Friends in Far Away Places

 There is really something to getting to know your neighbor. Here in Jordan, we have gotten to know our neighbors that live right across the hall from us. Through the friendship we developed, even though their home is in Australia, we know we will always be friends.

After our winter break, I was feeling very homesick and desperately wanted to return home.  And then our neighbor’s wife move to Jordan from Australia, and things got a lot better for me. She was the perfect mother figure to have when feeling homesick. Lots of times I would tell Darren, “ I will be right back; I’m going to talk to Cathie,” and not come back for several hours. He was so happy that I had made a friend that he didn’t mind me spending a lot of my free time with her.

Andrew and Cathie

We went on several adventures with Andrew and Cathie that we feel are worth sharing.

Our first adventure was to Kan Zaman Village and Wild Jordan. The Kan Zaman complex was the sight of a successful merchant operation in the 1800s; it is now used as a tourist attraction. Here we enjoyed doing some shopping and eating a delicious buffet meal. We were the fist and only ones there for the first hour of the buffet being open!  We had bread and falafel made fresh just for us. After we left, we were hoping that there would be tour busses coming so that none of the food went to waste. On our way back home, we stopped by a shop called Wild Jordan, where they sell jewelry, art, soaps and bags made by the local Bedouin tribes. The money that is made from selling the local crafts goes back to the respective community. Their focus is on green industries and educating the community about the importance of conservation and restoration.  They even host seminars on these topics (one of which I got to attend). The shop also houses a delicious café/restaurant – the prices are a little high compared to the local venue, but the food is fresh and the chef is fantastic, so it is worth the price.  

Dining Hall at Kan Zaman

Cave with horse troughs

Our next adventure was to Iraq Al Amir, or The Caves of the Prince. On our way to the Caves we were watching for a section of the old Roman aqueduct that you can see from the road. We did find a section of it, but it was not the one that was in the Lonely Planet Guide. I think the one we found was on someone’s property, but we still drove down the little dirt road and took all the photos we wanted of the structure. After that, we went to the Castle at Iraq Al Amir, which was constructed by a powerful Jewish family before the Roman era. There has been lots of restoration after its destruction in an earthquake, but you can tell that in its prime it was a beautiful building. After thoroughly exploring the castle, we went to the caves, where Darren and I enjoyed exploring some of the interconnected passages. In one cave you could still see were they carved troughs out for horses.  We were also able to visit the women’s workshop in the nearby village, even though they seemed closed when we arrived. A lady came and opened everything up for us. She showed us where they make paper, ceramics, and rugs. Then we were led to the showroom, where everything they made was set out for display and sold. On our way back to Amman, we found the section of the Roman aqueduct that we were looking for in the first place, but it was nowhere near as impressive as the other.

Roman Aqueduct                                                                 Castle at Iraq Al Amir

 

Tel Hesban

Our third, and most exciting, adventure with Andrew and  Cathie was to Tel Hesban. We were going with them to attend an international luncheon at a school outside of Amman, but when we got there it was so crowded that we decided to find somewhere else to eat. On our way to find something to eat, we noticed in our guidebook that there were ruins nearby, so we decided to check them out after lunch.  Tel Hesban is a free historical sight that is only partially excavated. There are a few signs here and there telling you what was suspected to be at that location, but these aren’t the cool parts about this sight. What made this place so much fun was that we were able to dig a bit in the dirt and find different pieces of pottery. We spent hours just looking for things. All we found were potshards – thousands of them, in fact – but it was still fun to look around.  We returned to Amman a bit on the grimy side, but we were all happy.

The last outing was just Cathie and me. We went down to Rainbow Street, where on Fridays during the summer there is a little street market called Souk Jara. Cathie’s goal for the outing was to find Darren and me a going away present but she only told me that she was looking for something for Darren. I told her that the only thing Darren had mentioned, that he would like but would never buy for himself, was some artwork. So the hunt began, and we found a beautiful black and white painting with some accent colors that we thought Darren would love.  For my going away present, she got me a little teapot with two cups and a beautiful tea tray that is decorated with an Arab village motif. Which I unknowingly helped pick out.

Souk Jara

We look forward to when our paths cross again, and we are able to go on more adventures. Thank you Andrew and Cathie for sharing your time here in Jordan with us. We will miss you lots. 

~Amber

Israel Trip, Take 2

As some of you may already know, the volunteers here in Jordan got the chance to once again visit Israel a few weeks ago.  Amanda and Stella were able to go over on the 15th of April, while we waited until the 17th to make the trip.  Like the first trip, this one was very rewarding; also, we would like to thank the Hoyers for hosting us, and the Registers for visiting us.

On Sunday morning (the 17th), we headed out bright and early to the border, catching a taxi just after 6am.  He took us down into the valley by a small, back-country highway that we had never seen before, but which had great scenery.  At the border, we had no problems, and we were on a taxi to Jerusalem by 9:30.  Once we were in Jerusalem, we made our way to the central bus station, got on a bus to Tel Aviv, and endured bratty kids on vacation for the next hour.  After that frustration ended and we were in Tel Aviv, we found someone to tell us where we could find the train station.  A short wait and a short train ride later, we were in the suburb of Tel Aviv where our hosts live.  Our first order of business after arriving at their home?  Change into swimwear for a few hours at the beach!  It was my (Darren’s) first time to see the Mediterranean.

Site of Caesarea's ancient harbor

Over the next couple days, we stayed near Tel Aviv, visiting with our hosts and their other visitors.  There were plenty of things to see there, too.  One day we went to the old city of Jaffa, just south of Tel Aviv.  Bazaar shopping and historic scenery, not to mention the great breeze coming off the sea, made it a pleasant outing.  Another day, we went up to the ancient Roman port of Caesarea, built by Herod the Great to rival the ports of Antioch and Alexandria.  Almost all of the port has been destroyed in the past 2000 years, but there is still plenty to see.  It was also nice to do a Bible study on the city, which is mentioned frequently in the Book of Acts.

Us on Tel Megiddo

View from the Church of the Beatitudes

On Wednesday morning, the 20th, the four volunteers set out with the Register’s to tour a bit of northern Israel.  Our first stop: Tel Megiddo.  Megiddo is situated on a hill overlooking the Jezreel valley, a very fertile area and the site of an ancient trade route, making it the perfect place for a city.  In the last several thousand years it has been destroyed and rebuilt over 20 times; the last fighting in the area was in 1948, after Israel declared its independence.  Our next stop was Tiberias, on the Sea of Galilee (also known as Lake Tiberias or Lake Kinneret), where we had some tasty morsels from a local street vendor.  Just to let you know, it is not cheap to eat in Israel, like it is in Jordan, meaning that you will pay about $10 for value meal at McDonalds!  After lunch, we set out for the local biblical attractions: Capernaum and the Mount of the Beatitudes.  The ruins at Capernaum were nice, and the view of the water is spectacular.  The Mount of the Beatitudes (who knows if it’s the right one?) also gave a wonderful view, and the grounds of the church there were also beautiful and immaculate.

Our stay overnight in the area was the Arbel Guest House, just outside Tiberias, and it was great.  Our suite was a little small, but the rest of the experience made up for it.  The place itself is beautiful and serene and the food there was spectacular.  Also, the village of Arbel was peaceful and calm, and the neighborhood dogs were very friendly.  As for the countryside of Galilee, it was quite likely the most beautiful place we’ve ever been. The rolling mountains, covered in fields of wheat, terraced vineyards, and citrus groves, overlooking the waters of the small inland sea captivated us, and the gentle breeze, bringing the soft bleating of sheep in the distance along with the sweet smell of orange blossoms stole our hearts.  We only stayed the one night, but we wish we could have stayed longer.

Galilee

On Thursday the 21st, we left Tiberias and headed south.  Our first stop was the Yardenit baptism site on the Jordan River.  Just south of the Sea of Galilee, many Christians come here because the river is much nicer than further south.  After snapping a few photos and browsing the gift shop (way overpriced), we got back on the highway.  Someone said that they heard there was an old Crusader fortress, named Belvoir, nearby, so we took the turn for that.  We drove up the small mountain road, but after seeing the admission price, decided to do the free scenic overlook instead.  From what we could gather, only the foundation of the fortress still stands anyway.  Afterwards, we drove down to the ruins at Beit She’an.  Beit She’an was an important city during the Israelite and Roman periods, and there are some pretty extensive ruins there.

Ruins of Beit She'an

Our site-seeing time over, the Registers dropped us off at the border crossing, and we said our goodbyes.  Crossing back into Jordan was a bit of a hassle, especially when compared to the easy time we had entering Israel just a few days prior, but we managed.  This concluded our second trip to Israel.  We had a great time, and would love to go back!

Marathon

When I started running a few years ago, I considered ultimately trying a marathon.  At the time, this was more of a life goal, a bucket list item that could take many years to realize.  However, the Jordan Project has given me the opportunity to do many things I hadn’t expected to do either for many years, or at all.  And so it was that I ran my first marathon in Jordan, on April 8th 2011.

Of course, this wasn’t a spur of the moment thing.  After getting accepted to the project and learning that last year’s volunteers ran in the marathon, I was immediately ready to accept the challenge for myself, which left me most of a year to train.  And train I did, from October to April.  Amber and I drew up a training chart (unfortunately she got shin splints along the way and couldn’t finish training with me), and I hit the neighborhood streets rain or shine, through wind and snow…no, wait…actually I’m quite the fair weather runner, so I only wound up running in the rain once.  In fact, most of the goose eggs on my chart are because of bad weather: training outside, through winter, is not ideal, even here.  Running the city streets was a bit intimidating at first (because traffic is different here, to put it simply), and I’m sure the locals got a kick out of watching the crazy American go by again and again; but it seems that we all got used to it after a while.  Running throughout west Amman actually helped me familiarize myself with the city, which comes in quite handy with taxis.  It also helped with my tan – not for vanity, but protection against the desert sun.

Race day arrive without any injuries or incidents on the road and with my confidence peaking.  “LG’s 18th Annual Dead Sea Ultramarathon: Run to the Lowest Point on Earth.”  That’s how it’s billed, and it has options for 50 km (ultra-marathon), 42.2 km (marathon), 21.1 km (half marathon), 10 km (fun run), and 4.2 km (kid’s mini-marathon).  The marathon starts just outside Amman and ends at the tourist beach, just past the hotel district at the Dead Sea.  The first half is nearly all downhill, and you pass a sign along the way indicating sea level, then the last half is almost perfectly flat.  Not only is it the lowest marathon on earth, but also the only one I can think of where you can pass goats, donkeys, and camels on the way.  I arrived at the meeting point late because of a bad taxi, but they were able to take me to the starting point on the half marathon shuttle just in time to stretch and warm up.

After grouping at the starting line, the countdown began.  At zero we set off, followed a few seconds later by the gun (which they must have forgotten about momentarily), which gave us quite a surprise, coming as late as it did.  The runners quickly split into 2 groups, with the faster and more experienced easily outpacing the rest.  I started out slow and at the back of the pack to help with pacing and to give me the opportunity to pass more people, which is a psychological boost.  Shortly after starting it actually began to sprinkle a bit, which wasn’t completely unwelcome, as it pushed back the sun and heat I knew I could expect for later in the day.  There was a long and gradual uphill stretch near the beginning of the race, and because I had trained extensively on the hills around our apartment, I took the opportunity to pass everyone in the slow group.  This put me in between the two groups, where I stayed for the duration of the race, gradually catching and passing others strung out in the middle.  In fact, during the whole race I think there were only one or two runners that passed me and stayed there.  Except, that is, for the supper-fit ultra-marathoners, the fastest of which covered 20 km in the time it took me to cover 12 km; I think about 8 of those passed me altogether, and I caught up to two of those near the end (because of injuries, I'm sure). 

At the 9 km mark

The run went pretty well, all things considered.  Running downhill might save some energy, but it’s way harder on your feet, knees, and back.  From the downhill I got some temporary joint pain and one bloody toenail because of my feet sliding in my shoes.  My worst enemy on the route was the heat down in the valley, which made the last 10 km (6 mile) stretch of the race the worst.  The sun was out, the temperature was somewhere in the 80s °F, and there was no breeze.  This might not be too bad for some, but I don’t sweat much, so I had to use most of the water from the watering stations for dousing instead of drinking.  In order to hold off the possibility of heat stroke in the home stretch, I went into running and walking alternately; I probably walked 2 to 2½ miles of the last 6.  After the 10 km mark, the road was so clogged with the 5000 or so bratty private school kids that were walking the 10 km fun run, that you had to weave around them as you went; also, the crowds reduced the visibility (which had previously been miles) to less than ½ a mile.

Finished

Shortly before the 2 km marker I began running for the last time, and soon passed Amber, who was doing the mini-marathon with some of the kids from our school.  I had seen her when the bus drove by me taking them to their starting line, almost an hour before, so I was kind of surprised.  As I ran past, she told me she thought we were less than a kilometer from the finish so I picked up my pace a bit.  After a couple minutes I realized that she had been a little off, but I was definitely nearing the end, so I didn’t allow myself to stop.  Also, as I came within sight of the finish line, a man I had been neck and neck with during my walk/run period passed me; not wanting to be beaten, I pulled out all the stops and ran to catch up.  We crossed the line almost simultaneously, he on the left and I on the right. 

Smile!

After crossing, I had my tracking chip removed, grabbed an apple to munch and a water to drink, and waited for Amber to catch up.  She and the kids from the YMWA were so excited to see me, and I them; however, by this time I was completely drained, and the rush of excitement could only overcome so much of the deficit.  After some time to rest, I made my way on wobbly knees to the bus and went with the kids to a local restaurant, and then it was back to Amman to start my recovery.

Lasting impressions of my first marathon:

Resting afterward

1. Plan your race and your training ahead of time: have a physical chart for goals and reference, posted in a visible area for motivation; have all your race-day gear planned, tested, and waiting
2. Training can be quite boring and tedious, but its payoff in patience and endurance is easily worth it; don’t go into the race under-trained
3. Avoid stress by getting to the start early, don’t trust others to get you there unless you have no other choice
4. Relax and have a good time at the race, no need to kill yourself crossing the line; unless you are a serious marathoner, your only goal is to finish
5. After you finish, take it easy; be thankful for your health, strength, and ability to persevere; put the extra time you now have back from training to good use

In Bloom

When you think of Jordan (or anywhere in the Middle East), you think of the desert, and rightly so.  Most of the area is desert or semi-desert, and there are places that get as much rain in a whole year as we get in one week back home.  What's more, most of this meager amount of rain comes between December and March.  However, because it comes in a few short months, we get a couple months of green to start the springtime!

Here are a few recent pictures from around our place:

In front of our building

Trees blossoming in our neighborhood

A valley on the other side of our hill

As you can see, springtime in Jordan is beautiful.  Still, we can't wait to get back home.  We love and miss everyone very much.  See you all this summer!

Jordan: Week 26 & 27

Here’s an update on what we’ve been up to since returning from India.

New Coat/Date Night

Last week I went shopping with Stella and Amanda at Mecca Mall.  There is one store in the mall that I always pause at and look at the beautiful coats.  This time when I passed the store they had a 70% off sign in their window, so I went in and promptly fell in love with one coat.  I called Darren, just to make sure he was ok with me spending more than we had anticipated, and that is how I ended up with my new coat.  Now that I had this fun coat, I really wanted an occasion to wear it.  So, I decided that Darren needed to take me out on a date – our first real date since being here in Jordan.  Darren had gone out for a run, and when he got back I let him know that he was taking me out for dinner.  We got dressed up all fancy and went out for Italian food, which we have been missing here.  The restaurant was very nice and the food was very similar to Olive garden.  We ate so much that we almost didn’t have room for dessert.  We ended up getting a frappuccino from Starbucks and sharing it as we made our way back home.  It was a wonderful evening and I felt pretty in my new coat.

~Amber

Kids Say the Darndest Things

The best part of working for the YMWA, is dealing with the kids, and sometimes they just crack me up.  Last week, for instance, they were arguing about what type of food each other were: one was kofta (a meat dish), one was koosa (a squash), and one of the teachers was tufah (an apple).  WWE wrestling is also big in Jordan, so the kids are constantly pretending to be wrestlers: John Cena, the Undertaker, you name it.  It’s so funny; I love it!

Running Progress

I just finished up running for the week with an 18 mile run earlier today.  Whew!  Only seven weeks left until the Dead Sea Marathon.  Unfortunately, Amber developed a pretty bad case of shin splints awhile back, so she hasn’t been able to continue running.  She still hopes to do the 10K with some kids that will be entered by the school. 

~Darren

India Trip

On Sunday, January 30th we returned from a 5-day trip to India.  Our winter break at YMWA is at the true mid-point of the school year, so we had the last week of January and first week of February off.  Why India?  Starting from Jordan, we knew it would be much cheaper to get to many places in the world than it would be from the US.  Also, we figured it was much more likely that we will visit somewhere in Europe during the future than somewhere in Asia.  India seemed like a good pick: not too expensive to get to, cheap once reached, and full of fascinating things to do and see.  As such, we started planning a couple months ahead, saved up some money, and made our plans.  The only thing left was to wait, which we did until our break began.

We started out on Monday, January 24th, getting up early to finish our preparations.  At noon we were picked up and taken to the airport, leaving lots of time to kill before our flight at 5:30pm.  Being prepared for this, we started reading the books we brought for just this purpose.  Our flight departed on time, and we flew from Amman to Bahrain, where we had a short layover, and then on to Delhi.  When we booked our flights, we didn't realize we selected seats in front of the exit row and our seats wouldn't recline.  So, for our 6.5 hours of flight time we only got about 2 hours of sleep.   

We landed in Delhi at 4:30am, but our rental car was not scheduled until 7am, so once again we passed the time with our books.  Our car arrived a little late, after some confusion, and we found out that our driver didn't speak a word of English.  After being in Jordan for 6 months, we are kind of used to dealing with this, so we decided not to make a big deal of it and just make it work.  Luckily, he did understand the names of most places, so we managed to tell him the places we would like to go.  Our first stop in Delhi that morning was the Jama Masjid mosque, a large piece of Mughal architecture with 40-meter tall minarets that were reported to have an excellent view.   The structure itself was nice, but the admission prices went up, they required us to remove our shoes even though they were feeding the pigeons, and the morning smog limited our view.   

Our next destination was to be the nearby Red Fort, but we learned that it was closed for preparations for the next day, which was a national holiday.  Not to be deterred, we moved along to our next stop, Humayan’s Tomb.  The Humayan’s Tomb complex, with many large walls, wonderful buildings, and beautifully manicured lawns was peaceful and serene – just what we needed after our previous disappointments.  After that we made a trip to the National Museum, where we saw lots of great examples of Indian art and artifacts, dating from 2000BC up to the present.  It was now mid-afternoon, and we needed to be finished with the car, so we had our driver drop us off at the State Emporium shops, where we could do a bit of shopping without having to haggle.  When we started to walk around, we thought people were being so helpful, but in reality they were trying to rip off the tourists by leading them to overpriced shops where they would earn a commission.  Once we figured that out, we stopped accepting help from them and just relied on our maps. 

After we were finished shopping, we walked about 3 miles to the train station to catch our night train to Ramnagar.  Those 3 miles were some of the craziest miles we have ever walked!  We walked through the Old Delhi bazaar district, which was crammed full of thousands of people: people pushing their way through on foot, on bike, on bicycle-rickshaws, and on auto-rickshaws.  We alternated from cramming our way down the sidewalk to dodging rickshaws while we walked down the road, but after Amber got her foot run over by a cycle-rickshaw, we stuck to the sidewalk.  After about 45min of walking, through the narrow, crowded, and winding streets we finally made it to the train station.  Upon arrival we were in need of a restroom, but apparently India is not big on public restrooms.  At the train station, there were only restrooms available in the upper class lounge, which we were allowed into even though we did not have 1st class tickets.  Once we had relieved ourselves, we went in search of our train.  There is a shocking lack of information at the station, so we went to the manager and asked for assistance, eventually finding out where we needed to be.  Because we were trying to do this trip on a budget, I didn't book us in 1st class, which turned out to be a mistake.  In our sleeper cars, not only were we the only 2 white people, with Amber being one of the only girls, but we had no accommodations: no heat, no insulation, no blankets, no pillows.  Also, Indians must have bad nasal passages (possibly from all the pollution), because it seemed like 90% of the men on the train were snoring. Needless to say, we didn’t get much sleep that night either, and we started day 2 of our trip with only an hour or two of shut-eye.

One of the main things on our to-do list was a safari at the Corbett Tiger Reserve, and we made our way to the ticket office in Ramnagar at about 6am, only to find out that all morning safaris were booked.  We could, however, still take an afternoon safari if we returned at 8am to book it.  So from 6:30 to 8:00 we found a place to eat breakfast, and ate with a friendly young British couple we had met at the train station.  At 8am, we booked our safari, but had to go back into town to blow some time because our safari guide wouldn’t pick us up until noon.  So, we had lots of time to wander around the town of Ramnagar.  A note on walking in India: everywhere you go, there are people (mostly children) begging, and here was no exception.  There were 2 little girls that followed us down the street for some time.  One even laid her head on Darren’s leg, begging for money.  We didn't want to give them money because we didn't know what they would do with it, so instead we bought them some food.  When noon rolled around, we made our way to the meeting point for the safari.  Our time slot was from 1pm to 5pm.  It was so beautiful inside the park, which is in the foothills of the Himalayas, and peaceful – so peaceful that Amber started to nod off a few times.  Unfortunately, we didn't see any tigers; however, we did see lots of monkeys and two different types of deer.  Once our safari was over and we found somewhere to eat dinner, we made our way back to the train station to catch our train back to Delhi.  The overnight train ride was the same as before; except that we were so tired we were able to sleep for about half the ride, or 3 hours.

Once back in Delhi, we went to the other train station to get our train to Agra.  This time we booked 1st class, and it was amazing!  We were given food and water, and the car was comfortably heated.  Amber was asleep within 10 minutes, and had to be woken up when they brought the food around.  What a great train ride!  We arrived in Agra around 8:30am, and we were greeted by some local church members (which we had contacted previously) holding up a sign with our names on it.  They acquired a rental car for us (which was a much better price than the one we rented in Delhi) and we all went to the Taj Mahal and then the Agra Fort together.  The Taj was by far the most beautiful building we have ever seen.  No matter how many pictures you have seen of it, they just don't do it justice – absolutely immense yet intricately detailed.  After we were finished, we went to our hotel room (that's right, we got a room), where we slept for 10 hours straight, not waking up once.  Sleep is such a beautiful thing!  On Friday, day 4, we stayed in our room till after noon, and then went out to meet the rest of the local church members of Agra.  On Saturday we had church with them, and Darren was able to give a short message.  We then enjoyed a wonderful home-cooked lunch and fresh baked bread, called chapati.  We stayed there and visited for several hours before we had to catch our train back to Delhi.  Before we left, we gave them Amber’s old digital camera as a gift, and in return they gave her a traditional dress, called a sari.  The ladies had fun dressing her up in it, and she enjoyed it too.  We caught our train at 8:30pm, and arrived back in Delhi around 10:30.  Once there, we found a taxi to take us to the airport, where we would catch our flight at 5:30am back to Amman.

As opposed to our flights there, our flights back were spectacular.  For our flight from Delhi to Bahrain we were bumped up to 1st class because they over-booked.  Also, our flight from Bahrain to Amman was only half full, so we got to move back to a row with no one in front or behind us.  Since we’ve been back in Amman, we’ve done a lot of sleeping. It took us about two days to fully recuperate.  

India is a country of contrasts, as was our trip there.  We are definitely glad we went.

India, Here We Come!

After months of planning, budgeting, and waiting, our trip to India is here!  Our flight leaves this evening, and after a short layover in Bahrain, we will arrive in Delhi tomorrow morning.  Our destinations in India include Delhi, the Corbett Tiger Preserve, and Agra.  We will be sure to tell you all about it and post lots of pictures when we return in a week.  Wish us luck!

And now, back to packing...

Mid-Winter Update

Nothing really new to report…not yet anyway.  It’s amazing how time flies once you get into a routine, even in a foreign country.  It’s hard to believe that we have already been here for almost 5 months.  It’s even harder to believe that December is already over!  First, the weather is so warm that it still feels like October (with the exception of one short snow-day).  Second, nothing that comes along with Christmas to drag the month out.

With December, Darren’s 27th birthday slipped by, and now we are half way through January.  The only thing interesting so far in January is that we saw a shepherd herding his sheep up a footbridge and over the highway – sure wouldn’t see that at home!  January should go out with a bang, however! We have a visitor scheduled to arrive shortly, and after that comes our midwinter break and our trip to India.  We’ll be sure to fill you in after we get back.

With all the people we’ve met, places we’ve been, and events we’ve attended, it’s hard to believe it could all be crammed into so little time.  This is shaping up to be one quick year!