Rooftop Water Tank

This is not a beautiful sight, but it is so important to each home. There is not open water each day in Jordan. Water tanks are filled 1x or 2x a week. During shortages, they could be filled 1x every 2 weeks. This water is for laundry, cooking, cleaning, and bathroom use. Our tank was attached to the neighbor's smaller tank in the back. The problem with that was that our neighbor could use up all her water and ours, too. Its a good idea to lock a water tank so your neighbors don't steal water or use a dirty bucket in your tank to steal. Life in a complex of houses can include lots of unpleasant interactions with neighbors because when the bills for utilities come due, someone in the building has to collect the money from the neighbors and deliver it to the utility office. The positive thing is everyone learns to value water and water day gets everyone outside cleaning and visiting while they hang their laundry and wash their sidewalks and rugs, etc.

Laundry Day

What is this? This is a semi-automatic washing machine. Its best if you do your laundry only on days when the water from the city is on. Otherwise, the water tank will become empty before the next water day and you will have to hire a water truck to come and refill your tank.

To actually wash the clothes you fill up the tub yourself and spin the clothes manually. Then you fill up the tub with new water for rinsing and spin again. The water is cold, even in the winter, but the water is recyclable and reusable for flushing and washing the floors. Lastly, you carry heavy loads of laundry to the roof to dry in the sun.

Cooking in Jordan

The kitchens are not designed by women. The only real workspaces in an older kitchen like this is to sit on the floor and process veggies and mix up a cake.

Ants are a real problem here, too. Even in the nicest, newest kitchens, those ants find ways to get in between the cracks of the tiles. Lots of the food storage is on the ground, too, which attracts them. Often people buy large quantities of rice, flour, etc and their size prohibits storing them in a higher place.

A Home in Jordan

The guest room is the prettiest room in the house. This room has the best furniture and drapes for visitors and overnight guests. Lots of chairs and tables for serving drinks and food. Usually there are decoratively-covered foam mattresses that can be brought in for sleeping. Guests will eat their meals on a low table or a tablecloth on the floor. The meals are served on a large, round tray called a sitar (sounds like sither)

Jordan

This was my front door. Hospitality is a big priority in Jordan and this is much more difficult than you think. Women need to stop everything and move to another room away from male visitors and make coffee, tea, or juice and serve some kind of food like fruit or sweets along with it.