Jordan and free hugs

July 6, 2009 at 11:05 am · Filed under Arab Culture, Art, Music

So what happens in Jordan’s streets when a much-imported sign of affection and a brand new internet phenomenon collide?

An awkward but hilarious video of an English man wearing an out-of-place mascot patting backs as quickly as possible.

This video is really amsuing.

If you compare it to the first “Free Hugs” video, the first thing you’ll notice is that dude, Jordanians can’t hug for shit. You don’t get that happy-mushy feeling watching them hug, except perhaps for the little girl at the end. What you do get is laughs, and to me laughs are much better than mush.

I think that the plenitude of locations the free hugs were offered is pretty impressive- Petra, Abdoun, Downtown, Rainbow, Sweifeyeh… It’s too bad I didn’t run into the mascot, I would have probably enjoyed hugging that sun.

Growing up, hugs were an essential part of my life. I hugged my friends hello, probably because we grew up in a very multi-cultural community, where the Arab kiss-on-the-cheek wasn’t the norm. Coming to Jordan later on, I was at first a little annoyed with the hug-less-ness of this society. These days, I usually get my hug fix from my brother Gus. 

My favorite hug in the video happens on minute 2:00. What’s yours?






  • Nina

    my favorite hug is at 3:21 – the guy running up the stairs in petra to give him a hug. oh and the little girl; so cute.

  • http://www.anolitasmind.com Khalidah

    You are so right about the emotionless hugs … this video made me realize that we are so deprived … the human interaction in our society is completely not available …

    Sad for us …

    I would not describe these as hugs .. maybe the little girl … but she will grow up soon enough and snap out of it … :)

  • http://www.dadan.net dadan

    this is really funny … ilike

  • http://ksharif.blogspot.com/ Khaled

    I thought at first he wasn’t going to get any hugs – what a strange country we are!

  • Rami

    why did i read this Free drugs!

  • Stephen

    Yeah the kid at the end was the best because it was sweet. I would have been tempted to try and lift him as I hugged him.

  • http://random-mk.blogspot.com Samer_Historian

    Wow.. ! finally in Jordan… i have been waiting for this to happen for a while! i couldn’t stop smiling while watching the clip.. amazing work.. my favorite hug is @ 3:18 with the little girl..

    Thanks for sharing xD

  • Nick Fraser

    Thanks Roba – that was really funny and made for some nice memories too.

  • http://lostwithin.net Alaa

    honestly, nothing is funny about this video!
    its stupid to hug this sunny ugly custom, ppl will feel weird to see it, what about hugging it!

  • http://palforce.blogspot.com Palforce

    My God the 3:20 little girl hug is precious.

    Arabs are not good huggers; I have come to this conclusion long time ago. Growing up we didn’t hug, we just kissed on the cheek.

    But in the states I got into the hugging bandwagon so I and my kids hug each other maybe 5 to 10 times a day.

    I think hugging could cure most of our tangled emotions.

    We need to start Hugging Campaigns.

    - Hug a Stranger.
    - Hug a Cop.
    - Hug a Jewish.

    You get the idea.

    Peace

  • Farrah

    My fave is 3:40… so unexpected

  • http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=94691269778&ref=ts Mike “MC Micro”

    The last hug with the little girl is probably the best, you can feel something there.
    But its sad how arabs don’t know how to hug! and when they do its emotionless like everyone else said!