Funny things in Jordan

I am always fascinated by countries that do things differently than where I grew up.  Since arriving in Jordan, there have been multiple times when someone has told me something that I thought was a joke.  To my surprise, most of these so-called jokes are actually for real.

For example, I ordered a piece of cake for dessert at a restaurant the other night and my waitress asked: "How much weight do you want?"  

I must have looked at her like she is crazy.  Before I could even say anything, she asked: "500 grams? 1 kilo?" 

How do I even answer that question?? I barely know how grams convert to pounds and I certainly don't know how much a normal size piece of cake should weigh!   I told her to just give me whatever most people would order.   

As I was waiting for my dessert to arrive, I started thinking that people in the United States would not be so fat if they had to order their desserts by the pound.  We all know that cake is not good for you but I'm sure people would think twice if they realized how much weight they were adding to themselves!  It's almost like ordering food based on the number of hours at the gym you would need to burn it off.  Needless to say, I didn't quite enjoy my cake as much as I had hoped...

Another thing that made me laugh was when I was asking the Director of Engineering about whether the building does any recycling.  He said that the city does not have a recycling program, so the only option is to hire people to sit in the trash room and manually separate the rubbish.  Then, an outsourced company will haul the recycled materials away for another fee.  

I thought to myself: "this must be a long way of saying that we don't recycle because it's not worth the effort."  Well, I just about fell over when we walked through the building and I actually saw 2 people sitting in the trash room, digging through the dumpsters for recyclables.  Apparently you can hire people to do anything in Amman!

A few hours later, I was discussing staffing with the Director of Human Resources and I asked whether there has been an influx of Syrian people looking for work in Jordan as a result of the continued violence there.  She said that there is a refugee camp near the Syrian border that is now the 5th largest city in Jordan!  I guess this one isn't as much funny as it is remarkable.  From an American perspective, it would be like a new city of refugees emerging with the population of Philadelphia!  

Even shopping hours are totally different in the Middle East - especially during Ramadan.  I went to the mall after work one day last week and was disappointed to see that all the shops were closed.  The security guard told me that they would open again at 8:30pm.  Sure enough, he was right.  By midnight, the shops were filled with people.   

One thing I have learned in this job is that I cannot assume anything about life around the world.  It's easy to avoid asking questions because of things I take for granted based on where I grew up.  However, in a country like Jordan, the list of difference can be even longer than the list of similarities.