Swanky Weekend

After two consecutive weekends without any plans at all, I decided to break the mold a little bit last night. My roommate Susan and I burned through some of the cash I had been slowly saving with a swanky night out in Downtown Amman.

The impetus for this came in the middle of last week, when Susan and I took a trip into Abdoun Circle. Technically, I live in Abdoun, which is a very ritzy area. But my apartment is on the fringes, and I had never gone into the commercial heart of the area. So after one too many meals of pesto pasta and PB+J, we decided to splurge on Thai food at a restaurant called NoodAsia (no snickering, please). The food was great, especially considering the price, and we also happened to bump into two Americans I had met earlier in the summer. We had a nice time, and so the four of us promised to meet up again over the weekend for a similar dining experience.

We settled on Cantaloupe, a "Gastro Pub" off of Rainbow Street in Downtown Amman. I'd been to Rainbow Street several times before - it is a nicely maintained, affluent couple of blocks lined with hip restaurants and such. But I'd always been during the day, when it is quiet and empty. When we returned last night (effectively Saturday night, since the Arab weekend is Fri-Sat), it was packed with cars, people, and tables overflowing into the sidewalk. The nightlife was hopping.

Cantaloupe itself was on the fifth floor of a tower with a massive outdoor deck. We ate far removed from the hustle and bustle below, but from the deck we had outstanding views of East Amman and the Citadel. Every few minutes we were treated to an impromptu fireworks show, as people in the neighborhoods set off fireworks to celebrate weddings and the like. The decor and the music was super swanky, and while the service left much to be desired, it was still probably the best I've encountered in an Amman restaurant.

Normally, these types of restaurants intimidate me. They're way too expensive for my budget, they're filled with people who are hipper and cooler than I am, and the food on the menu is far too grown-up for my palate (which tends to prefer a good Kraft mac-and-cheese over filet mignon and a bottle of wine). But on all three counts I was pleasantly surprised. The menu was quite reasonable, with almost all entrees under $12 US (mine was around $10). We ate early enough that we were out before the swanky Jordanians showed up at 9:30 or so. And despite options like the Thai Teriyaki Spinach Salad and Beef Bresaola, the menu still made room for Fish and Chips, Fettucini Alfredo, and Chicken Parmesan (I ended up with the last option). A "Cantaloupe Iced Tea," based closely on its Long Island cousin, topped off the meal.

We finished the evening with ice cream from Gerard's, down the street, and a showing of Quantum of Solace back at a friend's house. While it wasnt exactly a night of immersion in genuine Jordanian culture, it was certainly a nice change of pace (and a considerable step up from my normal dinner options when I am cooking). I'm trying to make a road trip to Jerash next weekend, which might spoil any plans for a repeat evening. But you can bet that if travel plans fall through, I'll be spending my bus fare and hotel money on another evening out...

HGC Venues

Glee Club has decided on several venues in Amman that they would like to use for their performances next year, so they asked me to check them out in person while I am here. Zaid Al-Rifai made some calls and arranged tours of three venues - the Royal Cultural Center, the Hussein Cultural Center, and the King Hussein Club. His driver and I traveled around town last Wednesday to check things out. 

Our first stop was the Royal Cultural Center. I met with the managing director who, I soon found out, did not speak great English. So we switched to Arabic, which was a bit scary, but it turns out that the meeting went a lot more smoothly in that language. I got a tour of the entire facility, including recording studios, conference rooms, the dance studios, and other places, even though I was really only interested in the Main Hall and rehearsal rooms. But since I was in no real rush, I was happy to see the entire place. 

The Main Hall at the RCC is a theater, not a concert hall. It wasnt designed with acoustics in mind - the entire hall is carpeted, so there's no reverb, and the flyspace above the stage will likely eat up lots of sound. And, while there are lots of dressing rooms backstage, there was also no real backstage warmup room large enough for the entire group. We'll probably just hang out next door, in an exhibition hall with a piano. There were also a few problems with communication - I wasnt sure how to ask about "choral risers" or "orchestral shells," so I'm not sure if that equipment will be available. 

Overall, though, I'm sure it will be a fine place for a concert. The hospitality was incredible - I felt very welcome, and I'm sure HGC will get the same treatment next year. It's also one of the most prestigious venues in the city. Finally, the managing director offered the use of the facilities for free, which is a pretty incredible offer. Hard to argue with that. 

We headed next to the Hussein Cultural Center, which seemed more of a community arts facility than the RCC. The director spoke excellent English, so I was out of the woods. We toured the HCC, which I personally liked a lot more than the RCC. The HCC director also gave me two free tickets to the Amman Symphony Orchestra's performance at the HCC that evening. A Jordanian woman played a Chopin piano concerto, and a Lebanese/Armenian tenor sang a selection of arias and art songs. I had performed many of the songs myself during my eight years of voice lessons. The concert gave me a chance to listen to the acoustics of the space. The Main Hall was once again a theater, without much acoustical treatment, rather than a concert hall. There was no reverb at all - even loud blasts from the orchestra disappeared quickly into the carpet. They used microphones during there performance, so we might see if there is a way to create some reverb through amplification or something. 

Finally, we swung by the King Hussein Club (pictured), a swanky club downtown. This will be the site of an Alumni event organized by Mr. Al-Rifai, rather than a big concert. HGC's 12-person sub group, HGC Lite, will sing during the event, but it wont be a formal concert. 

Aside from these venues, I need to get up to Irbid in the north of the country, where we are expecting to have a joint concert with Yarmouk University. I'd also like to get to the King's Academy, an elite prep school in Amman, where Lite may have another performance. Overall, though, it was a very productive afternoon and a great introduction to the performing arts in Amman. 

Halfway!

Today is the exact halfway mark of my time in Jordan. Hard to believe it's been over a month. We've plowed through 4 1/2 chapters our Arabic textbook, so I assume we still have 4 1/2 left in front of us. For comparison, we got through about 7 1/2 chapters during all of last year at Harvard. So, if we knock off another 4 1/2 before leaving, Qasid will have more than surpassed its promise to squeeze an entire academic year of instruction into a summer.

Our midterm is Thursday - and Saturday marks four weeks until my flight home!

Newspaper Arabic

Today was my second session of Newspaper Arabic, the 2hr/week supplementary class that Qasid is providing for free.

It's a nice change of pace from my normal classes, which focus on grammar and vocab for 4 hours a day. The class is bigger and so I get to meet more students than I would otherwise. Also, we're using real Arabic sources in the class, which is a bit of a morale booster. In regular class, we use texts and materials designed for Arabic students, so they have been massaged quite a bit and purged of anything too challenging. In newspaper Arabic, we're attacking actual articles designed for actual Arabic speakers, so making progress in that class is a bit more exciting.

Of course, that progress is quite slow in my case. Two examples hopefully show my current predicament; I'm getting the details just fine, but the overall picture breezes by. Last Wednesday, we read an article reporting that, according to a recent study, Egypt is the #1 country in the world for wife-on-husband domestic violence. I understood that we were reading the results of a sociological study dealing with domestic violence between couples. I understood that Egypt placed first, followed by the U.S. and India. What I couldn't tell was whether the article was describing wife-on-husband violence, or husband-on-wife. This, obviously, is a pretty central aspect of the story, but I couldn't be sure without confirmation from a classmate.

Today, the article was from the BBC Arabic, describing divorce in Japanese society. Something - I didn't know the word - was causing divorce rates to rise. This force was making people stay at home, where they got into fights with spouses, instead of going to the office and spending hours hard at work like they were used to. I assumed we were talking about unemployment, but the article was actually discussing retirement. So again, I was close, but still oh so far. It'll be a long time before I'm reporting for Al-Jazeera or CNN Arabic.

I'm also hoping our next class discusses an article unrelated to marital problems. Not sure why we have such a focus on failing marriages, but something more upbeat might be nice. Maybe our teacher is just having trouble finding good news out of the Middle East?

Rifai and I, Part II

Another day, another meeting with former Jordanian Prime Minister Zaid al-Rifai.

Like last time, we met to discuss planning for the Harvard Glee Club's tour to the Middle East in 2011-2012. Much was the same - I met the same driver, rode in the same swanky car to his home, where we sat on the same beautiful patio and drank the same tea. But I noticed a few changes - the exterior furniture had been newly upgraded, for example. I also noticed he was reading a copy of Robert Lacey's book on Saudi Arabia, Inside the Kingdom, so I got to sound smart for a few brief minutes while we chatted about that.

The content of the meeting was not particularly unusual. We spoke about possible venues for the Glee Club concerts, and he volunteered to put me in touch with people at said venues to arrange to see them myself in person. I'll be making those trips in the next few weeks, I assume.

Towards the end of the meeting, I followed Mr. al-Rifai into an interior room for a few minutes while he looked for a book. The room was filled with amazing mementos. On the wall and the shelves, he had pictures and souvenirs from visits with foreign dignitaries from across the world. I saw signed photos from Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, an engraved clock from Richard Nixon, and photos with Sultan Qaboos of Oman and Hafez al-Asad of Syria. Across the room, I saw a five-shelf case filled with medals and other honors from two separate terms as Prime Minister. I was only in the room for thirty seconds, but was amazed with what I saw. I would have loved the time to examine everything more fully. This guy has been a central figure in the history of the Middle East for decades, and so heaven only knows what kinds of other mementos are lining his walls.

Al-Rifai's grandson will be a freshman at Harvard this fall, and so Mr. al-Rifai mentioned that he would be in Cambridge in late August to see him off. We promised to try to get together then if our schedules meet up. I would invite him over to show him my extensive collection of medals and presidential memorabilia, but I'm afraid it will all be packed for my impending move on September 1st.

Spoke Too Soon?

Immediately on the heels of yesterday's post praising the UAE's urban planning efforts, I turned to GulfNews.com's home page to see this harrowing picture and headline:

For all of my gushing about the UAE's planning advances, clearly there's still work to be done. 

It's not just infrastructural problems, according to the article. Clearly, there aren't enough crosswalks or safe crossing zones in the city, or else this guy wouldn't be diving over a concrete median in the first place. The article also indicates that planners aren't thinking the right way about pedestrian safety. The focus is on bridges to carry peds over traffic, and more walls and barriers to keep pedestrians from jaywalking. All this does is make roads less and less hospitable to pedestrians, since cars can drive faster and be less attentive to their surroundings. 

Amman has tried this strategy. Pedestrians are largely relegated to overhead bridges, which are often inconvenient, and are impossible for the handicapped. Even ordinary roads are divided with medians, encouraging speeding and recklessness. Ordinary intersections have been turned into onramps and offramps, and, as a result, no one bothers to look out for pedestrians - even at marked crosswalks. By relegating peds to bridges and incomplete sidewalks, Amman has effectively told drivers that they don't need to look out for them, and so I see the same types of harrowing close-calls in Amman's streets every day. Because of this outdated pedestrian planning mindset and the danger of walking anywhere, I get stuck shelling out money for a cab to go even a short distance, instead of walking and getting exercise. 

Note to the UAE - look around you and see what has failed in Amman. Don't try the exact same thing in your cities. 

Urbanism in the Gulf

Once upon a time, I planned to go into a career in urban planning and architecture. I read treatises on New Urbanism and Smart Growth like it was my job. I interned at a DC-area planning agency in the summer of 2008. I even wrote my senior thesis at Amherst on architecture and urbanism in Cairo and Dubai. The 2008 recession led me to reevaluate my career goals, but I'm still very interested in this sort of stuff, especially when it overlaps with my current studies in the Middle East. So I've been very happy over the past few days, as I've read a number of articles about urban planning developments in Dubai and the UAE.

I visited Dubai in March of 2008 to do research for my thesis, which focused extensively on how Dubai had imported the car-dependent model of the US.  My trip certainly reinforced that view; Dubai was a pedestrian hell. My grant wasn't large enough to cover car rental or taxi fare, so I got around either on foot or by bus. But sidewalks were incomplete, intersections were not safe, and the average weather made me sweat after just a few minutes of walking. Buses were crowded, slow, and unpredictable; I remember waiting 45 minutes in the sun for a bus to the Burj al-Arab, only to watch it whiz past the station without stopping because it was too full to fit any more passengers. Everyone needed a car, and so traffic was horrible at many hours of the day. The metro was under construction at the time of my visit, but it did nothing to alleviate the pain of traveling yet.

I havent been back since that trip, but the articles I've seen certainly suggest that the situation has changed considerably. The Red Line line of the Dubai Metro is up and running, with a second (Green) line expected to open soon. Total ridership of the system, which opened less than a year ago, recently surpassed 23 million people. Daily ridership has reached as high as 130,000, out of a population of about 2.2 million. This number will almost certainly rise as additional stations and lines are completed.

It's not just about ridership, though. Gulf news sources are reporting on the more subjective aspects of the Metro system as well. GulfNews published an extensive article about the trendiness of the new system, and how it is successfully enticing people to leave their cars behind. Dubai residents, including the affluent, are choosing to ride rather than drive - the Metro is becoming a part of Dubai's urban culture. The stations are gorgeous - and considering the beautiful DC Metro is my home system, my standards are pretty high. I also saw a very interesting report on the rigorous maintenance, cleaning, and inspection that goes on behind the scenes. DC's metro has seen nothing but maintenance problems, service cutbacks, and several tragic fatalities in recent months, but it seems Dubai is seriously trying to turn the tide against auto dependency. There's much left to do - don't get me wrong. There are shortcomings with regard to pedestrian connections, network redundancy, sustainability, and other issues. Dubai is a linear city, so it's much easier to design an effective rail system there. Gulf newspapers are far more hesitant to publish criticism of a government project such as the metro. I don't want to sound like I believe Dubai has vanquished its problems forever - it hasn't. But it is making great progress in the right direction.

There is also good news beyond the Metro. Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital, is implementing a plan to curb speeding, reduce illegal parking, and undertake significant improvements for pedestrian safety. The UAE as a whole recently increased the price of gasoline, in part to reduce the appeal of driving and the negative environmental consequences that accompany it. Cheap oil might seem like a birthright in the world's 3rd largest oil exporter, and one might expect a lot of grumbling to accompany the increase. But this article takes a look at the long-term benefits of the price hike, instead of simply complaining about the additional cost. Conversely, the United States, with a crippling oil addiction and declining domestic sources of fuel, hasn't raised fuel taxes since 1993. With inflation factored in, the gasoline tax is at its lowest level since 1929. The UAE is schooling America in forward-thinking transportation policy.

Finally, though no ground has been broken yet, the GulfRail has been making some noise in the papers as well. This 1,205-mile proposed system would link Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE, and Oman, with a possible link to Yemen. The system would be high-speed, using Europe's rail network as a guide. America refuses to invest enough in its own rail system to do better than the "high-speed" Acela service in the Northeast. Kuwait, Mecca, Medina, and other cities are also planning rail systems.

Despite this flurry of funding and building activity, you wont see US companies winning any contracts. America doesnt have any companies with enough experience in this industry. The multi-billion dollar projects are being completed by Asian and European firms, whose countries have invested significantly in rail domestically and thus given their companies a significant technical edge in the world market. Even the biggest oil exporters in the world are getting behind mass transit, better urban planning, and inter-city rail networks as they realize that gasoline, petroleum, and auto-dependency are unsustainable in the long term. It's immensely frustrating that America can't seem to get its act together.

However, on the bright side, I now know I will have a much easier time getting around during my next trip to Dubai.

NB: All images lovingly stolen from http://dubaimetro.eu/ - I just can't get them to link back to the site. 

Ground Zero Mosque

There has been considerable debate over the plans to build a mosque adjacent to Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan. A recent zoning commission hearing brought the nastiness of this issue to the forefront. Technically, this isn't a Middle Eastern issue, so I'm reluctant to comment. But the connections to Islam, as well as the abhorrent behavior of several of my fellow citizens, convinced me to say a few words. 

The issue is as follows: Muslims in New York want to build a community center on the site of an old building near the World Trade Center site. Conservative activists seek to block this action, viewing it as an "insult" to the lives lost on 9/11. Construction of the mosque would require the demolition of the historic structure, and last night's meeting was intended to determine whether that building deserved landmark status. If the building is not landmarked, construction will begin. 


As I read various articles on this issue, two things became clear to me. The first was the embarrassingly weak grounds upon which the mosque opponents stand. The second was the repulsive prejudice and ignorance that the mosque opponents are unabashedly displaying. Let's address these issues in order. 


Reasons for Opposition


The opposition argument is basically as follows: "The Mosque is Islamic. Muslims attacked America on September 11th, therefore they should not be allowed to worship so close to Ground Zero."


Clearly, this argument is BS. Ostensibly, opponents are blocking the mosque "out of respect for the victims of that attack," but that fig leaf of a justification doesn't do much. This argument does nothing but bait prejudice against Muslims in this country, who had nothing to do with the horrible events on 9/11. Let's apply this reasoning to a few other hypothetical situations and see how they stand up:

• "The NRA is an organization for gun and weapons enthusiasts. Timothy McVeigh, a gun and weapons enthusiast (and former NRA member) blew up the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Therefore, the NRA should not be allowed to operate in Oklahoma City out of respect for the victims of that attack."
• "The Catholic Church is a religious institution. Leaders of this religion repeatedly molested young boys, for decades, and covered up their activities from authorities. Therefore, Catholic churches should not be allowed in neighborhoods with small children out of respect for past victims (and perhaps even for the safety of children today)."

These arguments are ludicrous. NRA members and Catholic worshippers today have nothing to do with these horrible tragedies, and the exercise of their second and first amendment rights should not be abridged based on the actions of a few representatives of their respective ideologies. 

Perhaps most ironically, the fight against the mosque has been headlined by Mark Williams. Mr. Williams left his position of leadership at the Tea Party Express, which fiercely "defends" the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, to work to oppose the freedom of religion for others. It's great to see Democrats and liberals like Andrew Cuomo and Michael Bloomberg standing up to defend religious freedom. From the New York Times:

“Government should never — never — be in the business of telling people how they should pray, or where they can pray,” Mr. Bloomberg said on Monday. “We want to make sure that everybody from around the world feels comfortable coming here, living here and praying the way they want to pray.”

The Displays of Bigotry

The second aspect of this story is the shocking displays of prejudice and hatred spewed by opponents of the mosque. The "respect for the victims" argument sounds nice in theory, but after reading the actual remarks of the Tea Party and other opponents, there's no respect in their positions at all. This is about harassing Muslims, not respecting the victims of 9/11. 

Some choice comments:

• From the aforementioned Mark Williams: "The [project] would consist of a Mosque for the worship of the terrorists' monkey-god." When pressed to apologize, he added:

  "In the course of the article I described the ‘god’ worshiped by terrorists as 'a monkey god.' I was wrong and that was offensive. I owe an apology to millions of Hindus who worship Lord Hanuman, an actual Monkey God.

  "Moreover, Hanuman is worshiped as a symbol of perseverance, strength and devotion. He is known as a destroyer of evil and to inspire and liberate. Those are hardly the traits of whatever the Hell (literally) it is that terrorists worship and worthy of my respect and admiration not ridicule."

• From Pamella Geller, of "Stop the Islamization of America" : We feel it would be more appropriate maybe to build a center dedicated to... the victims of hundreds of millions of years of jihadi wars, land enslavements, cultural annihilations and mass slaughter"
• Ms. Geller again, in comments to The Washington Post: "I am not anti-Muslim. I love Muslims. I am pro-freedom and anti-islamic supremacism." (her comment was followed by a threat to sue the Post, another display of her support for the first amendment)

Mr. Williams' comments are horribly offensive, and display the extent to which this opposition is simply a bigoted anti-Muslim witch hunt. Ms. Geller's remarks, though less inflammatory, display similar ignorance. Why does she blame a 1,400-year-old religion for "hundreds of millions of years" of atrocities? Her suggestion of a memorial displays another glaring double standard. When Catholic churches include memorials to victims of the Inquisition, and when fundamentalist churches in the US display memorials to victims of anti-abortion terrorism, she might have an argument. 

Finally, and most disappointingly, the prevention of this Islamic center would reinforce the views of anti-American firebrands and terrorists across the world. The mosque's obstruction would clearly advertise that this country supports religious freedom for all except Muslims. It would destroy our credibility and moral standing abroad, and would give more ammunition to the terrorist recruiters who claim that "America is waging war on Islam."

If the mosque goes forward, it will stand as a testament to the strength of religious freedom and pluralism in the United States. You are not judged here by your co-religionists. You are not judged here by your religion. By building this mosque, we show the world that America still believes this. By building this mosque, we show the world the depth of America's commitment to religious freedom. Though Muslims flew planes into the twin towers and the Pentagon in 2001, they do not speak for all of Islam and they do not speak for all Muslims. Though Muslims committed this terrible atrocity, we still welcome Muslims to worship freely in America because we believe in religious liberty. They should be allowed to build their mosque free from the harassment of those like Mr. Williams and Ms. Geller. 

And, though the urbanist in me wants to save the historic structure, I feel like this building is a small price to pay to put that statement out there.  

Slow News Week...

Updates have been few and far between recently. I'm not dead, and I havent abandoned this blog. It's just that there are few things going on right now worth writing home about.

Amman certainly turned up the temperature this week. Fans are running on high in my apartment non-stop. Mornings are still pleasant, so I still enjoy the commute to Qasid at 7:30AM or so. But when I leave class at noon, I definitely feel the desert heat.

I also ended my passport odyssey today - my visa was extended so I am done jumping through logistical hoops. I'm now down to one last page in my passport, so I need to keep international travel to a minimum until I can get some extra pages put in.

Qasid finally announced the start of the mini-classes each evening. I am enrolled in newspaper-media Arabic, and classes start at the end of this week. We also recently finished the review units and moved into new content during regular class, so academics are about to get way more demanding.

Other than that, all is well... we'll see if the weekend holds any exciting plans that might make for slightly more interesting entries.

Il Divo - إيل ديفو

I just returned from one of the concerts of this summer's Jordan Festival. I saw Il Divo, a four-man pop/classical vocal group, at a stage atop the Citadel.

Overall, it was a nice evening. I had fun, and it was certainly a change from my daily routine here in Amman. The show itself was... a mix. Numbers ranged from the spectacular - a four-voice arrangement of "Somewhere" - to the hilariously corny - the Spanish version of "Unbreak my Heart," for example. At times, it felt a bit like a boy-band concert for 35 year old women... two of whom were sitting behind me and chatted the entire time. But the great numbers were great, and I was very impressed with the vocal stamina. These guys were wailing into their mics for ninety minutes. I would have died after two arias, but they were at it all night.

All in all, a nice way to break out of my daily routine and get a little bit of live musical performance that has recently been so lacking in my life.  The festival lasts all summer, so I'll see if any future acts grab my attention for another night out.

Petra Photos

For anyone plugged into Facebook, the Petra album is old news. But for everyone else, I just posted my Petra pics online, and you can check them out here. No need for a Facebook account to view them.

Just keep in mind that I had to upload these one by one, with about 2 minutes for each upload... so you'd better enjoy them.

Petra Notes

Finally getting around to writing about my Petra trip. In a word, it was fantastic. Though I tried to arrange a group trip down with some classmates, those plans fell through and I ended up spending most of the time alone. Still, the desert scenery and the ruins were well worth the travel and were truly unforgettable.


Some Highlights:

• The very bearable weather and the surprisingly light crowds. I never felt like I was dying, and had a lot of the most spectacular vistas to myself.
• The walk through the narrow cavern, or Siq, to the city itself. The geological formations in there were fantastic - I could have gone home happy even after seeing just that. 
• Hiking up to the High Place of Sacrifice with some Qasid folks, and then returning down via another path through a bunch of cool tombs. Again, totally empty, except for myself and the other students. 
• Meeting up with some local archeology students after the Qasid people went home. We chatted over dinner and met up in the park again the next day - they do excavation and old things full-time, so they certainly added a new perspective to my trip.

• Watching five wedding processions drive by our restaurant on Friday night, horns blaring.
• Realizing that my ATM card was not working, threatening to put me on starvation rations for the remainder of the trip.
• Having my dad fix said problem with the ATM card, giving me plenty of cash to spend on whatever I wanted.
• Foolishly blazing my own arduous trail up above the Royal Tombs, to the summit of the mountain into which they were carved. From here, I could look down on the High Place of Sacrifice, and also to the Treasury facade. Had this all to myself. I would have been pretty screwed if I'd broken an ankle or something, but I got home just fine. 
• Finding a stone staircase back down from said mountaintop, and realizing that my arduous hike up could have easily been avoided.

• Hiring a Bedouin guide, Abdullah, and his donkey, Michael Jackson, for a ride up to the splendidly isolated Monastery. The ruins were of course nice, but the mountain scenery was the closest this planet will ever come to Avatar's Hallelujah Mountains. Breathtakingly beautiful. 
• Gin & Tonic and Dinner at the ritzy Movenpick Hotel in downtown Wadi Musa. A perfect way to relax, especially with the Swiss ice cream bar afterwards. 
• Being the first person in the park on Sunday morning, and getting the entire place to myself for 15 minutes. Silent, deserted, colored by the sunrise... and I may have even snuck into the Treasury to check it out before the guards arrived. 

The major bummer was realizing that my piece of cr*p camera couldn't begin to capture the beauty of everything I was seeing. I'll post more pictures on Facebook eventually, and link to them here, but you'll just have to trust me when I say that my pictures don't do this place justice. 

Apologies, Apologies

Without wading too deeply into the always-controversial issue of the Armenian genocide, it seems Turkey has erected something of a double standard on official apologies.

Turkey is demanding an apology from Israel in the wake of the assault on a Turkish aid ship on May 31. Ankara also wants a commission of inquiry to look into the incident. These demands are perhaps reasonable, considering that all of those killed in the attack were Turkish citizens. If Israel fails to comply, Turkey is threatening to cut diplomatic relations with the Jewish state. This is quite a harsh punishment; the two nations share a long history of military cooperation, and Turkey has historically been Israel's only Muslim friend. A diplomatic break would be a serious step indeed.

But how might Ankara react to a similar call for an apology? A recent campaign to apologize for the Armenian genocide during WWI was incredibly controversial. I am not claiming here that Turkey is responsible for the countless deaths of Armenians a century ago, nor am I suggesting that the deaths were a campaign of genocide (there are lengthy debates on both sides of the issue - we can have that debate some other day). Rather, let's just look at the ferocity of the official Turkish response to the mere suggestion of an apology. The online petition campaign does not use the word "genocide," nor does it seek to compel the government to apologize officially. It just serves as a way for people to publicly express sorrow over a tragic loss of life. Yet already, it is being met with threats of official action: petition leaders have been criticized by the Turkish military and were investigated by a Turkish prosecutor for possible charges of "insulting Turkishness," a punishable offense.

So - Turkey demands Israel apologize for its actions on May 31. Fine. But how does Ankara react when the topic of apology surfaces surrounding its own historical actions? By prosecuting academics and professors who question the "official version" of history, in a blatant violation of free speech.

Ankara's demand for an Israeli apology doesn't carry a whole lot of weight considering Turkey's long history of obstruction and prosecution surrounding the issue of the Armenian genocide and a possible apology for it. Whether or not the Armenian deaths were indeed a "genocide" is, for the issue at hand, not the point. Rather, the issue is Turkey's refusal to even allow free, open, public discussion about an historical tragedy. Perhaps the deaths were genocide, or perhaps they were not an organized campaign of violence. Perhaps an official apology is due, perhaps not. But until Turkey stops its childish stonewalling on the issue and allows free inquiry, we won't know conclusively.

Perhaps Ankara should refrain from demanding open inquiries and official apologies until it is prepared to accept them at home...

Good Riddance

Had a great time in Petra - more about that soon. But returned to Amman today to hear of two less-than-tragic deaths: Abu Daoud, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre, and Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, Hezbollah's "spiritual leader."

The sad part of this news is certainly not that these men are gone. Rather, I'm disappointed to see that both PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Lebanese PM Saad Hariri are issuing condolences or public statements of sadness. I'm sure this is being done largely to assuage domestic political pressure, especially in Lebanon, but these statements certainly provide ammunition to the crazy right-wingers in the US. I can hear the reasoning already - "Abbas regrets Abu Daoud's death, therefore he's clearly a terrorist sympathizer, therefore all Palestinians are terrorist sympathizers, therefore there's no way we can criticize Israel for its policies towards the Palestinians." Netanyahu is in Washington on Tuesday... let's see if these deaths are brought up either by the leaders or by the media.

Happy Fourth, to everyone reading in the US (and Chile) - for some reason, it's not as big of a holiday here...

Petra Plans

An email from Qasid yesterday notified us of a surprise day off next Sunday, giving us an unplanned 3-day weekend. I threw together plans for a quick trip down to Petra, where I will be until Sunday evening. There's a large contingent of Qasid folks heading down, so while I'm traveling solo on the Jordanian equivalent of the Bolt Bus, I will meet up with some familiar faces once I arrive.

I'll post pictures and news upon my return.