Pictures!

So, once again I am uploading just a few pictures from Jordan and from our past trips here to give you a better idea of what everything has been like.

 Sarah, me, Claire, and Crystal at the ruins of Herod's fort Macchaerus

 Macchaerus

 The Treasury from the Siq at Petra

 Entrance to the Siq

 

 The Monastery at Petra

 Some of the carved tombs at Petra

 The ruins of the fortress Azekah

 Sarah, Janae, and I at the Zoo

 Inside our first mosque in Jordan

Caves at Maresha

At the Jordan River

Lemur Land at the zoo

You have no idea how slow the internet is here and how long these took to upload.  So, I'm going to stop here, but I uploaded a lot more onto my facebook, so you can check out some cool pictures there.  And I promise to blog again really soon for all of my many many fervent followers!

Arab Culture Night

Last week we had our Arab Culture Night in the Jerusalem Center.  Basically this involved all of us dressing up in "Arab" garb (genie pants, head scarves, etc.) and getting together for three hours of food and fun activities. 

Claire and I in our Arab garb

The first hour was super interesting.  We had two men from the al-Aqsa mosque (3rd holiest Islam site) come in and demonstrate the call to prayer for us.  They also did readings from the Quran and showed us how they prayed.  It was really fascinating to see the ritual involved in the prayers and the dedication that the Muslims show to their religion.  And it was really cool to hear the call to prayer and reading.  It sounds a bit like singing (although we were told it is NOT singing) and the men demonstrating it to us were really talented.

The second hour of the night we had our Arab feast.  They decorated the Oasis really nice for our feast, but admittedly the food wasn't that different than what we eat on a regular night.  We had chicken and fish and curry and rice and lots of salad and pita.  It was delicious!

The final hour or so of our cultural activity we learned some Arab dances from a group of students at a local dance school. Luckily the steps weren't that hard, because I am an atrocious dancer, and it involved a lot of kicking and walking steps and jumps, so it was easy to learn.  And we all had a great time!  But it didn't take too long before we became the teachers demonstrating American dance moves to the Arab students who were teaching us. 

 Sarah, Claire, and me at Arab night

The Arab night was great fun, so now we can't wait for our Passover Seder next week!

Journey to Jordan

     January 23-26 our whole group was in Jordan, and it was probably the most amazing place I have been.  I know I said that about Israel, but it's equally true here.  Jordan didn't feel anything like Israel.  It was a lot greener there with trees and grass!  I know that's a weird thing to be excited about, but I really haven't seen much grass since I got here. 
     And it had some really amazing sites that we got to visit.  The biggest being, of course, PETRA!  And Petra has to be the coolest place I have ever been.  You start off walking through this valley with some cool cave tombs and carvings here and there.  Then you walk down the mile long narrow valley entrance called the Siq.  We didn't even notice we were at the end of the Siq until we saw through the mouth of the Siq, the Treasury.  It was just the same view as you get in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, just the barest glimpse of it peeking through the narrow opening.  So of course we ran out of the Siq to see the Treasury. 
     The Treasury was amazing!  So tall and elaborately carved out of the rock.  It was totally mind-blowing.  But we didn't stay there long because we wanted to run up to the Monastery.  It took hundred and hundreds of stairs and at least 45 minutes of hiking, but we made it to the Monastery, which was just as fantastic as the Treasury.  It wasn't as elaborately carved, but it was much larger.  We had a great time wandering around and exploring Petra for the five or six hours we were there.  But it wasn't near enough, there were still thousands of other cave tombs we didn't see, and other smaller magnificent Treasury-like tombs we didn't explore thoroughly.  But we had a great time there and of course got the traditional camel ride in front of the Treasury which was a lot of fun (although I've decided that camels are not my favorite animals- not very pleasant and they smell really really bad).  And on the way out we got to ride "wild Arabian horses" and let me tell you mine was wild!  Not only did it try and bite three or four of the other horses, but it also tried to bite me everytime I steered it in a certain direction.  And it tried to take off with me on its back, and almost threw me to the side when I slowed it down.  So, all in all, Petra was quite the adventure.
     Another really neat place we visited was the ruins of the Roman city of Jerash.  And apparently it is in much better condition than a lot of ruins actually in Rome, it was pretty incredible.  There were long rocky streets with all sorts of buildings on the side and an enormous village square.  There was also an elaborate fountain and temples.  It was such a beautiful city.  I have decided that if I were to come from one of the ancient civilizations I would have to be a Roman.  And not just any Roman, but a wealthy one.  They had an amazing lifestyle with beautiful architechture.  I wish we still made things like they did, we definitely have the technology to do it although I suppose slave labor is no longer acceptable... But Jerash was a great place to visit.  And it was a bit weird to see in Jordan.  I felt like I had just traveled to Rome or somewhere else in Europe, I definitely didn't picture this as part of the Middle East.
     And another one of my favorite sites we went to on our last day there, the Jordan River Baptismal site.  The Jordan River is not very impressive these days, shallow and very muddy, but it's such a quiet serene area.  Thousands of people come there every year to visit the river where Christ was baptized.  And we got a chance to read the story from the Bible when we were there and sing some hymns.  It was a really beautiful experience, to sit there and think and feel the Spirit. That was, by far, one of my favorite places we have visited this semester.
  So, now in my opinion, because of this trip, everyone must go to Jordan at some point in their lives.  It's definitely been one of the highlights of my time here thus far: exploring and adventuring with friends in one of the most amazing places.