http://www.heiseheise.com An American in Jordan Mon, 06 Oct 2008 22:03:18 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Last weekend, I went up north with Silas and Haytham to see (and as it turned out, participate in) a traditional Muslim wedding ceremony. The two of them had already planned on going, and they invited me along after my depressing-sounding taxi stories from that night. I was a little ... http://www.heiseheise.com/335/dancing-in-the-streets-wedding-edition We foreigners (or at least those of us with pale skin) must look like goofy, walking targets to some of the less scrupulous taxi drivers that patrol the streets of Amman. Although 95% of the taxi drivers I've come across during the last month have been perfectly law-abiding, the remainders ... http://www.heiseheise.com/333/the-trouble-with-taxis Want to see something disgusting? I mean, not as disgusting than the pointless loss of human life (both Coalition and Iraqi), the billions of dollars to fund this death and destruction and line the pockets of massive souless corporations, and the media system that brainwashes the citizens of so-called "civilized" countries ... http://www.heiseheise.com/326/police-shirt-tacky-and-tasteless Today marked the end of Ramadan, which means that a collective sigh of relief seemed to go up all over this side of the world last night when the sun's last rosy edge dropped below the horizon for the final night of Ramadan. On my way to and from the ... http://www.heiseheise.com/312/eid-ul-fitr-ramadans-end Since yesterday marked an official month in Jordan, I was lucky to be able to punch through the Jordanian bureaucracy and wrestle my way into a police station to get my official stamp of faux-citizenry. I mean those verbs figuratively, of course, but it took me far less than a ... http://www.heiseheise.com/306/trials-of-residence I had a little bit of free time today, and I happened to come across this article in the Jordan Business magazine that I found lying out in the street (it's very recycling-friendly to "reuse" magazines that other people toss out of their windows). The author and his guest, His ... http://www.heiseheise.com/300/water-crisis-article We Americans think nothing about jumping in the shower each morning to lather up, get ourselves clean and sweet-smelling, and then going to work in (usually) freshly-laundered clothes. I never did understand why right-wingers seem to get off on calling liberals and "hippies" dirty, especially in the 21st century when ... http://www.heiseheise.com/292/ode-to-hot-water The big event over last weekend was my first trip up to Ayn Al Basha, where the future classrooms and administrative buildings for Entity Green's vocational training program are located. Although it's kind of a long drive from our house, it was a necessary stop on Saturday to drop off ... http://www.heiseheise.com/274/ayn-al-basha After three weeks, I'm starting to settle into the daily flow of living here. The streets are all settling into a pattern in my head, the restaurants are familiar (especially my favorite, "Reem's Shwarma" on 2nd circle), and the people's names are starting to not sound like gurgling anymore. Hopefully ... http://www.heiseheise.com/267/ramadan-effect Much has been made over the past few months about the problems with Apple's new "everything" service, "MobileMe," which purports to take care of all of your online needs in one swoop for $99 a year: mail, photos, file storage, and calender. They'd be pretty close to being correct, too ... http://www.heiseheise.com/261/apples-mobileme-itunes-blunders