Going to Ghor

For most of my time in Jordan so far, I've been in and around Amman.  So today, I went and visited the village of Ghor which is right next to the Dead Sea.  We went through a program called the Zikra Initiative, which is an NGO that aims to show foreigners (and Jordanians) what life is like in the smaller villages while supporting the villages economically as well.  It's called exchange tourism, and it was honestly one of the coolest experiences of my whole life.

We started out our morning meeting some of the people that work and volunteer for Zikra Initiative and some of the women and kids that lived in Ghor.  The big plan of the day was to make qalayet bandoora, which involves a lot of tomatoes.  So, each of us grabbed a crate and went out and picked some tomatoes (even Mohammad's super cute little girl!).

After we had picked a lovely assortment of tomatoes, we climbed up to a tent on top of a hill overlooking Ghor and the Dead Sea Valley and did some really cool crafts.  I made beads from dried olive pits and strung them together in a bracelet with the help from some Jordanian women.  We also learned a few basket weaving tips, how to make kohol (eyeliner), how to grind wheat, and a lot of other cool things.

But really, the most important part was making qalayet bandoora and bread.  Of course I'm in the middle of observing the Baha'i fast (stuff like this ONLY HAPPENS IN MARCH), so I did the best I could to not draw attention to the fact that I wasn't eating.  I did take a piece of bread for after sunset though :)

Overall, it was a really cool experience.  All the girls drew henna on each others hands.  And at the end of the day, someone started playing the flute and someone else started drumming so we all clapped and danced together.