Before continue reading Please note that if you do not have sense of humor please do not continue reading. this post is for those of who appreciate sense of humor. really. :)

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A while ago, I was setting with a friend of mine, he is not Jordanian. we were talking about his experience in Jordan and ‘why does foreigners change  when they arrive and when do they change exactly’.

We came up with some conclusions actually, and they really make sense. here are some ideas I got  from him:

Getting confused:-

When you First come to Jordan, and talk to people and ask around about the culture and the whole thing, every body keeps telling you that Jordan is a very conservative country and you dont do that and dont do this blabla. and you find out that most of the people who tells you this are the EXACT opposite. And that Jordan is NOT a conservative country.

For example, A girl told the guy that GIRLS in Jordan ‘Stereotyping’ don’t have boyfriends! it’s like a NO WE DONT HAVE BOYFRIENDS! we’re polite and all that stuff. and the guy was amazed ‘ As he said, his first impression was WOW! I wish girls are like that back home!’ two days after that, he saw her with her ‘boyfriend’ god knows what were they doing!

My answer:

Jordan is very diverse. You see very conservative people -and there is a big number of them who really wish to be the opposite- . and you see ‘VERY’ open minded people. really.

The standards here in Jordan are maybe a bit different than your country. Here it really matters what people say ‘if you will’. And yes, if a girl in public was asked about the guy next to her its really awkward of her to say ‘Hey! this is my boyfriend’. Things doesn’t work that way here.

but ofcourse girls have boyfriends here. alla yostor 3ala el nas <– he didn’t get this one. but yea.

Taxi Drivers:-

Is it me? or it happens to every one to feel that most taxi drivers in Jordan wants to take advantage of you and rip you off?

My answer:

You don’t look Jordanian, you don’t speak Arabic.. What do you expect!

Its like me going to Syria. I feel the same. <– unfortunately.

Time respect:-

Whatever happens, Jordanians do not appreciate time. and timelines and dates. Back home if I told you that I’ll be meeting you in half an hour. That means that I’ll be meeting you in half an hour.

Here, when you talk to some one and you have a business meeting with him at 4 ‘for instance’, he shows up at 5:30. and will be telling you all sort of excuses.

And for example, when you talk to anyone on the phone and they want to get rid of you, they tell you ‘Hey listen I’ll CALL YOU BACK after 5 minutes, ok HABIBI?’ and here is what, THEY NEVER ANSWER THEIR PHONES NOR CALL BACK!

For a big period of time, I thought I was a shitty person, that people doesn’t want to talk to me, or you know, embarrassed of me being around. but thats not the case here! People here got their own cultural vocabularies. like they know that it really doesn’t mean that they’ll call you back.

I’ll call you after 10 minutes HABIBI means that I will never call you or answer your calls again. bye!

My answer:

Thats true.. it’s not that your a shitty person. It’s just that… I don’t know! we just do that..!

Here is our vocabularies <– click here

Read them and you will understand. <— BTW I have got this sheet from another NON Jordanian friend that he got from a ‘Jordanian marketing firm’ and that they were making a marketing research about the Jordanian culture. and he told me that he has some friends that got this sheet and that they doesn’t feel bad about themselves anymore. and those are the reason why they change to be very conservative when it comes to dealing with Jordanians.

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Its sort of funny, Yet very sad and true. it’s like it’s in our culture to talk that way. Boy! I feel bad.

PS.

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