Remember Safana Bustami? Listeners’ Choice on Radio Jordan’s 96.3 FM every Friday and Sunday… I think I was in 6th grade when I became addicted to that show, back when 96.3 was THE radio station. After some time, I lost interest, but whenever I occasionally caught a part of it in following years, I would marvel at how Safana repeats the exact same lines over and over at the exact same intervals. Like that birthday segment… she used to say “Do something irresponsible, unconventional, and totally ridiculous on your birthday. It doesn’t matter how old you are, what matter is how much you understand. From. This. Life.”
Radio Jordan… Ah! The memories… Remember the Thursday Evening Request Show with Mohannad Jazeera and Laith Shanqiti? Does anyone remember Wando, the mysterious producer behind the phone lines? I used spend two hours trying to get through. And for some reason, I always used to ask for a Babyface song, although at that point in my life I was more into all those boy bands (Yes, I was into Boyzone… sue me ;)) I used to spend my entire allowance on cassettes from Music Box, and magazines like Big, Smash Hits, and Top of the Pops.
Those were the days when we only had Radio Jordan’s English Service and JTV’s Channel Two – (a.k.a Amman El-Tanieh). I feel ancient when I think that my little brother does not know a time when we only had four TV channels – JTV1, Syria, JTV2, and Israeli TV. When the Syrian presenter concluded the daily children’s segment saying “and now, dear kids, it’s time to go do your homework!”
Heartbreak High :) it must’ve been part of the Zionist Conspiracy to corrupt Arab youth that Israel TV aired the show during parents’ after-lunch nap time.
Now that we have so many back-to-back music stations to choose from, I cannot for the life of me listen to any of it! I’m so grateful for my iPod and the cassette player in my car. It’s amusing to think of what my teen-self would say if she were to see the tapes scattered all over the car of my 25-year-old self… what would 13-year-old me say when she finds out I am absolutely in love with Um Kulthoum, and trying to make up for all the years of missing out on her?? She was one of the best things that happened to me in 2007. Some things you part with. And some things you get to keep.
What would I do with all my cassettes when they stop manufacturing cars with cassette players?
My car… I love my car. Ever since I started taking the car on my own, I got into the habit of discovering roads by trial-and-error, and looking beyond the parts of Amman that I’d been confined to. Some journeys were documented on this blog, many others weren’t.
Even though a car is becoming more of a financial burden, and even though I love walking and using public transportation, a car gives you some private space and independence that’s otherwise hard to get in Amman.
That said, I am going to hold Mayor Omar Maani to the promise he made during a press conference last December, when he said that Ammanis will start feeling a substantial difference in the public transportation system of their city by the second half of 2008. I personally don’t care about seeing high rise buildings in my Amman. I couldn’t care less about the gigantic new towers they will build in Abdoun. I’m not super excited about the “new heart of the city” they’re building in Abdali. I want a decent and reliable public transportation network. Nice clean buses that arrive on time and get me from one point to another without having to hop on and off half a dozen times. I, as a tax paying citizen (paying a hell of a lot of taxes if I may add), have the right to demand that.
Confusing citizenship with nationalism is a serious problem Amman suffers from, don’t you think?
Now that we’re on the topic of citizenship and what I’m entitled to demand, I need to go refill my coffee. It’s 4:00 am. I love this hour of the day. I am a definitely more of a morning person. And while I’m at it, I feel like adding that I’m a nerd.
Here’s one of the points I’d write in response to Tololy’s tag: embrace your nerdiness. Realize that “cool” and “nerd” are not necessarily mutually exclusive, hehe ;) words of wisdom for anyone under the age of 18 reading this.
In January, we had a feature in JO Magazine about the City in 2007, taking what the Mayor said in an interview he gave us a year earlier, and what has been achieved since. Work on that article included going to different parts of Amman and doing lots of vox-pops (man-on-the-street interviews). Visiting places like the Prince Hashem Park in Basman or the children’s public library in Ashrafiyyeh made me realize something kids in “West Amman” miss out on; the true concept of neighborhood. A place like Rabieh does not have that. There’s no “7ara”. People live behind walls. Did you know that the municipality runs 34 public libraries in Amman?!! That’s a topic for another post.
A few years ago, I started feeling this sort of guilt for being “West Ammani”. I began spending a lot more time downtown, hanging out at Balat Al-Rasheed, and avoiding Abdoun like the plague. I fell into the trap of thinking that, since most girls I knew would never go downtown by themselves, then I can state with certainty that I’m not really West Ammani. I called myself a “hybrid”.
Thankfully, I snapped out of that phase. It took me some time to figure out that I really don’t have to find the right “label” for myself. I am who I am, and I have yet to learn all about me.
When making a choice about where to hang out, I'm still unlikely to go to Abdoun... but I don’t give the issue so much ideological weight like I used to. I stopped trying to prove a point.
I love getting morning coffee from Cups and Kilos, and then driving up to the Citadel. Sometimes, when I’m up there enjoying the panoramic view of the city, I take a closer look at the old houses right next to the Citadel, and I think of Ziad Qasem’s wonderful book “Children of the Citadel”. With so many colorful contradicting characters and their rich interconnecting stories, he sheds a light on Amman’s coming of age between 1948 and 1967 through this one neighborhood.
I sometimes try to understand what happened at the end of the 1970’s to drive society into so much more conservatism. While Amman might seem to be becoming more open now on the surface, it’s not just fundamentalism that’s growing, but a level of hypocrisy.
Naseem raised the issue very eloquently: Wearing skimpy clothes or going to Eight does not make one a liberal. To me, liberalism is associated with THINKING and questioning all that has been dogmatically passed on to us.
Here’s my second tip to the pre-18: don’t stop asking WHY? And don’t take “Haik” for an answer.
I guess this is what happens after such a long break from blogging… I can’t get myself to stop typing :)
One of the conclusions I came to during my break… there are some battles you shouldn’t walk out on.
----------
Radio Jordan… Ah! The memories… Remember the Thursday Evening Request Show with Mohannad Jazeera and Laith Shanqiti? Does anyone remember Wando, the mysterious producer behind the phone lines? I used spend two hours trying to get through. And for some reason, I always used to ask for a Babyface song, although at that point in my life I was more into all those boy bands (Yes, I was into Boyzone… sue me ;)) I used to spend my entire allowance on cassettes from Music Box, and magazines like Big, Smash Hits, and Top of the Pops.
----------
Those were the days when we only had Radio Jordan’s English Service and JTV’s Channel Two – (a.k.a Amman El-Tanieh). I feel ancient when I think that my little brother does not know a time when we only had four TV channels – JTV1, Syria, JTV2, and Israeli TV. When the Syrian presenter concluded the daily children’s segment saying “and now, dear kids, it’s time to go do your homework!”
----------
Heartbreak High :) it must’ve been part of the Zionist Conspiracy to corrupt Arab youth that Israel TV aired the show during parents’ after-lunch nap time.
----------
Now that we have so many back-to-back music stations to choose from, I cannot for the life of me listen to any of it! I’m so grateful for my iPod and the cassette player in my car. It’s amusing to think of what my teen-self would say if she were to see the tapes scattered all over the car of my 25-year-old self… what would 13-year-old me say when she finds out I am absolutely in love with Um Kulthoum, and trying to make up for all the years of missing out on her?? She was one of the best things that happened to me in 2007. Some things you part with. And some things you get to keep.
----------
What would I do with all my cassettes when they stop manufacturing cars with cassette players?
----------
My car… I love my car. Ever since I started taking the car on my own, I got into the habit of discovering roads by trial-and-error, and looking beyond the parts of Amman that I’d been confined to. Some journeys were documented on this blog, many others weren’t.
Even though a car is becoming more of a financial burden, and even though I love walking and using public transportation, a car gives you some private space and independence that’s otherwise hard to get in Amman.
----------
That said, I am going to hold Mayor Omar Maani to the promise he made during a press conference last December, when he said that Ammanis will start feeling a substantial difference in the public transportation system of their city by the second half of 2008. I personally don’t care about seeing high rise buildings in my Amman. I couldn’t care less about the gigantic new towers they will build in Abdoun. I’m not super excited about the “new heart of the city” they’re building in Abdali. I want a decent and reliable public transportation network. Nice clean buses that arrive on time and get me from one point to another without having to hop on and off half a dozen times. I, as a tax paying citizen (paying a hell of a lot of taxes if I may add), have the right to demand that.
----------
Confusing citizenship with nationalism is a serious problem Amman suffers from, don’t you think?
----------
Now that we’re on the topic of citizenship and what I’m entitled to demand, I need to go refill my coffee. It’s 4:00 am. I love this hour of the day. I am a definitely more of a morning person. And while I’m at it, I feel like adding that I’m a nerd.
Here’s one of the points I’d write in response to Tololy’s tag: embrace your nerdiness. Realize that “cool” and “nerd” are not necessarily mutually exclusive, hehe ;) words of wisdom for anyone under the age of 18 reading this.
----------
In January, we had a feature in JO Magazine about the City in 2007, taking what the Mayor said in an interview he gave us a year earlier, and what has been achieved since. Work on that article included going to different parts of Amman and doing lots of vox-pops (man-on-the-street interviews). Visiting places like the Prince Hashem Park in Basman or the children’s public library in Ashrafiyyeh made me realize something kids in “West Amman” miss out on; the true concept of neighborhood. A place like Rabieh does not have that. There’s no “7ara”. People live behind walls. Did you know that the municipality runs 34 public libraries in Amman?!! That’s a topic for another post.
----------
A few years ago, I started feeling this sort of guilt for being “West Ammani”. I began spending a lot more time downtown, hanging out at Balat Al-Rasheed, and avoiding Abdoun like the plague. I fell into the trap of thinking that, since most girls I knew would never go downtown by themselves, then I can state with certainty that I’m not really West Ammani. I called myself a “hybrid”.
Thankfully, I snapped out of that phase. It took me some time to figure out that I really don’t have to find the right “label” for myself. I am who I am, and I have yet to learn all about me.
When making a choice about where to hang out, I'm still unlikely to go to Abdoun... but I don’t give the issue so much ideological weight like I used to. I stopped trying to prove a point.
----------
I love getting morning coffee from Cups and Kilos, and then driving up to the Citadel. Sometimes, when I’m up there enjoying the panoramic view of the city, I take a closer look at the old houses right next to the Citadel, and I think of Ziad Qasem’s wonderful book “Children of the Citadel”. With so many colorful contradicting characters and their rich interconnecting stories, he sheds a light on Amman’s coming of age between 1948 and 1967 through this one neighborhood.
----------
I sometimes try to understand what happened at the end of the 1970’s to drive society into so much more conservatism. While Amman might seem to be becoming more open now on the surface, it’s not just fundamentalism that’s growing, but a level of hypocrisy.
----------
Naseem raised the issue very eloquently: Wearing skimpy clothes or going to Eight does not make one a liberal. To me, liberalism is associated with THINKING and questioning all that has been dogmatically passed on to us.
Here’s my second tip to the pre-18: don’t stop asking WHY? And don’t take “Haik” for an answer.
----------
I guess this is what happens after such a long break from blogging… I can’t get myself to stop typing :)
One of the conclusions I came to during my break… there are some battles you shouldn’t walk out on.
