a bit about the World Cup in Amman

I admit, I still believe...

As England tries for the third time to actually play a decent match, I finally sit down and write about the world cup in Jordan... It has taken me a while, but then am no football fan. Just see how the French are behaving themselves and you have the reason - okay only a French football team can go on strike - but I don't really like the spirit of the game. Besides that, it has been a rubbish cup for Europe anyways. Let's see if Denmark get qualified, one never know.

I got very surprised when I saw the Jordanian passion for football - they are not even qualified for the cup but still, there are flags everywhere, special lounges in the hotels and even shopping malls. That's another reason i haven't written about this before now: we went for lunch at the Sheraton on the opening day of the world cup and I visited their lounge. I wanted to go back and get pictures, but time is flying and I haven't had the occasion. Shame, it's nicely done. The early games can be watched in the "indoor world cup lounge": lots of flags, flat screens, big sofas: a really nice ambiance. The evening game is shown outside at the Sanctury as well as inside. The Sanctury is the outdoor lounge there - will make a post about that - and you can reserve your own tent with private TV to watch the game. Pretty cool, if you are into football of course!

You can see the entrance to the World Cup Lounge at the top of the stairs

So, I was saying, the Jordanians have a true passion for football. Also, being in a non represented country, with so many expats give a special atmosphere. Take the flags for exemple. At the beginning of the world cup there were flags on many many cars around Amman, like the one at the beginning of my post. But unfortunately it was decided at some level that that was to be fined and so people had to pay 20 or 25JD because they had a foreign flag on the car. I think it's ashame it adds to atmosphere. Some people don't care about the fine so you still see some flags here and there but it is mainly expats. Yesterday I saw a Brazilian flag on the roof of a car, thought that was smart! Bobs took our flag off.  I really liked the idea. Might put it back up if England is qualified for the next round.

a couple of exemples of car decorations

This is the guy who sold me my England flag. He had many to choose from, but unfortunately he looked quite puzzled when I asked him for a Danish one... I think he didn't really know what I was talking about!

Even one of our local pharmacies is having flags up. I wonder why it is allowed to have flags on buildings and not on cars though?

1-0 for England... so maybe team GB still has a chance! Go England...