The Ghost of Dawar Waha

This past week has been somewhat uneventful except for the mystical creature that's trying to kick us out of the apartment. At the beginning of the week, the boiler in the bathroom, quite literally, exploded as I was about to shower. The water was extremely hot, my roommate was quite worried when I yelped as the water hit me. Everyone had a good laugh about it, except me because I just wanted a warm shower. The next following days the hot water decided to work every other day, on the days that I didn't take a shower. On the bright side, I had some really shiny hair from all the cold water, but I was very happy when our guard Mahmoud finally fixed it. On Thursday night the power went out, so six of sat around a bunch of candles seance style convinced that the power would never come back because, well, this is Jordan. The next day, as Clare and I were making mac and cheese on the one burner we have that work the dial shot off the front of the stove and we're too embarrassed/afraid to call Mahmoud again because he doesn't really speak english, and every time he fixes something another thing decides to break. Fortunately, we've gone a few days without any problems and, in sha allah, the ghost has decided to take a break for awhile. The weather's getting warm, and the forecast is calling for 81 next week, which should make me feel a little better about the hell midterms that we're about to face. The Petra trip is next weekend, and spring break is coming up right after, al-hamdalilah. I very much need a break

Pics of Madaba (commentary located in the post below)

Biblical Jordan and Tea with the Bedouins

This weekend a group of about ten of us apartment kids ventured out to Madaba to see the biblical sites, and visit the hot springs. We left Amman around 5 on Thursday evening and, due to the ridiculous traffic and multiple random stops, we arrived in Madaba around 6:45. We arrived to a mostly quiet city that apparently closes down around dark. Regardless, we found a cute hotel and a wonderful restaurant downtown. If there was one thing I'd miss most about Jordan its the delicious family style meals with endless buckets of cheese, bread, hummus, and kebabs. Naturally, we went in search of some hubbly bubbly afterwards, and found a tiny shisha place with a very sweet owner. We called it quits early because the nightlife in Madaba is non-existant and we had to prepare for our long day ahead.

On Friday my roomies and I woke up around 8, grabbed a free breakfast, and headed out to see the famous Greek Orthodox church in Madaba where the oldest map (yet to be found) is located. The church was filled with a mixture of Canadian, Chinese, French, and German tourists. But, despite this tourist bubble, I absolutely loved this little gem in the middle of a small town. Next on the agenda was Mount Nebo at 2680 feet above sea level where Moses allegedly traveled to gain a view of the promised land that God had granted to the Israelites. God asked Moses to stay and this mountain until his death and so is rumored to be the burial site of Moses. We were fortunate enough to go up on a clear day because we were able to see for miles. The West Bank, Jericho, and the Dead Sea were all in clear view from the top point.

After Mount Nebo we traveled another 30 minutes to the Mai'n hot springs. The beauty of this natural phenomenon is overwhelming. Unfortunately the site was slightly tainted in my eyes because of the obvious gender discrimination. I decided that I won't wear a bathing suit again in public in Jordan unless I'm on a private resort. I understand that when traveling to a different culture, especially one so separate as Jordan, you must accept the differences in what's considered rude or inappropriate, but the staring is something I have trouble getting used to. Being the annoying feminist that I am, I couldn't stand the obvious discrimination. All the men were shirtless and in shorts, but if the women weren't completely covered (We didn't see any women over the age of 18 without a hijab) you got ogled or tisked at. But we all powered through it and enjoyed the healing waters anyway and walked away feeling refreshed.

On the ride back to Madaba the van we rented for the day overheated in the middle of a Bedouin farmland. When this happened I groaned and prepped myself to sit around until we got it fixed, but I was very pleasantly surprised when a nearby Bedouin farmer came over and offered us his home. We sat around on cushions on the floor in a room designated specifically for entertaining in a very small home. The man brought us tea and we all attempted to converse with him in our clumsy Arabic. In the end, I was very glad our car broke down just for this little piece of rural culture. It was the kind of hospitality that you would rarely find in the states, and it was a refreshing thing to see after leaving the hot springs.

Roman castles, beer pong, and stomach bugs

Last Saturday a large group of us CIEE kids piled into a tour bus to explore the Eastern Desert of Jordan, starting with a Roman caravan station called Halabat and ending at the Jordanian "wetlands" where the country apparently gets 1/4 of its water. Judging by the fact that the wetlands consisted of about 3 ponds (and that's being generous) I can now understand why long showers are a no-no. Overall the trip was quite enjoyable. The highest temperature that day was about 70 degrees and the castles were absolutely beautiful. Because Jordan has so much history to show off (and apparently very little legal problems) they have no problem with visitors climbing all over everything. It's a shame that this means the castles will eventually crumble to dust, but now its so much fun to be that close to something so ancient.

I've had some more time to explore Jordanian night life this week. On Tuesday we went to a hookah restaurant called Jaffra with really authentic live music. On wednesday, we found a nice little bar after a free jazz concert at a nearby hotel. And I found, wherever you may be in the world, beer pong is never impossible to find.

On a more serious note, the region is more in turmoil than ever before. As I was sitting in my archaeology class the other day we heard what sounded like explosions, our teacher assured us it must just be a nearby quarry. I found out later it was actually the Israeli army setting off bombs at a training camp for no apparent reason. Although this means nothing bad for Jordan at the moment, I've now had to accept that crazy shit is going on around here. My roommates and I have been sitting in front of the tv horrified about what's going on in Libya. My optimistic side hopes the Gaddafi will step down soon, but my rational side believes the people of Libya unfortunately have a long and bloody trial before them, but I hope everything gets better soon.

I'm sitting around writing this right now because I'm stuck at home as a cause of the inevitable stomach bug that I expected to eventually get when travelling to the Middle East. It's much better than yesterday thanks to a lot of rest and water!

For those of you who don't have a fb page here's some pics of the eastern desert

Apparently here it rains cats, but not dogs

The past week has been somewhat uneventful relative to the first two. Now that classes and the apartment are all settled life feels less hectic, but now I've had time to discover the many odd/awesome things Jordan has to offer. I found out that Jordan does not believe in animal control, so there are cats EVERYWHERE, and unfortunately one decided to die and/or be in heat outside my bedroom window. The noise has, as of now, stopped so I hope she has either moved on or improved her life in some way. I've also found lots of amazing food places around the apartment, including a place the sells amazing baklava and few cute little shawarma/falafel restaurants. They are surprisingly much cheaper than any American fast food chain that you will find, which are apparently considered fancy dining around here because they are the cleanest buildings you will find in the city.

I've worked two days at the archaeology library now and, although it is quite boring sorting pottery for 4 hours, the lunches they feed us are extremely fantastic and I've met some super interesting (although somewhat socially awkward) archaeologists.

Tomorrow I'm going on a CIEE sponsored trip to the Eastern Desert to check out some awesome castles starting at 8 am because, apparently, CIEE hates sleep.

"Belt your seat, we go in helicopter"

My life in Jordan is starting to feel much more stable because (finally!) I have a final class list. I tested into language intermediate II which is awesome because now I won't have to argue with Pitt advisors about credits, but may possibly be much harder than I think I can handle...I'm for sure in Archaeology of Jordan and Political Islam. Given the above quote is from my arch prof, I think this going to be quite the (interesting?) class, but slightly confusing since he doesn't really speak English. Political Islam is officially a shit ton of reading, but it looks like I'll learn a lot.

Along with my course load I've managed to secure a volunteer job at Amman's archaeology center, where anthropologists from around the world conduct their research on finds they've dug up in the region. I'll just be sorting pottery shards that a previous intern that apparently has zero organization skills. So the job is essentially pointless, but you have to start somewhere, right? (And I get a free lunch three times a week :-))

Us apartment kids are all starting to come together as a group, in the best and worst ways. We went out to a very expensive club last night, where we learned that Jordanians love to make fun of George W. Bush and that an American man should NEVER hit on a Jordanian woman under any circumstances. Surprisingly, we all made it out alive, most of us happy despite a few minor blood stains. As bad as that sounds, it really wasn't as bad as it was an interesting learning experience.

Tomorrow is our peer tutor orientation that begins bright and early at 8:30 am. It's supposedly super painful, so hopefully I'll get a great partner out of it.