Day 101: Wearing Too Much Is Wearing Too Little Amman

(Her: Joanna)

The Lonely Planet guidebook already gave me heads-up that the Middle East is more conservatively dressed than Western society.  In high thirty degree Celsius temperature, I have worn my light cotton T-shirt that covers my shoulder and long airy pants thinking that this is so covered up for this kind of temperature. 

Boy, was I wrong!  When I was walking through the market in Amman, firstly, there are proportionally less women in the market buying groceries than Asia or North America; secondly, 95% of the women are fully covered up with headscarf, long sleeves shirt/dress and full length pants/dress; thirdly, people were giving me so much attention either because I’m a foreigner or I have worn “too little”.  I instantly felt that I should probably wear long sleeves too.  I was a bit uncomfortable walking through the market and was clanging onto Charlie.  Everyone we’ve met was really friendly and welcoming us on the street but I was experiencing some kind of cultural shock and being a foreigner, I have no concept of what the socially acceptable standard is and being uncomfortable to be caught in between being respectful to a culture and not knowing. 

Being lived in the “Western” society, I was exposed to bikinis, tanks, g-strings, and short shorts.  I was a bit culture shock by seeing most of the ladies in Amman all covered up.  I completely forgot that I used to be part of a mildly conservative society in HK: you wouldn’t see too many short shorts on the street even in the summer, t-shirt covering the shoulder is more common than tanks, and even when girls wear tanks, they would wear something to cover their cleavage.  I guess when you grew up in that culture, you don’t even put second thought to the option of wearing less even when the weather is unbearably hot.