Amman has zero "buy it all here" stores. The city is made up of specialty shops. No Lowes, WalMart, etc. There is no one stop shopping. But they did just open an ACE Hardware in a local mall about three months ago. I still needed to buy certain things that I could not pack in my checked baggage, 5 gal buckets, cord spool, big lights, etc. Since this ACE just opened, the service was very slow, and many customers waiting in line just left. One American lady was in line behind me and she told me that this was the 5th time she had been in the store and left because it took to long. Where is your fucking patience? She was basically implying that the people here were incompetent. I quieted her by responding, "It is an American chain that just opened in an international country, and I am sure they have kinks they need to work out." I was very disturbed by this woman from America, and her remarks. I then followed up by stating that it is not easy to start a new business internationally.
The people here are very respectful. It seems as if they lack some western manners. They are not raised to understand that cutting in line, or cutting you off while driving is considered extremely rude.
The engineer that I will working with is a great guy and his English is good. His name is Shaudi, kind of like Saudi. It is pronounced just like it is spelled. His family is Lebanese, he is a Christian, had spent some time in the US in Manhattan. He has a US Passport and a Jordanian Passport. We had a political conversation about the Iraq war. He is one of those guys that likes Michael Moore Documentaries. So I have no idea what his thoughts or opinions are about the invasion. He did tell me that Saddam Hussein was good to the scientists in Iraq, that he heavily supported graduate education. I didn't really say much, because my thoughts might be skewed by US media.
We went out with the client for drinks on Tuesday night. There were two Americans and five people form the UK. One "chap" from the UK was telling me some war stories of his youth. Telling me about how they would go out drinking, and fights that would break out at the pubs in England. He told me that the jock type people would drink Stella. He said that they must put some chemical in that beer that makes people violent. He refers to Stella as "Wife Beater" beer. LOL. He says when he goes to the pubs, he asks for a "Wife Beater". After I stopped laughing, he said, "No, I am serious, if lads have four or five pints, they go home and beat their wives." So if you drink Stella, be careful to not go home and beat your wife and dog. The sad part, is Ken (also from UK) agreed.
One of the five English channels here is showing Napolean Dynamite, with Arabic subtitles. They quality is not very good, almost like the satellite company is using bootlegs from old Amman for 1 JD. All of the telecommunications are run by Israel. That includes the Internet, TV, and cell phones. So whenever they want to shut it off or slow in down, they can. No wonder many people here hate the Israel.
I will be traveling south within the next two weeks to Petra, and Ma'an. I may not have internet, so blogs will not be available. This are is well known for its history and geology, so I am excited about going. Ken was telling me of an ancient Roman reservoir that also contains a sanitary collection system with small stones as mini manhole covers near Jeresh. I will be taking many photos!
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