I was looking at a small store that I pass by every morning on my way to work and I never knew what it was, until I stopped today and read a sign on its side saying (Adult Shop).
I smiled as I was remembering a ten-year old kid in Amman downtown grabbing me from my shirt asking "Beddakesh filim sikis?" (Do you want a porn movie?) pointing to a huge collection displayed on the street in front of everyone to watch. Downtown Amman has become a place where porn industry is flourshing with its CDs/DVDs and movie theatres, and the audience is huge.
It was wonderful to see Jordan featured in Guiness book for World Recrods, when Shafeeq Irshaidat's street was mentioned as the street with the greatest number of internet cafes in the world, namely 104. Sadly enough if it wasn't for porn most of these cafes would have not opened in the first place.
Talking about alcohol, what are the resrtictions on buying alcohol in Jordan? Practically nothing. Anyone can buy it. A teenager can walk in a place which serves alcohol, sit down in the bar and scream at the bartender with his/her childish voice "Amstel".
People tend to underestimate the danger of alcohol in Jordan, but it's good to be aware of a study conducted by the department of Forensic Medicine in the University of Jordan about ten years ago which observed that 10% of people admitted with automobile accidents to the hpsital have detectable alcohol levels in their blood by the time they are tested, which could be many hours after the accident. Ten percent seems to be a high percentage for many Jordanians.
Some personal examples.... A guy I know was driving completely drunk outside Amman and the policeman stopped him and took him to the police station, yelled at him because drinking was a son. The guy admitted he was mistaken and was released without paying anything.
Another guy I know crashed his car as her was drunk, and the first he did was calling a sober relative and told him to say that he (the relative) was the one driving. Even I used to drink occasionally in Jordan, never got drunk but never thought about not driving after driniking a few beers. In America I never drive even after a sip of Champagne.
I remember the last time I went to Salute (A restaurant in Jabal Amman), I found a bunch of teeange girls totally drunk at 7 pm in a birthday party and who were not sober enough to get up the few stairs up. Similar scenes can be spotted around Amman, not to mention kids smoking in public looking more confident than a mature man peeing behind a rock on the Airport Highway.
By the way, to those who don't know Salute's first floow was a KG. Ironic! Don't you think?
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25 comments:
So 10% of drivers involved in accidents are drunks, what is the excuse of the other 90%. This statistic actually confirms something I always suspected. Jordan drivers are worst than drunks.
We are pitiful...
completely true, i go like 4 times/month to down town i like it there alot and i enjoy watching ppl.. of course i go with dad, otherwise i would killed hehe jk
i saw that basta with Cd's on it and wodered how they are few and no one is there buying, at least when i passed.. so on my way back i took a look at the cd's and whats written on them, so it was saying that u were right with this post :) so it amazed me how some ppl have this immaturity and i dono what to call it.. i didnt know there's a whole store for such things..
the other thing about drinking.. i cant agree more and ive been in such experience with a teenager in the family, it was terible!! so disgusting :S and since then i hate the smell of it, the look the shape the name of alcohol! i just hate it sooooo much.. i didnt love it before but i thought it was a personal issue which i found its not..
gov should be more responsible about that, shops should be too..
thanks for this post..
hareega nazel il picture shwai la ta7et,, the title mo mbayen... 7aram,, it's more appealing min il post;)
Irbid is better than amman regarding these restrictions....coffee shops are "most not all" of the times monitored by officials.....
but still i go to parties were young people drink and no one can tell me why do they do so...they don't know the meaning of "mazaag and keif" yet
its globalization! and communications, we are just consummer without even studying the effects positive or negative to those newly brought things to our culture, in the west there are many studies i think, here just take it and don't leave it :)
i know this 20 year old guy who worked,and still currently working as a bartender!...i think thats too young to control urself..
bt frankly,what pisses me most is those muslims running around bragging about their drinking habits..
Eyad, I do not agree that this phenomenon is strictly because of globalization .. Arabs used to drink alcohol before Islam and there was no globalization then .. Alcohol is as old as humans .. the way I see it is that if someone chooses to drink .. he/she must be responsible and accountable at least for his/her own life ..
dozz, I, too, would like to hear the justification of Muslims drinking and bragging about it ..
As for porn CD/DVD's .. in Dubai we used to get knocks on our doors all the time from Chinese girls selling these things with a smile and other things if you are interested ;)and that is in a place where they block everything online .. yeah right!
At least in Amman, we still don't have this door to door service, right? .. pathetic!
you are so right.. no restriction.. a 5 year old can walk into a liquer store and buy a bottle of whisky and down it right there and then. no questions asked. the drinking and driving is out of control.. I see it every thursday.. as we drink, we take turns on the DD for the night. (designated driver who does not drink).. it works.
Oh... Salute was a KG.. imagine that the same people who were at this kindergarten are the same people drinking there today... Ironic...
http://iheartamman.blogspot.com/2006/02/porn-vcd-is-jd-05-in-jordan.html
I agree, there are too many drunk people behind the wheels in Amman.
I recently saw first hand how harsh some are dealth with when they are drunk in Jordan. My face still hurts from the seeing them administer the first slap. Then they beat the stuffing out of him and somehow postitioned his legs behind his head...the human body isn't supposed to bend that way. Then it was off to the station....and I don't want to even imagine what they did to him there.
I agree yab yab.
seeing the coming generations gets me concerened, they cant seem 2 see the differentce between cool n stupid.. i hear strange things from small girls at any W.C. in the malls of amman!!
first, wow! Porn on the streets of Amman? hehehehe i never would have thought that.
Second, if the law enforcement was more strict in Jordan maybe the drinking and driving might not be an issue. am not sure is it that big of an issue? we have strict enforcement here in the US yet you stil see it happen a lot.
jameel, i tend to agree. Sometimes I drive after >24 hours of sleep deprivation and I drive worse than an alcoholic.
adel ... be optmisitic man!
jano.. i'm afraid the government will only respond after more disaster start happening or after the son of an important official dies from a drunk driver.
lubna .. since i changed the color of my blog and its desing and the titles are not appearing well. Mesh 3aref shu asawwi maybe i have to change the blog's desing again! but thanx for the note
bassel if someone wants to drink 50 million gallons of whiskey in his house that's fine but to put other people's lives at risk because of it is not acceptable.
eyad... teenagers lack education about all the hazards they face including smoking cigarettes, I think that's the killer.
dozz.. 20 yrs as a bartender! dude this guy is having lots of fun :D
khalidah, no the door service is not there yet. People have to do some effort to look for porn. We're not as rich as Dubai.
anonymous yep the Kindergarten is now called the beer garden :D
firas yep i reember that link
hamede thanx
lammoush they lack education, really teens lack education about tobacco, alcohol, drugs and sex and they're exposed to all of that.
Linda the laws need not be exactly like those in the US. Most teenagers and young people in Jordan live with their parents so just giving a DUI or underage drinking once to a young guy/girl once will allow their family to give the right punishment.
On a totally unrelated note, did you guys notice that "2ahweh" on the second floor? It's walls look like some blogs I've seen! 200 world flags :)
I guess that kind of decoration is not new after all!
It’s hard for anybody to recognize they have an alcohol problem, and people in their teen years don't make an exeception from this rule .
It's your discovery, good job!
Anything!
that why i loooove jordan i can drink though im under 21,ironically in the states i would be charged with a misdemeanor for under age drinking lol
Also scary, isn't it? Wall Mounted Fireplaces Available as both chest freezers and with front doors, biomedical freezer with front door is generally preferred over the former by most professionals. UV Water Filtration Should be Combined with Other Water Filter Treatments
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