The Dead Sea

My first group vacation: a day trip to the dead sea. This involved an early morning trip to the bus station where we first located and then boarded our chariot, which took us on a forty-five minute ride down to a bus stop in the middle of nowhere. From here we chartered two taxis down to the string of resort hotels lining the beach, paid to use one of said beaches, and quickly joined the half-naked European tourists bobbing like buoys in the salty water.

Yo! We have arrived! (Stephanie and David dominate this photo - great hat Steph. - while I am clearly having issues with the sun, and Ryan may be trying to proposition someone behind the camera)

Beach chairs, palm trees, a stretch of sand, and the West Bank rising in the background - Welcome to the lowest point on Earth.

The beach was usually dominated by a large and roving herd of mud-people. Here David has his picture taken with them.

We tried to warn him - they can be ornery when provoked (could it have been that large and menacing one behind him?)

Ryan becomes the first of us to go native and convert to the mud-people way.

Here we see him and his people in their native habitat.

No! Stephanie has converted and she is coming for YOU!

I tried but I just couldn't get to Ellie before she and Kat did.

They actually seem pretty happy ...

Ah, what the hell, when in Rome. (By the way, that bathing suit took for-ev-er to get clean!)

Now come the idyllic beach scenes.

Ellie, caught in a moment of slightly grumpy cuteness. And could that be Stephanie actually doing homework in the background? Who would have thought?

David, in a rare moment of tranquility

I promised myself that I would never post this, but it is too characteristic. I, of course, am sprawled out and snoring in complete disorder, David has returned to a fetal position, Ellie sleeps not but rather stares sassily into the camera, Stephanie is at her neverending homework, and yes, Ryan does sleep in a Zen meditation pose.

Before leaving we return to take pictures of the bobbing.

Look mom, no hands!

Damn it, I tried to prove that Nell was actually on this trip with us, and of course the photo won't stand upright.

Homeward Bound (which was a great movie, by the way, you can not beat talking dogs, and that one scene at the end when the old golden retriever runs home to his boy - face it, you cried.)

There's Nell!

The Friday Souk

One of my favorite routines here has become going each week to the Friday Souk, a large open air flee-market where vendors set up stall after stall selling clothes, shoes, fruits, vegetables, and household goods. I am indebted to Kat for these photos, and while I was not on this particular trip, I have been on many just like it.


The source of all our sports clothes here.


The vendors are usually a little more animated than this.

Eli says: oooooooo.... shiny....






















We're not sure what Ryan's buying, but he seems pretty pleased with it.



Eli and Kate buying pretty things, David searching his back-pack, and Ryan providing cover in the back.



Eat your vegetables!


Hmmmm... cherries...


Fruit Lovers?


Shoes


More shoes

For those whose lives are unencumbered by those meddlesome tables




















And finally, the wandering sweet drink seller. Those drinks are ridiculously sweet.

Beginning Explorations

Since I arrived in Amman, Jordan (Philadephia under the Roman Empire)on June 20th, 2007 and this is my first post I have a little to catch up on. With the exception of a visit or two back home to the states, I will be in Jordan for the next year on a Fulbright Student Grant. While my main goal is to studying oral narratives amoung post-nomadic Bedouins living in Wadi Moussa (near Petra) I will be spending the summer in the captial city, Amman studying Arabic at the Qasid Institute (www.qasid.com).

The Rough Guide calls Amman a "marked contrast" to its neighbors, "with none of the grand history of Damascus, none of Jerusalem's tension, and just a tiny fraction of Cairo's monuments ... a civilized, genteel place ... with an unexpected charm, not least because it subverts many stereotypes. " When Amman became the capital in the 1920's it was still a small village, but today has grown into a sprawling, industrialized city. I live in a quiet residential neighborhood behind the University of Jordan and have to agree with the Rough Guide, Amman is very civilized and very easy to live with. To this day I am struck by how very little harassment and how much respect I receive. Men stand to vacate their seats to women on the bus (indeed, bus drivers grant women the courtesy of coming to a complete stop before picking them up or dropping them off). My apartment is nicer than any housing I ever inhabited in College and the weather is blissfully cool in comparison to North Africa or the Gulf. For a favorite image of Amman: wherever I walk I am constantly whacked by shrubbery overflowing from neighboring courtyards or planted in the middle of the sidewalk.

City Ruins

Qasid sponsored a city tour for all us students, which I had assumed would show us all the relevant city areas and important landmarks. I was, however, mistaken and we were given, instead, a tour of historical Amman, beginning with the Roman ruins at the center.

Roman Theatre

The Roman Theatre was built in Philadelphia in the second century A.D. under the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius and is impressively huge and very well restored and cared for. The Rough Guide tells me that it was built to seat an audience of almost six thousand and is still occasionally filled for concerts, a sight I would like to see.

Our group files into the forum in front of the Theatre

An incredibly concise portrayal of Qasid men

The Amphitheatre from the Forum

Entering...

The Stage
The Stairs

Stephanie and her omnipresent computer bag. Other details to note in this picture include the two guys struggling upwards on all fours and Ryan (way in the back) running up in classic jogging position.

Well worth the climb

The Rough Guide tells me that this was an earlier theatre, built to seat about five hundred. We called it the children's theatre, and it was very cute.

Jebel al-Qal'a (Citadel Hill)

After exploring the Theatre we returned to the bus and wound our way up to the hill overlooking the city. Known as Citadel Hill the site contains the ruins of a Roman Temple to Hercules, a massive Umayyad Palace complex, and the National Archaeological Museum.

Temple to Hercules


The Umayyad Palace

The most impressive building by far was the domed entrance hall.

Grrrr... Can't. Get. Picture. Upright.

So An-noy-ing.

Stupid Blog.

At least this one is supposed to have this orientation

Whoot, one that worked!

Pretty cool, huh

Ajloun