Week 3: Petra and Wadi Rum
Week 3: June 12 - June 18
Tuesday, June 12:
This morning I went to work but there was little to do because we had finished distribution for the week so I enjoyed spending time chatting with the women in the office and as usual, sitting down around 11am to share bread, labneh, cheese, veggies, tomatoes, Za3tar and more! Bread = خبز, Cheese = جبن
After work I went to Ahlan for my Amiyé (dialect class) and I met Ahmed who is in charge of organizing student events, and he is hilarious. After class, I went with my friend, Kinda, who is a volunteer at the Mercy Kitchen and her sister to go get our nails done for only 10JD for a manicure pedicure. I loved catching up with her because I hadn’t seen her in so long! Unfortunately, it took a long time so I had to rush home because the wonderful Martin, my roommate, offered to make dinner for Areen, my other roommate, and her boyfriend. He cooked Blanquette and it was amazing. I’d never had it before but it was delicious.
After dinner, Brahim and Martin got out their guitars and Brahim taught Martin a little bit because he’s a music teacher in Jordan. It was so much fun especially because I got to sing while they played and they are both super talented. It was a lovely night.
Wednesday, June 13:
Today at work I helped prepare for distribution next week by writing all the information and codes on all of the envelopes that we distribute to the beneficiaries. It was great practice for my Arabic because I had to write the dollar amount in Arabic in addition to the city name in Arabic. By the way, Arabic numbers are different from 1, 2, 3, etc. it is ١، ٢، ٣، ٤ and it’s even more confusing because Arabic is from right to left but the numbers go from left to right.
Anyway, I went to school and was so exhausted that I actually fell asleep during our 5-minute break. I know, it’s impressive; but I’m known for being able to sleep anytime and anywhere. After school I walked home, trying to wake myself up, then gave in and took a nap at home. After my nap I got ready and went to a BBQ at Ahlan World where I met a bunch of other students from Italy, the UK, Spain, and America. We all shared kebab, beef, chicken and tamarind juice. After the dinner, I met up with my friend Nick who I met in Morocco three years ago. It was so great to catch up and hear about his experience studying Arabic in Amman and just talking about everything else going on in our lives.
Speaking of Arabic, it’s true that people really do appreciate when you try to speak Arabic, because on the way home I struck up a good conversation with the Taxi driver in Arabic and when I arrived home he said that the ride was on him and refused the money that I offered. This reminded me of all the selfless and kind people there are in the world. If 50 good things happen to you and one bad thing, you’re almost always more likely to remember the bad thing, so this helped me focus on the positive.
Thursday, June 14:
Today at work I worked on a project for a conflict mapping class that I am taking online through Georgetown’s Center for Social Justice called Intersections. I worked on mapping out the office and the structure of Caritas to better understand the power dynamics and how location impacts an organization. Around lunch time, Areen asked for order for McDonalds. I’ll be honest with you, I despise McDonalds in America, but here there is a burger called the Big Tasty, and it actually is “tasty!”
After work I went to my classes and learned how to conjugate verbs in present past and future in Amiyé, which wasn’t hard but it was confusing because its close but different from Fusha, modern standard Arabic. I walked home and then went to the Mercy restaurant because it was the last Iftar they would be serving because tomorrow is Eid! Meaning, fasting is over and restaurants are open during the day!
I came home and met up with Martin, Karim, and Amir so we could go bowling and it was so much fun. The game started off with me getting a strike and I was winning, but then the brotherly rivalry between Karim allowed them to overtake me and Martin and I were left to fight it out. We had a really fun time, and after we played pool for a bit. Afterwards we drove to pick up some shawarma then headed back to the house to watch some weird movie about this Christian country singer who writes the most popular Christian pop song ever. Just saying, Martin and Karim picked it, not me.
Friday, June 15:
I love Fridays because you get to sleep in ALL day long. Today I slept in until 1ish and made some lunch, then sat around until 3pm when I met Ahmed and some friends at school for a tour of Amman. It was the funniest tour, because I didn’t see any new landmarks, but I got to know new people, so it was worth it. We walked from the school to the King Abdullah I Mosque to take a tour and it was just as beautiful as the first time I saw it. Then we shared tea and cookies with the men who ran the gift shop at the mosque. Following our tour of the
Mosque, we walked around the Boulevard with shops and stores and everything and even came across a game of giant Jenga in the mall. On the boulevard, we saw an Orange (phone company) booth with costumes and a mini set where you can take pictures so of course we took the bait.
Afterward we chilled for a bit and had delicious juices on the rooftop of a restaurant and watched one of the World Cup games. Then we took a van to el Belad/ Downtown and went to a family style dinner place to try all kinds of traditional Jordanian dishes. I still don’t know their names, but I know they were delicious. Following dinner, Ahmed walked us to a place called Amman Pasha Hotel, where we sat in their café drinking tea and dancing with the hotel staff, then we went up to their rooftop. A couple staffers played guitar, so they played Adele and asked me to sing. It was really fun and we didn’t get home until very late.
Saturday, June 16:
Today was the beginning of many friendships. Regardless of the fact that I had slept exactly 1 hour the night before, I lugged myself to Paris Circle to meet up with the other students from Ahlan World to go on our trip to Petra, Wadi Rum and Aqaba. Everyone was dead tired so we slept for about an hour then Ahmed, the manager of Ahlan who takes students on trips, blasted Jordanian music. My favorite is “3 Daqat” check it out! We took turns DJing and had a great time. Once we arrived in Petra, Ahmed had ordered us a Jordanian version of pizza with thyme and cheese . . . it is delicious.
We headed for Petra, which was right next to our hotel. We had to pay 40JD per person or $60 so if you’re ever in Jordan for a long period of time make sure to get the residency card because the ticket would only be 1 JD! We walked beneath the beautiful towers of rocks on either side of us and saw goats on ledges along with several guys hanging out on a cliff. We arrived to the treasury which was beautiful, and we took pictures before climbing up to another spot. At the top we could look down on the treasury and it was beautiful. At the tent on top, we shared tea with a Bedouin and I bought a traditional head scarf that they wear to protect yourself from the sun.
We came down and our friends let us ride the supposed “tallest camel in Petra” named Daisy and then we started our “45 minute” trek to the monastery. This walk started off easy when it was on flat ground, but as we walked for 20 minutes someone told us we had under an hour left to go, then 10 minutes later, someone said an hour and a half, and we were confused why the time was increasing. As we started up the trek, climbing rock after rock and stair after stair, it got really hard and we didn’t have any water with us. Hannah was a kind soul and waited with me to lug ourselves up the 1.5-hour trail. We arrived and it was a spectacular view, but my phone was dead and I was so dehydrated that I couldn’t really talk because my mouth was so dry. Carla and I decided to take a mule down the trail which seemed like a good idea but going down on a mule is much scarier than going down.
We eventually made it back to the treasury and began our walk out of the park, but the funniest thing was that two dogs followed us and occasionally they would start attacking each other in a friendly way, I hope. By the time that we exited the park, the blonde dog had stayed with us and walked all the way back to our van. We drove to a cliff and had dinner looking over a valley and it was delicious. When Hannah, Josh, Ahmed and I decided to go out later, we found the same dog and it started following us again. For some reason a bunch of other dogs came out of nowhere and started attacking this dog, not in a friendly way. Josh yelled at them to go away with worked for a little, but the gang of dogs came back to attack him. Josh was the funniest because he’d talk to the dogs and they would go away.
Sunday, June 17:
We got to sleep in today, which was very necessary. Then we drove to Wadi Rum, a beautiful desert in Jordan and we climbed into the back of a truck to visit sites around Wadi Rum. Our first stop was without a doubt the best stop because we arrived at a huge sand dune with a snow board. Climbing up a mountain of sand is a lot more difficult than one may imagine, however, riding down the mountain of sand on a sand board was way worth it. We all took turns practicing, but my favorite part was running down the hill. I half jumped and half ran and I felt like I was on the moon! We grabbed some water at a Bedouin tent nearby and I bought a beautiful scarf. We continued by stopping to learn about a plant that if crushed functions as soap, we also stopped to see hieroglyphs, and we also stopped to take stereotypical jumping photos.
After our tour, we returned back to the camp and had a delicious dinner that was actually cooked underground. They make a fire under the sand, then when it’s hot enough, they put the food in and cover it with a lid and blankets and sand so that the heat is contained and it works as an oven. After dinner, our squad wandered out to a random rock in the middle of the desert to start a fire and have a drink. It was prime time for bonding.
Monday, June 18:
Around 10:30am we headed for the stunning Aqaba, a beach city in Jordan. We went to a nice hotel and walked past the pool and down the beach. Though it was very rocky, the temperature of the water was perfect and we enjoyed diving and swimming around. We also had the chance to hold on to and inflatable raft then be dragged by a boat like wake-boarding but laying down on a raft with two other people. It was such a blast and I did not want to go home.
Alas we piled into our van and started our trek home. Bless up for Josh buying us Bugles at every store we saw. And then towards the end we pulled over and Esmat, our driver, cut up a huge watermelon for us to share! We enjoyed listening to music and singing on the way home.
Tuesday, June 12:
This morning I went to work but there was little to do because we had finished distribution for the week so I enjoyed spending time chatting with the women in the office and as usual, sitting down around 11am to share bread, labneh, cheese, veggies, tomatoes, Za3tar and more! Bread = خبز, Cheese = جبن
After work I went to Ahlan for my Amiyé (dialect class) and I met Ahmed who is in charge of organizing student events, and he is hilarious. After class, I went with my friend, Kinda, who is a volunteer at the Mercy Kitchen and her sister to go get our nails done for only 10JD for a manicure pedicure. I loved catching up with her because I hadn’t seen her in so long! Unfortunately, it took a long time so I had to rush home because the wonderful Martin, my roommate, offered to make dinner for Areen, my other roommate, and her boyfriend. He cooked Blanquette and it was amazing. I’d never had it before but it was delicious.
Wednesday, June 13:
Today at work I helped prepare for distribution next week by writing all the information and codes on all of the envelopes that we distribute to the beneficiaries. It was great practice for my Arabic because I had to write the dollar amount in Arabic in addition to the city name in Arabic. By the way, Arabic numbers are different from 1, 2, 3, etc. it is ١، ٢، ٣، ٤ and it’s even more confusing because Arabic is from right to left but the numbers go from left to right.
Anyway, I went to school and was so exhausted that I actually fell asleep during our 5-minute break. I know, it’s impressive; but I’m known for being able to sleep anytime and anywhere. After school I walked home, trying to wake myself up, then gave in and took a nap at home. After my nap I got ready and went to a BBQ at Ahlan World where I met a bunch of other students from Italy, the UK, Spain, and America. We all shared kebab, beef, chicken and tamarind juice. After the dinner, I met up with my friend Nick who I met in Morocco three years ago. It was so great to catch up and hear about his experience studying Arabic in Amman and just talking about everything else going on in our lives.
Speaking of Arabic, it’s true that people really do appreciate when you try to speak Arabic, because on the way home I struck up a good conversation with the Taxi driver in Arabic and when I arrived home he said that the ride was on him and refused the money that I offered. This reminded me of all the selfless and kind people there are in the world. If 50 good things happen to you and one bad thing, you’re almost always more likely to remember the bad thing, so this helped me focus on the positive.
Thursday, June 14:
Today at work I worked on a project for a conflict mapping class that I am taking online through Georgetown’s Center for Social Justice called Intersections. I worked on mapping out the office and the structure of Caritas to better understand the power dynamics and how location impacts an organization. Around lunch time, Areen asked for order for McDonalds. I’ll be honest with you, I despise McDonalds in America, but here there is a burger called the Big Tasty, and it actually is “tasty!”
After work I went to my classes and learned how to conjugate verbs in present past and future in Amiyé, which wasn’t hard but it was confusing because its close but different from Fusha, modern standard Arabic. I walked home and then went to the Mercy restaurant because it was the last Iftar they would be serving because tomorrow is Eid! Meaning, fasting is over and restaurants are open during the day!
I came home and met up with Martin, Karim, and Amir so we could go bowling and it was so much fun. The game started off with me getting a strike and I was winning, but then the brotherly rivalry between Karim allowed them to overtake me and Martin and I were left to fight it out. We had a really fun time, and after we played pool for a bit. Afterwards we drove to pick up some shawarma then headed back to the house to watch some weird movie about this Christian country singer who writes the most popular Christian pop song ever. Just saying, Martin and Karim picked it, not me.
Friday, June 15:
I love Fridays because you get to sleep in ALL day long. Today I slept in until 1ish and made some lunch, then sat around until 3pm when I met Ahmed and some friends at school for a tour of Amman. It was the funniest tour, because I didn’t see any new landmarks, but I got to know new people, so it was worth it. We walked from the school to the King Abdullah I Mosque to take a tour and it was just as beautiful as the first time I saw it. Then we shared tea and cookies with the men who ran the gift shop at the mosque. Following our tour of the
Mosque, we walked around the Boulevard with shops and stores and everything and even came across a game of giant Jenga in the mall. On the boulevard, we saw an Orange (phone company) booth with costumes and a mini set where you can take pictures so of course we took the bait.
Afterward we chilled for a bit and had delicious juices on the rooftop of a restaurant and watched one of the World Cup games. Then we took a van to el Belad/ Downtown and went to a family style dinner place to try all kinds of traditional Jordanian dishes. I still don’t know their names, but I know they were delicious. Following dinner, Ahmed walked us to a place called Amman Pasha Hotel, where we sat in their café drinking tea and dancing with the hotel staff, then we went up to their rooftop. A couple staffers played guitar, so they played Adele and asked me to sing. It was really fun and we didn’t get home until very late.
Saturday, June 16:
Today was the beginning of many friendships. Regardless of the fact that I had slept exactly 1 hour the night before, I lugged myself to Paris Circle to meet up with the other students from Ahlan World to go on our trip to Petra, Wadi Rum and Aqaba. Everyone was dead tired so we slept for about an hour then Ahmed, the manager of Ahlan who takes students on trips, blasted Jordanian music. My favorite is “3 Daqat” check it out! We took turns DJing and had a great time. Once we arrived in Petra, Ahmed had ordered us a Jordanian version of pizza with thyme and cheese . . . it is delicious.
We headed for Petra, which was right next to our hotel. We had to pay 40JD per person or $60 so if you’re ever in Jordan for a long period of time make sure to get the residency card because the ticket would only be 1 JD! We walked beneath the beautiful towers of rocks on either side of us and saw goats on ledges along with several guys hanging out on a cliff. We arrived to the treasury which was beautiful, and we took pictures before climbing up to another spot. At the top we could look down on the treasury and it was beautiful. At the tent on top, we shared tea with a Bedouin and I bought a traditional head scarf that they wear to protect yourself from the sun.
We came down and our friends let us ride the supposed “tallest camel in Petra” named Daisy and then we started our “45 minute” trek to the monastery. This walk started off easy when it was on flat ground, but as we walked for 20 minutes someone told us we had under an hour left to go, then 10 minutes later, someone said an hour and a half, and we were confused why the time was increasing. As we started up the trek, climbing rock after rock and stair after stair, it got really hard and we didn’t have any water with us. Hannah was a kind soul and waited with me to lug ourselves up the 1.5-hour trail. We arrived and it was a spectacular view, but my phone was dead and I was so dehydrated that I couldn’t really talk because my mouth was so dry. Carla and I decided to take a mule down the trail which seemed like a good idea but going down on a mule is much scarier than going down.
We eventually made it back to the treasury and began our walk out of the park, but the funniest thing was that two dogs followed us and occasionally they would start attacking each other in a friendly way, I hope. By the time that we exited the park, the blonde dog had stayed with us and walked all the way back to our van. We drove to a cliff and had dinner looking over a valley and it was delicious. When Hannah, Josh, Ahmed and I decided to go out later, we found the same dog and it started following us again. For some reason a bunch of other dogs came out of nowhere and started attacking this dog, not in a friendly way. Josh yelled at them to go away with worked for a little, but the gang of dogs came back to attack him. Josh was the funniest because he’d talk to the dogs and they would go away.
Sunday, June 17:
We got to sleep in today, which was very necessary. Then we drove to Wadi Rum, a beautiful desert in Jordan and we climbed into the back of a truck to visit sites around Wadi Rum. Our first stop was without a doubt the best stop because we arrived at a huge sand dune with a snow board. Climbing up a mountain of sand is a lot more difficult than one may imagine, however, riding down the mountain of sand on a sand board was way worth it. We all took turns practicing, but my favorite part was running down the hill. I half jumped and half ran and I felt like I was on the moon! We grabbed some water at a Bedouin tent nearby and I bought a beautiful scarf. We continued by stopping to learn about a plant that if crushed functions as soap, we also stopped to see hieroglyphs, and we also stopped to take stereotypical jumping photos.
After our tour, we returned back to the camp and had a delicious dinner that was actually cooked underground. They make a fire under the sand, then when it’s hot enough, they put the food in and cover it with a lid and blankets and sand so that the heat is contained and it works as an oven. After dinner, our squad wandered out to a random rock in the middle of the desert to start a fire and have a drink. It was prime time for bonding.Monday, June 18:
Around 10:30am we headed for the stunning Aqaba, a beach city in Jordan. We went to a nice hotel and walked past the pool and down the beach. Though it was very rocky, the temperature of the water was perfect and we enjoyed diving and swimming around. We also had the chance to hold on to and inflatable raft then be dragged by a boat like wake-boarding but laying down on a raft with two other people. It was such a blast and I did not want to go home.
Alas we piled into our van and started our trek home. Bless up for Josh buying us Bugles at every store we saw. And then towards the end we pulled over and Esmat, our driver, cut up a huge watermelon for us to share! We enjoyed listening to music and singing on the way home.
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