say that my wireless connection at home is absolute bollocks. It started out fine, it was fast, it was promising. The problem is that whenever there is a problem, it takes ages to fix and a lot of calls to the landlord, who in turn has to call some shop. So consequently, I haven’t had an Internet connection at home for a week now. So please, again forgive me my slow updates, but be aware that they’re in the pipeline.

Time to return to my work! I’ve got a thesis that’s 38 pages already, and I’m working on the last bit of literary review. At this stage, I’m traveling around Amman a lot to meet with experts on the subject of Corporate Social Responsibility. I’m using their thoughts and critiques to enhance my own view on the concept of CSR. I’m happy to report that it’s all going quite well!

Yesterday, I went into a mosque for the first time. Abdallah was my tour guide for the day, a true Mexican-Jordanian and thus fully deserving the nickname I give him — ese, and as we sped through the traffic around the big malls (City Mall, Mekka Mall, Carrefour) up 8th Circle, he told me about his family business and decided that I should be introduced. His father has a little plant shop next to City Mall called Bloomz, which imports most of its products from the Netherlands; we had a cup of tea and I was shown around to everybody. We walked around back to the main entrance of City Mall, now in its final stages of construction and partly opened to the public. Abdallah’s family actually owns the construction site and the huge mall buildings, plus some million-dollar villas on the hill overlooking the site.

So, back to that mosque. I went to the King Hussein mosque up the road from 8th Circle. A huge thing, and wow, it was beautiful. It holds up to 3000 people praying inside and on Fridays, the mosque itself and all the surrounding area (all white marble plateaus with well-kept gardens) is packed with some 8000-10000 people. I was not allowed to take pictures, so a description should suffice. The inside was humbly empty, yet subtly decorated. Red Turkish carpet, warmed by central heating, covered the entire surface of the mosque; 8 wooden doors provided entrance into the central area. None of the doors had any nails or glue in them, yet each one was beautifully engraved with flowery ornaments. In the center of the mosque was the sheikh’s area, from where he preaches to those gathered. Above this small area was the mosque’s dome: a 5-ton golden chandelier was hanging from the ceiling. Here and there, small crooked wooden tables held two or three Qur’ans. We walked around for a while and then left, just in time to see the sun set behind the hills of the King’s Palace in the distance.

Incredible.