اهلا و سهلا Welcome to Jordan!

I think I need to paint a picture for y'all about what it's like to walk out on the street here as a Western female. Because it's just too much of an experience to keep it all to myself. Ready? Picture yourself on a major road that has both a lot of traffic and a lot of pedestrians. A la 5th avenue, New York City. Start walking, except remember - there isn't a real sidewalk. Sometimes you walk on the street. Sometimes you walk through rubble. You always avoid curious spills. It's a constant up, down, left, right dance. Now, imagine that every shop on the street has men hanging out in the doorway. Every single person in view has their eyes on you. The men in the shops will call out "Welcome!" "Welcome to Jordan!" "Helllloooo" "Ya Shegfay!" Don't look. Don't stop. Try not to smile, no matter how funny they sound. If this isn't enough, you have to deal with the traffic too. If you're lucky, the car will only honk once. If not, it will honk continuously, while passengers shout things at you, or it will slow down, pull over, and cruise by, with riders staring intently. Or like today, it will be a police car, and the honk will be more like a siren, and you'll think you're in trouble, but then you see the tell tale stare . . . It really doesn't stop. It will never stop. I could live here the rest of my life and it would be like this, because I am "blonde". I could speak Arabic perfectly, and still get 50 people a day telling me "Welcome to Jordan" . . .

But thankfully, I've adjusted. I listen to my iPod when I need to go somewhere alone. When I'm with friends, it's usually just funny. Honestly, it's almost easier - people know you're foreign right off the bat. When I was in Germany and Poland, I could pass as a local - so people would start babbling in the native language to me. Then, I would have to awkwardly reveal myself as a foreigner . . . or try to pretend I understood what they were saying. I did that once at a thrift store in Berlin. This woman was babbling to me about return policies I think. I just kept nodding my head and saying "ja". She apparently never noticed that I know like 12 words in German. Here, I'm a foreigner, that's it. Everything is already out in the open, so no hiding. You just have to put yourself out there and make a fool of yourself. Thankfully, I do know more than 12 words here - I can read Arabic, and I can carry on a basic conversation. So once natives do realize that, they lay off. In fact, I don't know what I'm going to do when I get back to the States. I think my self - esteem is going to take a major hit - not being the center of attention and all . . . I guess it's kinda like being a celebrity - I can see why some of them get addicted to it. Maybe.