Social Norms and Observations

In Jordan, there are many unwritten social laws which you must follow. Amman is much more liberal than the rest of the country so keep that in mind when reading these. Amman is pretty good compared with other cities in Jordan.

1.     Women must sit in the back seat of the taxi.

2.     Men must sit in the front next to the driver. To not do so would be a sign of disrespect.

3.     Pedestrians do not have the right of way. Ever. I’ve only been here a little over a week and cannot even tell you how many times I’ve almost been run over.

4.     Having said that, if you wish to cross the street, it is possible to motion for the cars to slow down. This only works if you are male. Cars will ignore you if you’re female. (Today I tried to cross a busy street with 2 other girls. A guy on the opposite side of the street saw we were having problems and got the cars to stop for us)

5.     Women must be covered from ankles to shoulders basically. Short sleeves are okay but rare (from what I’ve seen). Shorts are not okay.

6.     You cannot go outside with your hair wet. If you do, it means you just had sex (which is forbidden and shameful for you and your family). This is exceedingly difficult if you shower at a gym, like I do.

7.     Women should not look at males they don’t know in the face (such as if you’re walking along a street). Sunglasses are a really good idea.

8.     You should not seek out friends of the opposite gender. In fact, you can really only be friends if you were introduced by a mutual friend.

9.     Politics, religion, and sex are forbidden topics. Jordanians love to talk about politics of other countries, but not their own. Religion is usually an okay topic if you’re close with the person.
10. A woman cannot sit next to a man on a bus. The guy that collects money will try to arrange people so that doesn't happen but if he doesn't then you're stuck standing (hence, why I have not tried the public bus system yet).

Ok, now some fun facts and observations I’ve made so far:

1.     It is possible to turn on the TV and watch camels race (like horse racing). It’s a thing.

2.     The government’s hours are from 8:30-3PM so a lot of places close at 3, which can be a bother.

3.     For a country where a significant portion of the women keep their hair covered, I have never seen so many shampoo/conditioner commercials on TV.

4.     Jordanians love TV. It is common for the TV to be on more than 6 hours a day. Easy.

5.     Everyone watches the same two Turkish soap operas that are on every night from 8-10 (my classmates and I can already discuss them because our families watch them religiously).

6.     The bottoms of the trees on my university campus are painted white because of insects.

7.     Amman is quite dirty. There’s a layer of dust/dirt on everything.

8.     FOOD. Food is great. I’m going to do a separate post on food.

9.     Amman is founded on 8 mountains/hills.

10.  It is possible to see palm trees and pine trees in the same stretch of land.

11.  Every shop/restaurant prefers small bills. I was in McDonald’s and tried to pay for a 3.40JD meal with a 10JD bill and the cashier asked me if I had anything smaller. Some places will even ask you for 1JD bills if you try to pay with a 5JD bill (The Jordanian Diner (JD) comes in 1, 5, 10, 20, and 50).

12.  There is no such thing as “unlimited” for phone or internet. You either get a SIM card for your phone worth a certain amount of money or you pay for a certain amount of GB per month for internet.

13.  Water is scarce and is delivered once a week to the home. Do not drink the water.
14. If you hear an ice cream truck sound, it is not ice cream. It's a gas truck. Here, gas isn't delivered to your house every month. You buy tanks of gas for 10JD (about $14).
15. Houses aren't heated. The walls are really thick to keep the heat out in the summer, but this also makes them very cold in the winter. We have a space heater, but it really only works if you're sitting 2 feet away. I wear thermo under armour to bed to stay warm and that's pretty good.
16. Toilet paper does not go in the toilet. You must throw it away. The pipes can't handle it.

That’s all I got for now. More will be added as the semester progresses.