packed day

Man am I exhausted!

Today we packed outings to Umm Qais, 'Ajloon, and Jerash in one day, but we had a really awesome time. Umm Qais was probably my favorite with its dramatic amphitheate, Roman columns, and best of all, a view of the Golan Heights and three different countries. I've also realized that I am absolutely in love with olive trees: I think somehow my Imagining Palestine class really turned me on to them after reading about their significance in Arab culture. I got a ton of pictures along the road of just olive orchards, and I really wish I had been able to capture some of the verdent landscape that seemed to shoot up out of nowhere in the huge desert that is Jordan. I'm talking the biggest, most beautiful palm trees you've ever seen alongside plants and flowers of a unique Mediterranean palette whose enchanting hues I never could have imagined.

'Ajloon and Jerash were also fascinating- we didn't spend a lot of time in 'Ajloon but we definitely baked in the sun in Jerash and I think my ghostly skin is going to really hate me tomorrow. In Jerash we saw not one but two huge amphitheatres- both of which were breathtaking- as well as ruins that seem to expand for miles. I believe the tour guide said we would only be seeing 25% of the ruins there, and we saw a TON. My favorite part was listening to Jordanians decked in traditional desert garb play bagpipes (including such songs as "Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee", and "Yankee Doodle Dandy". Naturally they did some Arabic songs as well, one of which we enjoyed by dancing dabke in the blazing sun of the tremendous amphiteatre's stone floor. There was this kid about 10 years old who had been trying to get my friend Allison to marry him (asking him "how many camels his father could give him" and saying he would convert to Christianity if need be!), who watched me during the dabke and said that I was not a good dancer but very beautiful (which in his broken English sounded like "pitiful" hahahaha). He also asked how many camels I could offer him and said that I could be his second wife. I think Allison and I really made his day when we took a picture with him.

Sooo tonight I think some of my friends and I are going to go to a club in Amman which should be a nice break from super conservative Irbid. Tomorrow I think I need to catch up with the rest of my advanced class- several people dropped down a level because it was too challenging and I'm really starting to feel the pressure. I'm not gonna lie, Wednesday after listening class and totally went in the bathroom and bawled my eyeballs out thinking that I was gonna get bumped down to Upper Intermediate and that I would totally have to change my area of concentration due to my inability to understand a stupid video about Jordan's ruins. Well whatever, I'm way ahead of the game in writing class and about par or better in reading, so insha'allah my listening and conversation teacher won't suggest that I need to go down a level.

Oh well no worries about school, it's on to the city for the night!!