Downtown Amman

Furs for sale, downtown Amman.


My family has several Jordanian connections. One of my mom's friends from work (they worked together even before I was born) is married to a Palestinian/Jordanian. Our hair stylist is married to a Jordanian and one of my mom's close friends from work, lived and worked in Amman at the Amman Heart Hospital for several years. And I have a friend who is Jordanian. Before we went, we got so much adivce. Regarding downtown, we heard two very different opinions. The first was, don't go alone. The second was, it's totally fine. Just go, and if you do feel a little odd, take a head scarf.
My mom and I are very independent. She might even be more independent than I am. This past year, she began taking Tae Kwon Do and her instructor/master showed her some self-defense before we went on our trip. So, needless to say, we ventured downtown on our own the second day we were in Jordan.
Before I left the US, I tried on a large scarf that I own. It's a cream color and I wear it nearly all fall-spring, especially at church where keeping my coat on is a little rude. I tried it on my head, not sure how to wrap it. Instead of taking the shock off of my very blonde hair, I looked even more shocking- picture Casper the friendly ghost! The scarf stayed at the hotel. I did wear pants and a sweater, as did my mom.
Ok, so back to downtown Amman. We asked the hotel to tell the taxi to "drop us off downtown" somewhere. To this day, I still have no idea where he took us, and we even went back to look for it. It was a Friday, so many of the shops were closed. I do remember seeing the Bagdad hotel, so I know were wer near there. We arrived just as prayer was getting out and the first thing that my mom and I noticed was that there were very few women around. I mean maybe 20, tops! So we began to just stroll along. Pretty soon a guy walked by me and purposely bumped into me. I know it was on purpose because there was no one else, except my mom on the street w/us. I did what I normally do in the US, ignore and shoot a dirty look his way. About five minutes later, he came by again and pinched me in the hip!!! This time, I shot him my most evil teacher stare (being a teacher comes in handy during the most unexpected moments)! He got the hint and ditched.
The funny thing- I told my mom, "That guy just pinched me!!" My mom, Ms. Tae Kwon Do, hadn't even noticed!
After talking to Kinzi- I realized that I had every right to make a big scene and yell/hit him. Now I dare anyone to touch me!!! GRrrrr.... Of course, it never happened again and this was the ONLY time anything like this happened in Jordan during our 2 weeks. We felt very safe there and we even would walk places at night and never feel unsafe.
We did make it back to downtown, this time accompanied by my friend. It was during the week and there were many more women around. We had a great time, stopping for knafe at Jebri too.
After the pinching, my mom and I took a taxi back to Sweifeyah. My mom experienced her first true falafel. The next morning, the first thing she said when she woke up was, "Mmm...I'm still thinking about that falafel...."