Tuesday 29 July 2008

Is it safe?


Is it safe there, they ask? It’s a reasonable question, but often not one easily answered. The first evening we arrived in Amman I thought, “no, this place is definitely not safe”. Shortly after entering our apartment on dusk we heard a series of loud explosions. Fortunately, I thought at the time, “the bomb shutters” are down. Little did I know that the loud explosions would be a nightly affair, as people let off fireworks as part of their celebratory routine for weddings and birthdays. I also discovered, the following morning, that our “bomb shutters” are not actually shutters for bombs, but are ultra thick sun blinds, which everyone has to stop sun turning their apartments into ovens from the morning and afternoon sun. It is strange how conditioned we become by the media, that we interpret the world with their views even when these interpretations are contrary to how things really are.

Last week there was an attack here in Jordan on some tourists. A disgruntled person shot up a bus-load of tourists who were leaving an evening symphony concert in the centre of Amman, wounding six. I found this out at 2.45 am when I groped for the ringing phone only to hear my mother stating the obvious, “oh thank-goodness Ian, you’re alive”. By her tone, I knew that she had seen a vision in which the whole city of Amman had been levelled by a loan gunman, and I was the last man standing. I think that my mother has some sort of super-police-scanner, which is able to pick up and translate police signals from any point on the earth.

But what can we really do to protect ourselves? Stay at home! Although attacks by terrorists are a reality, and precaution and vigilance are necessary, I think that there are actually much easier ways to leave the planet than by a terrorist’s bullet or bomb. For example, here in Amman, I feel terrorised just crossing the road. Yesterday while crossing the road on the way to my Arabic lesson I witnessed a man reversing his car down the centre lane of a three-lane highway. He had overrun a parking spot that he wanted! More amazing than this was that I was the only person on the highway who seemed disturbed. More frequently, I have witnessed people crossing busy intersections diagonally. That’s right, corner-to-corner on foot. I guess people take literally the fact that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line! Whether these fears of mine are real or just apparent I am now not sure. Though, from what I have read and now experienced there are fewer accidents from the seeming chaos than one might expect. I am coming to realise that my ideas of proximity and traffic flow are different to most Jordanians and I am trying to adjust.

Apart from the traffic, the one sure way to feel safer about where you live is to get out and meet the locals. Then you realise that they are not actually part of a wider plot to end the world as we know it, but they are in fact normal people who are trying to live, have hopes, aspirations and struggles just like we do. “Wow! What a rocket science discovery!” One taxi driver told me last week, after our series of greetings in Arabic ground down to a halt, that he was “miserable”. Then he proceeded to tell me all of his woes, including being wifeless, job-prospect-less and economically challenged. It is funny what people tell a complete stranger when they know that they will never see them again. After he told me his woes, I decided to tell him mine and I am sure that we both departed feeling better. Cheap therapy at about 20 cents a kilometre!

In general Jordanians have made us feel safe and welcome. Even the soldier at the road-block leading to the Dead Sea made us feel welcome as he made me prod and open all of the bags, while he stood at a safe distance. Once this procedure was complete he begged us to come and drink coffee with him and his buddies in their army tent. Kind of inviting, except that it was 45C in the shade and the kids could see the water of the Dead Sea in the distance. We took a rain check that time, knowing without a doubt that we would have opportunity to experience Jordanian warmth, welcome and hospitality on many more occasions.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi there stranger! You write well, for an Aussie boy! In fact it would seem from your meanderings here that you've lost little of your Australian flavour. Refined of course but neverless Australian. I've read you are coming home soon. Look forward to having lunch one day.
Kind Regards Paul Rohal