Speed it Up...

Jordan, for all of its good qualities, certainly does not lack in specific behaviors that seem to baffle the mind. Take, for example, the seemingly full-population endemic of walking slowly. This might sound contrite, but every single person, without exception – men and women, old and young – walks slowly. There appears to be a switch that gets clicked off when they step foot out of their cars – cuz God knows, this certainly does not apply to their driving techniques – and they kick back into first gear.
I’ll be the first to admit, lollygagging has its place in the universe. When at the Grand Canyon, for example, the idea is to walk slow and take in the view. Or when getting in touch with your spirituality as you slowly stroll to the local church. These are all plausible scenarios in which “Sunday Walking” is deemed acceptable. However, there is no balance out here. Even when walking from a restaurant to a shop along a busy highway, they walk like they’re in a park feeding the ducks. And do not use the excuse they’re just enjoying life – life is a journey, not a destination, if you will – because when I’m running errands or walking on a busy street or trying to get somewhere with the sun slowly melting my skin away, the absolute last thing I want to do is take a nice stroll around town. I want to finish up so I actually can go enjoy life.
Not to mention, there is an extreme affinity amongst the population to adopt a herd-like mentality; meaning, no one walks alone (which of course makes the sole short-wearing American jaunting around town all the more awkward). So these huge groups of people will be creating this massive slow-moving barrier which is positively impossible to navigate around, making every errand or walk around town four times longer than it should be. It’s like a human traffic jam purposely trying to slow things down in the city, ala the massive bike rallies in San Francisco.
What’s worse, there is absolutely zero walking when on an escalator. Escalators are for standing on and being moved in a nice, relaxed fashion. The ultimate problem here, though, is that they don’t start walking once they’re off the escalators. What the hell are you supposed to do when you’re about to step off an escalator and there’s a horde of people standing there wondering where to crawl to next? Of course, oddly, I seem to be the only person that takes issue to this quandary. Somehow, as the one American in the mall goes barreling through peaceful families standing pat like a fricking bowling ball through bowling pins, everyone else glides in and out, apparently by the grace of Allah. Oddly, as I’ve mentioned several times, once they get back behind the wheel, all shit hits the fan. I just read, however, that the legislature is passing new traffic and public transportation bills, so apparently, I’m not the only one who finds a woman driving backwards on the highway slightly ridiculous.
Also, some real interesting articles:
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11670357
http://www.economist.com/world/africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11670939