Well, with exactly one month left until I finish my semester here, I am ready to come home. I think I have experienced a lot, more than I would have thought, good and bad. I have seen so many sights, been to Lebanon, eaten so many different dishes, just about everything.
While I have heard of girls having bad experiences with the guys here, I really haven’t had anything awful happen to me, other than the regular cat calling. But today was a different story. As I was waiting for my host brother to pick me up after school, I notice an older man sitting in the car in front of me. I don’t think anything of it because he’s probably waiting for someone. He revs his engine a few times, and I still don’t think anything of it, but I do keep an eye on him. He revs his engine one more time, and we make eye contact. He then proceeds to make kissing sounds at me, and blows me a kiss. I quickly look away, as I am disgusted and embarrassed. I am still just sitting on the bench, listening to my ipod, and I can tell he is saying things to me, and motioning for me to come over. I get fed up, so I get up and walk in the other direction to catch a cab. As I am walking, thinking I won’t have to deal with him anymore, I hear a car coming up behind me. It pulls up next to me, and it’s the same guy. He continues to say things at me, and drive along side me. I keep my face forward, jaw locked and hands in fists and continue walking, and he still is following me. I ignore everything he is doing, and am getting more and more flustered and embarrassed, and I can feel the tears in my eyes. I keep my composure, and make it to the tunnel, to cross the street and catch a cab. I was so embarrassed, and angry. Everyone could see what was going on, but no one does anything, or everyone pretends not to notice. It was not a good day. I know this may not seem like that big of a deal, but it was just really humiliating for me. There was no reason for him to act like that, I was dressed modestly, nothing tight, low cut or crazy at all. Okay, so my sleeves were two inches above my elbows, and my pants were rolled to lower calf. But seriously, why?! It’s really unfortunate, and unfair that I am just supposed to accept that, and do nothing about it. This is the one thing I do not like about Jordanian culture. The way the men act towards women, western women, is awful.
