Arabized Thoughts and Experiences...

How embarrasing Søren Pind!!!

Before a session on "freedom of speach" Søren Pind (the Danish minister of developement) made it a condition that he would not meet a group of young Arab participants unless they promised not to talk about Gaza.

How ironical and embarrasing!

Søren Pind met with the participants of the DEDI summer school in Denmark, which took place from the 25th of May to the 5th of June. (DEDI = Danish Egyptian Dialoque Institute) 

It would have been fair if Søren Pind had explained his situation in the start of the session for example saying: "I am not the foreign minister, and I am not in a position to talk about issues of Gaza".

But this was not the case. He made it as a condition before even meeting the Arab participants, which is strange and unfair and really ironical, when the session had the theme "freedom of speach".

An Egyptian girl  showed up to the session with her mouth covered with tape and "Gaza" written on her t-shirt. Thumbs up for the silent demonstrator!

I heard this story from one of the participants of the summer school - a very engaged volunteer at the Regional Office of MS in Amman. MS had supported two young Jordanian participants of the summer school, and beyond the dissapointing behavior from Søren Pind, they both seemed to enjoy their trip and the busy program of the summer school.

Mohtaraf Remal, My Favourite House in Amman

This is a small video from my favourite house in Amman. It is placed in the area called Jabal Webdeh. The artist Abdul Aziz Abu Ghazaleh dashes about in the house guiding students, talking with fellow artists and thinking about his next project. It is an experience just to talk to this man. He is mostly a sculptor, but the latest years he has used a lot of energy in renovating the old house. 

Actually I came by one day, where a fire was started on the site next to Mohtaraf Remal. The fire was started in the dry grass and the garbage.. We throwed water from his roof containers, and he was lucky that a waterpibe of plastic melted because of the fire and stopped the fire itself... No serious damage happend, but it was a funny way to start the first conversation... 

The building had been a school from 1962 up to the early 90's. Nearly two decades of neglect had left it a shelter for the homeless and a dumping ground for garbage.

The name Mohtaraf Remal was chosen because mohtaraf means expertise, while remal means sand, which, Abu Ghazaleh says, is the basis of everything: colours, stones, ceramics. Sand is part of Jordan's heritage, which has inspired poets and writers.

Friday night: In the mall or in the streets

Friday night is always the night where Jordanians take time of to enjoy the family. It is actually sometimes very difficult to make appointments with our local freinds, because they must go to barbeque parties or picknicks with their family. A funny but not unfamiliar way (compared to the traditions of some Danish families) to spend a friday evening is to go to the malls. This is city mall, where we have (admittedly) spend some fridays shopping or watching films - for example Avatar and the new Robin Hood.

 

  

Today we spend our friday night eating icecream, drinking tea and smoking hooka/agile in the popular Rainbow Street in Amman. It is not often that you run into life music and dance in the streets of Amman, but here it happend, and it was great! I didn't caught the best dancers, but the video give an idea about the atmosphere. 

It is a caucasian dance, and we wouldn't have known what is was, if not our friend Osama Dohjoka (who has Caucasian origin) had dragged us into the cinema some weeks ago to see a movie about the Caucasian immigrating to the northern Jordan in the late 19th century. It was not that good a movie - too much focus on a love story between a Caucasian man and a beduin girl and too little honesty about the bloody battles between Caucasians and beduins... But it told a story about an important part of the Jordanian history, and it is always interesting to se interpretations of history. Today the Caucasians are fully accepted in the Jordanian society. 

Not two kind of mezze is the same

At my recent trip to Syria I discovered that not two kind of mezze is the same, the quality differs a lot. In Damascus we had the best mezze at Al Khawali in the old city. 

Mezze is a selection of appetizers, but maybe it is more true to call it small dishes, because everywhere I have been, mezze comes at same time as the grilled meat or fish I have ordered. It is a very common meal in the Middle East and I believe it will enter the European food scene in the same way as tapas has done the recent years. It is an obvoius choice when you want to spent a hole evening enjoing your freinds company, but you can also just order a few dishes and make it a quick meal. 

You might know them, but I thought it was interesting to know what they actually consist of, so I did a little research of the most common...

Hummus: a dip of cooked, mashed chikpeas with garlic and tahini. 

Babaghanoush: eggplant mashed and mixed with various seasoning. 

Labneh: strained youghurt. 

Muhammara: a hot pebber dip with gound walnuts, breadcrumbs, garlic, salt, lemon juice, olive oil and various seasoning. 

 

Tabbouleh: bulgur, finely chopped parsley, mint, tomato, scallion, lemon juice, olive oil, various seasoning. 

 

Fattoush: Salad made from several garden vegetables and toasted pieces of pita bread.

Looking forward for Palestine

Just bought the ticket from Tel Aviv to Copenhagen late Juli. This means that I am ending my trip with a tour to the West bank. I need to go there and have the opportunity to ask questions. I am shure there is still stories that needs to be told - a messy body of memories, history, experiences, opinions, years, interpretations, conflicts. And I want to deconstruct it. Understand how the consciousness of this conflict is built. And maybe then I'll feel that I gave something significant back to those Palestinians from Jordan, my new freinds, who gave me their trust...

Where are the colours?

Amman was not at first sight a colourful city, but I am realizing that living in a city gives a special opportunity to explore the same streets several times and suddenly I came to notice this painting at a block very near by our house. Is this street art? I need to set aside time for more accidental walks...

I also have to admit that this time at the year really suits Amman. Every garden in our neighbourhood you find bush's of flowers.

Another funny little observation you notice at an accidental walk in Amman, is these footsteps printed in the steps everywhere in the city... The guy that printed that foot must have been just as thoughtful as I was in that moment..

 

Closing of the Danish Embassy in Amman

Yesterday it became open to the public that the Danish Embassy in Jordan is closing in September 2010. The explanation in the Danish newspapers are clear: This is a matter of priority. The cost of increasing security at the embassy has been evaluated and as a quite new embassy, the one in Amman (opened in 2005) is not of high priority. The embassy here is being closed together with the ones in Algeria, Bosnia and Nicaragua. 

Of course I think this is sad news. I really hope that the Danish foreign minister will come up to her promises, that this is not a lack of commitment to the Middle East. The decision of the Danish Government to close two embassies in the MENA region makes it hard to believe...

News in Jordan Times 

News in the Danish Newspaper: Politiken

Tunis - an Arab Paris!

Wauw! I was impressed of Tunis. I know it is a cliché, but I love Paris, and now I know that Tunis is a city I have to go back to. I was only very brief in Tunis on my way back to Amman from a meeting in Sfax, but during these few hours I felt in love again: Tunis is an Arab Paris!

In Tunis it is possible to get an espresso's and a croissant at one corner, and at another you can have a falafel or kebab. It is a wonderful mix of new and old - the heritage from the France colonization and the hustle and bustle of a modern Mediterranian city. In the center of Tunis we walked at the street "Habib Bourguiba", which has modern fashion shops along an avenue with carefully trimmed trees and sidewalk café's - just like Champs-Elysées. The Metro has not yet come to Tunis, but what is even better: They still have the tram!   

 

 

Beyond the Cathedral looms the gateway to the ancient Medina - a perfect place to get lost! The sellers are freindly and with a little bargaining you can get especially leather or antique articles to very good prices. 

 

SECOND NEWSLETTER

Here you can download the (4 page) newsletter covering January and February. This gives an overview of our work during March. You can download the Newsletter in English or Arabic.

 

Download March Newsletter Arab
Download March Newsletter English

Favourite photo from Jerash

It is od how you sometimes catch a snap, and not before you have returned home, you realise, that a jewelry just had been added to your treasure of travelling.

Below is my favourite photo from the ancient city Jerash. On the one hand the show of Roman musicians made the visitors in the amphitheatre  - Arabs as well as Western turist - clap and shout with joy, but on the other hand some traditions derived from Islam don't tolerate women and men to mix in dancing or even to enjoy music... The women in the picture were not of that creed, even though they appeared very conservative in their dressing.