What is the reason that you come/came to Jordan?

I came because my husband received a job offer in Amman, I am here since December 2010 and I'm counting days until I go back home....

danik2010 wrote:

I came because my husband received a job offer in Amman, I am here since December 2010 and I'm counting days until I go back home....

That sounds to me that you don't like it all here in Amman.
Can you tell me what  you don't like about it?

I do not like dirt, I do not like permanent noise (especially from car engines), I do not like the lack of seriousness, I do not like disrespect of men and their attitude towards foreign women, I do not like drivers taxi and merchants that increase prices excessively when they see that I am foreigner... I do not feel comfortable to walk alone on the street, I do not feel comfortable to go alone by taxi... I've changed my life style and I don't feel "myself" anymore...

I have also several things that I don't like but I always try to look at the bright side of live.
I know it is not easy, it depends how I feel.
I thought that I saw everyting and that nothing can surprise me anymore. But, I'm wrong, especially when the traffic is involved.
Even after 6 years I can be mad about the stupidity and disrespect from the other drivers.
But even then, it is not far to compare Jordan with your country because the differents are to big.

First of all, we need to understand one thing. Every country has got its own merits and demerits. and every individual is having his/her own merits and demerits. the best part of life is to understnad it and go with that. that makes the difference between one to another. Also, we need to understand that 'so called short comings' are not purely built by jordanian people. it is by system itself. so, one individual cannot change the situation as it is. Jordan has lot of problems to get along. Like syria and other neighbouring countries. i appreicate  jordanians for extending their humanitarian aid to the neibhours...
so, I request my friends to put postive comments and be postive.. In that count, i like jordan a lot. it offers a lot to see and witness the historical events happened places and much more.. balance of life is there. not too westernised and not too traditional. so, life is balanced.. that is always good for the society on longer run..

Like savanah80 says, england may not look money from the children. In some society, it may be.. but we cannot complain for that. this is how soicety/culture is nourished and built. so, appreicate other feelings and help to understand better about you and your country and how best we can spend our time here... that is the idea..

Best of luck!..

savannah80 wrote:

The people here try and rip off anyone that is foreign and the men think all foreign women are here for their pleasure. Can't wait to go home!

Totally agree, this is what I think too.....

to danik2010... if that is the case, then it is highly unfortunate.. the thinking itself is not of good taste..

livekrish wrote:

to danik2010... if that is the case, then it is highly unfortunate.. the thinking itself is not of good taste..

This is based on my personal experiences here, in Jordan... And the way that all these affected and changed my life, so I can not feel different... I don't judge anybody, I don't want to change people's behavior or anything, I'm sure there are a lot of positive aspects of living here, but not for me... Daily life means to me more than beautiful culture or places to visit...

Wise spoken Livekrish!!!
In Europe we have social securty: if you are not able to work you will get payment by the goverment. That's why you pay taxes for. Here in Jordan there is not such things. Only an retirement when you get lucky. For this reason it is normal that the children looks after their parents.
In Europe we have care homes and nursing homes. Here not, till now I found one care home and I can tell you that I was very surprised. Here the family will take care of the elderly. The elderly are very respected and they must be treated that way. In Europe they are not always be treated as it must be.
A total different way between both worlds but it doesn't mean that one of them is wrong or right. Just different and I think this is the way how you can/must look at this differences.

im in jordan cos i got a job here.
I am originally from Romania like danika and I like it here.
For me as any of us there is no place like home. I miss everything there. Amman is not a place I love but is not a place I dislike. Its a place to live. I enjoy going out here and I had good experiences and bad experiences.

From my point of view Danika ur a bit judgemental about the place because what you found bad here its worse in Romania.

I feel safe here way much more than I used to feel in Romania. And i go out a lot. At 12-1 am i dont look behind my back and I am not scared at all.

Romanians cheat on foreigners and local as much as they can. From taxi drivers to merchants. And in Romania I wear hijab and most of the people think I am foreigner and I can hear them speaking and raising up the prices for me even double. And I am talking in malls not just a simple store around the block.

There are good people and bad people everywhere. Romania, Jordan, USA, UK. But its easier to judge their places cos its not home.

and lets not forget the street dogs and the homeless people, the drug addicts and all.

But i love my country more than anything, its the light of my eyes and in the same time I believe that when a foreigner comes to my country they will see the bad parts just as we see it here.

When i arrived in jordan from the start i cud tell that I have to live in a different culture, with different mentality and ways.
There is no green, I dont speak the language, everything is different even the arhitecture.
So I looked around and I was thinking that i can spend my time in jordan missing home and complaining of what I dislike and what is better home but I prefered not to make comparasion because I knew i wudnt be fair and I wud be subjective about things and instead to make the best of everyday and enjoy it.
And i met quite very interesting people and been in quite interesting situations.

Life is how we make it. We can see the full part of the glass or the empty one

anouna wrote:

Life is how we make it. We can see the full part of the glass or the empty one

You are right, we use to say this in Romania And you are again right, Jordan is a safe country... As I already said, there a good things about living in Jordan... But from my point of view, it's not enough to make me want to stay here... Or my husband (I am married to a Romanian man, not Jordanian and our son is in Romania)... And what I found bad here, is not worse in Romania! I never went out from my house and step into garbage in Romania (every day here is the same), I've never lived in so much noise (car engines, people and children speaking loud... also the mosque, when it starts, I can't hear my TV sound in my house, not to mention how I wake up at 4 A.M... by the way, there is no sound limit for this?) and there are a lot of other things that are not comparable to Romania... I have Jordanian friends, no matter what their religion is, they are wonderful people, I hope I'll come someday to visit them...

I do also miss my homecountry, I miss the nature, the veggies and fruits that you can't buy here (sometimes you can but it is so expensive!!!), to ride on my bike etc etc.
I think this is normal and I have a love-hate relationship with Jordan.

Primadonna wrote:

The life back there felt for him like colorless

I guess he is not a " oranje " fan!

danik2010 wrote:

I do not like permanent noise (especially from car engines) I've changed my life style and I don't feel "myself" anymore...

I believe in almost every foreign country in this world we have to change our lifestyle in order to be accepted. Depending on our nature it can be easy or hard. Iam a nice guy but do not smile into others faces if i don't feel like it. This is a bit of a problem since almost everyone smiles into others faces whether they mean it or not, so quite confusing. I do not mind to adjust myself, but do not want to change myself. I guess i have a mixed fan community. Some find me different, others are happy the way iam. I don't like permanent noise either and i believe it is a matter of luck where our home is located... There is nothing like good or bad areas in my opinion, noise can be everywhere from everyone. Regarding people who mean to annoy, i just don't pay any attention to them since it is not normal to annoy others and obviously they are just waiting for it. Same people you just have all around the world. Despite the fact that gas is not cheap, car engines are always on for quite a long time. So turning it off would still be cheaper and cleaner but... Due to the economical collapse things have become more expensive and mostly unavailable. If i have the chance i order from outside without additional cost, there one still enjoys original prices. 30 Years ago everything was available. Instead of a mobile shop there were local restaurants (Mataem) all over just like souvenir shops. Nowadays one finds only what is needed by the majority. Foul, hommos, falafel in one and the same shop has become a rarity, today we have fried chicken... It is even difficult to find arabic music outside what we call hitparades. I had to order a CD with a certain arabic song from canada!
True, we have nice places to visit so iam trying to make use of this. We have beautiful nature and i like walking on foot, so iam working on living in the nature...

@ JO/EU

well said, carefully crafted words. we need to adapt and adjust to situations. that is the great thing of life...if we start complaining then there is no end to that.. every country, i can complain.. so, if you want, every country you can appreciate..i lived in senegal.. and contrary to the perception, i love that country more than any other county i travelled...such a nice country.. so, still have regrets about that country. so, i like it...so, it depends on the perception..

livekrish wrote:

if we start complaining then there is no end to that...so, it depends on the perception..

Very true... So, I don't complain, I've just asked to this topic question. I don't "have to" do or accept anything that makes me unhappy, so I'm preparing to go back home...

@ Danik2010... happy to hear... and god bless you.. hope you will be happy back home.. i pray for your good health and happy life... god bless you

livekrish wrote:

@ Danik2010... happy to hear... and god bless you.. hope you will be happy back home.. i pray for your good health and happy life... god bless you

Thank you very much for good thoughts and wishes!! Same to you....

savannah80 wrote:

the shops are way too expensive and I am sick off Carrefour charging whatever they want, one week a bottle of oil was 3.35 JD and the week after it was 4.95 JD for the same one, The people here try and rip off anyone that is foreign

Well, I think i can give you some advice regarding the price issue since i noticed it as well:

I look at the price label underneath, still sometimes they charge up to a lot more without even being wrong about it! Why?
Simply because they place certain things where they should not be! I had this a couple of times and yes it makes one mad but, they put as well price checkers in all shops, meaning you should either compare carefully what you want with the price label, or just trouble yourself taking your goods to the price checker. At the end of the day it is not a matter of being foreigner or local, obviously either a sales strategy or just carelessness!

@ JO/EU... what savannah says is correct. since we have language problem and lack of understanding of thier conversation, they immediately increase the price. In that way, jordan is costly for expats. we cannot take locals for everytime of our purchase. In her case, she has gone to super market. if you go any other market, then life is different, and costly.. I do not know how to deal with it!.. any ideas?!?! or new topic for the forum??

livekrish wrote:

@ JO/EU... what savannah says is correct. since we have language problem and lack of understanding of thier conversation, they immediately increase the price. In that way, jordan is costly for expats. we cannot take locals for everytime of our purchase. In her case, she has gone to super market. if you go any other market, then life is different, and costly.. I do not know how to deal with it!.. any ideas?!?! or new topic for the forum??

Regarding the Supermarket chain Savannah is talking about she is  not correct since they have coded prices meaning same rights for all. Regarding stores without coded prices, when i was in the UK i bought some things from a store. Afterwards i started to wonder why it did cost that much! I noticed that everything turned out to be way too expensive. I went back and confronted the sales person who did not hesitate to charge right ;-) Keep in mind that there could be a difference in prices, but too high prices are suspicious which makes me either confront the salesperson or just leave everything behind and buy from another store. Since shops depend on purchasing power, they will re-think whether to lose or win a new customer. Not to dominate the local language makes it more difficult to express your concern, but i guess that's how it is all around the world... So off you go to the next language center :-)

JO/EU wrote:

Primadonna wrote:

The life back there felt for him like colorless

I guess he is not a " oranje " fan!

Not at all!!!

I missed you, welcome back!

In arabic:انا اشتاق اليك

Oranje is a beautiful color and a good soccer team

And the colour of the Dutch royal.

So how are your arabic language skills doing?

Last week I started with the course and I like it very much.
Till now it is not difficult but later it will be.
I can read and write little easy words and I am very proud of it.
Sometimes it is confusing because I learn foussha and I know the local words only.

What I wrote earlier I learn it today

Primadonna wrote:

Last week I started with the course and I like it very much.
Till now it is not difficult but later it will be.
I can read and write little easy words and I am very proud of it.
Sometimes it is confusing because I learn foussha and I know the local words only.

That sounds great and i wish you the best of luck. Fussha is important for reading and writing. This way you won't feel lost down town, able to read and understand any sign.

Thanks for your kind words.

I must get used to the arabic keyboard

Don't worry me too...
I can type blind but for Arabic I search the whole time for the correct harf euh I mean letter.

Primadonna wrote:

Don't worry me too...
I can type blind but for Arabic I search the whole time for the correct harf euh I mean letter.

lol, me too... but i really admire arabic calligraphy, looks elegant like fine art It looks like you are a quick learner, meaning you will be the best arabic speaking and writing expat of all times
By the way, very nice photos. The qusur are great and the underwater world is it the aquarium in aqaba, diving, or the glass boat?

I have to work hard on the calligraphy part.
I learn now quick because I know  much more then the others but soon that will be over.
We talk later, let we say about one year from now, to see if you are right.

Primadonna wrote:

I have to work hard on the calligraphy part.
I learn now quick because I know  much more then the others but soon that will be over.
We talk later, let we say about one year from now, to see if you are right.

So the language course lasts a year?

Forgot to answer about the pics: the underwaterworld is by diving.
Unfortuantely not by myself but that is what I want to learn some day in the far far far future.

If I want to do all the levels: two years.
But I don't no if I will do that because it is very expensive.

If Aqaba would not be so hot in summer i would love to live next to the sea. So dreamy the high and low tide. It was long ago when i first saw it. I caught a little fish among all the red sea stars along the southern beach. I did not know what kind of fish it was but so beautiful with black and yellow stripes. It turned out to be Nemo

Why do you think that I missed the sea so much?
The salty air?
To sit at the beach and to swim, to bbq and to hang out at the boulevard?