Neighbors (West & North)

Airstrikes and rocket fire on the Gaza Strip. Heavy smoke and buildings collapsed in Syrian cities. Another Saturday in the Middle East? Today, half of Amman seemed drawn outdoors -- families picnicking and playing soccer in the national park. Drivers out for leisure along the throughways. Vendors on every street corner selling belts, cauliflower, balloons, Birds of Paradise...

Yesterday, a demonstration in support of the opposition activists in Idlib. From the hilltop citadel, we could hear downtown's crowds a half mile or so below chanting as they marched. Buses of European tourists came and went, carrying with them conversations in German, Italian, French. We posed for family photos. Smiled and laughed. The Dead Sea was next, I overheard a British woman say. She hoped its mud might help reduce a scar "just there" at the base of her elbow. Such marks, I thought, are too easy to conceal.