some guy in lebanon

One of the first things I told myself that I would do when I came to Jordan is not drink. I’m not really sure why, but I decided that would be a good idea.

First off, for those of you who have the suspicion that people in the Middle East don’t drink, or have certain religious impositions towards drinking, you are horribly mistaken. There are bars, liqour stores, clubs, and house parties. In fact, most people claim that 60% of the population in Jordan drink. That may or not be true. That said, most Egyptians, Lebonese, Israeli’s, and those from the Gulf States drink. I’d say the vast majority of Jordanians drink. The only thing that Islam has done in terms of booze is to make these people completely ignorant of the effects of alcohol: everybody drinks and drives, people drink to massive excess, and nobody drinks “socially.” In otherwords, this is a region of bad drinkers. Imagine a middle school that was suddenly flooded with alcohol – That’s the Middle East.

So, no, it’s no easy matter to “not drink,” here, though I’ve noticed one thing: A complete lack of alcohol based advertising. In this way, the pressure to drink here is enormously less than in America, because there is no “lifestyle” of drinking. People here drink to get drunk, not to be cool.

Yes. That’s my statement: “People here drink to get drunk, not to be cool.” Now for a drinker who is trying not to drink, I’ll say that from a social perspective, it’s sort of wonderful, because not only is there not too much pressure to drink, but I also get to see first hand what a bunch of idiots wasted looks like.

But it’s certainly not the easiest thing I’ve ever done – Going out to a club here (like we did last night) and not drinking… at a BAR of all things, is interesting. It’s definitely condusive to not dancing, that’s for sure, for as the Bard Paisely song “Alcohol” goes, “I’ve been making the bars lots of big money, and helping white people dance.”

Anyway, I’m not really sure why I chose to write about this, but for all of you back home who are flooded with Coors Light commercials promising instant sexual gratification from getting boozed up, I tell you, this is probably the problem. In the Muslim world, there is no “culture” of drinking, people just get drunk. In America, alcohol is a way of life for a lot of people. I’m not sure which culture makes it easier to not drink, but for the record, there is definitely a different feeling to the social fabric when it goes so understated.

Yeah – So Jordan’s still great, sorry about my tirade yesterday. Culture shock can suck sometimes, but what are you gonna do? Can’t hide in your room all day, but sometimes, you can until 2:30.

Much love,
wd

PS Ann Coulter still sucks. But so does Al Gore apparently, so I guess it’s all in equilibrium. PPS Who shoots someone in the face with bird shot? Not cool Dick, not cool.

The Dao that can be experienced is not true;
The world that can be constructed is not true.
The Dao manifests all that happens and may happen;
The world represents all that exists and may exist.
-Dao De Jing