On my way to the
airport in Berlin just so much went wrong that at one point, I was certain to
miss the plane. With my last bit of hope and outright stubbornness of getting
to Amman today, I called a cab. Anxiously I asked the driver to hurry. Surprisingly,
my driver told me he had lived in Amman for 1 year. Originally from Damascus,
he lives in Germany since 1990 but decided to spend time in Jordan to have his children
grow up – at least for a while – in the midst of Arabic culture. After painting
me a beautiful picture of life in Amman, he suddenly said something that eased
my anxiety at once: “Don’t be too ‘German’
while in Jordan.” He explained how Germans tend to stress out when small
travel-troubles arise while they encounter
the foreignness abroad. Judging from my own observance, he was just so right:
When I was living in Canada, I adapted a certain don’t-worry-it’ll-be-fine- attitude. This has been the result of
the demonstration effect which
describes the phenomenon of foreigners adopting some behavioral patterns of
another culture or lifestyle during their touristic endeavors and their visit
of unfamiliar terrain. Some tourists even incorporate some of these aspects
into their own daily life.[1]
That I had left
behind ‘German anxiety’ while in
Canada, occurred to me upon my family’s visit. Smilingly I observed just how
German-touristy they were. And now my driver told me to take it easy and to
approach Jordan with curiosity, openness and above all with calmness. I decided
to take these wise words to heart; In stark contrast to the German foreign
ministry[2]
– these were just the best travel advice I could have asked for! I wonder if at
some point our group will be doing it
the Jordanian way.
[1] Stephen Williams, Tourism Geography (London: Routledge,
2009). See: Chapter 6
“Socio-cultural relations in tourism.” For the demonstration effect see:
138-139.
[2] Auswärtiges Amt,
'Jordanien: Reise- Und Sicherheitshinweise', last modified 2015, accessed
August 20, 2015,
http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/DE/Laenderinformationen/00-SiHi/JordanienSicherheit.html.
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| The journey to Amman begins - thanks to my taxi driver I already feel more relaxed |
What a perfect beginning for travelling to Jordan!
ReplyDeleteAnd a perfect "instruction" for German tourists aus well ��
Have you ever discovered other lifestyles and cultural habits when you travel in another country that you wished to incorporate in your own daily life?
DeleteLike, having siesta, eating/drinking certain things or adopting a more I-got-all-the-time-in-the-world kind of attitude?
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