A Movie about my Jordanian Experiences!

So I am in a competition for an iPad at my university and I need as many people as possible to watch this video and comment about it on youtube.com as possible.  If you could talk about how it makes you want to travel or study abroad that would be great!  I hope the link works for you and that you enjoy the video!  Thanks everyone.

Observations of Ramadan

This is how shwarma meet is cooked, it is shaved off in small
chunks and then put in a pita with french fries, sauces,
 tomatoes, and all sorts of other delicious things.

Ramadan, the holy month in Islam where every devout muslim will refrain from water, food, cigarettes and getting angry at people from the first prayer call in the morning (about 3:30 AM) until the last prayer call at night (about 7:30 PM).  In a country composed almost entirely of Muslims this means that there are some huge changes.  First of all, work hours change or cease all-together.  All of the restuarants and coffee shops are closed for most if not all of the day and only open after the evening prayer call and iftar (it literally means breakfast and is the meal that is eaten right after the last prayer call of the day).  Secondly anyone who eats, drinks or smokes in public can be fined according to law by the Police so there's no use in using the excuse that you were a dumb foreigner.    Work hours are shortened and there are way more people in town as all the people come home for the Holy Month.  So in addition to everyone being hungry and thirsty in intense heat, there are more people, things are closed and traffic is horrible.  Overall it is quite different to be in a country where EVERYTHING changes because of a religious observance.  Coming from the secular western culture into a country of mostly homogenous religion is quite a wonderful experience.  Overall, I have spent a lot of time indoors because I don't want to travel around, get thirsty and not be able to drink anything, working on last reports and preparing for my weekend in Aqaba Scuba Diving.  However, last night I did have an interesting experience that I will tell you about here:

This is a lamb or lahma shwarma and is one of my favorite foods

  Yesterday at about 7:00 PM I decided that I was extremely hungry (I'm only eating about one meal a day now so that was about time to eat) and wanted to have a shwarma from my favorite place just a kilometer away. So I got dressed, walked up there, and bought two large shwarmas, a mountain dew and a donut for desert (not as good as American Donuts but still adequate).  Of course since the final prayer call hadn't sounded yet I couldn't eat in public so I had to walk back to my house with my food and my growling stomach.  Interestingly enough, people were headed everywhere and every food place I saw was packed with people trying to get food for their iftar or the first meal they eat after their fast.  Anyway, on my walk back home I passed a Pizza Hut/Popeye's restaurant conglomeration that had outside dining that was packed.  As I walked by I noticed that everyone was sitting there with piles of food from the buffets and drinks poised with straws up and caps off, simply waiting.  Can you picture over a hundred people and an eating establishment poised and ready to eat and simply waiting for the go-ahead?  It was quite surreal.  So, since I didn't have anywhere pressing to go I decided that I would stick around and see what happened when it was time to eat as I would only have to wait about 15 minutes.  I was really excited and wondered if they would play the Ahdan (Call to prayer) over the intercom or if someone would come out and tell them and also what would happen after it was ok to eat, would they devour their food in a hungry binge or calmly begin eating like nothing had happend.  Well at 7:42 and employee of the restaurant came out and kindly informed everyone that the prayer call had gone on and that it was now okay to begin eating.  It was a little anti-climatic but it was a cool experience and one that I will definitely not forget.  I have to say though, if you ever come to the Middle East I would not recommend visiting during Ramadan, it makes things a lot more difficult for foreigners traveling!

Petra: Under the Sea

This is where I get to learn to Scuba Dive

All suited up and ready to go for my first dive!

  This past weekend, in honor of the 4^th of July, our group decided to take a trip down to the beautiful city of Aqaba.  Now, I may not have mentioned it before because I don’t think I ever actually wrote about Petra (something I need to fix I know), but Aqaba is amazing.  It is one of the nicest coastal towns I’ve ever been to and has really helped me fall in love with the sea.  Last time when I traveled to Aqaba I went snorkeling from a boat and experienced one of the coolest experiences of my life.  However, as I was snorkeling I saw beneath me a ton of different scuba divers and was extremely jealous.  From speaking with different individuals I found that you could do what is called a “Try Dive” in which you don’t have to be certified and you are only taken down to 6 meters underwater to ensure you don’t die.  I have always wanted to scuba dive, I remember wanting to be a marine biologist when I was little and constantly drawing pictures of scuba divers, so I decided the next time I went to Aqaba I would do a “Try Dive” and see how I liked it.

I have conquered the first dive!

Well, when we go to Aqaba on Friday afternoon, after a long, hot, and very loud bus ride down from Amman, I immediately called up the diving center with the lowest price and best ratings called Sea Star, and asked if I could do the dive.  They picked me up and took me to the center that was simply gorgeous.  I met a really nice retired Naval Seal there who I talked to for quite awhile and learned more about what it’s like to be an ex-pat abroad (something I am intimately interested in).  Finally, after ingesting some delicious pizza I suited up and headed out to the water.  Now, it was sort of scary to head out to the water so quickly because it seemed like I hadn’t really been taught anything about it, but the whole time I had one of the instructors by the hand and the other was behind me watching the whole time.  If you’ve never been scuba diving, I would highly recommend it.  It is a bit scary when you realize you are deep underwater and if things go really wrong something serious could happen, but luckily a lot of work has been done to make it as safe as possible.  However, the benefits (in my opinion) far outweigh the risks because under the ocean I saw the most beautiful things in my entire life (minus of course my fiancé ;-D).  Seriously, it felt exactly like being at Petra where you see all of these fish, corral and other living things in their natural and pure habitat.  Instead of looking at them through glass I was able to look up and see fish swimming past me and around me.  I saw a beautiful sea snake and witnessed ‘nemo’ first hand swimming in his sea anemone.  It was amazing and I instantly fell in love, which is why the next day, on Saturday, I convinced almost everyone in the group to go back to snorkel and enjoy the reef.
  However, plans never withstand meeting with the enemy and when I got to the dive center they said that I could start the certification process and they would apply the money I paid the day before to the overall price of the certification.  I went back and forth for a while but then I decided that I was gonna go ahead and get certified, which is not something I regret yet and hopefully never will.  This time there was a lot more training and I had to learn a lot more about the gear, how to work my inflatable vest that controls buoyancy under water and a few other things.  When we got to the water I had to intentionally fill my mask with salt water and then clear it while underwater (it is actually a great skill for those with facial hair, as I found out, because my mask kept filling up while I was diving).  I also had to intentionally take out my re-breather throw it away and then find it again, clear it of water and begin breathing again.  I learned how to communicate using signs about how much air I had and also how to communicate that I was out of air to a partner and that I needed to use their air tank until we got to the surface.  It was scary but really fun.
  The second dive was much better than the first one.  This time I was much more relaxed and willing and able to go more slowly and take in the wonderful sites.  The place where we were diving is a huge reef right along the shore that quickly plunges about 20 meters from the floor and you get a great wall of reef and water life.  We swam along that wall, this time going down to a depth of 12 meters, and I saw all manners of amazing things once again. I saw some ginormous fish that I don’t know the name of and chased a couple schools of fish that hopefully aren’t poisonous.  The most amazing fish I saw, however, was simply chilling under a fish and it was a beautiful lionfish that I think are rare to see even in an aquarium.
  The reason I say it was like Petra is how I felt as we surfaced and saw all the people a long the shore.  There they were enjoying the surface, the waves and the sand.  They were having a beautiful and wonderful time, completely unaware of the beauty that was only a few feet below the surface.  Just like when you finally walk around the corner at Petra and see the giant treasury, as you don you diving equipment and submerge you are immediately greeted with amazing and breathtaking beauty (although, breathtaking probably isn’t what you want under water so be careful about this one!).  Also, in addition to all of these positives you feel like a total bad-a donning all the gear and simply strolling into the ocean and disappearing.  It is quite awesome and you feel cool doing it.  Anyway, Aqaba was amazing and I can’t wait to return and finish my training and maybe even go on a few dives with a digital camera (you can rent them for not a ridiculous amount).  I’ll keep you updated!

i think it looks pretty darn cool don't you?

Madaba, Mt. Nebo, the Baptismal Site and the Dead Sea

The Church of St. George

Yeah, you read it correctly... I went to all of those places in the same day and it was pretty darn spectacular I must admit!  I suppose I should tell you about my adventures so here we go!

Mosaic factory...

  We started off our journey in Madaba which is about an hour south of Amman and a historically Christian city and famous for it's amazing mosaics and frescoes.  We visited the church of St. George in downtown Madaba, which is an ancient Greek Orthodox Church.  It has been rebuilt many times and on the floor is a huge mosaic map built hundreds of years ago that details the sites of the Holy Land.  It has been partially destroyed multiple times by earthquakes, but is magnificent none-the-less.  After the visit to the church of St. George we went to a local mosaic 'factory' where disabled individuals from the community were given work creating beautiful mosaics by hand and selling them to Tourists like ourselves.  Unfortunately they were huge, heavy, and really expensive but beautiful and also amazing to see created.  The great thing is that anything large enough that you buy they can ship for free to anywhere in the world which means you can buy huge, heavy and beautiful furniture if you so desire.  Just make sure you love it because it's gonna be pricey!  I bought an awesome gift for one of my brothers that although it isn't exactly what he told me he wanted, the workmanship and story behind it more than make up for that.  It'll be a great ornament peace.

  Next on the stop was Mt. Nebo, the sight where Moses saw the Holy Land and passed his mantel to Joshua.  Although it wasn't an amazingly spectacular PLACE it was amazing to be in such a place and to see the Holy Land.  To know that Moses traveled for so long and to be halted at the gates of the promised land must have been horrible, and seeing the lushness of the Jordan valley below me I could definitely understand how wonderful it would have been to see that place after 40 years wandering in the desert.  Definitely a sight for sore eyes.  It was a beautiful view and only created a longing to see and experience more of what I saw before me.

What Moses saw from Mt. Nebo

The baptismal sight and me in all of my
 glorious American touristness

  The next stop was the proposed Baptismal Site of Jesus Christ.  Apparently in the past few years it has been upgraded immensely and definitely westernized.  A lot of the tour you get to see from the beauty of an air-conditioned bus while listening to an "Audio-Tour" (My wonderful friend that everyone else in the group hates immensely).  Anyway, the tour takes about 2 hours because they show you a bunch of things that no body cares about and then push you a long from the places you actually want to see.  I thought it most interesting, that the way they justified this is the baptismal sight is that there were so many old churches built here and new churches springing up.  Also the fact that the pope came in 2007 and dedicated the land from Elijah's hill (supposedly the place where Elijah was lifted into heaven on a chariot of fire).  One of the reasons they do this is because there is another purported baptismal sight close to the sea of Galilee on the Israeli side of the Jordan.  This means it's a competition to get more tourists and also to just have bragging rights.  My whole thing is that there is really no way we can know where Christ was baptized or where pretty much any of the events of his life happened exactly.  It's nice to think and speculate, but it isn't the place that mattered but the action that occurred there which is important.  Anyway, it was a beautiful tour and by far the best part was the Jordan River.

The Jordan River

  My experience at the Jordan River was quite interesting.  On the Jordanian side of the river there was a beautiful and rustic wooden structure that led down the river in two tiers.  It ended with a simple wooden stairway leading you down to the green water of the Jordan and the beautiful mud and reeds of the bank.  Now, only 10ft away was Palestine or Israel depending on who you talk to.  Since Palestine refers to the whole ancient region and I'm not sure if that was actually the state of Israel or occupied Palestine I will simply call it Palestine for simplicity.  Well, the Palestine side of the river was developed and open.  They had concrete and rock buildings, a rock sitting area in the water, and fenced off areas for individuals to walk into the water but not cross into Jordan.  In addition to the fence, there were two Israeli Guards with M-16s and one Jordanian with a British Submachine Gun.

Here is where I go on a bit of a brain adventure, if you'd like to see what about please read my post entitled "Natives, who the Heck are they?".

  Overall, the baptismal site was awesomeness squared and everyone who visits Jordan should go there and enjoy themselves while there.  Like I said, it's been westernized (including the price of 12 JD) but is very nice.

Just Chilling in the sea!

  Our final stop was the amazing Dead Sea (باحر متت) and the joys of "Amman Beach".  Now, pretty much everyone knows that the Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth, has so much salt that almost nothing can live in it and it's really easy to float in but there is SOOOO much more than that.  Actually, I guess there isn't really much more than that but that makes it amazingly fun.  The only bad part about the Dead Sea is that if the water gets in your eyes or mouth you hurt like hell and have to shut your eyes tight until you can wash them out.  This may or may not have happened to me twice.  Also, the sand is so hot that if you don't have sandals you will literally (or hyper-literally Jeremy) burn your feet by walking on it.  Again, I know from experience since I have blisters on the bottoms of my feet now... not fun.  All of these bad things aside, the Dead Sea is so much fun.  You can float in whatever position you can imagine.  On your stomach, on you back, on you side, curled in a ball, sitting indian-style, with all your arms and legs in the air and everything in-between.  It's like nowhere else on earth and is extremely relaxing because the water is warm (at this time of year it still feels good but apparently later on in the summer it feels like a salty warm bath) and it is oh so refreshing.  Another wonderfully relaxing aspect is that there are no waves, and nothing living to step on or bite you.  Additionally, there are no boats or loud people playing in the water because the salt destroys engines and the kids would all get salt water in their eyes and start screaming.  Basically imagine laying on water in one of those floaty things, expect you are never going to fall off.  You are cool because of the water, it's silent, and you can lay there as long as you want without using a single muscle on your body.  Yes, it is that fantastic.  I think what I need to open now is a "Sweet Sea" where instead of salt you have sugar.  Maybe it would provide all the same properties but fewer of the problems.  Of course, you would probably get tons of interesting organisms living and growing in it so maybe that wouldn't be the best idea.

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  Anyway, the place was sort of like a resort and as such had showers and a normal pool as well.  Basically the program was to get in the dead sea for awhile and relax, shower and clean yourself and then jump into the pool where you could play and swim and be cool, then jump back into the Dead Sea and repeat until tired.  In there you can also cover yourself in Dead Sea mud (apparently very good for the skin), eat, drink, read and generally be merry until your heart explodes or you have to go home.  It was amazingly fun and relaxing and honestly one of my more favorite excursions while here in Jordan.  I would like to go back sometime and experience the relaxing loveliness of the Dead Sea.

Random huge stone at Mt. Nebo

This was an actual sign on the way into the
 Mt. Nebo site

A serpent wrapped around a cross... epic

Yeah, I was that close!

This is how women swim while still in Hijjab

That's a lot of Mud!

I promise, I'm actually floating here!

Salt deposits on the Dead Sea

Umm Qais, Another Adventure!

So, this week was pretty darn awesome. After doing next to nothing for the first two days (we did meet the children we will be teaching English to starting Sunday) we were told to absolutely not come back until Sunday because neither the marqez or the mudireea had any work for us. Well, we asked them a few times and then decided that if they were going to give us three days off of work we were going to use them in an epic fashion and go on an adventure. The biggest thing that I look for in an adventure is uniqueness, so as I was searching for someplace to have some fun I looked for a place I have never heard of. Hence, why we went to a random town in Northern Jordan called 'Umm Qais'.

When I looked up Umm Qais I was told that it was a beautiful "Decapolis City" overlooking the Sea of Galilee, the Golan Heights, and even Lebanon in the distance. Also, it is a favorite destination of Palestinians living in Jordan who go to see some of their homeland where they lived and their family still live, but they are unable to visit. So, that is Umm Qais and that is what I will be describing to you today because it was epically amazing and I feel like telling you, even though I haven't posted anything about Petra, Wadi Rum, or Aqaba yet which is also sad.


To get to Umm Qais was actually not very difficult, we took three buses to get there from Amman and one of them was an hour long drive in an air conditioned touring bus (like we have in the United States) and only cost about $3.00. All together, for both of, we spent about $14 to get from our house to the city and back. When we got the ruins we were both pretty hungry and so we went right up to the local restaurant which was overlooking the valley in front of us and was shaded and breezy. I had delicious chicken and Austin had hummus as we sat and thought about the many historical things that happened within our view. It was especially cool to think about the religious significance of that area and to look at the hill where Christ is supposed to have cast the devils out of the people and into the swine who then ran off the hill into the Sea of Galilee (or Lake Tiberius as it is called in Jordan).

The city was really fun to explore. It is not typical looking ruined city because instead of brown sandstone or white granite being the building blocks, they used black basalt which brings an interesting new color to the mix. There was a beautiful museum that was extremely detailed and comprehensive where we got to see a number of mosaics that were being protected as well as a sarcophagus that we both laid in (a little weird to lay down where you know someone who was dead was and then they decomposed into it). Probably the coolest thing was an ancient 10in thick door made of solid rock that you could still open and close because it was perfectly balanced on a giant stone hinge. It was awesome. Also, the sight still has a lot of excavation yet to be done and so as you walk around you see many old arches and passageways just sitting around. You think they are nothing until you explore them a little bit and are then quite amazed at the things that are under your feet all the time in this beautiful country.


As we were walking to the edge of the cliff we saw this little house made of rock balancing precariously on the edge. I thought it would be cool to go have a look and also to see what the view is like from the promontory. Well, as we approached, two amazingly relieved Jordanian Soldiers appeared outside of the little hut and proceeded to greet us enthusiastically and then proceed to tell us what everything in the distance was including the Golan Heights, the Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberius), the Jordanian/Israeli Border, and the Syrian Border. It was amazing to see the Golan Heights especially and then to release why Israeli needed to take them and the strategic position it places Syria in if they receive them again with the creation of a Palestinian State. The other interesting thing I noticed was the technological divide between Israel and Jordan. The forward observation post for Jordan was very rustic, the soldiers had a single set of binoculars and were simply asked to look for signs of movement or advance. I'm sure that on the Israeli side they employ high technology such as radar and other devices, as well as many more soldiers to watch the border. It was very interesting and again, seeing how close they are to one another, it makes me grateful their is peace between Israel and her Arab neighbors. The other cool thing, was that the defenses from the 1967 6 Day war were still in place on the hill. There were extensive concrete and rock trenches, supply trenches and pill-boxes. It was amazing to be standing to something that was so important in such a modern time and to see the front-lines firsthand.

The last thing we did was head back to the city up to the ruins of the Byzantine Basilica which had a number of intact and ruined pillars. Of course, we were up for a challenge and so we were decided to scramble up a number of the pillars and take cool pictures on top of them and around them which I will include here. It was a lot of fun, and helped us be entertained for another hour or so.

Over all, Umm Qais was extremely awesome. I'm grateful that I was able to find a less-visited tourist destination and to finally see the area surrounding the Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberius) and the Golan Heights. It helps understand the strategic advantage of this area and the reasons behind some of Israel's policies and procedures. Also, sitting in Umm Qais I wondered if Palestinians actually came there and looked at their homeland that they were unable to visit and the families they wouldn't know. I thought about what it would be like to be in Canada, away from my family, and refused entry into my homeland, the United States of America. I will not comment on the political situation here, but it simply made it more real for me and helped me have empathy instead of simply sympathy. I think this is one of the greatest things I have gained here in Jordan, a better understanding of the Arab people, especially Palestinians and a better understanding of some of the situations in the Middle East according to other people's eyes.

Look, I know Karate!

That's a weird center pillar!

This is the flat Chameleon I found while walking down the road,
pretty cool eh?

Syrian Sunset

   Well, I'm a little behind in multiple different ways but this past weekend I saw Syria!  Can you believe that?  I saw frikin Syria which I think is so darn cool.  Also, judging from what I saw... all of the Media is lying.  Seriously, the only explosion I saw was fireworks and there was no sign of gun fire or tanks.   Seriously, our media must be lying because my first hand extensive knowledge says they are wrong ( haha, I hope everyone knows that I am joking).

  Maybe I should explain why I was chilling close to the Syrian border, especially since people are probably freaking out right now.  Well, the director of our program, Ralph Brown, was in country and was able to get all of us students invited to a huge dinner in Northern Jordan with a very powerful family he knows quite well.  So, after church on Friday we all pile into some vans and made the long trip up to what seemed like the Middle of nowhere.  It was amazingly gorgeous and surprisingly green from all of the agriculture.  Of  course the family we were eating with had to show us all of their property and expensive possessions so we go to see a lot of camels and I even got to ride one, bare back!

Once again, I feel like the best way to describe the day is through a number of pictures so here you go!

This is dozer, the huge bull camel I got to ride bareback.
I was the first person in the group so he wasn't angry
 yet but it was actually surprising enjoyable

Dozer's disgusting mouth after he became angry a little later.
Camels are huge and have disgusting mouths.

This is the sign on the outside of the camel pen.
  Apparently a camel can kill  you quite easily.
Maybe that's what that disgusting smell was...

That is Syria in the background.  Pretty cool photo in my opinion.

This is "Sophia" the pregnant white camel in a different pen that
absolutely love to be scratched under the cheeks.
Is she smiling at my kiss?

Just a cool picture in my opinion

The Syrian Sunset...

So yeah, this was the most eventful thing I did last weekend and it was a heck-of-a-lot of fun!  Also, if you ever want to ride a camel bareback, just let me know and I can give you some pointers!

Maybe I should write about my internship...

Well, I decided that before I posted about the amazing weekend I had and all of the cool experiences that will probably fill four separate blog entries, maybe I should write a little bit about what I am actually doing here in Amman for my internship.  I admit, the problem with me writing about my internship is two-fold.  First of all, so far we really haven't been able to do that much in our internship for a variety of reasons, secondly to put it simply I am not here for my internship.   The reason I am in Jordan is to learn about the people and their struggles, to see the stories that we can't read about in America and to understand them better has I get a better grip on the Arabic Language, the internship is simply a way to do that cheaply and with some much needed help.
  So, my internship.  My internship is to work for the Jordanian Ministry of Social Development (MoSD).  I am currently stationed in Iraq Al-Ameer with one other intern at a community center that was closed down a number of months ago for renovations.  It is our job to help the center prepare to open, to operate effectively, and to find ways to improve the options available to the community through the center.  In addition, the other intern and myself have been given separate assignments from our director to analyze and report on surveys taken around Jordan and what the MoSD can do to help them.  It is quite fun and rewarding, I always love solving problems and analyzing information.
     As far as our work in Iraq Al-Ameer is going, we have not done much.  Our work day usually consists of about two hours of light manual labor, and hour of talking with the staff at the center, and then us returning home half-way through the day.  Because I am not here for the internship, it isn't completely bad, but it is sometimes very frustrating to realize how much we are paying everyday to travel and how little we are getting done.  Also, it is unfortunate to see the resources so needed by the rural community we are working in not available because work is not being done efficiently.
   Since describing what we do is sort of boring and would take a long time, I will simply show you in pictures:

This is one of many rooms that was completely covered
in furniture, we have since sorted and cleaned everything
in this room and others as well

A particularly bad and dusty room, it's amazing how much stuff
we located in this mess!

Repainting doors and windows

Cleaning the bathroom, especially splatter from paint
and plaster

Removal of old nasty carpet

Refilling water tanks, which promptly leaked
and are now empty

The location and destruction of dangerous
wildlife within the center
(Isn't it awesome this was inside the center?  We asked our "Grandma" Bedouin lady
 that is always helping us about the scorpions and what would happen if one
of them stung us. With a huge smile on her face she told that we would die and then
 went back to work.  Pretty sweet eh?  We are now freaked out anytime something
 slithers across the ground, including wind blown trash.)

Removing bushes and trees with broken tools mended with tied on phone-cords
that bush in the background used to be huge...

So, although we aren't doing much I am enjoying it and we also get to have more time for interesting cultural experiences, which you hopefully know by now is exactly what I search for.  Like right now, I'm actually on my laptop sitting close to the "Martyr's Memorial" which is the army museum for Jordan that I got to see part of today and will see the rest of later.

  Don't worry, I'll right about this weekend soon 

Dinner with the Sheikhs

The Whole gang with a TON of food

Today was the infamous dinner with the Sheikhs and other wonderful adventures that filled the day and made it spectacular.

Outside of the Mosque

 This morning we headed back to work and because of our bus sitting for 20 minutes waiting for more passengers we didn't get there until almost 10:00 o'clock and our boss was a little bit angry.  The funny part was that the only thing they had for us to do was to rip out some carpet that literally took 15 minutes to do.  After that, we swept and organized the room and did some extra work in the bathroom cleaning off some of the grout that had been left behind.  When we asked our boss what else we could do he led us outside and talked to us for an hour about nonsense and then told me that I should take a nap which was extremely wonderful.  Finally a little before 12:00 we told them we were leaving and would return the next day.  We decided that since the day was still young we would go on some adventures and headed off on the bus to Wisit-il Balad or the old down-town where all of the cool little shops and things are.  Also, we decided we would visit one of the larger mosques in Jordan and one of the only ones that allowed non-muslims into the prayer hall itself, the King Abdullah Mosque.

The person in Orange is Austin and
that is right where I took my little cat-nap

  The King Abdullah Mosque is monstrous and very new.  It was built in honor of King Abdullah "The Martyr" (For more information go to this website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_I_of_Jordan).  Anyway, it has HUGE minarets that can be seen from most spots in the city and a ginormious blue dome.  We were really excited to go in and found the prayer hall generally empty so we walked around and took a number of pictures.  Well, after our experience with our naps last week we were both thoroughly encouraged to take naps here as well.  I ventured out to the middle of the mosque with the intention of taking a few pictures of what I thought was a very cool roof.  Next thing I know, I woke myself up with my snoring in the middle of the mosque.  Luckily there were no worshippers close by that I could have offended but we did beat a hasty retreat.  We then went to the Museum which was pretty interesting and the Charity Bazaar which was very nice and reasonably priced.  As soon as we entered the bazaar both myself and Aussie were gifted with female companions who literally followed us around the whole time and anytime we decided to look at an item they would pick it up and tell us all about it.  It was very annoying, but they did succeed in guilting both of us into purchasing something (btw, stamps here are ridiculously expensive so I hope everyone wasn't expecting a lot of letters from me).  Anyway it was quite a nice little adventure and as we were walking out we met some Americans from Oregon who talked to us for a little while because I was wearing and OSU t-shirt GO BEAVERS!

My friend the calligraphy artist

  Well, from the Mosque we walked a little ways and got some amazing Lamb Kebab in a sandwich and then proceeded to the barbers where I got my weekly shave and Austin decided to have one too.  I love those shaves, they hurt so good!  We had a suitably interesting religious conversation with Omar the owner (I mainly listened and nodded but I cold understand some of it) before leaving and heading down the street towards Wisit il-Balad.  On the way to Wisit il-Ballad we stopped in to see my calligraphy friend who was glad to see us but very busy.  We stayed for a while and had a great time talking to him about many things and giving him our opinion on his art-work, which stuff would sell best where and what colors he should use in his calligraphy/paintings.  He also did a sweet sketch where he wrote Austin's name in calligraphy which was really awesome.  I'm gonna see him a number of more times as I try to figure out what calligraphy stuff I want from him and plus he's just fun to be with and talk to.  From there we headed into Wisit il-Balad where I was able to buy a Quran that is in both English and Arabic and which I have been dying to get my hands on.  I can't wait to read it and understand a lot more about Islam and the people that are all around me.  We then jumped on a service taxi and headed home to change before going to the Sheikhs home for dinner.

Sheikh Yusef serenading us

  Dinner with the Sheikhs.... I'm not going to lie, we were a bit nervous.  The entire time we were joking about all the bad things that could happen but we took all the necessary precautions by telling people where we were going, using public transportation and having contact numbers in case of emergency.  It turns out that all of our fears were unfounded and we had yet another amazing cultural experience.  When we arrived we found that it was not only us and Sheikh Yusef but the other Sheikh from the parade, Sheikh Hussin and another Sheikh who both had traveled over 100 kilometers to meet us for dinner!  To start off we all sat around and talked for about an hour about all sorts of different subjects.  They spoke almost no English so Austin spoke a lot as did our friend and translator "Luai" who was friends with their son and our go between for the night.  They had a bunch of pictures of Sheikh Yusef up on the wall so I asked if he could explain them to me.  They were really cool and showed him with all sorts of important people like meeting the King, the Prime Minister, big time generals and him as a young soldier.  In addition to idle small talk we asked them about what it means to be a Sheikh.  Apparently Sheikh Yusef is a member of parliament and many other organizations.  He became Sheikh both by blood but also by democratic consent of his "family" or tribe over which he is the head.  It is a full time job and he apparently has quite a bit of power as there are only 24 Sheikhs in Amman.  Sheikh Hussin is from a small village called Jordan Valley and his main duty is to act as a judge.  They all said that being a sheikh was very important and surprisingly informed us that there were even female sheikhs from time to time.  I thought that was pretty cool.  Other interesting parts of our conversation were that when they found out I was engaged they told me they were going to come to my wedding!  I told them that it was really far away and would be really expensive but they said it was no problem and that they had a friend at the airport who would get them a flight for free.  How cool will it be if some Sheikhs actually come to my wedding?  After talking and taking pictures for awhile Sheikh Yusef pulled out the Arabic version of a guitar and began serenading us for the next hour.  A number of the songs were quite interesting, especially since we didn't understand anything except for when he said our names.  It was an awesome time, and he even sang a song about my fiancee missing me in America which was hilariously awesome to say the least.  After he finished singing and before we ate dinner I asked if I could sing them a song from my homeland in gratitude and I sang them the song "Shenandoah", which I think they enjoyed.

Eating it in the traditional way!

     After I sang we all sat done to an amazing platter of the Jordanian National Dish, mansef, with lamb's meat.  The traditional way to eat the mansef is to roll the rice into a ball along with the meat and the bread and eat it all in one big bite.  Apparently the bigger the ball you make the cooler you are and the Sheikhs thoroughly enjoyed watching us try to make the balls.  I actually made an instructional video for everyone to see but since my internet is so slow I don't know when I'll be able to upload it along with my pictures.  The mansef was absolutely amazing and just as wonderful as it sounds.  I was completely full by the end of the evening and had such an awesome experience it is hard for me to realize it actually happened.
  Let me just say, in case you can't tell already, that Jordanians are some of the nicest and most hospitable people that I have ever met.  They are so willing to be friends and if you show any interest in them or their lives they are more than willing to go out of there way to help you and make you comfortable.  Sometimes it can seem a bit excessive but it most definitely wonderful and once you settle into the role of guest it makes it all worth it.  I love being here and hope to continue to meet and see many wonderful people!