Travels in the Levant

Tomorrow is our last day of class before our long weekend. 9 people are flying to Egpyt and staying at an awsome hotel on the Nile River. I am staying in Amman with Monica, Bruce, Ian, and Jessica; we have all got home stays planned and hope to be able to experience more of what family life is like in Jordan. I brought taffy and jam (made in NC!) for my family. I am seriously hoping that they will serve something beyond hummus and fallafel and pitas; as much as I loved all those foods in the US I am entirely sick of the chick pea. Eating vegetarian really hasn’t been that difficult here, excpept for all the chick peas. In Arabic, the word for chick pea and hummus is the same, which I think is kind of scary.

Today we had a big quiz in Arab Histories so a bunch of us went to the Starbucks in Abdoun to study; unfortunately, the Jordanians don’t seem to have caught onto the European phenomenon of coffee shopds so its often difficult to find a nice place to study here. The Starbucks here is much nicer than the one in Chapel Hill and is where all the Amman elite hang out. Drinks are just as expensive but so many of us are craving American coffee (and all of its caffeine) that it was well worth it. The coffee mainly served here is Turkish coffee, which comes in a very small cup. It is very thick, with coffee silt on the bottom and is flavored with cardamom, creating a very potent flavor. I don’t think Jordanians, however, are nearly as addicted to caffeine as Americans.

One other bizzare aspect of Amman, and probably the Arab world in general, is the way that people are supposed to cross the street. There are no cross walks or pedestrian signs in Amman and the roads/highways are often 6 or more lanes across. To cross the street, the idea is that you just wait until there’s a lull in the traffic and run to the middle of the road at full speed. You are then supposed to wait on the middle island until there’s a break in the traffick coming the other way. On particularly busy streets, like Universtiy Street (now Queen Rania Street) where we live, there have been so many pedestrian deaths that they built a fence in the middle of the road to prevent pedestrians from walking. There is a tunnel under the road that allows us to get from the Al-Amera to UJ safely. If you walk a few blocks up the street, however, the fence ends and you’re forced use your best judgement. This street is often so busy that the traffick never stops completely. From what I’ve heard, the idea is to cross this type of street one lane at a time, waiting until there’s a lull in the traffick in each lane. I prefer to find Jordanians who are crossing and cross with them, as they seem to know a little better what they’re doing. This definitely takes some getting used to, but I’ve ceased to fear for my life everytime I cross the street.

Yesterday we took a field trip to Umm Qais and Ajloun. Umm Qais is situation in the extreme North-West of Jordan and has amazing views. First, there are roman ruins there (which are the same as others throughout the world). But more interesting, Umm Qais has a view of the Sea of Galilee, now part of Israel, where Jesus walked on water. Here’s a picture with the Sea in the background.

The next picture is slightly to the right and features the hills of the Golan Heights. For those not familiar with the area, the Golan Heights is the hotly contested area that belonged to Syria until Israel occupied it in the 1967 War. The area now is mainly used for farms and military excersized, although it does not have any settlements like those in the West Bank or Gaza. From what I understood, the Golan Heights is bascially a bargaining chip that Israel uses to make sure Syria does not invade. It seems likely that this territory will be returned to Syria some time in the future, as it is not officially annexed and thus more easy to return.

The next picture is the tree-spoted hills of Jordan on the right and (uncontested) Syria past the hills in the back left.

After that we had lunch in Jerash and then went to the castle in Ajloun. This castle was built by Saladin’s nephew to defend the area from the invading Crucaders. It has an amazingly deep moat which apparently was rarely filled with water because of the general lack of water in the area.

I wrote a post a few days ago about our trip last weekend to Jerash but the internet here bombed before I could upload it and so I lost all of my post. Here's some picture from our trip, which ... [Continue reading this entry]

I have been so busy that I have had no time for anything but studying, travel, and some sleep. We finished our school week on Thursday with a difficult quiz and then jumped into taxis to get to the Amman ... [Continue reading this entry]

Thursday night (the start of the Islamic weekend) we went to a super elite club, nicer than any that I've been to in the US. The entry age was 22 but apparently that doesn't apply if you're a foreigner and ... [Continue reading this entry]

Today we had a tour of the University of Jordan and a brief oreintation. The University is very large with a student body of 25,000, but the campus is much smaller than UNC's. The greenery ... [Continue reading this entry]

I woke up Sunday morning to the call of the muezzin at 3:30am. It was still pitch black outside and the street was quiet but the pre-recording call to prayer still blasted from the mosque’s ... [Continue reading this entry]

The flight from Raleigh to New York last night was bumpy because of the wet weather and because of our tiny plane. Shortly before takeoff the flight attendant announced that the plane was overweight and ... [Continue reading this entry]