Thursday, December 27, 2012

Ararbic words/phrases I learned

Yella-hurry
Mooshi-cool
Nam-yes
La-no
Habib-my friend
Habibi-my love
Salam malakium-peace unto you
Malakium salam- and also to you
Shookrun-thank you
Afwann-you're welcome
Shaba elhair-good morning
Shaba helnore-response to good morning
Mesa elhair-good evening
Mesa helnore-response to good evening
Keif halick- how are you?
Hum di lala-all is good thanks to god

Jordan day 1: Amman, Citadel & Desert Castles

Awake at 7 for breakfast. Nice spread at the hotel-scrambled eggs, potatoes, beef sausage, toast and tea. There we lots of local food I didn't know and since I was about to travel all day I wasn't brave enough to try something my stomach didn't agree with. We meet with our group of 24 and our guide Aziz. A local Jordanian who apparently is an active protestor, so if I don't come home it might be because I was arrested for participating in a Jordanian protest. You know me, always bucking the system ;-)

As we drove around town he explained to us that the city is where the majority of Jordanians live, ~6million, and the neighborhood are defined by 1of 4 circles (aka roundabouts). We started our tour with the "rich" part of town, the A's and B's. People here signify their wealth by covering their houses with white lime stone and their nice cars. Which was even more impressive considering gas is $5/gallon and they pay 100% tax AND import fees on their vehicles. All of the houses look very similar-box shaped, lime stone walls, most with beautiful ornate front doors. Aziz said that most people do not have gardens because of the lack of water but also because they would prefer to have an extra room in their house. Between the blocks in more neighborhoods we rubble lots with nothing but rocks and litter. I've really been surprised over the amount of litter and trash everywhere. It's not so in your face that you feel like it's dirty and gross everywhere, but I definitely notice it. We passed a beautiful mosque which Aziz made a detour for us to explore the temple. Us ladies had to wear robes which covered our heads, but it allowed us to go into the man's worship hall.

5 Pillars of Islam
1 There is 1 god, Allah and Mohamed is his final prophet
2 Pray 5 times a day facing Mecca
3 Fast for the month of Rhamadha
4 Tithing
5 Pilgrimage to Holy land

After we went to the mosque gift shop and has some DELICIOUS tea, minty and fresh. Didn't buy any souvenirs because little did I know...they don't do travelers checks here. SO glad I brought most of my money in checks...suuuuper. Next was the citadel. Used through all eras of history (greek, roman, ottoman, islamic) as a worship site and place of honor. There was a Roman Temple to Hercules (Roman ruins seen...check) and a beautiful view of the city (all neighborhoods, ancient Roman amphitheater and the worlds 2nd tallest flag pole with a Jordanian flag that was 60ft long. Also in the citadel were ruins of a cistern, ruins of a Byzantine church, and a former king's palace (see pics). We also explored the museum with artifacts found one site from almost every era (stone age on).

After leaving the citadel we traveled out into the desert to visit 3 desert castles. It was interesting to see the desert here for the first time because it's mostly rocks with very little sand. Unlike many desert countries, Jordan has many desert mountains (which apparently we will see tomorrow). The weather was cool in the morning but started to warm up around 9 or 10am but there was still a slight breeze making it perfect jacket weather. The 1st castle we visited was mostly destroyed by earthquakes which they get every few years (note to self, check out fault line). It was called Al Azrad, meaning "blue" named for the oasis, which is no longer there due to over use of the water source. Aziz said it is sad because it used to be a very vital spot for migratory birds and other animals which are not longer around due to the remaining climate. At the ruins there were 2young boys and 2 young girls who "welcomed" us to Jordan. The braver of the two boys shook my hand and said "welcome to Jordan" then later he came back with his friends to ask me where I was from, telling me he was from Jordan, thank you for visiting. I let him know it was nice here and thanked him for having us. The officially language here is Arabic but as of 12 years ago the king made all students, starting in 1st grade to study English. The only word I've learned so far is "shookrun", meaning "thank you". We stopped for lunch at 2pm, which was really late considering we ate breakfast at 7am. By the time we stopped April was dying from hunger but all was fixed with a delicious buffet. After lunch we visited the 2nd and 3rd castles. The 2nd was for the king and his guests and was in better condition due to restoration efforts. There was walls covered with beautiful frescoes depicting people and animals, which is unusual because most art does not show people or animals. The frescoes has recently been retouched by Italian artists and were quite lovely (see pics). We visited a Bedouin tent where the gentleman played his "guitar" made of deer hide and horse hair string for us which we drank tea and petted his cat ;-) The 3rd castle was for passing caravans. By far the largest and most intact however without art work or embellishments.


Upon return to Amman, April retrieved her bag from the front desk (it had been delivered while we were out for the day) and we took a minute to relax and start documenting our day. Aziz had given us a few dinner recommendations and while we were slightly nervous about going out at night alone, we braved the foreign taxi (only 5JD for a 20min ride) and thoroughly enjoyed our dinner and watermelon/mint hookah.
Now safely back in bed with the alarm set for 6:15am for a 7:30 departure back to the desert. I'm already feeling like I should have refreshed on my ancient and biblical history and wishing my brain was big enough to remember the facts and Arabic words for everything, but you know there's always tomorrow, ensh'Allah!

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Holly crap, I'm going to JORDAN!!!-Getting there

A day of planes, trains, and automobiles. Started with a Bolt Bus ride from Baltimore to NYC. After arriving in the city, April and I took the uptown bound E train to JFK. 1st subway train ride post Hurricane Sandy and just as I thought, no different. New York is strong and if they can bounce back after 911 than they can recover from a hurricane too.

Got to JFK around 9pm, ate a quick bite and boarded on Turkish Airlines. Very nice plane, pretty similar to the times I've flown Quantas; goodie bag with eye mask, ear plugs, lip balm, and slipper socks; 2 choices of dinner (had the ground beef with I couldn't totally enjoy since I was trying to sleep and we had already eaten dinner); snacks (roasted hazelnuts, cheese and crackers); and breakfast (eggs, veggies, & cheese). Watched "Crazy, Stupid Love" and attempted to watch "Dream Girls" but wasn't into it. Also tried to watch "Eragon" since I was curious about the movie version of the book, but similarly to the book, I couldn't really get into that either, so I ended up watching 3/4th of Dolly Parton's "9 to 5" before falling asleep. Highlight of the flight was definitely the free booze. They offered m ea drink and when I asked how much the wine was, the flight attendant gave me a crazy look. Awesome!

Upon arrival in Istanbul, Turkey we waited several hours before even getting our gate number. Pretty uneventful. Tried to use the wifi with no success and just sat and waited. About 15mins before our flight was due to leave all the flight attendant said was "Amman?" and everyone jumped up. No order, or anything. Again with Turkish Airline and the plane was nice and accommodating. April and I sat next to each other both times because because the guy at JFK hooked us up. He even gave us the emergency row from Istanbul to Amman.

 When we finally landed in Amman, about 10:30pm, local time, we met a representative from our tour group, Classic Adventures. We were all pretty tired and the guy wasn't very organized so tempers were short. We handed over our passports and went to pick up our checked baggage (wait, did I just give a random customs guy my passport and walk way? Don't they make movies about this?!). Got my bag fine, April on the other hand was not so lucky. I felt bad for her since she says this tends to happen to her, plus it is her first time out of the country so she was already a little nervous. She made her claim and then we were off to the hotel, Imperial Palace Hotel. All good, passed our bags through xray and checked into the room. 1 double bed, shower, toilet and bidet. By now it was 2am, and April needed to check in with her mom. Unfortunately you had to pay for 1hour min and it was 5JD (1USD is 0.76 Jordainian Dinar) so not really worth it. BUT the business center computer let her use it for free, magically.

Got to bed by 2:30 for a 7am wake up call to be to the lobby by 8:30am. Definitely not enough sleep, but what can you do. Got things to see and do!