Ruins

"Old" is a relative term in Amman. The city has some ancient structures from the Roman and Ummayid Empires. But when Jordanians talk about the city, anything built before 1980 is said to be old. This is partly due to Jordan being a third world country up until the 1990s. A friend of mine, who has been coming here for the past ten years, told me that when he first came there was basically one street of shops and very little western. Now, all the men wear knock-off designer clothing, and shopping malls are five stories tall.

As a group we have decided to avoid the malls as much as possible, trying to experience "the real Jordan," but the truth is these malls and western culture are just as much, if not more, a part of the life of the people that live in Amman as the ancient ruins that you will only find tourists visiting. In fact, when we ask taxi drivers for good place to eat, they usually respond "KFC."

One of the ancient sights we visited the Hill of the Citadel (Jabbal Al-Qal'a). Here there are large columns, a bunch of rubble, and a restored Ummayid mosque. The tall columns are from the Temple of Hercules. The rubble is from a palace and has not been restored, meaning it is just a pile of rocks. The mosque, however, being a building of Islam, has been restored and is quite impressive. Additionally, the dome provided shade making it the favorite building of pale American tourists, such as ourselves.

While these truly old sites are nice, sometimes we breakdown and need something newer. On the 4th of July we went to a Fudruckers to celebrate America with burgers, fries, and milkshakes. We considered getting fireworks as there are no regulations on them here, but from what we heard fireworks here are mostly slightly tame versions of TNT that you throw off your roof. There are already enough ruins in Jordan, so we decided to forgo that American pastime.