True Story

So, we live in a ritzy, Western part of town. Yesterday, Jordan descended his dark staircase from the 4^th floor to the ground floor to buy falafel, when, to his surprise, he found three big Arab guys in the entry way holding clubs. “WHERE DO YOU LIVE?!” they demanded. Jordan is big and in the Army, but he was scared and answered honestly, “upstairs.” “WHERE UPSTAIRS?!” When he answered they just nodded, satisfied, and proceeded up the stairs. Jordan followed them to the floor below his and watched them beat on the door of the apartment below his. The three guys got in the door and started wailing on the guy inside. 

Jordan ran upstairs and got his big knife (pshaw, I don't know why a knife is his weapon of choice, it's more of a deterrent than a smart fighting instrument). His roommate, a Jordanian-American named Sami, asked what he was doing. Jordan was just scared and stayed in the apartment with his weapon while he and his roommates listened to this beating of three guys on one for half an hour.

Their neighbor called the police. The police waited outside the building for 10-15 minutes before coming in. When they walked into the apartment, they looked at the guys with clubs then at the guy who was beaten and arrested the latter.

Crazy story. But this is why it makes sense.

The beaten guy is a Saudi dentist. He is either living with or just having a relationship with the woman in that apartment. The woman is a widow of 4 months and mother of a couple kids. When her neighbors saw what was happening with the dentist, they told the super who called the relatives of the dead husband who dispatched these three men to administer what is probably watered-down tribal justice. One of our teachers said that if the widow didn't have kids, she would probably be killed. I'm not sure what the fate of the dentist would be.

Tribes are huge here. The Jordanian government generally stays out of tribal disputes because they follow their own rules and peace doesn't come until those rules are followed. If there's interference, there's usually more crimes committed than if they leave them alone to work out their own truces. Jordan and Sami said they probably arrested the beaten dentist in order to protect them. If they had arrested the three men, they would have just called their cousins and the cycle would continue till justice was served, tribal-style.

Another opportunity to realize “we're not in Kansas anymore.” Most interesting vicarious cultural experience yet!