This is going to be a long post, because there is so much to tell...starting with Monday the 11th. Last Monday, my friend Gideon and I were invited to hang out with Sara, the girl that had been coming to our dialect classes to help with speaking. Sara wanted to go walking for exercise, so we walked a few blocks over to this public exercise complex. There were families walking around the exercise tracks and we joined them as we spoke about living in Jordan as a Christian or a Non-Muslim, since Sara is a Christian. Sara said that living in Jordan was fine because she only associates with open-minded people, which made sense to me. No one has ever said anything negative towards me, and all of the Jordanians have been nothing but nice and friendly. The walk around the track stopped when one of Sara's friends showed up in her family's new silver car. Sara's friend had long brown hair, and lots of makeup on her face. Gideon and I hopped into the back seat of the car, that still had plastic on it, and off we drove. We drove all over town just talking and listening to music. After a while, Sara, Gideon, and I were dropped off in the middle of town and we walked to this amazing sandwich place called "Night Town." There was fresh French bread there, and I ate a delicious chicken sandwich. After dinner, we walked one block over to pick up a shirt from one on Sara's friends. Even though it was late, we decided to sit on the sidewalk and talk. I had a great night going out in Irbid with Sara and speaking Arabic.
Tuesday just happened to be test day. I woke up early and had a breakfast of coffee and a donut to ensure that I would be ready for the long day ahead. Reading class was held, and then we took our speaking tests. I compared life in Irbid to life in Oxford, I think it went well; I am still not sure what grade I made. Dialect was after our speaking test and our teacher, Rijan, decided that we should all go to the donut shop for a small field trip. The donut shop is quiet in the morning, but in the afternoon, it is a whole different place. There were "No Smoking" signs all over the walls, but there was cigarette smoke all over the room. There was loud club-like music playing in the background and the front room was filled with men, while the back room, where you order your food, was filled with women and mixed company. After that fun field trip, there was a short break and then it was test time. Media, reading, and listening was the order of the tests. The hardest test was reading, but I got through it okay.
I then made plans with three of the French teachers, Elaine, Katrine, and Mary. We went to a nearby shisha bar called Jafra. I ordered a strawberry banana fruit drink and it tasted amazing! The four of us talked for almost two hours about our different lives in our home countries. I asked them why they wanted to teach French as a foreign language, and they each gave different answers. Elaine, who is very open and friendly, said that she wanted to travel the world with her work. Katrine, who has light blonde hair and who is also half American, said that she had to hurry and decide on a job and that both of her parents are teachers. Mary, who is quiet but nice, loves learning new things about her mother tongue and teaching foreigners in France. We all got along well and decided that we would have to hang out again soon. I stayed home for about an hour and then I was off again to hang out with Sara. We walked and picked up one of her friends, Michael, who is from Jerusalem but is studying to be a dentist in Irbid. We went to this cafe that was located in this run down mall in the middle of town. Michael, Sara, and I spoke for a while and then Gideon and Ed joined us after their dinner. It was another eventful night in Irbid.
Wednesday was a busy day, because we were scheduled to leave at noon for our Petra, Aqaba (Red Sea), and Wadi Rum trip. We had a few hours of class before we left, but it was difficult for me to focus because I was already in vacation mode. Everyone from Ole Miss, Ayham (the man who takes us on all of our trips), his son, and the bus driver all left Yarmouk University at noon on a Yarmouk University bus with squeaky brakes. Our first stop was Petra! We arrived to Wadi Musa, the city surrounding Petra, around four in the afternoon. We stayed in the Crowne Plaza, and the first thing I did was jump into the swimming pool. I went out to dinner with Qua, Bobby Joe, and Iskander. We walked around town and picked a random restaurant. There were no customers, but we had faith that the food would be good nonetheless. Iskander and I both got this interesting dish that tasted like strange spaghetti sauce with lamb in it. At least I can say that I tried something new! After dinner, it was time to go to the Cave Bar which is a 2000 year old Nabatean tomb that has been transferred into a restaurant and bar. I spent an hour or so there and then decided it was time for bed, since I had to be up and ready early in the morning. My group left at seven Thursday morning to go see the ancient city of Petra.
Petra is one of the world's wonders and an ancient city built into rock faces by the Nabateans in 6th century BC. The Nabateans were a nomadic tribe that settled and built Petra for over 500 years, making it one of the biggest trading cites in the Middle East. Today, Petra is visited by tourists and admired for its beauty and sheer amazingness. The Siq is the main entrance into Petra, and when I walked in, I saw many Nabatean carvings and different colors in the rocks. The Siq slowly opened up and revealed the Treasury, which is truly amazing. It stands fourty-three meters high and thirty meters wide, has six columns in the front of it and carved figures at the top. Walking up to the Treasury for the second time, I was amazed. It is so difficult to give this city justice with words. My pictures do not even give the city justice. The only way to truly understand how amazing and inspiring Petra is, is to see it in person. After the Treasury, I walked along and saw tombs and houses that were also built into the rocks. I continued walking down the Street of Facades, and passed the Theatre that could originally hold 3000 people in it! Next was the Colonnaded Street, which marks Petra's city center, and from there, I found my way to the steps leading up to the Monastery. There are 800 stairs leading up the Monastery which is similar to the Treasury, but much bigger. The walk up took about fourty minutes and was extremely tiring; I forgot how tired I was walking up the stairs when I made it to the top and saw the Monastery for the first time. It is breathtaking and just makes you wonder how something like that could have been built. It was originally built to be a tomb, but there are cross carvings that suggest it was used as a church during the Byzantine times. There was a path to continue walking up a small rock to see a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains and area. The walk down was much easier than the walk up! My favorite part of Petra is the color of the stones. I find it amazing how there will be a pattern of pinks and purples on the carved rock. It is also obvious, upon seeing the city, why they call it the "rose-red city."
We all met in the hotel lobby around lunchtime to leave Petra and go to Aqaba. Before we got too far on the road, we stopped in the outskirts of Wadi Musa to have lunch. I went to this random restaurant and ordered Beruni rice and an Arabic salad. It was the perfect meal after such a long day of exploring. I slept the whole drive to Aqaba and we arrived around 4 PM; we stayed in the InterContinental Hotel, which is just amazing. There is a great pool area and a beach right behind that, leading to the wonderful waters of the Red Sea. The first thing that I did was go out to the beach! I stayed there for about thirty minutes before exploring the city with Gideon. Aqaba is Jordan's only seaport, and because of this, it has a rich history of Islamic conquests and governance by different Caliphates. The inner-city was bustling with people trying to sell their goods, anything from electronics to fresh fruit. After exploring for a while, I decided that it was time for dinner. Gideon and I found this amazing pasta restaurant and I had the best shrimp fettucine alfredo. I could not leave Aqaba without eating seafood. The shrimp was delicious! Once back at the hotel, I went back to the beach. The moonlight sparkled in the water's reflection, and the sea was the perfect temperature to cool off my feet.
I woke up early on Friday morning so that I could go snorkeling. Our bus driver picked some of us up, and we went to The Royal Diving Club. This was the second time that I was able to snorkel in the Red Sea, and it was just as amazing the second time as it was the first. There were a lot of reefs, which housed many different kinds of fish. I saw parrot fish, minnows, some fish that looked like eels and much more. I was a little scared at first to be so close to fish, but I quickly got over that. After snorkeling, I spent the rest of the afternoon on the InterContinental Hotel's beach. There were some fish in that water there as well, but not many. The hotel blasted music on the beach, and some of the song selections made me laugh such as "YMCA" and "The Macarena."
The group left Aqaba around 5 PM, and we arrived in Wadi Rum about an hour before sunset. The minute that we arrived at our campsite, Jabal Rum Camp, we were whisked away into the back of two trucks to go exploring in the desert and see the sunset. Wadi Rum is a great desert that has a mountainous landscape. It is now well known because of TE Lawrence who helped in the Arab Revolt and wrote about Wadi Rum in Seven Pillars of Wisdom. The desert was filled with mountains, and our first stop was to this interesting rock formation. We all took pictures and then hopped back into the trucks and drove to a spot where we saw the Seven Pillars of Islam. After that, we climbed up a sand hill on all fours. Getting up the hill was tough, but running down made it all worth it! The next stop was to watch the sun set behind mountains. It was beautiful how the sun's rays hit the mountains and sand changing the colors all around us. Our camp site that we stayed at is made for tourists; it is set up with lots of tents, two beds in a tent, and at the end of it, there is a big circle of seats and a fire pit in the middle. There were men dressed in traditional white clothing with kiffayes on their heads. Our meal of chicken was cooked under the ground, and we got to watch the men take it out. Our dinner consisted of hummus, pita bread, rice, lamb, kous kous, and chicken. Afer the food was served, there was a little show of dubka dancing. I, along with some others, joined in the dubka dancing, and after that, there was a reinactment of a traditional Bedoin wedding. Some tourists were picked for this, and they were all dressed up and makeup was put on their faces. The community walked the couple to their seats next to the fire pit to the sound of chants and drum beats. After that, there was dancing around the couple and then the couple had to dance alone. Before the dinner began, Ayham came up to us and said that there were female relatives and/or wives of a Sheikh sitting next to us and that we were not to take pictures of them. Sheikh is an honory work in Arabic and means leader and/or governer. These women had about six bodyguards and were dressed very fashionably and looked to be in their early twenties with one older mother figure. They had on hijabs, but you could see their bangs. They seemed interested in our group, because we were having fun and dancing. These women also did not eat with us, they waited until the majority of the tourists were gone and their dinner was placed on a different table with a fancy tablecloth. I left the campsite as the women from Dubai went to eat their food. I walked out into the desert, my path lit up by the full moon. It was nice to walk for a bit and think about life in such a peaceful place. I slept well that night, except for the mosquitos buzzing in my ear. I woke up just in time to catch the sun rise. After I saw that, I ate a breakfast of boiled eggs, jelly, butter, pita bread and tea. Once everyone was done eating, it was time to go back to Irbid.
On our way back to Irbid, I thought of all the wonderful experiences that I was able to have and how the last few days were such a whirlwind of adventures. We arrived back in Irbid in the early afternoon, which gave everone just enough time to prepare for class the next day. We've only had two days of class this week, but they have been really fun. I really enjoy my teachers and their enthusiasm for teaching. It is hard to believe that I only have a few weeks left here in Jordan.
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