Photos by Andreas Fathalla, (Kalamazoo College), Student Correspondent for CET Jordan, Fall 2022
Our first Friday in Amman, the local neighbors took us students out to the Amman Citadel Hill (جبل القلعة), where we got to explore the ancient ruins as well as see this amazing view of the city of Amman. You’ll find that the city looks different at various times of the day, as the buildings change color along with the sun’s lighting.
Atop the Amman Citadel Hill, we were able to catch this view of the sunset over the city. I’ve found that in Amman you can go out almost any night and expect to see a beautiful sunset like this—perhaps due to the common lack of clouds in the city.
CET took us students out to Tawaheen Al-Hawa restaurant where we got to try a variety of Jordanian foods. This was just the first course—platters of barbeque and dessert were to follow. So many Jordanian foods are automatically vegetarian or vegan, so if you have a dietary restriction like that you should have no problem finding great food here!
I went for a run on the trails of the Al-Hussein Park, about a 10min drive away from the CET Center. The park is around a half mile wide and is built on a hill with a lot these small trees that can provide some nice shade if you’d like to pull up with a blanket and get some homework done.
Once I first tried mana’ish zaatar (مناقيش زعتر) in Jordan, I was hooked. Here I got it at the rooftop 7 Views Café in Al Swaifyeh (الصويفية). This café is right by the CET Center, so it’s also a great place to go and study after classes. Food here is a bit on the pricier side, but there are places along the street where you could get mana’ish zaatar for around $0.50 JD.
The Mary of Nazareth Catholic Church in Al Swaifyeh has this beautiful garden right outside. It’s just a few-minute walk away from the CET apartments, and it has mass in four different languages (including Arabic) at various times on Saturdays and Sundays which is convenient for anyone looking to attend mass while in Jordan.
A collection of Arabic books for sale at [email protected] in Jabal Amman (جبل عمان). The place has an expansive bookstore, offering books in both English and Arabic, as well as a café that is popular for people to go and study at.
Many of the walls around the city of Amman are covered in very unique and aesthetic murals. This one particularly stood out to me, I saw it as I was walking around town with my CET Language Partner nearby [email protected] in Jabal Amman.
Playing Backgammon with my CET Language Partner at Zghairon Café in West Al-Balad (وسط الباد). The café had a deal where if you win at Backgammon, you get 50% off any drink—that’s where this mint lemonade came from. We’re only required to spend three hours with our language partner each week, but we ended up hanging out way longer than that just for fun.
This is just a small part of the dessert selection offered at the Al Sufara bakery in Al Swaifyeh. The bakery has a wide variety of Jordanian breads and desserts, as well as some western baked goods. I often come here to get bags of pita bread—you can get a large amount for less than half a Dinar.