The Rum Tarek Al-Nasser Group plays some kind of mix between traditional arab music and western influences, too globalized for my taste – I can imagine it as a background music in a coffeeshop, but for me to listen to such sounds, the different pieces needed to be more diverse and idiosyncratic. Yesterday the orchestra was in concert in Amman’s ancient Roman Theatre, dating from the 2nd century AD. Attending the event was definitely worthwile – not so much because of the performance (also the acoustics were not that good), but because of the overall atmosphere.

The view is amazing – Amman at its best – and the spectators gave me the feeling to witness something real, a part of local culture. At the first moment when the orchestra started, some spectators started clapping rhythmically. The short interruption during prayer time intensified that feeling of witnessing something ‘that we don’t have in the west’. One of the security guys told us that we were sitting in the section that was actually envisaged for families, not for friends – another reminder of the fact that you can, of course, still find somethind different than the sometimes over-dominating western culture.

It made me happy to see the people cheering and clapping, and towards the end of the concert many stood up, and some people managed to get on the started some dance in front of the stage.

It feels so good to know that my right hand can still handle tools other than the mouse. It is so satisfying to practice something in a calm environment, fully concentrating on the particular movement of my hand. From right to left, contrary to the left-to-right visual culture that I am actually used to. For three weeks I’ve been taking part in a calligraphy workshop. The workshop, run by the calligraphy teacher of my colleague Hussein, allows me to understand more about and to get a feeling for calligraphy (and to learn writing arabic – a great side effect).

If you wonder what contributions arabs have made to the world, take a closer look at calligraphy. Just look at examples and you will understand that its main purpose is to represent the immense beauty of words – of the prophets’ words.

While earlier on I felt reminded of little insects when looking at calligraphy, today I see music: the letters are the notes. You feel that there is rythm (and by the way, the act of writing does produce various sounds when the reed bows the paper). There are various instruments, and see them working in the hands of an experienced composer is awesome.

I suppose that I look at calligraphy from a different angle than the other, arab participants. I don’t read what I write. Actually I do not write, I make shapes and curves and strokes. For somebody who cannot read or write arabic it is a different experience, but I can still feel that arabic and calligraphy belong together. Calligraphy wouldn’t be what it is without arabic, and written arabic wouldn’t be what it is without calligraphy. The arabic letters seem to long for calligraphy, as if calligraphy were the only valid form for them.

Getting curious? Listen to some calligraphic pieces on our teacher’s blog.

If you live in Amman, if you look for the best place to eat Humus, Falaffel, Mtabbal, Fuul, Humus and Meat, Humus and Liver etc, and if you read this post, then you’re lucky, cause here is the solution: go to Osra in Abdoun. For 1,5 to 2 Dinar you can get a delicious meal (the bread comes directly from the adjacent bakery and is still soft and warm!) including a softdrink or tea. The service is impeccable: even if the restaurant is stuffed with people, you’ll get your meal within a few minutes. Although the waiters have to hurry from table to kitchen to table to kitchen, they are always friendly, always in for a joke.

How to reach: If you come from 4th circle/Abdoun bridge, on arriving at Abdoun circle you take the first road up to the right. You follow this road for a few hundred meters, then at the first opportunity you make a u-turn, drive the same road back, and after ca. 100 meters you turn into the first street on your right. Drive down that street. Still on the hill, before you reach the smaller roundabout in the valley, Osra is to your right.

“Osra” means family, but I am not part of it, I am just a fan.

Eigentlich wollte der König seinen Geburtstag nicht an die große Glocke hängen, und so sollte der heutige Donnerstag ein ganz normaler Arbeitstag sein. Letzte Nacht hat es aber so stark geschneit, dass heute nur arbeiten kann, wer keinen Fußmarsch zum Arbeitsplatz scheut: Weder Taxen noch Busse sind an die Wetterverhältnisse angepasst und bleiben daher in der Garage. Schneepflüge und Streufahrzeuge gibt es nicht. Auf Ammans höchstem Hügel liegen satte 75 cm Schnee. Die Menschen bleiben also zu Hause, die Kinder bauen Schneemänner, ich spaziere.

Da staunten sie, meine Kollegen, drückten ihre Nasen an den Fensterscheiben platt. Schnee! Ein seltener Blick aus unserem Büro, diese Woche in Amman aufgenommen:

I’ve been living in Jordan for seven months now. Enough time to understand what’s wrong with this country and what isn’t.

Things I love:

It’s just a scratch
People don’t care so much about details. That can be helpful when you rent a car, give it back with a scratch and the rental service just doesn’t care.

People care for each other
When there is someone screaming in my neighbourhood (and that happens from time to time), people leave their houses to find out what’s going on – not because they are lurid, but because they want to help.

How can I help you?
Once I wanted to visit a friend who I had seen last time when I lived in Amman three years ago. After I understood that he doesn’t live any more where he used to live, I asked a neighbour whether he knew where to find that friend of mine. In the end that guy drove me around in the neighbourhood to find him. I can tell numerous stories like that.

Welcome to Jordan
If you are a foreigner from the west, you are treated nicely most of the time. People are usually interested in what you do and where you come from. And most of them really mean it. Once a guy invited me to his home for a tea, just because I climbed down the stairs in front of his nose. And you even have some privileges. When you want to get into a club or bar, it might be easier for you as a westerner as for some of the locals.

But … isn’t Jordan a dangerous place?
The crime rate we have in Amman every European capital can only dream of. Criminal offenses like robbery or theft happen to a much lesser extent here. I couldn’t have walked through Berlin (or used the public transportation) for seven months without ever being molested by a drunk or bored thug. In Amman, never anything like that happened to me.

Women
I really don’t know where to start … Expression. Temper. Even savagery. Huh …

Respect
I feel that old people, or handicapped people, are much more respected than e.g. in Germany. They are looked after, not only looked at.

Things I love less:

Lack of perfectionism
I am still trying to remember an examplary situation to illustrate what I mean. But believe me, it’s hard for a German.

Your business, my business
People are interested in what’s going on, but it is getting a bit too much sometimes. Given Amman’s two million citizens, it’s somewhat surprising and annoying that you cannot live here anonymously. Amman is a huge village. If you fart in your garden, the whole place talks about it the next day.

Rassism
If you come from another arab country, like Saudi Arabia or Syria, you might be treated as a third-class creature in Amman. Why? No idea. Maybe I was wrong when saying that seven months is enough to understand what’s going on.

Jordan is dangerous …
when it comes to certain jobs. This morning I witnessed some construction workers balancing on a piece of wood that was hanging down a building’s wall. They were fixing something 20 meters above the ground. No security ropes. No helmets. And no one who cares. Perhaps apart from the construction workers, but do they have a say?

The natural thing to do …
is not just throwing your litter somewhere, but letting it drop, no matter where you are (in the forest, on the highway, at the beach).

Fuck the environment! That would be an attitude. But here some people even don’t understand that there is something called environment. Some people simply don’t care about their surroundings. Some people simply don’t feel to be part of the town they live in – or they simply don’t feel that the town they live in is a place they can create and shape.

That cultural thing
Imagine a muslim guy who falls in love with a christian girl. That might work out till her parents find out. For traditional christian parents in Amman will never ever allow their daughter to marry a muslim guy. “What would the neighbours say?”

Yeah. These neighbours. They are always around, particularly when you stay at home most of the time.

Likewise, imagine a muslim girl falling in love with a christian guy (or, even worse, with a nonbeliever&arab&uneducated&poor&belonging-to-the-wrong-tribe-guy: “But don’t let him touch you!”

Same goes for muslim-muslim or christian-christian relationships, if your family has objections to the marriage. And don’t even think of having just a “relationship”. That could be considered to be unnatural.

Women are equal … equal to what?
Jordan is not as bad as Saudi Arabia, for example. In Jordan women are allowed to walk uncovered in the street and to drive a car. But is that all a woman needs – to lead the life she wants? Let’s ask them.

 A family affair
“What do you do tonight?” “Umm, I think I’m gonna stay at home with my parents.”

In Jordan, culture is not lived in public. There are exceptions, but usually these exceptions are parties with fancy DJ’s from Europe or the U.S. There is hardly any locally rooted public culture. Take youth culture. What’s there in Jordan? Virtually nothing. And if there is something, it is imported from the west, and exclusively targeted at wealthy west Ammanis.

to be continued …

The woman in black is Waddaha, a colleague of mine. The photo shows us discussing poster design options for the camel race next Friday. Don’t miss the short video which was incidentally recorded when we were at the office.

Da es auch mich betrifft, möchte ich gerne auf dieses soziale Projekt hinweisen. Ich zitiere:

Jedes Jahr werden hunderte Designer von weltfremden Universitäten in das rauhe Berufsleben entlassen. Cyanäugig wissen sie nicht, was sie erwartet und enden meist als unbezahlte Praktikanten oder müssen sich in Werbeagenturen prostituieren.

Unterstützen Sie noch heute DesignerInNeed mit einer Patenschaft und profitieren Sie vom Sozialen Prestige karitativer Sammelpunkte.

In unserem Garten liegt ein welkes, braunes Blatt. Kommt jetzt etwa der Herbst?

Ein Beispiel für den klugen und selbstbewussten Umgang mit der NPD ist dieser Brief des Holliday Inn Dresden an die sächsische NPD-Landtagsfraktion. Hut ab!

Dresden, 18. Oktober 2007

Ihre Zimmerreservierung im Holiday Inn Dresden

Sehr geehrter Herr Apfel,
sehr geehrter Herr Delle,

wir erhielten heute Ihre über www.hotel.de getätigte Reservierung für den 7.
November 2007 und sind einigermassen erstaunt, dass Sie ausgerechnet ein
amerikanisches Hotelunternehmen mit ausländisch klingendem Namen bevorzugen.

Da Sie in unserem Hause nicht willkommen sind und ich es auch meinen
Mitarbeitern nicht zumuten kann, Sie zu begrüssen und zu bedienen, haben wir
hotel.de gebeten, die Buchung zu stornieren.

Sollte dies aus vertraglichen Gründen nicht möglich sein, darf ich Sie
darauf hinweisen, dass ich sämtliche in unserem Hause durch Sie getätigten
Umsätze unmittelbar als Spende an die Dresdner Synagoge weiterleiten werde.
Betrachten Sie dies als kleinen Beitrag zur Wiedergutmachung für die
Schäden, die Ihre damaligen Gesinnungsgenossen der Synagoge und vor allem
ihren früheren Besuchern zugefügt haben.

Eine Kopie dieses Schreibens leiten wir an die Dresdner Presse weiter.

In der Hoffung, daß Sie eine zu Ihnen passende Unterkunft finden und uns Ihr
Besuch erspart bleibt verbleiben wir

mit freundlichen Grüssen
MACRANDER HOTELS GmbH & Co. KG

Johannes H. Lohmeyer
Geschäftsführer