Middle Eastern Halloween

Taylor and I did not coordinate outfits—we just look badass like this all the time. (On a side note, depending on whether you're reading this from "over here" or "over there," one of these Halloween costumes must look very original and the other not at all.)

My friends David, Taylor, and Mike hosted a Halloween party at their apartment tonight. I convinced my host brothers Deeb and Laith to bundle a costume into their backpacks and sneak out with me to grab a cab. Highly skeptical of my story, until we arrived they didn't quite believe that everyone else at the party would be wearing costumes.

Soon we were sipping beers in a crowd of assorted Jordanians, Americans, and Europeans dressed as ancient Greeks, modern sheikhs (my pick), cowboys, comic book heroes, and animals. Good times.

And finally, a little self congratulations: This outfit represents perhaps my greatest triumph—the pinnacle of my Arab world market education. To buy the white jellabiyah, I bargained a downtown shopkeeper down from 32 Jordanian dinars to just 2!