All Hills Lead Downtown

I have heard the Amman locals say, "All hills lead downtown." In a city this hilly I don't doubt it. Hills have always played second fiddle to the mountains, mountains' little brothers. But in Amman, the hills -- especially if you are running up them -- take on a majesty all their own. Never having lived in San Francisco or even Seattle, this is the hilliest city I have ever lived in. I'm not quite sure what my quads have to say about that yet. 

It has taken some time for me to form my initial impressions of Jordan. I am not exactly certain why that is. I think it is in part because it all happened so quickly. Seemingly, one day we were sitting on the wooden floor boards of our packed-out house in Falls Church...the kids had gone to the neighbors' to play whilst Elise and I waited for the tow truck to pull up in front of our house and cart our SUV away; it got to start the journey before we did...and the next, I was here, in the middle of the desert. 

Elise and I got out for the first time without the kids Friday night. We ended up at an Italian restaurant by way of a happy accident, Romero's. For some reason, I was expecting (perhaps, hoping for) Middle Eastern food, but I should have known by the name to adjust my expectations. Though the summer days are hot and bright, the evenings, as I think is common on the edge of the desert, are delightful and cool. We arrived early, around 6:00, and were guided to a table for two in the almost empty patio. The patio was circled by pines and fountains. White lights hung from the trees. Elise ordered a glass of pinot grigio. I ordered a Heineken. The days of microbrewed craft IPAs was over for the time being (at least until my homebrew kit arrives in our next shipment), and it was time to reacclimate my pallet to drinking beer overseas. Though Heineken isn't good beer, the absence of good beer is a signal that I am in a good place, strangely enough. It need all be bad, however. I have heard there is a local Jordanian microbrewery called Karakale that is supposed to be pretty good. 

Elise ordered wild mushroom risotto, and I ordered the chicken milanese. I was essentially served two giant chicken fingers and a side of fries. Talk about ordering the wrong thing. 

My impression of India is of a multi-layered, multi-faceted place, but my impression of Jordan is perhaps of two layers, the incredibly modern laid atop the incredibly ancient. As I was walking to work the other day, a man wearing a head scarf and robe, came down the middle of the street toward me (as in India, I've generally learned to avoid walking on the sidewalks). He was a goat herder, leading his flock of goats. It was like a rip in the fabric of time wherein the past seeps through into the present, one laid atop the other. There are a lot of those moments in Jordan.

I also don't think I've ever lived in a city as aesthetically pleasant as this one. The hillside white-washed apartment buildings create a uniformity that is easy on the eyes. The lack of color can be beautiful, too, if in a different way. Yesterday, we ended up on a sort of wild goose chase, searching for a wadi to hike using only latitude and longitude coordinates. We drove the airport road straight out of town, past the airport, out into the desert, soon coming upon islands of camels parked in the sand. We drove by something burning, oil or tires, spewing an obsidian cloud thick as night into the perfectly cloudless blue, a scene right out off the nightly news. 

On both sides of the highway, dust devils formed, picking up brush and plastic garbage bags, before spinning themselves out and dissipating. The kids had fun spotting dust devils. One of them asked why they were called 'dust devils'. Pete piped up with a scientific explanation that dust devils were essentially tornadoes in the desert. I appreciated the logic in his explanation, but when I teach them about the world, I try to pair each logical explanation with a metaphysical one, as well. I think there is room in the world for both to be true to some extent. 

And, essentially, that is the explanation of Jordan, as well.