“No Comment” caricature by Wael Attili

The Jordanian blogosphere is discussing more traditional aspects relating to our culture and language this week. Khalidah writes about Jordanian traditions when it comes to marriage, this time discussing why she doesn't think the traditional method of arranged marriage works, “heck the chat rooms and see for yourself how many married men are seeking discreet relationships with other women because they are not happy and feel that they made a mistake when they married someone they did not know. You would be shocked to learn that these men are willing to have affairs just to feel good about themselves, and when asked why they don’t communicate with their wives; mostly the answer is: she does not understand me.” Naseem Tarawneh meanwhile rants about his dislike for Valentine's Day, “This is about culture people. The preservation of whatever it is we have left that has not been completely destroyed by goliath western machines that go by the name of ‘Hallmark’ and ‘Hersheys’.”

Lina Ejeilat has several posts about the Arabic language, discussing how it has recently come into the limelight; “It saddens me to think of the motive behind this recent emphasis on teaching Arabic abroad, but I still think we can take advantage of that from a different angle… Understanding cultural aspects is just as important as language translation, and this is where we cannot count on the US government to ensure this education.” Naseem Tarawneh also writes about the Arabic language, this time posting a short movie on the new phenomenon of Arabizi, a form of speech that mixes Arabic with English and that is widely used among Jordan’s Western-educated elites.

Tololy expresses her frustration at the negligence of Jordanian towns other than the capital, “It is most upsetting to think of the negligence that other cities than Amman suffer from, “How can any logic try to minimize the rates of immigration from rural and subordinate cities to Amman, without first trying to improve the wretched conditions in which people in the large majority of these areas live? Do I see a brake in the sense of it?” Tololy's frustration is well placed, and as Natasha Tynes reports, after a study conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, it was revealed that Amman is the most expensive city in the Arab world. Jordanian coastal city of Aqaba is getting a lot of limelight these days, Ahmad Humeid reports on the ‘Aqaba, Five Years of Achievement’ conference that took place this week. Among a series of posts, he writes about a project that is developing a Smart Village in Aqaba, which will consist of serviced office facilities as well as a convention center.

The Jordanian budget was also passed out yesterday, with Khalaf citing it as “embarrassing”.  Jordan also changed it's position on Hamas, as Natasha Tynes writes, “So after expelling Hamas leaders some years back for “collaborating on Jordanian soil with foreign sides that do not like Jordan or its well-being,”Jordan has changed its position on the organization and is now accepting the status quo following the sweeping victory of the armed group during the recent Palestinian parliamentary elections.”