Part of the culture
They say, and after some years traveling a bit around the world I say the same, that two things define a culture, its language and its food…and my ethnographic eye does not allow me to miss any of them now that I live in the Middle East. Today I register for an Arabic course here in Amman. I know, I am not going to learn Arabic in three months, but at least I will do my best to learn as much as possible and be able to communicate with the taxi drivers…or at least guide them to my work or house…and who knows…maybe I am born to learn Arabic and after these months I will keep studying (thats for sure) and become a master in this sacred and symbolic language (this is more difficult…).
The food part is not a problem, I am always willing to try any sort of food, wherever I am and here I am not making an exceptions. As someone said me a couple of days ago, “if you try a traditional dish and you don’t like, don’t blame the dish, blame the cooker because this people has been eating it for centuries and it cannot taste bad”. So far, I haven’t had to blame any cooker…
