Sunday, December 19, 2010

Day 18: Last winter in Ramallah

Foggy winter day in Ramallah

Packing, working, reminiscing...

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Day 15: Emirates Palace

The $3 billion Emirates Palace Hotel
Tim in front of the $11 million tree (Tree= $10,000; jewels adorning it=$11 million+)

Day 17: Back to Amman

We leave the "perfection" of Abu Dhabi for Amman. Life in Jordan feels so much more real than the UAE...complex, disorganized, human. It is good to be back.

Day 13: Sheik Zayed, the founder of the UAE

The UAE is 39 years old this year

Day 12: Abu Dhabi at night

Day 11: Traveling to Abu Dhabi

Arriving in Abu Dhabi late at night. The air is perfect, the streets are empty, but less than 5 hours before I have to get up...

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Day 10: Sunset

Friday, December 10, 2010

Day 9: More from our street



We live on 9th Sha'ban Street in Jabal Amman, but since street names were only put in recently (and there isn't really a tradition of using spacial data in Jordan) no one knows it by that name. The foreigners call it the pet shop street and though I don't know how Ammanites typically refer to it, they know what I mean when I mention the bird and fish shops. The other distinguishing feature is that it is right next to Rainbow Street, which is known all over Amman as it is one of the only real pedestrian areas in town, full of restaurants, cafes, and galleries.

Our street is somewhat old and dirty (it hasn't gone through the revitalization of Rainbow Street) but the bird stores below us have the really nice side effect of starting and ending the days with singing.

Thursday, December 09, 2010

Day 8: Taxis in Amman

Today was too busy with meetings, deadlines, and inching through the terrible Amman traffic... I also had a somewhat typical exchange with a taxi driver. As I stood outside the Marriott after a meeting, deciding what to do, a young guy came up and asked in great English if I needed a taxi. I wasn't sure he was driving an official taxi because he wasn't in it and it was parked across the street, but he confirmed it was indeed a yellow official taxi. He said he'd just charge me 1 JD extra because of the traffic but wouldn't use his meter. This is a common trick amongst Amman taxi drivers who prefer to offer foreigners overpriced flat fares. I said, "but you're not a "hotel taxi" right?" as their base rate is 5JD when my expected fare with a meter was just over 1 JD. He said, right, and, tired and ready to get home, I agreed. On the way we had a great conversation about Jordan, Palestine, his experiences in Palestine and mine (something like 70% of Jordanians are Palestinian by origin and residency permit. Mentioning that we've lived in Palestine often starts a nice discussion and has even led to situations where I have to force the driver to take my money because we have such a nice bond!) By the time we arrived and I asked him "Adesh? (how much?)" he was ready to give me a discount. I offered him 2 and he said 3, down from 5--he was a hotel taxi after all!

Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Day 7: Planet earth collages


I'm trying not to accumulate too much as we prepare to move back to the US so am making art out of found paper (like my early days of collage...). I worked into some exhibition fliers I found with a combination of marker, watercolor, thread, vellum, and salt.

Day 6: Views of Amman


Day and night views from our stairwell in Amman

Sunday, December 05, 2010

Day 5: The Utopian Airport Lounge





"Doesn’t everyone dream about an ideal world? Does anyone actually enjoy transition? The Utopian Airport Lounge is a public art exhibition inspired by Le Corbusier’s visual and abstract approach towards utopia in combination with Marc Auge’s hypothesis on non-place. This project compares the city of Amman to an airport waiting area, a place that could be seen, at the same time, a non place."

Day 4: Love on a bike

Rima Malallah is a delightful artist whose shop is just a block from our apartment. Her colorful, dreamy murals are around Amman and she also sells prints of her paintings on books, boxes, tables...I got this painting on a sketchbook as a Christmas gift.

Friday, December 03, 2010

Countdown to Christmas (and back to the US): Days 1-3

 Day 1: The sky here always seems bigger and bluer

On the road from Amman to Aqaba

Day 2: I'm seeing maps everywhere, and making them mine



Day 3: Reflections on pet shop street (9th Shab'an) in Amman




Inspired by Mila's Daydreams...But since we are also wrapping up our year in Palestine (with a couple of months in Jordan) I like the idea of winding down an intense year of adventure, hard work, and inspiration. I didn't make nearly as much artwork as I would have liked, but stored up a lot of ideas for the future...Since I'm starting a few days late, here are days 1 through 3 all together.