We left Amman in the morning, and drove to Ajloun. It took about an hour and a half, and on the way we drove through al Baqa'a, the largest Palestinian refugee camp outside of Palestine. I'm taking a class on the Israeli-Palestine conflict this semester, and even though I've only had a week of classes I already feel like I'm approaching the conflict with a completely new perspective (i.e. I have a perspective). It's really interesting to be in this region of the world learning about these things, especially with the perspective of an American Baha'i. At some point in the semester, our class is going to visit al Baqa'a, a field trip that I am extremely excited for.
Right before we got to Ajloun, Mohammad turned around in the car and asked us if we liked bread. We replied yes, and he hopped out of the car and ran across the street and bought a whole bunch of the most delicious bread I have ever tasted. Eventually, we got to Ajloun, and got a tour around the old castle from a man who was part of the archeological team that had dug up some parts of the castle in the ground and discovered them. Everyone was just so happy yesterday, so it was really fun to be running around this ancient castle with all my new friends taking pictures and listening to a wise old man tell us all the history. When we finally made it up to the top of the castle, Mohammad pointed off into the distance and told us that we could see Palestine from where we were. At which point, drunk off proximity to places we had only ever read about, I took the best jumping picture I think I've ever taken.
After we finished exploring Ajloun, we headed back into town and ate a delicious (and cheap!) lunch of shawerma and hummus in this cute-borderline-tacky restaurant. And then we set off for Jerash. Jerash is basically a bunch of old Roman ruins, but really really cool ones. As someone who just came from Italy, I personally thought Jerash was way more interesting than Rome. It was raining, but raining lightly so that you weren't really getting wet, but everything was glistening in the light drizzle. The grass was greener, the rocks were beiger, the yellow flowers were yellower. Again, we lucked out with a really good tour guide and spent an hour and a half wandering through the ancient city of Jerash listening to him tell us stories.
Along the way, Ghadeer helped me finally name my camera, who will henceforth be referred to as Tosweera (or "dear little picture" in Arabic). She also taught me how to tie a hijab, which was something I've been thinking about a lot lately since about 80% of the women in town cover their hair. And with all different women wearing hijabs, there are so many different styles and colors and ways to tie it! It's just another accessory for the girls here, which I think is something Westerners fail to grasp sometimes. They think that the Muslim world oppresses women, which yeah, it does. But it isn't the hijab's doing. Point being, hijabs are cool, guys.
After our long day of excursion-ing, we finally headed back to Amman around dinner time. My roommates and I were hanging out listening to foreign dance music and brushing our hair, when Katrina pops up and decided to assign us all Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants personas. Weirdly, it worked out really well. Katrina, the quiet, beautiful type, was Lena. Stephanie, the blonde soccer player, was Bridget. Fathme, the computery person, was Tibby. And me, the loud, obnoxious, bi-racial type, was Carmen. I've never been in a group of four girls where everyone is obviously one sister from the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, so it was pretty exciting. Anyway, after that we took some pictures in our parlour for the cover of "Shmesani Life: Season 1."
After my roommates and I were done with our awkward parlour photoshoot, we went out for dinner. Wherein we observed our first Jordanian fight, complete with onlookers phoning up their cousins and an angry waiter running out the door and chasing a cab down the street. After dinner, we went downtown to a café, and hung out until 1 in the morning drinking tea, smoking hookah (well, those of us who could smoke without coughing smoked), and talking about how great our day was. Which it was. Yesterday was such a good day.
Right before we got to Ajloun, Mohammad turned around in the car and asked us if we liked bread. We replied yes, and he hopped out of the car and ran across the street and bought a whole bunch of the most delicious bread I have ever tasted. Eventually, we got to Ajloun, and got a tour around the old castle from a man who was part of the archeological team that had dug up some parts of the castle in the ground and discovered them. Everyone was just so happy yesterday, so it was really fun to be running around this ancient castle with all my new friends taking pictures and listening to a wise old man tell us all the history. When we finally made it up to the top of the castle, Mohammad pointed off into the distance and told us that we could see Palestine from where we were. At which point, drunk off proximity to places we had only ever read about, I took the best jumping picture I think I've ever taken.
After we finished exploring Ajloun, we headed back into town and ate a delicious (and cheap!) lunch of shawerma and hummus in this cute-borderline-tacky restaurant. And then we set off for Jerash. Jerash is basically a bunch of old Roman ruins, but really really cool ones. As someone who just came from Italy, I personally thought Jerash was way more interesting than Rome. It was raining, but raining lightly so that you weren't really getting wet, but everything was glistening in the light drizzle. The grass was greener, the rocks were beiger, the yellow flowers were yellower. Again, we lucked out with a really good tour guide and spent an hour and a half wandering through the ancient city of Jerash listening to him tell us stories.
Along the way, Ghadeer helped me finally name my camera, who will henceforth be referred to as Tosweera (or "dear little picture" in Arabic). She also taught me how to tie a hijab, which was something I've been thinking about a lot lately since about 80% of the women in town cover their hair. And with all different women wearing hijabs, there are so many different styles and colors and ways to tie it! It's just another accessory for the girls here, which I think is something Westerners fail to grasp sometimes. They think that the Muslim world oppresses women, which yeah, it does. But it isn't the hijab's doing. Point being, hijabs are cool, guys.
After our long day of excursion-ing, we finally headed back to Amman around dinner time. My roommates and I were hanging out listening to foreign dance music and brushing our hair, when Katrina pops up and decided to assign us all Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants personas. Weirdly, it worked out really well. Katrina, the quiet, beautiful type, was Lena. Stephanie, the blonde soccer player, was Bridget. Fathme, the computery person, was Tibby. And me, the loud, obnoxious, bi-racial type, was Carmen. I've never been in a group of four girls where everyone is obviously one sister from the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, so it was pretty exciting. Anyway, after that we took some pictures in our parlour for the cover of "Shmesani Life: Season 1."
After my roommates and I were done with our awkward parlour photoshoot, we went out for dinner. Wherein we observed our first Jordanian fight, complete with onlookers phoning up their cousins and an angry waiter running out the door and chasing a cab down the street. After dinner, we went downtown to a café, and hung out until 1 in the morning drinking tea, smoking hookah (well, those of us who could smoke without coughing smoked), and talking about how great our day was. Which it was. Yesterday was such a good day.
I very, very much appreciate your sharing these reports with us all.
ReplyDeleteI'm reading this one around 7:30 AM; what a great way to start the day !
Thanks. {:~))
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ReplyDeleteI am glad you found what you were looking for! Hope you continue to have a good time!
ReplyDeleteI am glad you found what you were looking for! Hope you continue to have a good time!
ReplyDelete