أرصاد أرضية

I loved Tom & Jerry - Shmeisani branch. And I wish I could eat one of those tiny nice burgers wrapped in colour coded paper... Probably the first to serve real burgers in Amman? I remember the times when it was only Beefy in Jabal Al-Hussein and the famous hot new place where they have something called "Self Service" in Tom & Jerry - Shmeisany... Believe it or not "Self-Service" was totally new it was only at Tom & Jerry that you had it. I was a kid back then and the idea of myself taking my own cool tray with the burger, fries and Drink was great. And when you're done you just empty the tray in a cool basket that has a nice swing door. Almost every kid in the growing up in the 80's & early 90's ate at Tom & Jerry... Soon new branches started opening and food quality dropped like today's stock market in every new branch until one day every branch closed down. Hmmm reminds me of the sudden disappearance of "Majdy Home...

youtube can be a real bless... I remember seeing this movie on Channel 6 almost 15 years ago... When no one had sattelites... The best documentary I've seen on lions by National Geoghraphic. I looked it up on youtube.com and found two clips from the ame movie (start and End), I'de love to see the full movie again. Anyway, check them out they are fantastic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnN1ciPHmhg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIVgKIuISx4

This post is the ridiculous labour, mental exhaustion, hallucinations and contemplation of the tiny minute details that passed us by so quickly... In short its about the rise and fall of "fafies" in Jordan... A new breed rising on the bones of others... The amount of change that we are witnessing in Jordan is fascinating. When I was in School, I remember that if someone was saying (aal o olna) instead of (gal o golna) or (MAMA) instead of (Yummah or El-Waldeh) lol... Then the poor kid was quickly classified as a "fafy" type of person... belonging to the people who live in Shmeisani!!! For those of you who don't know what a "Fafy" boy is... its the boy who's spoiled, rich and a classified wimp... The bullies and the teachers would use the famous good old question, "Where are you from, Shmeisani!!" -laughing-... To indicate that a boy is spoiled belonging to a class that doesn't know how to fight with the rough guys coming from the poor...

These are the pictures that tell the story of tearing apart a landmark in this country's heritage. If you want to torture a man who has great passion for the history of Amman, all you have to do is take him to stroll down Jabal Amman and walk around the School that was built in 1947, the "Islamic Scientific College" It's wall once stood tall all around the buildings that constituted the architectural stamp of a different era. Jordan is still young, a country that is less than a hundred years, so when you talk about buildings that are 60 Years old. The first international football field , is no longer there, instead you will find the new buildings in this picture. Some of the most influential people in this country studied behind those thick walls. Including King Hussein, Ministers, Princes, Politicians, Opposition figures and many more. The school's management seems to have a different architectural opinion!! So they started renovating, demolishing, removing struc...

رمضان عندما كنا صغارا كان شهرا للتحدي من يصوم الشهر كله... من يا ترى يقوم الليل أكثر... من يقرأ القران كله...إيه رمضان عندما كنا صغارا كان شهرا يشتاق إليه... كان شهرا للزيارة و اللعب كان شهرا ينتظر ليس فقط لموائد تتلألأ... و لا ..ليس فقط لأجل القطايف:) و لكن لأجل كل المجتمعين في بيت جدي رحمه الله... ايه رمضان و جدي متلازمان في الذاكرة... فلكل حفيد فانوس من مصر يضيء بألوان سحرية... رحمك الله يا جدي فقد كنت تعرف أن لرمضان بهجة ينبغي أن يعرفها الصغار و الكبار... ايه رمضان عندما كنا صغارا كان يأتي بالوقار... كان يصحو كل من في البيت وقت السحور حتى وإن كان رغما عنه و عن فرك العيون المغمضة... كان هناك من يأكل نصف نائم فيضحك أهل البيت و تبتسم القلوب قبل العيون... ايه رمضان عندما كنا صغارا كان يعني أن نصلي الفجر أن نسمع صوت أبي يصدح بالصلاة... أن لن يدخن اليوم أحد... اييه رمضان عندما كنا صغارا... كلا... بل رمضان عندما كنا كبارا كان أجمل... فكل عام و أنتم بخير و عسى أن نعود كبارا... ه This post is inspired by sha3teely's post وينك يا رمضان ...

كانت هذه إحدى الأغاني الإستفزازية و وسائل الضغط الفعالة في زمن اخر عندما كان يصيح أطفال الصف الرابع الإبتدائي عند إكتشاف أحد المفطرين يا عيبو... يا مفطر هلأ هلأ... و هناك الكثير من التشكيلات الشعرية بإيقاع مؤلم للمفطرين... يااه... أذكر أننا كنا نتحدى من سيصوم كل رمضان هذا العام و طبعا هناك دائما من كان مثالا في قوة الإرادة... شخص ما كان يفتخر بأنه صام رمضان كاملا في الصف الثاني إبتدائي و طبعا لا أحد يتجرأ على الكذب في رمضان... و خصوصا إذا قال أحدهم "إحلف" أو "الدنيا رمضان"... إيه يا ترى عما يتحدث أطفال الصف الثالث و الرابع ربما عن أغنية شخبط و لخبط أو تحدي السجائر يؤلمني أن براءة الأطفال تستغل في هذا الوقت و توجه إلى أغاني هابطة... عندما تصبح رموز الإغراء هي من يخاطب أطفالنا و يوجههم فثمة أمر ليس على ما يرام... أي مثال و أي هدف لأغنية تتكلم عن طالبة تغري أستاذا و كل يوم تتصدع رؤوسنا بشيء جديد... أنا شخصيا أفضل أغاني الأطفال الإستفزازية على طراز أيام زمان على طراز يا مفطر هلأ هلأ ... و لكني لا أستبعد أن تبدع مطربة أخرى بأغنية عن رمضان!؟ والباقي عندكم...ه

This is a true story, that I've witnessed during my university years... it started sometime around 1998... his name was Ramzi, I would never forget for he crafted his name so neatly on that notebook... his journey probably started at the tender age of Seven... He used to hold his tiny box of half full SB Gum, a box that looked a bit too large for his small hands... He would look you in the eye for a second, smile and walk those tiny steps in the hope that you would buy the product he is promoting, (his innocence and compassion)... He was different, he was polite, never said a bad word... a kid selling chewing gum... At days you would see him running away from university guards, who used to kick them out and confiscate his tiny box... his tiny source of livelihood... Ramzi grew up in a university surrounded by young men and women who knew him well, some hated the way he looked, some loved his spirit... I clearly remember the day when one of those young men bought him a present.....

First you should remember channel 2 or 6... I never knew why it was called channel 6 but that's how Jordan TV English channel was called in the old days... Remember RAMI Khoury on "Encounter"... For those of you who didn't catch up with this program it was a nineties thing before satellite dishes covered rooftops in Amman.... It was an interview program hosted by Rami Khoury, a rather large man with a beard! who had a perfect American accent... and every time, almost every episode you learned something new... It was really difficult to grab the attention of a kid in his teenage years... especially if you were talking about the "Six Thinking Hats"... But that's exactly what he managed to do? And I became acquainted with Edward De Bono and his work at creative thinking at that episode... He had great presence, it was totally new to a generation of Arcade gamers (Street Fighter II) was hot at that time :) an interview program that didn't have all the st...

Oil prices are soaring high again and its not even winter... More money in the gulf would naturally mean more money pumped into Jordan... And guess what? hmmm remember diesel prices... there was a scheduled rise cancelled later on because prices went down... Of course, in Jordan once the prices are up they don't go down easily even if it's an international trend... especially if the government is benefiting... But that's not the point... expect that someone would soon come and tell you... oooh prices are up again we will have to raise the fuel prices again... sorry, but dabber 7 alak ... A recent article in the newspapers pointed out that tourists from the Gulf are grumpy about high prices in Jordan... I never thought this day would come... Apparently, we are doing great... money is poured into Jordan in the form of concrete buildings and steel structures... Who benefits, traders in building materials, contractors, business owners... What about the rest, I'll te...

الزمان الشهر السادس من عام ألفين و سبعة.... مش ألفين و ثمانية عام الحرب المغناطيسية بحسب "عدنان و لينا" المهم نرجع للموضوع... عندما تشد الرحال من عمان في طريقك إلى العقبة و بعد عدة كيلومترات من المسير جنوبا تختفي كل المحطات الإذاعية من الراديو... لا ف م ولا ما يحزنون... و تظهر محطات أخرى... المهم إذاعات من سوريا و أولاد العم, طبعا إذاعة العدو و فهمناها بس شو جاب سوريا للجنوب ما حدا بعرف بس الإذاعات شغالة... طيب مش هون مربط الفرس مربط الفرس بأحد الإذاعات التي تبث أخبار الجيش و أشياء أخرى في الجنوب مش عارف ليش فتحت عليها و فجأة تعرضت لقفزة زمنية رجعتني لأيام "يا جيشنا يا عربي" و الزميل و الزميلة و العميد المتقاعد و مصطلحات من زمان ما سمعتها نشامى الوطن نفدي تراب الوطن بحياتنا إييه زمن التضحيات و كل هذا الكلام و تذكرت أنه لا يزال هناك أناس على قدر من البساطة يستمعون إلى أحلام من زمن آخر و يعيشون في أقسى الظروف أشد الأخبار وقعا في نفسي كان عندما تحدث عميد متقاعد مع" الزميلة" من قسم الإذاعة و أعلن بكل فخر عن أحد إستثمارات الجمعية و التي حققت ربح صافي في الشهر ا...

Does "The Last Ninja" ring any bells?! what about Summer Games? no maybe Curse of the Azure Bonds... or Nemesis.. no, maybe Hero... These are all great good old games from the mid and late eighties ... I'm having an adrenaline rush just thinking about the good old days of Sakher , Synklaire , Apple and the best of the best in those early days the "Commodore 64".... Now me and my brothers had a nasty addiction to Commodore 64 games... on Wednesdays (school vacation was Thursday and Friday back then), we would all get some (Ammunition or tha 7' eira which is code name for Food :) and stay awake all night "literally all night" playing one of those group games where everyone gets a turn, like summer games... Of course our parents didn't like that but we always managed to get around that issue... with a sad naive look on our faces... The sound and music offered by Commodore 64 was at that time the best thing ever... We would go to sleep at 7 am.....