The House on the Hill

This is my fourth trip to Jordan, and the fourth time that I've stayed at ACOR, the American Center of Oriental Research. ACOR is a big white stone building (like every other building in Amman) on a hill across the street from the University of Jordan (it's about a ten minute walk downhill to UJ, although a steep climb back up the hill). It's run with US government money and with private donations and it's established to give travelling American professors and students an inexpensive, safe place to stay when they're in the region doing research. It's $30 a night, room and board. Well, the board is really only a big lunch, which is almost always "comfort food" and not some exotic Middle Eastern delicacy. Yesterday we had fried chicken and today we had meat loaf. You cook your own breakfast (or pour a bowl from these seemingly self-perpetuating boxes of cereal that look suspiciously like the ones that were here on my first visit in late December 04, although they never run out). Supper is leftovers from lunch. It has a great library and some real archaeological treasures squirreled away down in the basement. You meet the most amazing people just sitting around chatting over lunch - folks that are out digging at Petra or finishing their tenth book or even lunatic Vermont professors pedalling an international online network. It's like the big nerd dorm on campus. Everyone is extraordinarily friendly and there is a real collegial atmosphere here. I remember on my first visit here I cajoled a bunch of professors to get up at 3:00 in the morning so that we could watch the college football national championship game broadcast live. People are always around if you want to go out to a restaurant or grab some ice cream or just sit around and talk about just about anything. They also have a great collection of DVDs that visiting professors have burned over the years and left as parting gifts so there is always something to watch on TV. It's in a nice neighborhood where you can walk up the hill and see some nice houses and a mosque or down the hill to find shops and restaurants. There is always a guard with a machine gun in front of the place, but I suspect that is simply because of the US connection. I've always felt completely safe both in ACOR and in Amman. I walk all over the place or jump in taxis and go all over the city and have always been treated warmly by everyone I've ever met here in Amman. ACOR itself has sort of become my home away from home.