Social Norms

Cute family at Petra.

At times, the checklist of do's and don'ts seemed to be miles of small things that I was sure I would never remember. Things such as eye contact, smiling in public, and riding shotgun were forbidden. But these things are simply the result of street-smarts and a different style of respect. I feel like people, and especially women, need to be cautious wherever they are traveling whether it's Chicago or Amman. In Amman, this includes going out of your way to avoid contact with the other gender. Things such as handling money in such a way that hands don't touch and sitting in taxis without touching those around you start to become habit. It has been interesting to see how men and women react in many different situations. For example, sitting in the front seat of a taxi is a manly thing to do, so women generally don't do that. However, if there are three male passengers and one female passenger in the taxi, the men will shift in order to give the woman the front seat and therefore give her a nicer journey. There have been several times where I have been the first the passenger to climb into the service taxi only to have three other men ride in the same taxi. Almost every time, as the last man arrives at the taxi, the other two men have climbed out of the taxi to allow me to also climb out of the taxi and ride shotgun. What gentlemen! Not smiling at people is one thing that is rather difficult for many people to get used to. In America, smiling is a way of acknowledging people. Here, smiling is flirting and therefore something that you probably shouldn't do in public places. During the first few days I was here, I tried to watch native women and my facilitator to see how they acted in public. It was rather interesting to see how quickly their business face came on. Annie, my facilitator, wouldn't even greet us interns in public with a smile. For now the smile will just have to stay in the apartment and around the kids I work with...

=)