Souked Out!

In Jordan, Friday is the holy day.  Because of this, most shops close, workers have off, and schools are closed.     On Fridays - and only Fridays - souks set up shop various places around the city.  They come in many forms.  Some are under brightly colored tents with fluorescent lights hanging by ropes that spread a mile down the side of a gently sloping hill, others feature vendors that line the narrow, twisting sidewalks on both sides, crammed in together selling everything from watches to produce or fresh juice.

Today was wonderful.  I woke up later than I had originally planned to a bright, clear sky peeking in through my half open shades.  I was a little nervous about going out - I didn't have any concrete plans when I stepped out of my apartment building this morning around 9:40am - but I had the name of a souk that was supposed to be relatively close, and I came to Amman to explore, not to sit in my room.  The first taxi I hailed nodded as I carefully enunciated "سوق الجمعة العبدلي" and even exclaimed "beautiful arabic!" a comment I don't hear too often.

After a short drive the souk came into view - it was impossible to miss.  Overnight a multitude of tents - mostly orange and blue - had sprung up from the ground for as far as I could see.  At first I just let the current of the crowd carry me through the souk. I've never seen so many shoes in one place in my life - not even at DSW.  The  سوق العبدلي was a curious mix of clothing, shoes, bags, knick-knacks, toys, and produce vendors. There were also stands selling all kinds of salted and seasoned nuts, and even a man with a cart selling Churros! (I didn't give in, but I was sorely tempted) best of all was the general atmosphere of the souk; listening to people bartering, hearing the cries of the hawkers almost singing their prices to anyone passing by and adding a "صديقي" (my friend) to the end - as if that would convince possible buyers to choose their stand over another.

I seemed to fly mostly under the radar as I was roaming around the souk; but I did notice that if a vendor noticed that I wasn't arab, the price would go up and they would start saying "JD" instead of "dinar" (or in most cases, "qirsh" which is less than a dinar).  The vendors themselves were an experience; I came across a group of them who had started actually singing in a sort of cross section of several different booths, and amid the laughter that concluded the song, I picked out the words, "Arab Idol" - someone was suggesting one of them try out!

Eventually I ran into two other CIEE girls and we wandered the souk together, until we met up with yet another group of CIEE'ers who suggested lunch at Hashem's, downtown.  We agreed and started to walk.  We passed the Abdullah Mosque again, resplendent in the afternoon sunlight. As we were passing on the street a group of boys (12 at the oldest) started calling to us from a balcony on the mosque, first in arabic, and then in english: "I love you! What's your name!" At this point we were a pretty obvious herd of foreigners, and so what might have been upsetting by myself, or yelled by boys a few years older, was instead adorable and amusing.

Those minarets are for the Abdullah Mosque

We ended up taking a taxi to Hashem's, because we were admittedly a little lost.  Once there, though, lunch was served!  Falafel, huumous, fuul, sweet tea and never-ending sweet tea. Delicious.

As a group we now wandered through a very different sort of souk; shops on one side, tables (akin to ones you might see on the streets of New York City) lined both sides.  Now the wares were a little more touristy; hats, scarves, pictures, wallets, and jewelry with the occasional sweets store or coffee stand.  In this part of town, many stores remained open despite it being  يوم الجمعة and so the typical shoes, jackets, books etc. were for sale as well.  As we ventured further downtown, the streets became increasingly crowded and many vendors were set up almost in the street.  People became the norm, and cars the exception!

Al-Husseini Mosque!

This bus was attempting to make its way down the street....

Today was one of my first experiences of the 'real' Amman, I think.  Though I was with other Americans eventually, we were mostly unnoticed in the crowds around us.  No one was trying to impress us; this was not Jordan's touristy side.  Here were real Jordanians going about their every(fri)day business as usual. Today was probably my favorite that I've had so far in Jordan because of that.  I didn't have any schedule or plan today, I just stepped outside my front door and was ready to get lost in Amman. And I did, a little, but always in good company.

After the Souk I met up with some other friends and we went to eat at Jafra, the restaurant CIEE took us to for orientation.  I will probably say this a thousand times before I'm back in the states, but the food here is absolutely delicious.  I find myself just picking something random on menus more and more because everything tastes so good.  They have a way with their spices here!

The night ended with another unexpected turn - a visit to a local karaoke bar a short taxi ride away.  If there is one universal truth of the world, it is that karaoke is always, دائمان, endlessly entertaining.

The moon was out tonight...I tried to take a picture of it