dinsdag 25 augustus 2015

The first gaze of Jordan and its wonderful eggplants

I had such a wonderful first day in Jordan! It is so much more friendly, comfortable and accessible than I thought! Most of the anxiety I wrote about in my first two  blogs has been taken away by this wonderful country and has been replaced by enthusiasm. 

First of all, the people are very friendly.  Yes, they do stare at us, especially me being a blonde fair-skinned woman. We get some  looks while walking on the streets, and  some taxi drivers shouting or whistling at us. Not so great, but nothing worse than I experienced in Peru and Bolivia.We can easily walk the streets alone, even later at night although the man to woman ratio changes dramatically and the looks we get increase. Strange enough, as women alone or when accompanied by men, you cannot sit at certain places in restaurants. There are floors for men only and mixed gender floors. That feels weird.

One thing I want to discuss in my blog is the 'gaze', as described by John Urry.[1] It says that the way we use our senses while on holiday, being in a different place than we are used to, cannot be on a objective way. Everything you see (not only with your eyes) is influenced by your emotions [2], memories, character etc. 

As an example. Julia and I walked on a shouq, a typical Arab market. We stared at the fruits and vegetables as if we never saw them before in our entire lives! The eggplants were amazing! I wanted to text people at home how amazing these eggplants were! Of course the image we saw was affected by our good experience of arriving in Jordan, making everything (how mundane or normal what so ever) a sight to behold. I find it very interesting to see how much your mood and expectations influence the way you perceive your environment.

 But to be honest, they were amazing eggplants.

1. Urry, John. The tourist gaze. Sage, 2002.
2. And tourism is a very emotional business. See: Buda, Dorina Maria, Anne-Marie d’Hauteserre, and Lynda Johnston. "Feeling and tourism studies." Annals of Tourism Research 46 (2014): 102-114.

5 opmerkingen:

  1. I guess that's also why the pizza's in Italy always tastes better. Just the fact that your getting 'the real deal' since you are eating it in Italy and because the garnish consists of that quaint little square or the beautiful Italian scenery is enough to lift the experience. That’s why I don't mind not being objective whilst on holiday. Its part of the charm. :-)

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  2. In Dubai they have some amazing eggplants as well. All the fruit in the supermarket is SO DAMN PRETTY and they pile it up really nice as well.

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  3. In Dubai they have really nice eggplants as well. All the fruit is SO DAMN PRETTY and they pile it up real nice in all the supermarkets!

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  4. Thank you! I'll visit Dubai and start a new trend: Eggplant tourism. Traveling the world to see the best of the best eggplantwise :-)

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