Amman skyline
I was baffled when I saw this picture on Lina’s blog. The photo highlights the new face of Amman: cranes dotting the new skyline of the Jordanian capital. It took me a while to recognize that I was looking at was my beloved hometown, which I have not visited for over a year.

At first glance, I thought the picture was taken in a city in the Persian Gulf, Dubai or maybe Doha. What threw me most were the skyscrapers — a sight I always associated with busy, hectic metropolises, not my quaint Amman, the city where I was born, raised and shaped.

Here is how Roba describes the new, fast-paced change:

Amman is changing, and it’s changing fast. Nothing is ever closed on Fridays anymore, the crowd at the malls is a cosmopolitan mix of people from all over the world, and you can get really decent shopping done at City Mall. Even more decent than that in Saudi Arabia. Personally? I love it 🙂 Of course, everything has a negative side to it as well, but for now, I’m enjoying the changes.

This sudden change is mind-boggling for me at least. Have I been away that long? I wonder.