#Top50Jo

I don't know whose brilliant idea this originally was, but someone on Twitter started posting their #Top50Jo or the top reasons they love Jordan, and it took off. Even Queen Rania pitched in! I loved the idea because we always complain about living here but forget the reasons we love it so much. So here's my top 50, some of them from other Tweeps:

1) MANSAF!

2) Emad Hajjaj's Abu Mahjoob

3) Souk Jara in the summer

4) Antique jewelry from souk jara

5) Sunsets in the dead sea

6) How we can have snowless snow days!

7) How everyone watches JTV only when it snows and you can't get any other channels

8) How Mohammad al-Wakeel's show is our equivalent of the Oprah show

9) How EVERYONE talks about whatever cold front is coming

10) Hummus and Fool on Friday mornings

11) How you can bargain prices at local stores

12) Ka3ek with za'atar, eggs and spread cheese!

13) Local Jordanian bands like Jadal

14) How people start dancing like crazy in weddings whenever they put on national songs like "ya beiragna"!

15) Our beautiful weather. we get all four seasons!

16) Shawerma

17) Delicious summer fruits

18) How everyone you meet knows someone you know

19) How everyone has an "uncle" who's high up in the government

20) That our Queen has YouTube and Twitter. and actually contributed her #Top50Jo

21) That you can complain to the mayor @MayorOfAmman on Twitter

22) How everyone gets together in happy as well as sad occasions

23) 5 piaster popsicles in the summer or "Eskimo"

24) Ras il abed!

25) Cups and Kilos

26) The smell of jasmine in early summer mornings

27) How we combine the best of the east and the best of the west. We have falafel, and we have Sugardaddy cupcakes!

28) 1 JD DVDs from the Balad

29) Cab drivers. Love 'em or hate 'em, Jordan wouldn't be the same without them!

30) How every place in Jordan delivers. From McDonalds to Argeeeleh places

31) How you get coerced into eating till you pass out at 3azaiem (feasts)

32) How guys are prepared to get into fights in defense of “their” football team

33) How everyone has a mobile phone, from CEOs to housemaids

34) Ramadan atmosphere

35) Walking in Amman

36) The view from Jabal Amman

37) How you can buy newspapers/flowers/gum/plasters at the traffic light

38) The view of the King Hussein Mosque at night

39) Balad sights and sounds

40) How we don’t acknowledge maps or street names. It’s always next to some place you know!

41) Street cats!

42) How you don’t need to go to the car-wash. The 7ares across the street will wash it for you for a small fee

43) How older men with mustaches and a frown are considered prestigious

44) how our streets flood every time it rains

45) How you can have a tab at the local mini-market

46) How every health issue is attributed to low B12 levels

47) How it doesn’t matter how old you are, there will always be someone to tell you to put on a jacket when it’s cold outside

48) “Dora” or corn cob carts

49) Sha3er banat or cotton-candy sellers with their harmonicas

50) Barbecues with family and friends in the summer


Roba's compilation

Naseem's tweet digest

What's On My Mind This Week

• I'm pretty shocked that police in Jordan are actually setting traps to arrest alleged homosexuals. According to "sources", this crackdown is to prevent the increasing numbers of gays, whose number is approximately 600, from spreading STDs. Where they obtained such a number is beyond me. Now I'm not campaigning for LGBT over here, but i find this inhumane and stupid, especially when they put it under the excuse of "preventing STD spread". You want to prevent STDs? Make sex education a part of highschool curricula. The way I see it, this "campaign" is just to win easy points with the public.

• I can't believe Jordan is one of the four water-poorest countries in the world. We sure don't act like it. We use water like we have an infinite supply of it. Just observe the streams of soapy water running down the streets from people hosing down their cars every morning. It's ridiculous.

• 17 honor crimes have occurred to this day since the start of 2008. Four only this month.
  
  
• I love the cold weather. Despite the fact that people sort of freak out and the streets become crazy from the combination of stupid drivers and a practically non-existent drainage system. I love the rain, the jackets, the scarves, the blankets. It's all very cosy. I even don't mind being cold. But I don't understand why only my right hand gets cold, mostly when I'm working on the computer. I'm right-handed, so if anything, shouldn't it be my left hand that gets cold? So every 20 minutes or so i go to the kitchen and stand over the stove for a minute, till my hand gets warm, after which i resume my computer session.
  
  

• Cups and kilos is an awesome place. Even though I've been introduced to it fairly recently, like 2 months ago, I've been an addict ever since. I especially like any banana-flavoured drinks they have. Last week they had a concert featuring college students playing cover songs and jazz tunes, it was really nice. A friend of mine has been going to the same Cups and Kilos branch for 25 consecutive days now!
  

• I've been a terrible blogger and I know it. I'm feeling pretty guilty about it, and I've been kicking myself for it especially since toot added a new bunch of bloggers about a week ago. It's that i can't seem to get back to the blogger mode I was in when I first started this blog. That's when you automatically start writing posts in your head and start categorizing everything into bloggable or non-bloggable. Hmmmmph.
  

And now that my right-hand has become cold again, I'm going to go.

Bloody Murder

Is it me, or are murder stories in Jordan becoming more and more common? Everytime I open the newspaper there seems to be a new murder in the headlines, each one more violent and shocking than the next. 

So I took a look at the archives, and over the last 10 days the following took place: 

• A 61-year old shot his 17-year-old daughter to death in an "honor crime" in Al Balqa. Upon questioning, the father said his daughter allegedly confessed to having consensual sexual relations. A source said he saw the victim's family members congratulating each other after the murder.

• A 44-year-old man murdered his married 42-year-old sister by strangling her with a "dishdasheh" (the traditional robe), in yet another so-called "honor crime". The victim, who has been living alone for the past 5 years because her husband is in prison, was murdered because "she would often leave the house without her family's approval". The victim became the 15th person killed for an honor crime since the beginning of the year. You think we'll be able to reach our yearly average of 20? 2 more months to go!
  
  
• A body of a man in his thirties was found stabbed in the King Abdullah Gardens. The suspect, who confessed, reportedly killed his friend over 200 JDs. 
  
  
• The body of a newborn baby was found attached to a tree in Wadi Il Seer. I don't know what to say about this one. This is just beyond despicable and sick.

• A chopped up body turned up in Marka in Amman. The police apprehended the suspect, an Egyptian worker for the victim in his factory, who killed his boss for refusing to give him a raise, and them disassembled the body into four parts to facilitate moving it.

• A man was sentenced for 10 years in prison for poisoning his neighbor unintentionally. The man wanted to kill his father by poisoning his tea, but a number of neighbors happened to drop by and drink the tee. Ah the irony.
  

Not to mention the multitudes of car accidents and hit-and-run accidents which seem to have become everyday news by now. Are we becoming a more violent society?

Your Dose of Sarcastic News Clippings

• Jordanian fails to commit suicide for the 11th time. He tried to throw himself off the fourth floor of a building while extremely inebriated, but backed out at the last minute. Oh well, 12th time's the charm.

• Prime Minister Nader Dahabi appointed Minister of Media and Communications Nasser Judeh as Chairman of the Jordan Radio and Television Corporation. Judeh's predecessor, Sabri Rbeihat expressed his hopes that the JRTVC's "accomplishments" would continue. Meanwhile, ATV employees continue their protests, demanding their salaries that haven't been paid for 4 months now, and the launch of the channel that was supposed to broadcast back in August 2007. Easy on the accomplishments, guys.

• By Royal Decree, the Lower House of the Parliament was adjourned, bringing the House's extraordinary session to an end. The MPs can now enjoy their much needed time-off.

• President of Tafileh Technical University Sultan Abu Orabi switched with President of Balqa Applied University, Omar Rimawi. Let's hope no riots break out this time.

Update: The Ministry of Higher Education said it has no knowledge of any changes between presidents of universities, and that such changes have not and will not be discussed in the near future. Seems the "informed" source that reported the changes wasn't that informed after all. Sigh.

News Clippings

• The Lower House of the Parliament endorsed the controversial Societies Law introduced by the government. The law compels non-governmental organizations to declare their source of funding and obtain approval from the government to accept the funding. It also imposes steep fines, a prison sentence and seizing of the funds if the minister decides the funding is "not in conformity with the organization's goals". Don't you think it's funny all the trouble the government goes through to "legitimately" limit the Muslim Brotherhood's activities?

• The Greater Amman Municipality is removing posters and banners around the capital that are in violation of the regulations. I have to say, I think the Municipality has been doing a wonderful job with improving the city. Numbering the buildings and putting up street signs. All very helpful. Suggestions by yours truly: change those archaic street names into something actually legible and ban these pickups with sound speakers selling god knows what . I can actually hear one right now. Oh, and please remove these florescent blue lights lining the streets.

• The Ministry of Islamic Affairs is ordering mosques to only use sound speakers in prayer times. Mosques will not be allowed to use the outside sound speakers for Friday sermons. I think this is a very reasonable step, particularly in areas where there is more than one mosque. Clearly from the comments, people do not seem to agree.

• Al-Yarmouk University is celebrating Independence Day today. Bakkeer?

• As for news from outside the country: A Chemistry professor and his female student in Saudi Arabia were sentenced to prison and lashes for discussing research on the phone. The professor was sentenced to 8 months of prison and 600 lashes and the woman to 4 months and 350 lashes. The spokesperson for the human rights society in Saudi Arabia said he could not make a comment now.