What a weekend! As I try to catch my breath and reorient myself for a week of classes, I will try to take some time to reflect upon this hectic, but oh so fantastic, weekend.
This past weekend CIEE organized a three-day trip to southern Jordan to experience its main attractions. I’ll try to keep each day’s report short and include some pictures in this website decides to cooperate this time. But anyways, here we go!
Early Thursday morning all 140ish students departed from the University of Jordan’s campus in giant commuter buses to our first destination: Wadi Rum. If any of you have seen ‘Lawrence of Arabia’, the scene in which Lawrence sets out across the desert to find the Bedouins at the beginning of the film was filmed in Wadi Rum. Basically, Wadi Rum is the desert of deserts with a beautiful array of reds and brown sediments. My Wadi Rum adventures included a 4×4 tour (sat in the back of a truck that toured the desert), rode a camel (checked that off my bucket list – but decided I must do it again!), and slept in a Bedouin-like camp. The Bedouins are a nomadic people and it is was really interesting to note how many canvas tents we passed on the drive to Wadi Rum from Amman and how this lifestyle still exists despite the push for modern and urban lives. But anyways, Wadi Rum was absolutely beautiful – check out the pictures below! Also, I bought a white head-covering scarf for this trip (the name unfortunately escapes me) and also received a red one during the camel ride. The white scarf design is Palestinian Bedouin in origin and the red is Jordanian Bedouin – I personally like the white better cause I think it’s more stylish.
The next day we departed to Aqaba, one (if only) of Jordan’s seaports at the Red Sea, for a day out on the boat. The sun was shining and I was so ready to swim and to simply see a body of water. The lack of water here is starting to get to me; my showering habits have gotten atrocious and now it becomes out of necessity rather than desire (but I don’t smell, I have great deodorant!) My time in Aqaba’s really salty water I have equated to enduring and waiting to eat that delicious ‘special Christmas dish’ that you remember from the year past and can’t wait to indulge in again, then doing so as soon as you are handed a plate. Luckily I was able to get on a boat with my group of friends I have become to get close with and I spent my five hours eating, soaking up the sun, jumping off from the tallest part of the boat, and snorkeling in Aqaba’s man-made coral reefs. While snorkeling I geeked out hardcore. Last semester I took a course on Marine Biology, so while snorkeling I was constantly identifying animals and analyzing the ecology of the reef. Basically, I am a nerd – but it was so awesome! After swimming we migrated over to Wadi Musa, a town outside Petra and we visited Little Petra, a smaller less known extension of the Nabatean city. For dinner I enjoy my first serving of Mansef, the Jordanian national dish. Composed mainly of rice, almonds, meat, and a weird yogurt sauce, it is served on a giant platter in the middle of the table and to eat it one rolls balls of rice with their hands and flicks it into their mouth. I never mastered it and I think more rice fell the table in front of me than in my stomach. My mush mushkiela, no problem, it was fun nonetheless.
Fee Asept (On Saturday), I explored the ancient city of Petra. People commonly remember Petra from the scene in Indiana Jones 3 where he goes to get the Holy Grail. But The Treasury is only one of many, many elaborate building built into the stone in Petra. The Nabateans were a great civilization back in the day and Petra was their legacy. I loved seeing how this civilization once existed and the hierarchal caves and buildings that clearly remain. I think the majority of my pictures from this trip are from Petra, which goes to show how much there was to see there! Along with all the buildings came a Petra Bedouins trying to sell to you and trick you into buying junky souvenirs or get you to ride on their camel or donkey every step of the way. When I say every step I exaggerate – I mean every 3-4 steps to be precise. In the 1960s the King declared that all the Bedouins living in Petra had to relocate to a nearby area so tourism could flourish. But in return, these people are the only ones who may enter and sell goods within the city freely. My favorite part of Petra was the 900 steps climb up a mountainside to visit The Monastery. From there I hiked a bit further, climbed over a dilapidated Bedouin tent and looked out across the valleys as far as the eye could see. It was breathtaking and I made sure to contemplate the meaning of life while sitting there.
Overall, this has been my most favorite weekend by far. The sights, the food, the adventures, and the friends made this trip quite memorable and hopefully my myriad pictures will do my memories justice.
On a side note, my roommate Isaac had decided to leave the program and return back to Connecticut last week. Apparentely it was a combination of cultural stress and preexisting personal issues that led to his decision. It’s sad to see my roommate leave this impacting experience, but I must say, I am really happy to have the room and this space to myself now (the only-child syndrome kicking in). It is the norm to spend most of one’s time in the living room chilling with the family, so having a room to somewhat isolate myself in every once in a while will be relieving.
Well, this post has turned to be extremely long. Sorry about that! This weekend I am exploring northern Jordan some, specifically the cities of Irbid and Umm Qais, as well as surviving my Arabic courses which are getting tough very quickly. I’ll let you know how they go! But anyways, check out the pictures below!
Till next time, yullah bye wa salaam.