East and West of Jordan’s Capital
Kirchheim u. Teck, 16 September, 3.15 pm. My suitcase weighs 28 kg – that’s five kilos over the limit. This is inconvenient, as we were due to set off 15 minutes ago so that I could catch the train to Stuttgart in time and not miss the ICE to Frankfurt Airport. So, a quick repack and leaving my beloved (but unfortunately too heavy) dungarees at home. Then a few goodbyes, which turn out to be more fleeting and sober than planned, as there’s no time for emotional outbursts in the rush. A classic Caro moment, causing stress for everyone around me, so that in the end I’m driven all the way to Stuttgart after all – another huge thank you for that! The train journey, checking in my luggage and the final farewell at the airport aren’t entirely without tears, but at least they’re stress-free. At 9 pm I’m on the plane to Amman, Jordan.
About five hours later, I step out of the airport building in West Amman into a pleasantly warm summer night. As I’m only 17, I’m arriving alone, two weeks after the other volunteers, and I’m not being picked up by a driver from my placement either. My work doesn’t start until after my birthday, in mid-October. Until then, I’m staying with Bettina, a wonderful German woman who lives in West Amman and gives me a warm welcome at the airport. We drive to her flat in a hire car. On the way, I’m surprised by the green and red night-time lighting of the mosques, which in Germany is more commonly associated with nightclubs. Apart from the less strict adherence to traffic rules, I don’t notice much difference from my usual surroundings at first.
Still half-asleep, I open the shutters the next morning and am amazed: sandstone-coloured houses as far as the eye can see, interrupted only by a few skyscrapers. It is not just life in a foreign country that is new to me, but also life in a big city, and a capital city at that: Amman. The flat is hardly any different from a stylishly furnished three-bedroom flat in Germany. Admittedly, there’s no dishwasher, you shouldn’t drink the tap water, and you have to dust almost every day, but otherwise I find little that feels unfamiliar. So here I am, living for four weeks with Bettina and her Mexican flatmate Elizabeth. As both of them work during the week, on my first day I go for an adventurous stroll through the neighbourhood. I need to go to a currency exchange bureau because, as a minor, I don’t have a credit card yet. Only then can I get a SIM card and finally have internet. Until then, I had to find my way around the old-school way without Google Maps, which I actually enjoyed! At Carrefour, I realise that the prices are almost exactly the same as in Germany, and most of the brands and products are familiar too. The buildings, people and vegetation may look a bit different, but culture shock? Not a chance.
Day by day, I’m getting to know the area and the transport network better. Bettina and Elizabeth show me the city centre, and Bettina takes me everywhere with her. I have no commitments and don’t know my way around well enough yet to do much on my own – so it’s all the better to have someone by my side who knows the ropes and speaks Arabic. So I accompany Bettina to work, to her parish, to language school, to various meetings, celebrations and even on a weekend trip with her friends. She answers my questions about culture, language and faith, always has a listening ear and offers good advice. This way, I quickly get to know new people and find ways to spend my free time. At the start of October, I join the team for a Kids Week at a project run by Bettina’s friends. There, I have my first contact with local children and realise that play and fun can also overcome the language barrier.
My fellow volunteer Ailu (aka Julia H.) has already been working at our placement for two weeks by the time I arrive. We’ve chosen ‘Ragadan’ as the meeting point for our first get-together in Amman – it’s just a shame that I select ‘Ragadan Interchange’ on Google Maps, whilst she actually means the bus station (which makes much more sense, as I later realise). So we end up walking towards each other for another 25 minutes before we register together at the language school. Even on this first walk through Ragadan, I notice that the area is very different from where I’ve been living so far. There are more people on the streets, the buildings look less well-maintained and the air feels a bit heavier. People react differently to me too: unlike in West Amman, I’m spoken to, things are shouted at me, or I’m stared at. I’m already familiar with the feeling of being different from the bus, when I’m the only woman travelling without a headscarf or simply don’t look particularly Arab, but here it’s much more pronounced.
This difference between the east and west of the city is also directly linked to my move from Bettina’s flat (in the west) to my place of work, the Theodor Schneller School (in the east). Overall, many people from Europe, the USA and other countries live in Amman, for example to learn Arabic or to work for NGOs. However, these people live almost exclusively in the wealthier neighbourhoods in the west or in the city centre. So there, hardly anyone is surprised to see a young European woman travelling alone. Many speak English, and the shop assistant at Carrefour knows that Germans prefer to carry their shopping in their own jute bags rather than in plastic ones. In the east of the city, it’s completely different: hardly any tourists venture this way, there’s no Carrefour, and the area around the TSS doesn’t have a particularly good reputation even among locals.
The day after my 18th birthday, I move into the beautiful grounds of the Schneller School. Thanks to Ailu’s experience and tips, I quickly get to grips with how things work. Nevertheless, I make mistakes, some of them repeatedly, and put my foot in it. Now I work at the boarding school, where I help with homework in German and English and get a free playground workout on the side (swinging, playing tag and football, seesawing, etc.). Twice a week, Ailu and I take a little trip around the world into town for Arabic lessons. Our teacher is very friendly and loves to laugh and sing. The language isn’t easy, but we’re doing our best and I’m enjoying it. At the weekend, we often meet up with other volunteers and go on trips together.
Although I’ve always liked being the youngest, I’ve realised that taking your A-levels at 17 isn’t really ideal, because you need to be of legal age for almost everything that comes after. But now I’m incredibly glad about this first month, during which I’ve been able to see and experience so much. I’ve probably had the best settling-in period one could wish for, in stages, so to speak: first arriving in a tourist-friendly area and now living and working at TSS. Even before my flight and also during my first month here, I noticed that God was preparing me – through encounters, conversations and inspirations. Now I get to see the wonderful things He has planned for me and look forward to them.
There’s still plenty to tell: about the culture, the food, my first outings and, of course, the work. If you’re interested, do have a look at the blogs of the other volunteers in Jordan.
Warmest regards,
Caro
This text was automatically translated using an AI-powered translation system.
