Shininh Out Of The Crowd

This has always been my fear, the fear of what is going to happen next? Am I going to blend in or will I become the odd? I knew from the beginning that it would never be easy and I would hate it, nevertheless, I took a shot at it knowing that this opportunity comes once in a blue moon. Before I get into this let me talk a little about where I come from. I was born and raised in Jordan, in a Middle Eastern culture where our everyday life is very much comforting. Our family gathers together and watches television in the living room every evening, my dad would watch the news for a solid hour or two and not get bored at all, and then us- the rest of the family- argue about wanting to watch something else other than the boring news which would be more like a Turkish series that is translated into Arabic, and don’t ask me why us Arabs watch Turkish series on a daily basis, because I don’t actually know why but it became more of a habit, and we would have lunch together most days if not all.

Oh, and you better bet that Jordanian food is amazing. We also go out with friends a lot, and whatever we do it depends on where and when we go out, we usually go out for lunch first and then go hang out somewhere in a youth café, where we sit around and have chats about very random topics that could vary from talking about movies and TV series to talking about a random fight that happened between random people at school, play cards, and sometimes even play pool or play an online game together on our phones. However, if we all agree that we were on a low budget but wanted to hang out, we would go to one of us’ house and hang out there instead.

Then there’s the importance of family. We have a very tight relationship with our extended family. At least once a week we have something called a Zyara or a “Visit” where we meet in our grandparent’s houses with our aunts and uncles and many more cousins and second cousins. Family relations are emphasized heavily in our culture. Everyone makes the most of their fun. I for instance really enjoy taking pictures since photography is my hobby, I find joy in that. I like to take walks in the neighborhood with my friends, which is a common thing that we do a lot in Jordan, I don’t really like going to crowded places such as malls as much as hanging out with friends anywhere in the neighborhood. We also have a very tight relationship with our friends too.