By nlgyon
Before I left for my new home in Amman, a good friend and mentor told me:
Navigating the streets of your host country is something you'll not soon forget, accumulating tales of frustration punctuated by small victories--leading to the discovery of some sort of internal cultural horizon by which to navigate. You will be forced to live in the present, and your mind will be unburdened by other considerations.
See, hear, and taste all you can. Return with stories worthy of being told.
This is by far the best advice I received while preparing for life in a foreign country, and these are the same words I would use to describe my experience in Amman so far. There is a daily struggle to avoid paying the “American price” for cabs and goods, to find the best stores and cafes, to discover typical Jordanian night and weekend activities, and to make friends with a limited knowledge of the colloquial dialect. These have all accumulated in short moments saturated with triumph—walking away with an extra dinar or two after a haggling match, biting into a delicious and cheap falafel sandwich, or laughing with locals after a well-placed joke.
While most of my stories so far revolve around the sweetness of small victories and are relatively boring, something about the wild west atmosphere here, perhaps imparted by the desert sand and lawless traffic, promises a semester filled with more than enough stories worthy of sharing with the world.