DEAD SEA June 22 & 23

      We got a great breakfast.  Same as usual with the exception of one dish- I forget it's name, but it was essentially Jordanian bread pudding.  It was bread, hummus, olive oil and pine nuts mixed together.  I ate SO much and then asked for the plate from the other side of the table that they didn't finish-- SO delish.  The Dead Sea is closer than our last trip, so I didn't sleep on the bus.  Our first stop was Mount Nebo.  It was interesting, but I didn't totally know what we were looking at, so my favorite part was probably these pink flowers that smelt diiiiiivine... 

This tree (IN the pic in the middle/left) is the tree that Moses put into the ground and called water to the area (I've never heard of this story, but I guess I believe it...)

Really bad pic of the church (that is under construction anyway...).  Not sure why this man thought that it was okay to walk right directly in front of my pic- rude. 

Dead Sea in the distance-- SOOOO hazy

      The Dead Sea was only 20 or so minutes from this Mount Nebo, and we were veryyy anxious to get there.  We arrived around 1 pm, but had to wait until ~  3:00 (check in time) to check in.  It was a BEAUTIFUL hotel, but veryyy annoying to just sit in the (not particularly cold) lobby for 2 hours.  Finally we were able to check in.  Divas first- obviously.  We RAN (the wrong way first- embarrassing) to our room and changed.  We went straight to the beach, which was kind of far from the rooms... a lot of stairs, but I guess it IS the lowest point on Earth.   I really LOVED the Dead Sea.  I think it's #1 on my list of places in Jordan.  You walk in, and really DO start to feel like you're floating.  It gets harder to stand up as you continue to walk into the water.  You have to pick your feet up, and when you do, you float automatically.  I liked standing straight up and floating like a bouy.  It was around three, and the water was HOTTER than the temperature that I like to take baths in... Kind of uncomfortable to be honest.  There were some cold spots, and the surface was cold- very weird.  Totally opposite from the beach I am used to where it is VERY cold, and you seek out the HOT SPOTS.  Anyway... you couldn't spend a lot of time in the water because it kind of did start to burn your body (and my hangnail on my pinky) if you stayed in too long.  

         After you are done with the sea for the time being, you get out and shower (the water is VERY salty and slimy) and then you put the infamous dead sea mud alllll over your bod (see below)

     You have to let the mud sit and dry as best as you can (try not to sweat in 115 degree weather...) then you go back into the water, and repeat.  

       We spent a significant amount of time at the sea, but then wanted some pool time too.  The hotel was SO crowded.   We could not find a SINGLE chair, so we just put our stuff in a random corner and hopped in the pool.  Later we found a chair that had towels on it, so Nicole threw the towels ont he ground and put our stuff on the chair.  I was a little behind her, so I saw some family looking at her quizzically, and realized that she was moving their towels off their chair.  LOL- it was REALLY funny, a lot of "ana asifa!!!"s (I'm sorry) thrown around.  We found a different chair, and the same family ened up helping us move it to a more desirable location because it was blocking their son's path to go to the bathroom- terrible, but hilarious at the same time.   

       After pooltime we went to a little restaurant by the pool and all got the deal of the day- "beef burger with beer" for 10 JD.  Totally hit the spot, and needless to say, we were clams.  

      After dinner Nico and I went down to "borrow" some Dead Sea clay for our families back home.  Nicole forgot her jar, so we went down to scope the scene and see if it was worth it for her to get her jar.  Nobody was there, and there was some mud left in the basin, so Nicole went up to get her thing.  I was left to fill mine alone.  A guard came down and I quickly hid my jar in my towel.  He asked what I was doing there and said that the beach was closed.  I said I was taking pictures, and asked if that was okay :( -- puppy dawg face, he couldn't resist, so I took about a thousand of these (see below) pictures.  Then started to go back- hoping that Nicole wouldn't come running down screaming "I HAVE THE JARSSSSS!!!!" she didn't.  I met Sarah and Muhammad on an overlook thing and then Nicole came down- I broke the bad news to her... We agreed to do hers tomorrow morning and went upstairs.  

        GREAT showers, and TV in the room.  We were SUCH clams.  We watched The Daily Show, Colbert, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and some weird new HBO tv show (which I fell asleep to...).  

         The next day we swam again, and Nicole got her mud.  Someone caught her, but then was totally charmed by her eyeballs, so he took her out to the restricted area to get FRESH CLAY.  It was so great and funny.  The man then put SO MUCH fresh clay on our whole bodies.  He drew an evil eye on my stomach, and drew ribs on Nicole's haha?

       Then we went back to the pool for some last minute sun.  I did NOT go to the buffet because I am trying to save $.............. We were rudely called to leave WAY earlier than we had expected.  We literally had to RUN to pack the room up and check out.  Then we went back to Irbid.  Another happy weekend.

       

Vacation Day 2/3- Petra & Aqaba

          We woke up at Oscar hotel and I showered and then we went downstairs.  We were the FIRST ones there, which was a FIRST.  We were actually very early, so we started to get worried.  People eventually came down, but I was reminded of how the people who I am meeting feel when I am late... Still working on that. Anyway- the breakfast was free, and by the selection, you could tell.  We "ate" and piled onto the bus.  The supervisor from Yarmouk University called me "zouja" (wife), which confused me- how could I have forgotten about my wedding the night before???!?! (He continued to call me that for the rest of the trip...).  Our hotel was in Petra, so we did not have to drive far to get to it.  We got our COOL ID CARDS----

 from Waed and Muhammad, and somehow that gave us really reduced rates (from 90 dinar--127 USD-- to 2 dinar--- 1USD--- miraculous).  Petra was awesome, but HUGE. Apparently it takes 3 full days to see the whole entire in order to see everything, you have to go back for three times... We had all day, but we also wanted to get to Aqaba... Petra was really cool.  It was crazy to walk through and think about people living there thousands of years ago, and we are there looking at their treasury building etc.  in 2012.  Here are some pix... 

This man told us some riddles, but I can not remember a single one.  I can only remember the one that Sarah told him... "What has four legs then two, then three" (or something) Answer-  A baby (crawling) that grows into a man (walking on 2 legs) then becomes an old man with a cane (three legs) lol

This is a me talking to a Bedouin who ran the souvenir shop.  (Thanx Jack for the pic).  He was nice.  He talked about his siblings who married foreign women (one in Germany, one in France and THIS WOMAN -who wrote a book about being married to a Bedouin) He told me that nobody has married an American yet.............).  He was very nice and articulate, but unfortunately I am not looking to marry a Bedouin.  He DID have one of the best quotes on the trip thus far.  He was discussing his family, and told me that he still lives at home- in a cave- with his family, but don't worry-- it is a "2012 Bedouin cave" with cable and wifi.... I believe him, tempting, but I still had to pass.   

This is a cool rock structure that we saw on our way back, which was MISERABLE.  You walk out the same way that you come in, but the way out is UPHILL.  It became SO hot, and then influx of people must have tripled.  Silly tourists- don't they know that the early bird catches the worm!!!?! They must have been SWEATING, because IIII was at eight a.m when we arrived (four hours earlier)... Also there was this asian tourist who was SINGING the entire way back.  It was so weird and at first we did not know where it was coming from, but then we figured it out.  She was just walking alone thru Petra, singing opera.  Jack (a singer himself) watched the video footage that I took, and said that she was GOOD, which might be why people applauded her when she finished (as opposed to cheering that the song was over).    

    After going through Petra, we had to wait for Waed & Muhammad to come out, so we sat with this big army officer guy who was funny.  Finally they arrived and it was off to Aqaba!!!!! Yippee 

        We got to Aqaba and checked in VERY quickly.  Then we went to our BEAUTIFUL hotel room and changed bi soora (very quickly)... in need of as much beach time as possible.  We sat at the beach alllll day it was so amazing.  There were no waves in the water, but it was okay because it was very refreshing.  Apparently the weather in Aqaba got to 115 degrees Fahrenheit , and you could tell.  I put on a lot of sunscreen, but it was futile because I sweated (sweat?) SO MUCH.  

True to form, we ordered  lunch on the beach, and they delivered it right to my lounge chair.   Here's a pic of my chicken burger, US Weekly from March, and SPF 55 sunscreen...

I also went in the pool, which is rare for me.  VERY refreshing. I loved it and stayed in for much longer than I usually do.  I swam around a lot, but did NOT get a drink from the swim-up bar. 

         After a GREAT day at (Petra and) the beach we went out to dinner.  I got an asian seafood rice dish that was great, but heavy on the calamari.  We also got iced teas, which were tasty, but did not have any cubes in them.  I saved part of my meal for the next day.  We also went shopping in the souq.  I was NOT interested in shopping, so I just sat and helped bargain a little.  I think I am over shopping and having to fight for prices post-Maroc, but I really should try to get SOME souvenirs here....  I got some roasted nuts because Muhammed said that they were the best.  I haven't tried them yet because I want to save them for Maroc... I actually did have a sample, and they tasted pretty good...  I will tell you when I eat more.  

        I thought I had weasled my way out of paying for a cab by talking to the driver in Arabic the enitre way, BUT once I told Waed that we didnt have to pay- she proceded to tell us that was typical and I was supposed to INSIST on paying... WOOPS!! Mahhhh bad. 

        After our nighttime adventure, we went back to our room.  Sarah (our little diva in training) was NOT a diva, and let Nicole and me have the comfy beds while she took the cot- here's the pic to prove it.  

          The next day we woke up SUPER early and went to the beach (again, true to form).  We had a light breakfast (not the buffet) where the chef brought us free pastries (my favorite type!!).  We stretched our beach time till the last min, and were (obviously) late to board the bus-sryyy.  The 6 hour trip went by quickly until the last hour or so.  There was SO MUCH traffic when we were about 20 minutes away from Irbid.  It took us at least an hour to move maybe 10 miles.  It was TERRIBLE.  I was cautious about complaining outloud because I feared the worst, but it turned out to be a college ("Philadelphia College") graduation! RUDE!!!!! 

         Also when we got home, Irbid had no power.  lol- we thought it was a blessing in disguise because we were going to get out of doing our HW.  As soon as we made the decision to get dinner and NOT do the hw, our lights came on (obivously).  I am very grateful for the flashlight I brought because the power has gone out a couple of times so far.  

          Anyway, totally awesome vaycayyyy- it might seem like this entire trip is a great vacation, but I want to remind you that I am talking serious Arabic classes four hours a day.... The weekend breaks are more interesting to share & read about though, right???

Rock faces at Wadi Rum

I forgot to mention this in my last post, but there were SO MANY rock faces at Wadi Rum....

Sarah (a native New Hampshire-ite) noticed the first one and reminded me of the "Old Man of the Mountain" RIP

This one is obvious & funny... Lawrence of Arabia!  

Can u find this one?

Vacation Day 1- Thursday, June 14. Wadi Rum

            The time has finally arrived- it's vacation weekend!!! 

           We woke up and met downstairs at 9 am.  We took a very short bus ride to a restaurant that Muhammad loves called Hashem (I think?).  He ordered for us.  We got hummus, and a dish that was a combination of fool (maybe fuul?) and hummus with olive oil.  Fool/fuul is a fava bean dish similar to hummus.  It was SO good and I represented the CPC well (I am not sure if anyone else finished their plates...).  After a very big breakfast we went to Zam Zam (a smaller grocery store) to get some snacks for the road, but I didn't get anything.  Then we piled onto the bus (I got 2 seats to myself--- for the ENTIRE THREE DAY TRIP...lucky girl).  I totally passed out on the bus (food coma) and woke up when we stopped for lunch.  We went to this place that was kind of like a bakery, and got cheese bread and mini pizzas.  I also needed some sweet, so I asked for some cookies that were SO good.  They had big sprinkles on them and I couldn't even bring myself to share any, even though I definitely had more than enough.  We drove (slept) some more, until we finally made it to the first stop on our excursion: Wadi Rum. 
        It was unbearably hot--dry heat though-- in Wadi Rum (it IS the dessert after all...).  Getting off the air conditioned bus was a rude awakening to say the least.  It was also weirdly windy, but it was like hot wind.  Everyone kept on saying "at least it's not humid".  True, but it was still VERY hot................. We watched a movie about Wadi Rum on a television inside an air conditioned theater, which was nice.  After the movie we had some time until we had our scheduled 4 by 4 rides thru the area, so we went to 'see the Bedouins', but I don't think they were really expecting us, so we just ended up sitting in an outdoor living room area and hung out.  Finally the 4 by 4s arrived.  These were different than the ones in the Sahara, which were actual 4 by 4s.  The ones here are more like pick up trucks with a tarp functioning as a roof.

          The coveted seats were on the end (obviously).  I liked them because you could hold on...  At first the ride was slow and boring, but by the end we were going VERY quickly.  I attempted to get the driver to speed up by tapping on the roof of the car, but he took that as me wanting him to stop, so he did and asked what was wrong- woops.  Anyway we saw a lot of beautiful scenery.  Again, VERY different than the Sahara, which I guess makes sense because Wadi means VALLEY in Arabic, not desert, but it is the only place that I can equate it to.  According to my guidebook, Wadi Rum is a valley cut into sandstone rocks.  That's exactly what it looked like.  The first stop on the 4 by 4s was a VERY STEEP uphil area that we tried to walk up.  It was wayy harder than it looks, and I only made it half way...

                From there we drove to another area, having something to do with Lawrence of Arabia.

         On the way the 4 by 4 picked up some serious speed.  He went over some sort of a bump and we all screamed.  It reminded me of that HUGE bump on the FDR that was so terrible when you were sitting in the back of the bus- coming home from a soccer or softball game.  Anyway this bump was huge, and my camera was around my neck and hit me in the face.  It hurt more than it seemed to, and I had a small fat lip/blood blister for the rest of the night.  Crazy driver.  The Lawrence of Arabia place was more of a tourist shop, so we didn't spend much time there- there WAS free tea, but I think my lip was too raw to drink some.... jk, but I didn't get any.  Backkkk on the 4WDs.  We took another crazy ride to an overlook to watch the sunset.

          It set SO quickly- I have a video of it, which I hope will be cool when I figure out how to speed it up.  After the sun set (not completely, just behind the mountain that we were looking at), we went back to the Bedouin camp place for dinner.  The ride back to the camp was THE CRAZIEST.  I was literally drooling all over the place  and couldn't move my limbs (it reminded me of the gravatron).  It was a lot a lot of fun.

        We sat down for dinner and got delicious and necessary DC.  Dinner was to be served in a half hour so we just rested and chatted.  15 mins later- the waiter called us over.  We went to see the way that they cook the chicken.  They dig HUGE holes in the sand, put the chicken in buckets and bury these buckets in the sand.  Apparently they leave it there for a few hours and then take it out.  We watched them dig up the chicken- it smelled like delicious BBQ- I was hungry.  After seeing the chicken, they prepared everything else veryyy quickly, and we were called to the beautiful buffet.

        There was lamb, chicken, hummus, babaghanoush, 2 types of rice (one regular, one is called "Freaky".....), veggies, yogurt sauce and hubz.  I went to town (obv).  Everyone was VERY impressed that I finished my plate (see below for evidence....) AND that I got seconds... 

        THEN the party started... the waiters started to do some Dabke dancing, and our boys and other patrons joined in.  The next thing I know, our waiter took John and my hands, and dragged us to the back of the camp area.  John joked that they were going to kill us, which was not very funny in retrospect.  We went to some back room and they handed us a pile of clothes and it all started to come together.  The women seen on my other arm in the picture below, dressed me.  I was laughing a LOT (again, obviously) but John was totally keeping his cool- "maintaining character".  I really started to laugh when the man took out some eyeliner and motioned that he was going to draw on my face- "bedouin tattoo".... When we were all ready they interlocked our hands and lead us out of the room.  We were greeted by ALL of the diners smiling and taking pictures.  It was overwhelming, and I really could NOT stop laughing.  We went to the main area, and sat down in the middle- totally on display. Everyone was dancing and laughing- idk it was a little blurry, but we definitely danced a lot and my stomach hurt because I was laughing so much.  Then we sat back down and EVERYONE took a picture with/of us.  We were like the entertainment of the night.  SO funny.  Everyone also lined up and congratulated us- "Alf Mabrook".  I danced with a few children- it was a great night.  Not sure if the wedding was official or anything, but next time I go to Wadi Rum, I'll ask.  Muhammad took a video with  my camera that I will upload later- "so your mom won't feel bad that she missed your wedding".  After we took off our costumes and became ourselves again I RAN to the bathroom to wash off my 'bedouin tatoos'.  John kept his beard & mustache on for as long as possible...

         After the celebrations, we rushed to the bus because it was laaate.  We were driving for about 20 minutes and then OBVIOUSLY got a flat tire.  Max was a knight in shining armor and helped fix it.  We got to the hotel well past 1 am.  The next stop was Petra and we had all previously agreed to wake up at the crack of dawn in order to see Petra in a tolerable climate, AND get to the Intercontinental Aqaba ASAP....  We wanted to be at breakfast at 6:30, but because of how late we got in- we agreed on 7 am.  LONGEST DAY EVER.  

June 9th-- Wedding Night #2

         Today in my mind was the REAL wedding day.  Not that the night before wasn't fun, but I needed to see some blushing brides in order for it to be the real thing.... The day got off to an annoying start, but got much better as it progressed.  Waed & Muhammad told us that we had to meet downstairs to do something for our Visas at 9 a.m.  We reluctantly agreed.  I had no idea what we were actually doing, and was extremely hungry the entire time.  We went to some smokey tourism building and had to wait around without knowing what was going on.  It was whatever until they fingerprinted me!!! (that made it TERRIBLE) Nicki later assured me that they did that in Copenhagen too, so I was not as concerned, but it's still very weird to me.  I found some gum in my bag that made me feel a little better.  The whole process wasn't that long, but it was NOT what I wanted to do on wedding weekend...  

      We got home and got something to eat.  We had to meet Waed for hair at ~2:30.  Long story short, the woman was trying to rip us off, most likely because we are American and it is assumed that we have the money anyway, so we would go for it-- little did she know that Waed would NOT stand for that.  Molly & Laurel got their hair done but Nicole, Sarah and I walked out.  I was happy to do this because I wanted to actually wash my hair and go to the gym, which we did after leaving the hair "saloon".  Waed agreed to do our hair with her own curling iron, so it actually worked out perfectly.  Not onlly did she curl our hair, but it lasted for DAYS after the wedding- I joked (but wasn't joking) that I was going to hire her next semester every Thursday to do my hair for the weekend... 

       Despite waking up at 9 am, the day really sped by quickly and before we knew it- it was 7:30 and a fully dressed and ready Muhammad was knocking on our door to find Nicole still in lounge-wear and me still getting ready.  Woops! We hustled and went downstairs- back on the 10 person bus.... 

          Men and women are completely separated for this celebration and the couple (couples in this case...) so we said good-bye to the boys, and went upstairs.  The wedding location was VERY swanky.  An uncountable amount of golden chandeliers, and very nice table settings.  There was a big dance floor, and some sort of stage thing.  On the other side of the room there was a staircase leading to a closed door (where the couple(s) switch from men room to women's room).  It was a big production.  Very soon after we entered, the couples arrived.  Both grooms were dashing, and the wives were very pretty.  I think I preferred the one who was wearing a wedding headscarf- I thought it was really pretty and tasteful. Waed told me later that particular bride recently lost her mother, and decided to wear a headscarf because she knew it was what her mother would have wanted, which made it even more beautiful. The wedding was different than American weddings (not just because of the absence of alcohol).  Every aspect of the night was recorded with a video camera and projected on big screens across the wedding hall.  The couples were the center of attention (as they should be), but it was different--it almost seemed like a reality show because of all of the cameras.  Also the cake (seen below) was fake!! The real cake was not as delicious as the fake one looked (see below #2).   

       There was a LOT of dancing.  We were basically part of the family, which was cool.  When the couples entered we stood in line with Waed and her sisters and mom clapping and smiling.  From there the couples went to the dance floor and had their first dance to Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On (aliiii....)- it was beautiful.  We were all standing around watching, and continued to stand and watch after the wedding dance.  I was taller than a lot (maybe all?) of the other guests, and everyone kept on asking me to crouch down or move. It was so annoying and often impossible to satisfy them, so I eventually just ignored.  We took some breaks from dancing, but somehow Nicole was left on the dance floor- unable to escape.  It was funny.  At the end of the night some men (not our boys--- strictly family members) came into the womens' room and danced with us.  A lot of Waed's relatives introduced themselves to us through her.... The very last song of the night was Pitbull (REDONE) "I Know You Want Me", and I really GOT DOWN to it... good last song.  This ceremony was much shorter than last night's, but it was definitely sweet too-- little did I know, the best was yet to come.    

      Throughout our time here thus far, we have witnessed probably a million wedding processions in the streets.  Decorated cars parade through the streets honking their horns, and yelling out the window.  We were all looking forward to this aspect of the wedding which occurred after the 2nd celebration.  The boys were fed (mansif-- luckyy) at this event, so they were really energetic... the girls not so much.  I got into it though, and it turned out to be a lot of fun.  The boys screamed a lot of funny (but appropriate) english things out the window, which was particularly hilarious thinking about it-- I bet most of the Jordanians could not understand what they were saying. 

     After the wedding procession we went to our favorite restaurant, and I had Waed order for me-- I was VERY happy she did.... look at the picture below.  I bet u can guess why. Yet another great night fee al Ordun! 

Wedding Weekend Night 1: Jordanian Ta’lileh

            Friday Morning we woke up at 2 pm.  I HATE doing that, but I could not help it!! We are so exhausted here it becomes necessary to sleep all day.  It is also too hot to go out before 2 pm in my opinion, or at least that's how I justify it... also also- we had a biiiiig night ahead of us, so it was a warranted lazy day.    We did hw and were on the computer until we got hungry for dinner/lunch.  We got falafel and I asked for mine spicy- it was surprisingly spicy actually.  We ate on the roof... It became time to get ready for night one of the wedding festivities.  Waed told us that it was going to be cold so we wore jeans and nice tops.  

          Jordanian engagement parties are separate for men and women. The bride's engagement party is a few weeks before the groom's, and they're very different.  The wife's is kind of like a dinner party (all women and the groom-- Muhammad said that it was the weirdest/worst experience of his life-- funny because you would think that would ROCK for a 'bachelor', but he said that everyone was pinching his cheeks and staring at him etc.) Women attend the groom's, but it's gender separated.  We all met downstairs and squeezed into a 10 person van (there are 12 of us, but it would be pointless to get a 24 person one-- the next size up).  We passed by Waed's old house on the way to the location, and she spoke with the kids who were playing in the front.  They told her that THEY lived there now and that it was thieir house.  Waed put them in her place though... it is in fact, HER house.... 

         The Ta'lileh is held in a BIG outside tent-like area.  All of the men dance under the tent, and the women sit by a large house in front of said tent.  We got there very early because Waed was afraid we wouldn't get a seat.  The entire of community was there, so sometimes these parties get thousands of people.  Apparently a member of the family passed away recently, so out of respect, some people stayed home.  I'd say that it was still a pretty good turnout.  We got front row center seats.  Waed warned us that she would be greeting a lot of people and told us that we didn't need to stand up every time that she did. I am glad that she told us that in advance.... she has A LOT of family.  As people started to arrive and the men started to dance, Waed became more and more excited.  She said that women love these parties because the men show off their dance moves, and it is sometimes a place where relationships are formed.  The squeal of excitement as the music came on reminded me SO much of the first basketball tip off of the season at Friends Seminary, or Conn... so many girls so excited to just sit and watch.... 

People bought party favors of bags of candy, and trays of henna (with kind of weird dolls in the middle)....  

(Photo Cred: Nico)

Here's a pic of Conn boys doing the "Dabke" dance.  Jack (far left) made a friend.... 

 SO MANY cute kids at this event.  There was a lot of candy and juice and sparklers.  They were eating it up.  A lot of the older (but still young) kids were practicing their English with us-- especially the girl on the right in the pink.  I loved it, but Waed told them to stop bothering us... they didn't.  Apparently the boy in the pic below on the left kept on drinking the juice, but then would throw it all up! I had NO idea and I kept on feeding him candies because he was just so cute and chubby, and I want him to stay that way forever.     

One of the grooms/Waed's brother/Master BBQer, Muhammad, dancing with his Mamma -who could definitely bust a move- 

THE CUTEST kid.  Cuter than the chubby one... must have put away AT LEAST 30 chairs at the end of the party. He would go one by one, put them on his head, and bring them over to the big pile of chairs.  I wanted so badly to help him, but I also wanted to see how long he would last.  He put away every single chair. 

We got home laaaate and went straight to bed.  Day two tomorrow...