Picturing Jordan

Beautiful Hand-Painted Woodwork

Sat, 17 Sep 2016 15:48:23 +0300

Beautiful hand-painted wood panels on the ceiling

There’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’m not sure if it’s typical for the region or not — the man was referencing pictures from a Russian art book — but they are exquisite.

Don't WhatsApp and Drive

Thu, 15 Sep 2016 14:10:48 +0300

Billboard in Amman cautions against using your phone while driving

I can’t even read Arabic but I’m pretty sure that billboard is telling people to put their fucking phones down while driving. It’s like an epidemic here. I’ve never seen people look less at the road while driving than here in Amman.

About

Wed, 14 Sep 2016 16:33:27 +0300

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 livestock research institute in Nairobi. During his time in Kenya he traveled extensively around East Africa and blogged about his experiences. He is passionate about open-source software, information security, and the freedom of information — naturally, he blogs about that too.

After spending some time living in (and blogging about) Bulgaria, he finds himself living in Jordan. These are his stories.

Eid Mubarak in Your Neighborhood Dumpster

Wed, 14 Sep 2016 09:36:00 +0300

Sheep carcass lazily discarded in neighborhood dumpster

As Muslims around the world are busy wishing each other a blessed Eid al-Adha, 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.

No Noise Near the Noisy Mosque

Wed, 07 Sep 2016 19:32:36 +0300

Sign forbidding sound near mosque on Rainbow Street, Amman

The irony is rich with this one, because this mosque has a sound system from another planet. If I wasn’t worried about my personal safety I’d put up a sign right next to it saying: Please mute your mosque, there is a sleeping Alan 50m away.