Aug 28

Aug 28 "A Walk in my Neighborhood: Jabal Amman" by Achol Otto

Hello!

This semester, I’ve had the opportunity to live in Jabal Amman conveniently close to Amman’s downtown area. Jabal Amman, as it translates to Mount Amman, is one of the 7 hills that make up the city. This neighborhood hadn’t been built until the 20th century after Amman was declared the capital of Trans-Jordan. Soon afterward, it gained the title of being an elite neighborhood as numerous affluential figures began to move in such as, royalty, politicians, business owners, etc.

Join me for a walk to my favorite cafe in Jabal Amman, Books@Cafe, as I snap pics of beautiful sights within this huge neighborhood!

Hover over the pics to learn more info about each picture!

Rainbow Street is regarded as Amman’s most famous road with its plethora of restaurants and attractions. It is located east from first circle and leads to Mango Street. Photo credit: Otto, 2023.

A tall, broad sided apartment building stands alone. A giant mural decorates the side, it's of a woman in a yellow dress holding a floating, glowing lemon while looking out into the distance. She reclines in the branch of a tree. — Jabal Amman is the first neighborhood I’ve lived in where I constantly see murals both big and small, so I often find myself taking moments to sit on flat land and admire the beautiful artwork all around the neighborhood. Photo credit: Otto, 2023.

Books@Cafe is located on the historic Omar Bin Al-Khattab street that holds the nickname of Mango Street (deriving from the Mango House). Photo credit: Otto, 2023.

Jabal Amman holds a wide variety of flowers ranging from tulips, daffodils, carnations, orchids, etc. You name it and you can most likely find it here and many more beautiful flowers! Photo credit: Otto, 2023.

A close up of a notebook with notes in Arabic and English. In the background are highlighters and study tools, and a girl writes in a notebook of her own. — Photo credit: Otto, 2023.

I cannot emphasize enough how much this cafe has played an essential part of my studying abroad experience. Not only is it a beautiful and peaceful cafe, but the waiters are also extremely kind and offer to help with any Arabic concept you may be confused on. I’ve made many friends here and I’ll forever hold dear the awesome moments I’ve had at Books@Cafe.

Shukran,

Nosa

Achol (Nosa) is a student at Mount Holyoke College and is studying abroad on the Amideast Area and Arabic Language Studies Program in Amman, Jordan.