Jordan - old friends and new

Its wonderful to be back in Jordan after over 2 years (I lived here for a few months in 2001). I’ve been walking around with a big stupid smile on my face as I recognise old haunts, and even people. The Egyptian guy at the falafel stand near my old flat remembered my name, I was so chuffed. A good thing I caught him, as he’s now made enough money to get married and he’s return to Egypt for good next month to do just that. Did my emails at Books@Cafe, a real Jordanian institution. The internet connection is pretty dire, but it’s a fun trendy place with nice seating, food and drinks and second hand English books. I bumped into a guy who was studying Arabic when I was here last, and has stuck about., so caught up on the news about old friends.

I had a few conversations with people on the street and in shops, including a classic, depressing discussion about Palestine. One guy got very excited about Leeds United, but I couldn’t really make out most of what he was saying. The sun is quite exhausting, and I haven’t eaten much. Was up early to do an interview on BBC Radio 5. I think it went well, but I hate to think how much the roaming bill will be on my mobile. I Hope to bump into an Iraqi friend Evan from London, who’s now working in southern Iraq and has come to Jordan today to collect his wife from the airport, but annoyingly he was delayed at the border so we couldn’t meet this morning as planned.

It’s been wonderful walking around Amman, I feel I know the city better than London, and certainly feel more at home here. I’ve just got back from a typically surprising dinner. I’d left my hotel to look for food at about 7pm, and passed a group of men stilling outside some shops drinking tea and chatting. One of them spotted my “Free Palestine” badge, and immediately I was doubly welcome. I would have been welcome without it of course, and indeed the man told me a wonderful story: a few years ago when he was returning from the West Bank, he met some Israelis who were going to Jordan. It was the first time they’d left Israel by land, and he gave them a lift from the border, took them out for a meal and fixed them up in a hotel with a discount. They were overwhelmed to hear that he was a Palestinian (as are about 60% of Jordanians who were ejecting from Palestine in 1948 and 1967) and they exchanged emails for a few years afterwards. After some chatting I was invited out to dinner and we drove to a nearby restaurant and I was given half a chicken to eat (the vegetarianism goes on hold the minute I enter the Middle East!) and told I must eat it all. While we were eating a guy came over whom I recognised. His name is Yad, and he’s an Assyrian from Iraq who I’d met two years previously. A very intelligent guy who’d suffered a lot. He had been imprisoned and tortured by the Ba’athists for being too fervent about his Christian faith (the Assyrians were some of the first Christians, and last time I was in Iraq I visit the site of a 1st century church, possibly founded by St. Thomas on route to India).

Back at the hotel I’ve just been watching some Saudi TV – all American films and TV series, and I was amazing by the content of some of the adverts – I’d thought the Saudi censors were quite meticulous.