Wow. I don't think I've ever had a more eventful five days.
(<---petra)
Ok sooo, last Thursday, our group went with a bunch of Jordanian HS students from the Leaders of Tomorrow Organization, to Um Qais. There we visited an old ruins site, it was HUGE and pretty cool. It was fun climbing all over the old city with students from Jordan. After about an hour there, and that was all we needed, it was SO HOT! We all climbed back into the bus and headed for Irbid, the second largest city in Jordan after Amman. There we took a tour of the Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST), and we had some pretty heated debates about how the cultural gap between the U.S. and the Middle East could be closed-it was intereseting hearing the different view points between our group and the Jordanians!!Then we finished off the day with a WONDERFUL dinner at this amazing restaurant in Jerash, everyone made new friends, and it was fun hanging out with kids our own age.....
Then Friday, we got up early and traveled to the Baptism site of Jesus Christ. It was..interesting. It was definitely cool to see the Jordan River and the West Bank, and know that we were THIS close to Palestine(Israel)....but it was SOOO HOT! I can't remember ever being that hot in my entire life....it was so humid, and at least 115 degrees...it was hard to breath. So, that made the trip not as fun as it could have been, considering we were all so miserable. AND the bus company screwed up our order and gave us the OLDEST bus they had for the day..which of course meant it didn't have any air coniditoning! It was a very uncomfortable day.... But after the baptism sight we went to Madaba, where we had a couple hours to just walk around the city, get lunch, and buy souveniers. THAT was fun, the place we stopped at for lunch is rumored to be the BEST place in all of Jordan, and it was amazing! And getting time to just chill and shop was very relaxing, and necessary. Then Friday night a few of us went to this nice cafe and met up with some of the Jordanian students we've met, that was fun!
THEN Saturday, early early early, we left for Petra! We made a few stops along the way, including this old castle in Karak. That was ok, but I think I would have enjoyed it much better if we hadn't had an annoying old guide to follow through the whole thing. I much prefer self-guided tours! :) Then we stopped at another University, and to be honest, I dont even know what the name of it was or where it was at. This wsa because the official program director is now with us in Jordan. That means Ethan wasn't there. That means we stayed extremely uninformed all weekend. None of us liked that very much, but, there wans't much to be done about it. SO we ate lunch at this random university..then we were on our way to Petra!
Petra, which was recently named the newest Wonder of the World, is in the very south of Jordan, and is an ancient city made entirely out of rock! It was soooo cool! We climbed all the way up to the very top of the mountain of rock so we could look out at the entire city! It was a very vigorous climb, something like 700-1000 stairs I think? I don't know, all I remember thinking is that I didn't ever want to see a staircase again! But it was so beautiful at the top! It was definitely worth it! I got to climb all over some really intense rock walls, and I decided to be a daredevil and scale an almost vertical stretch of rock! It was so scary! I think I almost died! But it was fun, even if I destroyed my hands and feet and am more than a little scratched up becasue of it! OH! And I saw the COOLEST lizard in the whole world! It was birght neon blue! It seriously glowed against the rock surface! And I got close enough to touch it! (If I had wanted to that is, which, as I was clinging to the side of the rock I was on for dear life, I really had no intention of doing, but the point is, I could have touched it if I had wanted to!) But anyway, then we made the long climb down, and by the time we made our way out of the city of rock, it was very late, and dark, and almost everyone had left...it was kind of eerie.....
But then our program director surprised us with a "unique" hotel.....We ended up staying at this 5-star petra-themed resort...it was AMAZING! All of the little cabins were so cute! And the whole hotel was set up like a mini-village! THEN we got another VERY pleaseant surprise-Mr. Harris treated us all to a Turkish Bath! For those that have never experienced this, I highly recommend you go out to then earest spa and book a turkish bath ASAP! It was AMAZING! It included spending a lot of time in a steam room, switching between cold showers and the hottest steam you can imagine, as well as a scrub down from head to toe, HEAD TO TOE!!, and entire full body massage from the very scantily clad Arab man...haha...it felt amazing though! It was so necessary after the long day of hiking and climbing at petra, the massage was the ultimate end to a wonderful day!
Then the next morning, Sunday, we got to sleep in, and spend a little bit of time at the hotel's pool before heading out. Then we made the trip [somewhat long] trip to the Wadi Rum Desert! Once there, we had a wonderful three hour jeep tour! It was so fun riding around through the desert in our little jeeps, seeing the most amazing landscapes I could ever have imagined..... We stopped at some cool rock formations, got to climb all over them of course, and this huge sand dune!! But after the long ride, we finally made it to our camp for the night! Our camp consisted of a double-bedouin tent and small wash building. ANd we got there just in time to climb up the rock formation that formed the third wall of our camp just in time for sunset! It was sooo beautiful! I had the most out of body experience just sitting there at the edge of this fifty-foot drop, watching the sun sink lower beyond the rock formation across the desert in Wadi Rum...it was so amazing, I can't wait to share the pictures with everyone.....
But anyway, after the sun had finally set, and after climbing back down the rock, we all sat in a circle at our camp for a traditional bedouin style dinner. It was very good! Then after dinner we were free to explore! Some of the guys went in search of scorpians-crazy right??! But a few of the girls and I just stealed away to lay out in the sand and just look up at the stars. The stars were the most amazing I've ever seen. I've never seen so many or seen them so bright...and we decided to sleep out under the stars....I loved it, every second of it!
Waking up early to the desert sun the next mornign wasn't very much fun though....but we all loaded up and got back on the bus to head to the costal city of Aquaba! It was gorgeous! Right on the Red Sea! The water was SO BLUE! And we got to go snorkeling! We saw some great fish and coral, and I got to lay out in the sun! It was such a fun day! Our return trip to Amman was very long, and by the time we made it back to our hotel rooms, we were all exhausted.....but it was a very good weekend!
Now, in about an hour [its wednesday], is my last day of arabic class....I'm sad, but excited....I have three final exams to look forward to from my two different teachers...they're going to be so hard! I should be studying right now but...I of course always have better things to do!!! But then after today we have tomorrow, where we have a couple more lectures at the US Embassy, a little free time and then our final reception!!! THEN WE LEAVE!!! I can't belive it! I can't believe my summer has flown by so fast....I don't wanna leave this country yet!! I'm so sad to think that I my plane leaves in a matter of only 48 hours......but hopefully coming back to the US will be good, and happy and fun, we'll see though..I don't think anything can beat the summer I've just had.....
wish me luck on my tests!!!
KADIE
(<---petra)
Ok sooo, last Thursday, our group went with a bunch of Jordanian HS students from the Leaders of Tomorrow Organization, to Um Qais. There we visited an old ruins site, it was HUGE and pretty cool. It was fun climbing all over the old city with students from Jordan. After about an hour there, and that was all we needed, it was SO HOT! We all climbed back into the bus and headed for Irbid, the second largest city in Jordan after Amman. There we took a tour of the Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST), and we had some pretty heated debates about how the cultural gap between the U.S. and the Middle East could be closed-it was intereseting hearing the different view points between our group and the Jordanians!!Then we finished off the day with a WONDERFUL dinner at this amazing restaurant in Jerash, everyone made new friends, and it was fun hanging out with kids our own age.....
Then Friday, we got up early and traveled to the Baptism site of Jesus Christ. It was..interesting. It was definitely cool to see the Jordan River and the West Bank, and know that we were THIS close to Palestine(Israel)....but it was SOOO HOT! I can't remember ever being that hot in my entire life....it was so humid, and at least 115 degrees...it was hard to breath. So, that made the trip not as fun as it could have been, considering we were all so miserable. AND the bus company screwed up our order and gave us the OLDEST bus they had for the day..which of course meant it didn't have any air coniditoning! It was a very uncomfortable day.... But after the baptism sight we went to Madaba, where we had a couple hours to just walk around the city, get lunch, and buy souveniers. THAT was fun, the place we stopped at for lunch is rumored to be the BEST place in all of Jordan, and it was amazing! And getting time to just chill and shop was very relaxing, and necessary. Then Friday night a few of us went to this nice cafe and met up with some of the Jordanian students we've met, that was fun!
THEN Saturday, early early early, we left for Petra! We made a few stops along the way, including this old castle in Karak. That was ok, but I think I would have enjoyed it much better if we hadn't had an annoying old guide to follow through the whole thing. I much prefer self-guided tours! :) Then we stopped at another University, and to be honest, I dont even know what the name of it was or where it was at. This wsa because the official program director is now with us in Jordan. That means Ethan wasn't there. That means we stayed extremely uninformed all weekend. None of us liked that very much, but, there wans't much to be done about it. SO we ate lunch at this random university..then we were on our way to Petra!
Petra, which was recently named the newest Wonder of the World, is in the very south of Jordan, and is an ancient city made entirely out of rock! It was soooo cool! We climbed all the way up to the very top of the mountain of rock so we could look out at the entire city! It was a very vigorous climb, something like 700-1000 stairs I think? I don't know, all I remember thinking is that I didn't ever want to see a staircase again! But it was so beautiful at the top! It was definitely worth it! I got to climb all over some really intense rock walls, and I decided to be a daredevil and scale an almost vertical stretch of rock! It was so scary! I think I almost died! But it was fun, even if I destroyed my hands and feet and am more than a little scratched up becasue of it! OH! And I saw the COOLEST lizard in the whole world! It was birght neon blue! It seriously glowed against the rock surface! And I got close enough to touch it! (If I had wanted to that is, which, as I was clinging to the side of the rock I was on for dear life, I really had no intention of doing, but the point is, I could have touched it if I had wanted to!) But anyway, then we made the long climb down, and by the time we made our way out of the city of rock, it was very late, and dark, and almost everyone had left...it was kind of eerie.....
But then our program director surprised us with a "unique" hotel.....We ended up staying at this 5-star petra-themed resort...it was AMAZING! All of the little cabins were so cute! And the whole hotel was set up like a mini-village! THEN we got another VERY pleaseant surprise-Mr. Harris treated us all to a Turkish Bath! For those that have never experienced this, I highly recommend you go out to then earest spa and book a turkish bath ASAP! It was AMAZING! It included spending a lot of time in a steam room, switching between cold showers and the hottest steam you can imagine, as well as a scrub down from head to toe, HEAD TO TOE!!, and entire full body massage from the very scantily clad Arab man...haha...it felt amazing though! It was so necessary after the long day of hiking and climbing at petra, the massage was the ultimate end to a wonderful day!
Then the next morning, Sunday, we got to sleep in, and spend a little bit of time at the hotel's pool before heading out. Then we made the trip [somewhat long] trip to the Wadi Rum Desert! Once there, we had a wonderful three hour jeep tour! It was so fun riding around through the desert in our little jeeps, seeing the most amazing landscapes I could ever have imagined..... We stopped at some cool rock formations, got to climb all over them of course, and this huge sand dune!! But after the long ride, we finally made it to our camp for the night! Our camp consisted of a double-bedouin tent and small wash building. ANd we got there just in time to climb up the rock formation that formed the third wall of our camp just in time for sunset! It was sooo beautiful! I had the most out of body experience just sitting there at the edge of this fifty-foot drop, watching the sun sink lower beyond the rock formation across the desert in Wadi Rum...it was so amazing, I can't wait to share the pictures with everyone.....
But anyway, after the sun had finally set, and after climbing back down the rock, we all sat in a circle at our camp for a traditional bedouin style dinner. It was very good! Then after dinner we were free to explore! Some of the guys went in search of scorpians-crazy right??! But a few of the girls and I just stealed away to lay out in the sand and just look up at the stars. The stars were the most amazing I've ever seen. I've never seen so many or seen them so bright...and we decided to sleep out under the stars....I loved it, every second of it!
Waking up early to the desert sun the next mornign wasn't very much fun though....but we all loaded up and got back on the bus to head to the costal city of Aquaba! It was gorgeous! Right on the Red Sea! The water was SO BLUE! And we got to go snorkeling! We saw some great fish and coral, and I got to lay out in the sun! It was such a fun day! Our return trip to Amman was very long, and by the time we made it back to our hotel rooms, we were all exhausted.....but it was a very good weekend!
Now, in about an hour [its wednesday], is my last day of arabic class....I'm sad, but excited....I have three final exams to look forward to from my two different teachers...they're going to be so hard! I should be studying right now but...I of course always have better things to do!!! But then after today we have tomorrow, where we have a couple more lectures at the US Embassy, a little free time and then our final reception!!! THEN WE LEAVE!!! I can't belive it! I can't believe my summer has flown by so fast....I don't wanna leave this country yet!! I'm so sad to think that I my plane leaves in a matter of only 48 hours......but hopefully coming back to the US will be good, and happy and fun, we'll see though..I don't think anything can beat the summer I've just had.....
wish me luck on my tests!!!
KADIE
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