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March 24, 2005
The other side of Amman
Well, the other side of Amman is really East Amman (the very, very poor part of Amman), however, in today's post I am talking about the extremely western Jordanians that I have recently encountered.
On Tuesday night I went to Wox (the only real chinese restaurant in Amman) with a group of Jordanian girls that have been attending our dialogues. They are some really cool girls but I wasn't quite prepared for the experience. Not only did they have their own cars but they were listening to uncensored American rap songs as they spoke in fluent English! It was really interesting to see girls my age that can stay out late and hang out with guys and just be open about their society. The Chinese food was great and it was nice to talk with people who aren't afraid of us ruining their morals.
One of the interesting things that the girls mentioned was that most of the were Christians. Now, I don't know if that makes a big difference but they seemed to think that it does. It does reinforce the idea that Islam, as a religion, is very concerned with appearances but Christianity seems to be a more individually based religion. Because Christianity focuses on a personal relationship with God, it doesn't make a huge difference what you wear or who you are seen talking to. I don't know much about Islam, but I do know that it makes a very big difference who you talk to and what you wear here in Jordan. It is interesting to see/hear about what goes on behind closed doors and realize how hypocritical people can be. I know that this is also a problem in the United States but it is magnified here when a completely covered woman is sneaking around to see a boy. The difference between what she appears to be and what she actually is seems to be a whole lot bigger here, at least in the Muslim population.
Posted by rcollins at March 24, 2005 7:20 AM
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