The Rest of Jordan

Here are some other highlights from Jordan:

Me and Kara at the Jordan River

The ancient citadel of Amman right in the middle of modern day Amman, the capital of Jordan

My visiting teacher Sarena with me

Off to the races in Jerash

One of the cool cars at the King of Jordan's Automobile museum

Alyssa, Bethany, and Me at the Jabbock River where Jacob "wrestled with God" 

Some security at the Jordan River

At the city of a thousand columns, aka Jerash

At one of the ampitheater's in Jerash (Matt and Jeff make great faces!)

Just holding hands with a colossal Hercules in Amman ... no big deal... 

Petra!

I'm apologizing in advanced, there are a lot of pictures! On July 7th, 2007, Petra was named one of the seven wonders of the modern world; a title well deserved.  We walked through a canyon of lots of red rock and saw some remnants of previous carvings that have been pretty eroded by wind and rain.  These people left some cool remains for us to enjoy literally 2000 years later!  After walking about a mile, our tour guide Iyad had us all look down so we couldn’t get a peak of the Treasure, the light at the end of the tunnel.  Then he had us all hum the Indiana Jones theme and then we looked up and saw it!  With all the hype I was worried it wouldn’t live up to my expectations, but boy wasn't disappointed!  It was incredible!  

We walked by the tomb of the kings and then headed up to the monastery.  This was the part I was most worried bout with my ankle.  Thankfully, Heavenly Father was looking out for me, and armed with my handy brace, Advil, and a sense of adventure, I made it to the top and back down!  We saw some great views along our way!  We made our way back down and ate lunch.  After lunch, we made our way back down the path, but stopped to explore the ruins more this time.  

Then, the moment we were all waiting for arrived: THE CAMEL RIDE!  (I don't have many pictures of me on the camel at this moment, but will work on that).  Lizzie negotiated a good price for us and we had a great time!  It was definitely an adventure! 

Petra was absolutely amazing!

On top of Mount Nebo

First off, I am SO sorry that I haven't written for so long!  We were in Jordan for 4 days, and then we had midterms this week and I have gotten so far behind! But I am alive, my ankle is healing up nicely, and I think I passed my tests (well, hopefully I passed!).

Our first stop was the border crossing: a little more intense than I realized! I haven’t seen a lot of tension between Israel and Jordan in Jerusalem because they stay pretty separated, but there were heavily armed guards at both sides of the border.  Our first stop was Mount Nebo, where Moses received the 10 commandments.  Then we went to Madaba and saw the biggest surviving mosaic map (I may have made that up) then drove through the desert and made it to Petra.  It was a long time in the bus!  It’s interesting how each country is so different.  Jordan is definitely poorer than Israel, but the people were still so friendly and welcoming. 

We finally arrived at our hotel and were treated like celebrities.  They greeted us with sweet orange juice in fancy glasses and were snapping pictures left and right.  I had a curse that night: everything  touched I broke!  After finishing my drink, I set the glass on the edge of the table which quickly fell off and shattered.  After we got settled in and ate dinner, we walked around the little town in the rain and got some fun souvenirs such as a jar of sand with a camel in it that I also broke when I came home after dropping it on the tile floor (I think it'll be salvageable with some super glue).  Though the sheets were a little sandy, I slept like a baby. 

A Twist in the Story

Yesterday a group of us were hanging out in the old city, which really is old.  Some of the cobblestones were brought up from underground are believed to date back to the time when Christ lived (cue the music to "I Walked today where Jesus (might have) Walked").  While the old cobblestones are super neat and add to the charm of the city, they don't make walking the easiest.  On the uneven roads and steps, I sprained my ankle yesterday.  Unfortunately, that means I had to stay home from our Jerico field trip.  Thankfully, I am surrounded by people who have been taking good care of me and I have some extra time to write in my journal and read for fun.  Hopefully I'll be able to recover quickly! 

Friends Down Under

Many years ago, a group of students went underneath the center and signed their names. They got caught, referred to the honor code office, and had to repaint the wall they signed. After that, the staff takes all the students beneath the center to stop their curiosity and let them sin the walls under their supervision. It was neat to see my friends who were here edited me! I love adding to the legacy :)

Bedouin Weaving

The first stop on our field trip was to a Bedouin weaving center where women have received an education and help sell the things they weave. They created such beautiful work!

The Negev

For those who don't know, the Negev is the desert in southern Israel. Today we went to Be'er Sheba and Arad. It's neat to read about these places in the Bible and then get to go in real life!

Neighborhood Fun

On our way home from the bell tower, we ran into some local kids who invited us to play soccer with them.  One of the girls knew David's friend so she invited us to her house.  It was in a run down looking building and the neighborhood isn’t very nice so I wasn’t expecting much.  We walk in and though small, the apartment is decorated beautifully!  The mother is so kind and welcoming to us.  The mom speaks Spanish as well as Arabic and a little bit of English, so David and Skylar who both served Spanish speaking missions begin chatting away while I’m sitting there smiling and not understanding what’s going on.  It turns out that the mom invites us back for her 8 year old daughter’s birthday party at 4 that evening.  

Then we went down the hill to play soccer.  I am horrible at soccer, but it felt so good to run around!  Everyone out played me, but they were all really nice about it.  After playing soccer for a while (my team won) we taught them how to play kickball.  There was definitely a bit of a language barrier, but two of them knew English enough to understand our instructions and then passed it on in Arabic.  Though we didn’t always understand each other, everyone understand soccer, joking, laughing, and smiling.  It was so fun! 

We bought a small gift for Malek (the birthday girl) and then went back to their apartment.  When we got there, the kids were in the living room with Arabic music videos on and having a dance party.  Skylar and David did not like dancing, so mostly I danced with the girls.  They were so darling!  The family fed us so much food that was delicious!  I was just blown away by their hospitatlity of practically complete strangers.  

We came back home and at 7 pm, I started my paper.  Though I was up way too late because of my procrastination, I wouldn't have cut anything out-- today was such a fun day! 

Dome of the Rock

I have seen the Dome of the Rock from practically every angle around the city and today I got to walk right up to it.  The tile work is absolutely gorgeous!  The skyline of Jerusalem isn't the same without it.  While it feeds the political and religious tension, I'm glad we get to enjoy the beautiful craftsmanship while we're here.

I Can Here the Bells

On my way to work every day I walk passed the bell tower and listen to their beautiful tones.  I’ve often thought about how cool it would be to play them.  Today I got my chance!  The Squires bring students with them every week and it was my turn today.  We went over to the YMCA tower in West Jerusalem and played in pairs.  Michelle and I played Ode to Joy.  Maybe I'll post the video one of these days-- it was so fun! 

Sunrise Yoga

I have a research paper due tomorrow before we get on the bus.  Have I started it yet?  No.  So what naturally today turns into a busy day full of fantastic fun.  We started the morning off with Sunrise Yoga (we literally got up with the sun and were out on the front lawn at 6:15 overlooking the city.  I am not very good at yoga, but it was so soothing!  I absolutely loved it!  

Western Wall

Today we took a field trip down the road to the Western Wall.  Alli, correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I understand, the Jews believe that their temple used to be built on the temple mount (where the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosque currently sit) and where they believe their temple will be built again someday.  They believe that there can only be one temple and that it can only be in the spot God anointed which they believe to be on Mt. Moriah (which is currently occupied by the Muslims).  So the Western Wall is as close as they can get to their old temple without walking on the mount because they don’t want to accidentally walk on the Holy of Holies.

I didn’t know what to expect, but we passed through securities (metal detectors and armed soldiers included) and it was packed with people welcoming in the Sabbath that starts at sun down.  We gently pushed our way to the front of the pack and waited for our turn to stand in front of the wall and leave prayers in the wall.  There was a lady standing next to us with tears in her eyes.  She had waited her whole life to come get as close as she could to the fallen temple.  It was neat to see how special this place was to these people.  

As we were leaving, we found some girls from our group talking to a Jewish woman from Brooklyn, NY.  It was really neat to hear her talk about her religion and answer our questions.  She had more modern and reformed beliefs, but she had a heart of gold.  It was neat to learn more about her beliefs and feel the love she had for that place.

Churches

Today we only had 3 hours of class with a SEVEN hour break in between!  So what did we do with our free time?  Certainly not clean our rooms or do homework or blog (sorry about that), but we went to play in the city!  

I had my first falafel which didn’t disappoint!  

We went back to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (a church originally built my Constantine in the 4th century CE and then rebuilt by the crusaders during the 1100s approximately to commemorate the death and burial of Christ).  There were people from all over the world including Mexico and Morocco.  Right next door to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is the Church of the Redeemer so we went inside.  For a few shekels we were able to climb 178 stairs to the top and saw a great view of the city.  There were some Muslim girls around 12 or 13 I’d say with balloons and glitter.  They were very excited to get their picture taken with David, so we jumped in too.   I think it was one of the girl’s birthdays.  They were loud and giggly just like any group of 13 year old girls would be back home, just dressed differently.  We also met some women part of some Christian convent (I didn’t catch what exactly) from Austria.   

Parrots and Pomegranates

I have seen so many places that have sell fresh squeezed pomegranate juice and my mouth just waters.  While we were in the city today, we decided to try some.  They cut the pomegranate in half and squeezed the juice straight in my cup and added nothing else and it was DELICIOUS!  My mouth is watering just thinking about it!  The man had a parrot in his shop so we wanted to get a picture with him.  While I was getting my picture taken, the parrot decided that he thought my juice looked pretty good too so he grabbed my cup and tried to take it!  I got my juice back, but managed to make a mess at the same time--oops...

We found our way to St. Anne's church where the pools of Bethesda are also.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but the ruins were so big and so deep!  It was a beautiful place and very peaceful.  We can't preach while we are here, but we can sing, and the Mormons are well known for singing everywhere.  We were talking with two of the priests with delightful British accents and they insisted we sing for them.  The cathedral had beautiful acoustics and made up for our lack of skill.  It's neat to make friends with people all over the world who share a love for Jesus Christ.  

Jerusalem Overlook Field Trip

Every Monday we go on a day long field trip with our Old Testament Class.  Today we stayed pretty close to the city.  We started our day going to our neighbors at Augusta Victoria, a church/hospital.  Being only a hundred years old, it was easily the youngest thing we saw today.

We went to a place about a half hour away called Nabi Samwil-- the supposed birthplace of Samuel the prophet (not the one on the city wall-- that's a couple centuries and countries away).  Modern archeology has told us that this is not the place he was actually born, but it people have been coming here for centuries.  When one group of crusaders were coming to Jerusalem, they were able to see the first glimpses of the city from this hill.  There is now a church that the Jews and the Muslims both share (kind of unusual) and there are also ruins from 2nd century CE.  Cool place!

One of our last stops was overlooking Bethlehem.  We had a few mintutes to ourselves and it really hit me:  I am living where our Savior and other biblical prophets have visited and lived.  

(Pictures are a little out of order-- first is from NabiSamwil, then Bethlehem, then the Augusta Victoria church)

Old Friends in the Old City

Today we got a tour of the city for the first time! Everything is so OLD! Lots of people knew us as the Mormons and loved us, thanks to the previous JC students. We went to the money changers and I found notes from my friends! Love these girls :)