picturingjordan.com/public/index.xml

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    <title>Picturing Jordan</title>
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    <description>Recent content on Picturing Jordan</description>
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    <copyright>Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).</copyright>
    <lastBuildDate>Fri, 18 Nov 2016 18:39:58 +0200</lastBuildDate>
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    <item>
      <title>Harvesting Olives in Ajloun</title>
      <link>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/11/harvesting-olives-ajloun/</link>
      <pubDate>Fri, 18 Nov 2016 18:39:58 +0200</pubDate>
      
      <guid>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/11/harvesting-olives-ajloun/</guid>
      <description>&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;https://picturingjordan.com/2016/11/IMG_20161118_130025.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;Freshly picked olives&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Freshly picked olives&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;http://wildjordan.com/&#34;&gt;Wild Jordan&lt;/a&gt; has an ingenious day trip where you pay &lt;em&gt;them&lt;/em&gt; to take &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; to pick olives on a farm in Ajloun — the family who owns the farm even comes out to watch you and give you tips! Like I said: genius. Jokes aside, it was actually a lot of fun, and the point is to educate you about the olive harvest and its importance to people in the region.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The olive harvest usually starts around October or November. One of the major factors deciding when exactly to start the harvest is rain, as wet olives apparently produce more oil. In addition to olive oil itself, people in the community make a few food and beauty products from the olives and sell them through community owned and operated enterprises like the Soap House and the Biscuit House. You can &lt;a href=&#34;http://wildjordan.com/content/ajloun-forest-reserve-1&#34;&gt;find out more&lt;/a&gt; on the Wild Jordan website.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;https://picturingjordan.com/2016/11/IMG_20161118_130626.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;How many olives can ten amateurs pick in thirty minutes?&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;How many olives can ten amateurs pick in thirty minutes?&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;</description>
    </item>
    
    <item>
      <title>Contemporary Arab Design at the Jordan River Foundation Showroom</title>
      <link>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/11/contemporary-arab-design-jrf-showroom/</link>
      <pubDate>Mon, 07 Nov 2016 15:28:23 +0300</pubDate>
      
      <guid>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/11/contemporary-arab-design-jrf-showroom/</guid>
      <description>&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;https://picturingjordan.com/2016/11/IMG_20161104_130900.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;Simple, rustic design fuses traditional objects with new styles&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Simple, rustic design fuses traditional objects with new styles&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&#34;http://jordanriver.jo&#34;&gt;Jordan River Foundation&lt;/a&gt; has a showroom on Rainbow Street where they &lt;em&gt;brilliantly&lt;/em&gt; showcase traditional, everyday objects from the region in a fresh, modern way. It&amp;rsquo;s like someone went and replaced all the things in your grandma&amp;rsquo;s rural kitchen with newer, brightly accented ones. All of the wood, cloth, and clay work here is produced by people in local communities, and, as far as I know, the proceeds from sales go back to supporting them.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I commend the &lt;a href=&#34;http://www.qrf.org/&#34;&gt;Queen Rania Foundation&lt;/a&gt; for another seriously impressive initiative. Keep up the good work!&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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    <item>
      <title>Sheikh Zayed Mosque: the Pearl of Aqaba</title>
      <link>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/10/sheikh-zayed-mosque-pearl-aqaba/</link>
      <pubDate>Tue, 11 Oct 2016 12:06:06 +0300</pubDate>
      
      <guid>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/10/sheikh-zayed-mosque-pearl-aqaba/</guid>
      <description>&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;https://picturingjordan.com/2016/10/DSC_0024.JPG&#34; alt=&#34;Beautiful mosque by the sea, surrounded by palm trees&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Beautiful mosque by the sea, surrounded by palm trees&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;The best way to describe the Sheikh Zayed mosque would be &amp;ldquo;the pearl of Aqaba.&amp;rdquo; There is a lot to love about this picturesque mosque by the Jordanian seaside, but its crown jewel — to continue the analogy — is the impeccable Arabic calligraphy inlaid in its facade. Sadly, Aqaba itself &lt;a href=&#34;https://picturingjordan.com/2016/10/aqaba-dirty-disappointing/&#34;&gt;isn&amp;rsquo;t much to write home about&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Originally built in 1975, the mosque was refurbished in 2010 as part of a larger &lt;a href=&#34;http://www.marsazayed.com/&#34;&gt;effort to revitalize the Red Sea port city&lt;/a&gt; and was modeled after the &lt;a href=&#34;http://www.szgmc.gov.ae/en/&#34;&gt;Sheikh Zayed Grand mosque&lt;/a&gt; in Abu Dhabi.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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    <item>
      <title>Aqaba is Dirty and Disappointing</title>
      <link>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/10/aqaba-dirty-disappointing/</link>
      <pubDate>Wed, 05 Oct 2016 10:46:23 +0300</pubDate>
      
      <guid>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/10/aqaba-dirty-disappointing/</guid>
      <description>&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;https://picturingjordan.com/2016/10/IMG_20161002_131313.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;A picturesque view where you can&amp;#39;t see the trash on the beach&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;A picturesque view where you can&amp;#39;t see the trash on the beach&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;I&amp;rsquo;m struggling to find words to describe my trip to Jordan&amp;rsquo;s coastal city Aqaba. Initially, the contrast between dry desert, rocky mountains, and the turquoise water of the Red Sea is quite striking — imagine Matt Damon in &lt;em&gt;The Martian&lt;/em&gt;, but where he goes snorkeling on a coral reef instead of growing potatoes.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If that sounds too good to be true, it is! Sadly, I found Aqaba to be dirty — used diapers on the beach, locals arrogantly throwing trash on the street, trash floating around the reef, etc — and full of obnoxious, poorly behaved tourists.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
    </item>
    
    <item>
      <title>King Hussein Mosque at Night</title>
      <link>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/king-hussein-mosque-night/</link>
      <pubDate>Thu, 29 Sep 2016 11:54:07 +0300</pubDate>
      
      <guid>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/king-hussein-mosque-night/</guid>
      <description>&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/DSC_0010.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;Amman&amp;#39;s King Hussein mosque at night&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Amman&amp;#39;s King Hussein mosque at night&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&#34;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Hussein_Mosque&#34;&gt;King Hussein mosque&lt;/a&gt; was built in 2005 and is the largest mosque in Jordan. I haven&amp;rsquo;t visited it yet, but I&amp;rsquo;ve spent quite a few evenings admiring it from a balcony in the &lt;em&gt;Khalda&lt;/em&gt; neighborhood of West Amman.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Technical: Nikon D3100, ten-second exposure time, post processed from RAW with &lt;a href=&#34;https://www.darktable.org/&#34;&gt;darktable&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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    <item>
      <title>Another Beautiful Hand-Painted Wood Ceiling</title>
      <link>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/another-beautiful-hand-painted-ceiling/</link>
      <pubDate>Mon, 26 Sep 2016 14:28:23 +0300</pubDate>
      
      <guid>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/another-beautiful-hand-painted-ceiling/</guid>
      <description>&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/DSC_0008.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;A hand-painted floral pattern on wooden panels on the ceiling&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;A colorful floral pattern pops out of the ceiling&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;Another day, another exquisite, hand-painted ceiling in Amman. Just like the &lt;a href=&#34;https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/beautiful-hand-painted-woodwork/&#34;&gt;other hand-painted wood ceiling&lt;/a&gt; I posted about a few weeks ago, the work was done by an old Syrian man. This one is actually in my flat, and I may or may not have taken this picture while laying on my back on the living room floor.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Technical: Nikon D3100, post processed from RAW with &lt;a href=&#34;https://www.darktable.org/&#34;&gt;darktable&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
    </item>
    
    <item>
      <title>Azraq Wetland, a Disappearing Oasis</title>
      <link>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/azraq-wetland-disappearing-oasis/</link>
      <pubDate>Sat, 24 Sep 2016 21:28:31 +0300</pubDate>
      
      <guid>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/azraq-wetland-disappearing-oasis/</guid>
      <description>&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/IMG_20160924_101454.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;Small lake with bridge and vegetation in the Jordanian desert.&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;A one of a kind oasis is at risk of disappearing in the near future.&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;There&amp;rsquo;s an amazing wetland nature preserve an hour and a half from Amman — in thirty minutes of walking around, I saw birds, snakes, crabs, fish, and even water buffaloes! For thousands of years it was a massive, thriving oasis whose ecological diversity supported human settlements, but in the past few decades it has come dangerously close to drying up due to increased water usage from surrounding cities.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Learn more about the wetlands on a trip with &lt;a href=&#34;http://wildjordan.com/&#34;&gt;Wild Jordan&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&#34;http://experiencejordan.com/&#34;&gt;Experience Jordan&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;turn off the water in your shower or sink when you don&amp;rsquo;t need it!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
    </item>
    
    <item>
      <title>Buying Baklava in Amman</title>
      <link>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/buying-baklava-amman/</link>
      <pubDate>Fri, 23 Sep 2016 11:15:16 +0300</pubDate>
      
      <guid>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/buying-baklava-amman/</guid>
      <description>&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/IMG_20160810_160953.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;Young child smiling and wrapping up baklava in a shop in Amman&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Everybody likes baklava!&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;There&amp;rsquo;s a shop in one of Amman&amp;rsquo;s downtown markets that sells traditional sweets. I&amp;rsquo;m not sure who was more excited about this half kilo of &lt;em&gt;baklawa&lt;/em&gt; — me, or the jovial young Jordanian selling it.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
    </item>
    
    <item>
      <title>Saint Thaddeus Church in Amman</title>
      <link>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/saint-thaddeus-church-amman/</link>
      <pubDate>Tue, 20 Sep 2016 14:58:34 +0300</pubDate>
      
      <guid>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/saint-thaddeus-church-amman/</guid>
      <description>&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/IMG_20160919_141959.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;Armenian church with pointy steeple&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Easily one of the most unique buildings in Amman&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;Even if the number number of mosques in Amman &lt;em&gt;didn&amp;rsquo;t&lt;/em&gt; outnumber churches by a factor of ten, the Saint Thaddeus Armenian Apostolic church would still stand out. It caught my eye once a few weeks ago and then I started seeing it every time I glanced at Jabal Al-Ashrafieh. After weeks of squinting and asking myself &amp;ldquo;&lt;em&gt;Is that an Armenian church?&lt;/em&gt;&amp;rdquo; I finally went on an epic scavenger hunt and found it.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
    </item>
    
    <item>
      <title>Camping in the Dana Biosphere Reserve</title>
      <link>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/camping-dana-biosphere-reserve/</link>
      <pubDate>Mon, 19 Sep 2016 09:48:23 +0300</pubDate>
      
      <guid>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/camping-dana-biosphere-reserve/</guid>
      <description>&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/DSC_0031.JPG&#34; alt=&#34;Just after sunrise at a camp in the Dana Biosphere&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Just after sunrise at a camp in the Dana Biosphere&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;A few weeks ago I slept in a tent on the cusp of Jordan&amp;rsquo;s Rift Valley. &lt;a href=&#34;http://wildjordan.com/&#34;&gt;Wild Jordan&lt;/a&gt; has regular hiking and camping trips to the reserve and they are very affordable. The staff are friendly and genuinely care about nature conservation. Trips to this and other national parks are part of an impressive &lt;a href=&#34;http://www.rscn.org.jo/&#34;&gt;government effort&lt;/a&gt; to preserve Jordan&amp;rsquo;s natural spaces.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
    </item>
    
    <item>
      <title>Beautiful Hand-Painted Woodwork</title>
      <link>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/beautiful-hand-painted-woodwork/</link>
      <pubDate>Sat, 17 Sep 2016 15:48:23 +0300</pubDate>
      
      <guid>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/beautiful-hand-painted-woodwork/</guid>
      <description>&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/IMG_20160916_174409.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;Beautiful hand-painted wood panels on the ceiling&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Beautiful hand-painted wood panels on the ceiling&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;There&amp;rsquo;s an old Syrian man who does this fantastic hand painting on wood panels in Amman. A few flats in our building have them installed on the ceiling, but this one takes the cake. I&amp;rsquo;m not sure if it&amp;rsquo;s typical for the region or not — the man was referencing pictures from a Russian art book — but they are exquisite.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
    </item>
    
    <item>
      <title>Don&#39;t WhatsApp and Drive</title>
      <link>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/dont-whatsapp-and-drive/</link>
      <pubDate>Thu, 15 Sep 2016 14:10:48 +0300</pubDate>
      
      <guid>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/dont-whatsapp-and-drive/</guid>
      <description>&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/IMG_20160810_162505.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;Billboard in Amman cautions against using your phone while driving&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Billboard in Amman cautions against using your phone while driving&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;I can&amp;rsquo;t even read Arabic but I&amp;rsquo;m pretty sure that billboard is telling people to &lt;em&gt;put their fucking phones down while driving&lt;/em&gt;. It&amp;rsquo;s like an epidemic here. I&amp;rsquo;ve never seen people look less at the road while driving than here in Amman.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
    </item>
    
    <item>
      <title>About</title>
      <link>https://picturingjordan.com/about/</link>
      <pubDate>Wed, 14 Sep 2016 16:33:27 +0300</pubDate>
      
      <guid>https://picturingjordan.com/about/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Alan lived and worked in Kenya for eight years, first as a volunteer teaching computer science at a rural college, and later as a Linux systems administrator at a &lt;a href=&#34;https://www.ilri.org&#34;&gt;livestock research institute in Nairobi&lt;/a&gt;. During his time in Kenya he traveled extensively around East Africa and &lt;a href=&#34;https://alaninkenya.org&#34;&gt;blogged about his experiences&lt;/a&gt;. He is passionate about open-source software, information security, and the freedom of information — naturally, he &lt;a href=&#34;https://mjanja.ch&#34;&gt;blogs about that too&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;After spending some time living in (and &lt;a href=&#34;https://englishbulgaria.net&#34;&gt;blogging about&lt;/a&gt;) Bulgaria, he finds himself living in Jordan. These are his stories.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
    </item>
    
    <item>
      <title>Eid Mubarak in Your Neighborhood Dumpster</title>
      <link>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/eid-mubarak-neighborhood-dumpster/</link>
      <pubDate>Wed, 14 Sep 2016 09:36:00 +0300</pubDate>
      
      <guid>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/eid-mubarak-neighborhood-dumpster/</guid>
      <description>&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/sheep-dumpster-eid-al-adha.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;Sheep carcass lazily discarded in neighborhood dumpster&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Sheep carcass lazily discarded in neighborhood dumpster&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;As Muslims around the world are busy wishing each other a blessed &lt;a href=&#34;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eid_al-Adha&#34;&gt;Eid al-Adha&lt;/a&gt;, some poor bastard has to clean up this lazily discarded sheep carcass from my local dumpster (note the entrails spilled below). Keep it classy, Jordan.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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    <item>
      <title>No Noise Near the Noisy Mosque</title>
      <link>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/no-noise-near-noisy-mosque/</link>
      <pubDate>Wed, 07 Sep 2016 19:32:36 +0300</pubDate>
      
      <guid>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/no-noise-near-noisy-mosque/</guid>
      <description>&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/no-noise-near-mosque.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;Sign forbidding sound near mosque on Rainbow Street, Amman&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Sign forbidding sound near mosque on Rainbow Street, Amman&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;The irony is rich with this one, because this mosque has a sound system from another planet. If I wasn&amp;rsquo;t worried about my personal safety I&amp;rsquo;d put up a sign right next to it saying: &lt;em&gt;Please mute your mosque, there is a sleeping Alan 50m away&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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