Scraps of Paper from Amman.

Literally. Scribbles only.

Journal Day 1

I am laying on my bottom bunk-I only have one mattress and I found a splinter of wood or something in it just a few minutes ago. There is a mattress above me that I’m going to steal-since no one is sleeping there-but right now I’m too lazy and “jet lagged”-(which I’m convinced is just an excuse people use when they don’t want to do something-I feel fine to tell you the truth).

Exciting. I thought the prayer chants were over for the night. They must be out of sync.

Amuteh muteh muteh-a punde-punyaaaaa-unyaaaa-ooo–ale solo-ale solo….

That’s what it sounds like. Deep and meldious but far away-we aren’t close close to any of the towers. I wonder what it’s like to live right underneath one.

AMUTEH MUTEH MUTEH!

Yay. : )

Jason, the film director for the documentary I am about to do sound for here-and one of my best friends is sound asleep next to me. He’s lapsed into that deep in, out….in….out…where you can hear the status of his nasal cavity on each breath. He’s in a beater and god know’s what. He has two mattresses. I don’t know why I am not doing that right now. Laying on two mattresses that is.

The singing has stopped. I really wish I knew what they were singing. I almost want them to sing constantly until the sun sets. For me. Not for any allah-spiritual significance. It makes me feel like I am Jordan when they sing. 

I drew the cityscape a few minutes ago. Not a very in-depth drawing I have to admit. A laxadasical blind-contour with a few peeks. I got some nice buildings-a prayer tower (I really wish I knew their real name)-though you can’t tell, and a satellite dish. I added in power lines over everything and it started to feel more real. I put in a snub-nosed van that was going down the road, and a black pinto-esque SUV which was going down the road too-but in a different direction.  The sky was pink haze to cerulean blue-no, not cerulean blue-that’s an ocean color-slate blue-building paint blue-that blue i see painted on alot of buildings here next to the whitewash. A fantastic blue. Almost like baby-blue but harder, sharper, more vibrant-much more life than baby blue. 

The light’s faliing now. I picked a corner bed (I arrived early so I had lots of choices) so I could peek out the window. Little diamonds of color rimmed in green from the holes in my mosquito netting. 

We have to start really working on the film tomorrow and I can tell I just wasted 100 dollars in DV tapes I can’t use-dissapointing. Apparently the camera didn’t work like I thought it did. You win some you lose some. 

Tomorrow will be a very good day. I can’t wait until we get wireless internet and I can go public with whatever. It’s weird to write it on sticky-notes. Maybe it’s best to write it on sticky notes first though.

It’s 10:09 AM in Portland now. I don’t have to heart to set my clock to Jordanian time. I think that means it’s like 8 PM here. Seems early for the sun to be going down. 

I hope I don’t get lonely here. I need to meet some Bedouins soon or something. That would be nice. : )