End Times

Hey everyone, this is my last post. I am sitting in the Queen Alia International Airport at 5:43am waiting for my plane. I am tired and I don't feel like writing so this will b short, but I will add pictures to previous posts as well.

Last weekend I went to Jerusalem. It was great. There are the holiest sites in the world and freshly squeezed pomegranate juice. Pictures of the Dome of the Rock, Western Wall, Church of Holy Sepulchre, and a chess tournament.

I finished my class at the university and got an A, but I feel like the class was too slow.

I have enjoyed Jordan, but I am ready to come home. Amman is a little dull and I am sick of the food. Also I want a shower with water pressure that leaves me feeling clean and not just wet.

Finally when we were leaving our apartment our glorified doorman demanded that we all pay him 5 JD for cleaning the room. We laughed because the rooms were filthy when we moved in. He threw a fit and yelled that we needed to "pay or leave the rooms as you take them." We took this to mean that we should make the rooms as we were when we moved in, so we threw some dirt on the floor and looked for some cockroaches to hide in the bathroom.

Barring anything interesting on the flight back I don't have anything else to say. Thanks for reading.

The Second Oldest City in The World

Our first trip outside of Jordan was quite spectacular. Brett, Mary, and I decided that since Saleh wasn't able to get us visas to Syria we would try for ourselves at the border. We had to wait six hours before they would give us visas (America doesn't exactly have good relations with Syria), while all the Europeans passed by in mere minutes. We got dropped off by our service taxi outside the city and had to find a new one to take us to our hotel, and this driver didn't know where it was so we had to ask around on the streets of Damascus before we found a guy who answered by pinting directly above himself to a sign that read "Al-Rais" which was convienently the name of the place we were staying. We checked in to our hotel and we given a key that resembled the dungeon keys of the middle ages with a single tooth and weighing in at about 2.5 lbs. (picture to come when possible).

The city is very old; it s believied to be founded in 4000 BC and have been continuosly inhabited since. The only older city is Byblos in Lebanon. We visited The Ummayyed Mosque and a shrine that was the most ornate building imaginable. We were the only tourists in the shrine and we had a guide take us through because we were not sure where we were allowed to stand. We felt very uncomfortable as the Shiite pilgrims cried and prayed around us, but soon some started approaching us and asking us to take pictures of them. We then felt comfortable taking pictures of our own. We also saw the tomb of Saladin (the one who repelled the Crusaders) and the tomb of John the Baptist.

Aside from ancient buildings and graves, the city also has the enourmously large souks (markets). There are literally many square miles of wall to wall stores selling Middle Eastern goods. Unlike the souks in Jordan, Syrian souks maintain their Middle Eastern culture very well and do not sell many western goods. I bought a handmade backgammon and chess set for about $40. We also watched people make large plates out of copper, which apparently Syria is famous for.

We also went to the Syrian National Museum, which is very impressive. Brett tried to take a picture of some Babylonian script despite a sign that clearly said no pictures. An alarm went off and we were scared as hell. We were worried about going to Syrian prison. I left the room in hopes of not being associated with the perpetrator. This prooved unneccesary as the guards did not move an inch.

Despite being a country with notoriously bad relations with the U.S., I felt extremely safe in Syria and the people were extremely friendly and helpful. When we hesistantly told people we were American, they were generally interested in us and why we came to Syria. Mary and I even got some free chocolate.

Again I will try to put pictures up when I have an a way to do it. My usb drive is broken so I am looking for another way.

Wadi Rum

Two weekends ago I was at Wadi Rum with the two French girls in my class and a guy named Omar who lives near Boston. Wadi Rum is where T.E. Lawerence lived and the movie Lawrence of Arabia was filmed. The landscape is magnificent, however, the computer I am currently on will not allow me to load pictures right now so I will add them later. We took a long Jeep ride stopping at each of the famous sites. We climbed up a mountain the get to Lawrence Spring. At first. Wwalking in the desert actually wasn't so bad and I thought that the Israelites must not of had it as rough as the Bible makes it sound. Then we came to a sand dune. These things are gigantic and your feet sink into them. By the time I got to the top my legs were exautsted. After resting, I decided to run down, but realized I was heading for some rocks and took a head first dive into the sand. Every crevice of my body filled with the red sand, and it wasn't until three days later that I got all of it our of my ears. I still have some in my shoes and jeans two weeks later.

After seeing the rest of the sights we slept in Bedouin tents out in the desert. The stars were incredible. I was able to see the Milky Way galaxy strip across the sky, which I wasn't even able to see in New Mexico.

General Update

Again sorry for the complete lack of posting.

I had a request for a general update about classes who I am with. My classes are going well; however, they are a little slow. My teacher's name is Muthena and he has a PhD in Arabic grammar. He always says "mumtez (excellent)" after you do anything, even if it was quite poor. This made it especially funny when he told a student from my Miami that his dictation was horrible in front of the entire class. He grades all tests in front of you and tells you your grade loud enough for the entire class to hear. Using social pressure for motivation is the norm in Arab universities. For those who would like to know and because I like saying it, I got a 100% on the midterm.

The company here is also good. The Miami group has 16 people in it and is the largest group from one university by far. Whenever I meet someone at the language center they know at least one person from "the Miami delegation."

Also I have met a number of other people here. I hang out with two French girls in my class alot. There are three Italians here that are alot of fun. While visiting Jerash, I met a Dutch woman that runs an art exchange between Jordan, Lebanon, and the Netherlands. Also while at the Syrian border (more on that later) I met an Iraqi man that was very interesting to talk to. He graduated first in his class at Baghdad University, but was unable to complete his doctorate there because of the war. He is now studying in Beirut. We exchaged emails and hopefully we stay in touch.

The last general note is that on my birthday, I went to see Wall-E and got an ice cream cake. Despite turning 21, I felt like being 11 for a day. The cake came from a somewhat famous Jordanian dessert maker called Jabri.

Other than my travels which will be noted in other posts, that is all there is to report. Daily life consists of studying, planning our weekend excursions, relaxing in an air conditioned room.