Ella Learns to be a Good Jordanian Friend

Hello again to all!!!! This time lets do a shout out to my Russian readers, I hope you find it interesting! And yes, I am having fun stalking my stats and seeing who is reading my blog.

This is the story of how I learn to be a good Jordanian friend. Let me tell you, it is HARD WORK. It involves some acrobatics, a lot of time, and a lot of fun!

This weekend, all of CET and some of our language partners (Sharik alLurawi's) went on our long trip to The dead sea (Bahar al Maeet), Petra, Wadi Rum, and Dana National Forest. It was from Thursday afternoon until Saturday night. We got today, Sunday, off from school to rest and do our homework.

The Dead Sea


Not much excitement here....I have already been to the Dead Sea twice in Israel so its not so different on the Jordanian side... We floated, we put mud on, we washed off, we left...

Petra


We didn't arrive to Petra until around 9pm, and were exhausted from our drive and playing at the Dead Sea. We were with many our our language partners, and mine, Bra'a was there. It takes a lot of energy to talk in Arabic all the time, but its fun. We had dinner and then went to bed pretty much. Thank goodness we stayed in a hotel! At 4:30am I woke up hating the world, like I usually do when I am woken at this hour. I showered and went up to breakfast, and after three cups of nescafe, I felt a little more like a human being. We walked about 5 minutes to Petra, and PS, if you are a student in Jordan the entrance fee is 1JD ($1.50).... if you are a tourist, the entrance fee is 90JD ($127). Lucky we all have our student cards for Yarmuk University! The city is amazing! Just like in the pictures!!!! Although they leave out the fact that you have to climb 800 stairs to get to the top...it took about 2 hours to get to the top, with a few breaks for shopping from the beduin jewelry stalls. By the end, I was sooo sweaty and gross and tired and hot, I could barely think. We were done around noon, and I was happy we went so early because it was just way too hot and was getting crowded now that it was later.

For those of you who don't know, Petra is where Indiana Jones in the last crusade was... pretty cool!!!!

Tim named this camel Omar, and the one behind him I named Amira....They are cute, no?

This is the monastery almost at the top of the mountain... it was amazing and I don't understand how they do this!!! 

I made it to the top!!!!! They call this the end of the world...It looks like it, right?


Wadi Rum

In the jeeps, heading out to Wadi Rum!

Mazen, our resident director

After Petra, we were all exhausted. We showered and napped in our hotel, and then had lunch and drove to Wadi Rum. I was still exhausted, and napped on the bus. I hadn't been a great Jordanian friend in Petra...I sorta lost Bra'a for the most part of it, but for Wadi Rum I was determined to be good. Wadi Rum is a huge expanse of sand with huge mounds of rocks and mountains to climb and hang out in. its pretty beautiful and tons of fun. Despite being exhausted, we all rallied and had a blast. We got 4 jeeps and drove around to different mountains to climb up.

There is soooooooo much sand in my shoes!!!!

This is where I really learned to be a good Jordanian friend, and Bra'a and I stuck together! We climbed arm in arm and I pulled her up some rocks and we had a blast. Her sister, Salwa was also there, and she is my friend Danielle's language partner. the four of us spent a good amount of time together.

One of our stops was to climb up a sand dune, and then up some rocks. the sand dune was REALLY hard to get up! It was like quicksand, and every step I took I sunk 1.5 steps back! Bra'a and I hung on to each other for dear life, and it was okay we didn't get too far. It was fun.

This is me and Lawrence of Arabia!

I made it way high up! I am strong!

I admit I am quite scratched up now, but it was worth it. The second to last one, I climbed the highest. I got maybe 150ft up? I really have no idea, because I suck and guessing things like that, but it was way high up. It was fun to go up and terrifying to go down! At the bottom, there was also a rock with the face of Lawrence of Arabia, as this is where he met his gang of Beduins (at least in the movie, I don't really know real life, just what I learn in the movies!) We got tea there, and ran into an old friend from the beginning of the program, Jared, who now is running a program in Amman.

These are my lovely sharika sisters!

We spent the night in tents at a campsite for Wadi Rum visitors, and hung out. the stars were beautiful!!!! There were many more than anywhere else I have ever been, even in Leverett!!!!!
















Dana


The next morning, I awoke really early in my oven...I mean tent...and we went to breakfast, and then left Wadi Rum for Dana National Forest. I am sorry to say I wasn't that excited. By this point I was exhausted and kind of natured out. We walked around a bit, I climbed a rock, we had lunch, and we drove home.