I am not an Arab therefore I am not a Jordanian
Yesterday I was walking to a doctor's appointment when I passed some men on the sidewalk and they said, in English, 'Welcome to Jordan', so I said, in Arabic, that I had lived here for 45 years and they were shocked. Today I went to a police department and the guard took my Jordanian id and said 'are you from the British Embassy?' So many incidents of the same kind over the years.
So it made me ponder and realise that however long I live here I will always be a foreigner. T
So it made me ponder and realise that however long I live here I will always be a foreigner. T
posted by joladies at Thursday, July 02, 2009
6 Comments:
lol not to belittle your realization but those of us who might have been living here for 60 years and pretty much look like em aren't counted as jordanian either ... must be a jordanian thing i guess so welcome to the "not jordanian club - where things are a tad bit better"
well foreigner and palestinian inferiority complexes aside, i have one of the most jordanian names and i still get a look of curiosity for looking and talking like an ammani.
unless you live in a multi-cultural society, that's just the way it goes (in about 95% of the world)
Oh my god - still after 45 and 60 years? Sigh - I have only lived here for a year, so I guess I might as well get used to it - being a ginger makes it very hard to blend in :-)
So I better start loving the "Ahlan w sahlan"
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hmm jordanian superiority complex aside, you know why you get that look Nas ? because you are considered a sell out ...
Sadly, Nas is right - it is more common to be considered "out" than "in" most places in the world. My mother (RIP) lived, worked and actively contributed to political and community life in a small town in the Shenandoah Valley (Virgnia) for almost 30 years and yet she was always referred to as "that lady from Washington, DC." Better the "ahlan wa sahlan" than other things people could say! Umm Dunya
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