2010/11/14

2006.05.17_Amman Citadel and Champions League







Back in Amman, we hopped into a few laundry shops asking for the price. At last, a English speaking man in a hair salon recommended one right across from Cliff Hostel. HC and AK went to get their dirty clothes while I checked out the post office for stamps. After we were done with these, we decided to go to the Roman Theatre. I guess we had had enough Roman theatres in the past few days so we weren't willing to pay the admission and go in. We had a peek from the gate and off we go up the Citadel hill of Amman. Along the way we encountered a group of local girls running and playing along the street. They saw us and were very curious about us. We waved to them and took pictures of them. As we took pictures they turned even more excited and laughed out loud. It was a fun moment.

Being one of the oldest human settlement in the world, the site of Amman Citadel had been inhabited for over 7000 years. Today it lies in a ruin of building blocks. The most impressive remain on the hill is the ruins of Temple of Hercules, a Islamic palace and a modest archaeological museum, in which parts of the Dead Sea Scrolls are on display.

In the evening, we had dinner at a restaurant with a large balcony overlooking a busy street. After dinner we returned to the hotel and I immediately turned on the television hoping to watch the final match of the Champions League. No luck of finding a channel that showed the match, I ran back to the restaurant where we had dinner to watch the game. There were about 15 men watching the game in the tiny restaurant. I picked a empty chair behind a man, sat down and ordered a coke. A large window was opened out to the balcony. I could hear the noise and cheers from restaurants and teashops down below. It felt like everyone in the city was watching the game. The restaurant was awfully smoky as almost all 15 men were smoking cigarette or shisha (water pipe), having a bottle of coke, watching the game, and cheering for Barca. When Campbell scored the first goal for Arsenal, the restaurant owner came out and teased all of us. He yelled at me saying "Barca finishes, Arsenal good!" Throughout the game, many viewers went out to the balcony and yelled down to people on the street. I wasn't sure whether they knew each other or they were just too excited about the game. Assisted by Henrik Larsson, at around 75th minutes Samuel Eto finally scored the first goal for Barca. Juliano Belletti finished the game by scoring Barca's second goal at around 81st minute. Final score, Barca 2 Arsenal 1. It was a great result to many Barca supporters in Amman. As I walked back to the hotel, I passed by groups after groups of men coming out from tea shops and eateries after watching the game. Some were walking home in laughter, some were hopping on the cars parked along the street.

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