Wadi Rum

Hey everyone.  Sorry for so long and no new news.  Well back in November Gabe and I went down to Wadi Rum which is a desert wilderness area here in Jordan.  It was amazing!  I grew up in the deserts of New Mexico and so that landscape is forever in my blood. 

We went with a local tour company for a three day and two night adventure.  The first day we met our local Bedouin guide and two German guys who were in the group with us.  The first day we jeeped all over hitting some of the major highlights in the Rum.  That night we stayed out in the desert in the Bedouin camp and had a great traditional meal cooked there.  The next day we went with our guide to one of the higher peaks in Wadi Rum.  Was a pretty simple hike up to the summit and from there we looked over the border between Jordan and Saudi Arabia.  That day thunder storms were moving through the area so we had some amazing views!

As dusk arrived the guide took us out to a specific spot to watch the sunset.  I convinced him to let me drive us and let me just say it was a blast!  There are no roads.  Just jeep tracks out in the desert and sand.  Taking some of the turns on the sand was more than a little fun.  Thankfully we arrived safely to our spot and had a great view of the sun setting over the expanse of the desert floor.

That night it was back to the camp for hot tea with local herbs, warm fire, and really interesting people.  Each night in the camp travelers from all over are coming and going.  In our two nights we talked with the local Bedouin guides, and then folks from Germany, Australia, Canada, Ireland, England, I think Spain, and another country I'm not sure.  The interaction with so many cultures each night around the fire and local food was as much an experience as the exploring, sight seeing, and boulder scrambling of the day.

The next morning we had camels awaiting us for our ride out of the desert back to the main village.  I will say I am glad we rode the camels out.  I will also say I don't plan on ever riding a camel again.  Not comfortable and not very friendly from what I saw.  All in all a wonderful trip, so glad I was able to go.  I put some pics up on the pages section so check them out. 

By Bus and Paddle Boat

This last Friday I went down to Aqaba with two of my coworkers.  It was a full day.  We left at 8 am and didn't arrive back home till 2:15am.  We took a bus from our home town down south to Aqaba.  Aqaba is Jordan's only port city sitting on the Red Sea.  Check out the pics I posted on the pages section.  It is a beautiful area with low mountains surrounding the water.  The city also had a bit of greenery which was a refreshing change.

I am not sure we did our math too well because we ended up being on the bus for over 11 hours roundtrip and only down in Aqaba for about 6 hours.  All the same we made the most of it with a great meal of a local specialty fish called Sayadea, it was really good.   Then down to the beach and taking paddle boats out onto the Red Sea.  Then we headed up into the town and did some shopping and found some yummy smoothie like drinks with fresh local fruit.

Oh and my bus ride did include a free Arabic tutoring session.  I had my Arabic book with me and was going over the alphabet and basic words.  A young boy on the bus came over with interest in what I was doing and then helped me in correctly pronouncing the words.  I would read it as best I could and then he would correct me.  

Quiz Results

So for how the streets are named.  16th, 26th, and 36th are all named based on their width in meters.  So nothing as intriguing as prophetic omens or lucky numbers but I thought it was interesting when I learned.

You Know . . . When

So you know you are living in a desert when:

Everyone's favorite season is winter.  We do conversation test with students and one question we ask is what their favorite season is.  So of all the students I've asked almost without fail the favorite season is winter.  Having experienced the heat of only the end of summer I have some idea why winter is favored.  

You can now distinguish and appreciate at least five shades of brown.

You've forgotten how to use a clothes dryer.  Who needs one when the air around is about as efficient a dryer.

Road trips go much faster.  It seems I can drink gallons and not need a "potty break".

More homes have water coolers than water heaters.

Weathermen can't begin a sentence without saying, "Mostly sunny".

Clarification

To clarify on the last comment on my soccer post.  The Blue Knights would have easily taken the group I was playing with.  Some questions had arose from this so just wanted to clarify.  Don't want to be thought of as downing my team.

Soccer

This weekend I played soccer with some guys here in Jordan.  A coworker of mine plays each Friday and so I and some others from work joined him and some of his friends.  Unfortunately grass is a scarce commodity in Jordan and so our field was a basketball court with rock piles for goals.

Myself and some other Americans were wondering if we were about to be demolished as we drove out to play.  But as it turned out although many here have a passion for soccer it does not necessarily equate to having talent at soccer.  It was about the mix you'd expect anywhere.  A few guys really good, a few really bad, rest somewhere in between.  For those of you familiar with the Blue Knights, well we would have taken them easily. 

Picnics and Rain

Thankfully these two happened on different days for me this weekend.  Together they wouldn't have been so nice.  But apart they made for a nice weekend.

Friday afternoon we packed up the car and headed up to the "mountains."  I use quotations because after arriving I realized the "mountains" wouldn't exactly earn that title in a New Mexico or Colorado.  But all the same it was a nice change of scenery (I will post some pics) with a bit more greenery and especially nice change of temp as it was refreshingly cool in the mountains.  And apparently a Friday afternoon picnic is the thing to do in Jordan.   As we drove along most any roadside spot with a bit of shade had a family gathered around picnic-ing.  Much of our food was pretty standard stuff; sandwiches, Pringles, Pepsi.  But we also had some hummus, a pomelo (combo of grapefruit and orange), and some dates which were great.


It was the next afternoon, on Saturday, that the rain came in.  With our windows open we could hear the growing creshindo as the rain crashed down on the stone buildings and then a breeze of air carrying that wonderful dusty yet fresh smell.  Windows began opening and heads popping out from balconies as the rain came in and then before long a block party was underway as kids gathered outside dancing, laughing, and playing with the rain continuing to come down.  It was really neat to see a true sense of celebration at the arrival of rain.

Black Gold! ?

Voting is closed and the results are in!  If this were final Jeporady many of you would be heading home sad.  91% of you overestimated the amount of oil in the sands of Jordan.  To the 3 of you who chose correctly well done!  Yes the answer was 0.  Jordan does not have oil as a natural resource.  It is smack dab in the middle of the Middle East but must import all its oil.

And extra credit to our friend Jason Irish.  I will let his response speak for itself:

Ok I think you're starting this Blog out w/ a trick question.....are we talking about Crude Oil or Olive Oil?   If it's crude oil, Jordan is only an importer as far as I've read.  As far as Olive Oil, they produce quite a bit, albeit not nearly on the scale of Spain, Italy, & Greece, the top 3 worldwide in that order according to most figures!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_oil

That's my final answer!

 

Arabian Nights

So I now better understand the title of this book.  Appartently most things in the Arab world have happened past my bedtime.  It is as the sun goes down that the life of a community awakens.  Last night as I was thinking it was time to head to bed it turns out instead it was time to begin a visit with a neighbor, at 10:15p.  So yes, it is confirmed I am not Arab.  At least as not when it comes to selecting a reasonable bed time.  But in regards to food . . . I might be!?  More on that subject to come. 

I'm Here!

Hey Everyone,

Well I and my teammate Gabe arrived safely to our new home in Jordan!  The trip here went really smoothly and so far I'm not feeling the effects of the ol' jet lag so hopefully that holds up.  Had a long layover in Frankford so we had most all day to go out into the city and enjoy some brats and brotchen and some nice gelato.

We finally arrived in Jordan about 2:00am local time.  By the time we were to our apartment and just as I was about to lay down for the nights sleep, 5:00am, the call to prayer came across the loudspeakers.  My first day in Jordan was ending just as so many others was just begining.   I must say it was beautiful and a bit mystical.  An exotic language, a strong but musical voice, knowing how many ears were hearing and responding to this call.  Wow!  Everyday routine for locals.  Bran new experience for me.

Actually off to a wedding here in just a bit so more to come but I'm off for now.

Begining

Here I go into the world of blogging.  Watch out!  Who knows where this might end up.