Quick Links to Pictures

Here's a list of links to my pictures from the whole trip.

Petra Part I

Petra Part 2

Amman and Jerash

España

Granada y Alambra

Switzerland

Italy

Enjoy!

Some Nice Pictures =]

So here are some photoshopped pictures from my trip (courtesy of my good friend Scott Capener... And I helped). Most of them were barely touched up; the colors was brought out more, the lighting was adjusted slightly, and others... Well, you'll see ;)

A beautiful orange wall in Venice, one of my favorites and my new desktop background. We just brought out the color more.

Three windows in Venice. This one we went for a very "artsy" look =] We brought out the color and upped the contrast quite a bit.

A riverside scene in Bern, Switzerland. Hmm... I don't know what we changed in this one.... ;)

A typical Venetian piazza... With a Hummer falling off the roof.

We definitely saw Jason Bourne in this random side street in Venice...

Masks in the market in Venice. We blurred the background slightly to bring the focus onto the blue mask in the front.

We dulled the color of the bricks to bring out the red of the door (which we made a little brighter too) and gave it a "dreamy" look with Scott's favorite filter, the Glaussian Blur

One of my favorites. We brought out the blue in the door (that's really the color it was!!!! I don't know why my camera didn't pick up the color as well)

Dane and I and a beautiful view in Bern Switzerland. One of my favorite pictures also. Here we lightened up our faces, which before had been fairly shadowed. This way, we were also able to keep the lighting the same for the background.

I love Photoshop =] It just makes me want to go take even MORE amazing photos!

The Long Awaited Post... ITALIA!!!!

Here is the photo album of highlights from our two days in Italy.

We left Bern in the late afternoon on the train to Milan, where we had a half hour to catch our train to Venice. The ride through Switzerland and northern Italy was absolutely gorgeous! There was one part where we went by all these small little towns along this lake, and there was an island in the middle of the lake with a CASTLE on it!!! Then and there we decided we have to go back and just spend a couple weeks going through all these little towns. I think those are the best things to explore =]

Our train ended up having some engine problems at a stop, and thus our train was 35 minutes late getting into Milan... So we missed our original train, but had just enough time to run and catch the next one that was heading out. We got into Venice pretty late at night, but luckily our hostel was literally down the street and around the corner. We were on the mainland part of Venice, not the historical part out on the islands. But it was nice because it was easy to find our hostel, and our Eurail passes let us take the train for free into the historical part.

Anyway, we get to this hostel and this huge, burly man with the widest chest I've ever seen, head shaved and an earring, gruffly greets us and demands our passports. Danea nd I exchanged wide-eyed looks as we handed them over. He scared me. He seemed really rough, asking us various things, until he asked "You don't smoke, do you?" and we responded no, and he said "Good, because if you did, I'd throw you out the window". We blinked a few times as the realization of the joke set in, and suddenly this large Italian man was laughing and joking with us and turned out to be pretty much the coolest, nicest guy you'll ever meet in Italy. He said "If you ever need anything, just ask Uncle John!". Awesome =]

My only complaint about our hostel was that there was no air conditioning, and our fan was broken. Ugh. Venice is HUMID. Don't go during the summer.

The next day we got up early, had breakfast, and got to the train station just in time to catch the train to the island. It was kinda cool going out over the water and seeing all the boats and posts they have to mark "streets".

Most of the time in Venice we spent wandering the back streets, because that's really the cool part. Within the first 20 minutes there, we found the cheapest gelato place and the best little bakery in Venice. It was on a little back street and had SUPER good tiramisu and berry tarts for super super cheap. We didn't find another that compared.

Most the pictures I took were of doorways and windows and narrow alleys. As far as cities go, Venice was my favorite for little backstreets and photo opportunities. Also, there were a lot of mask stores. One of the ones we went into had some absolutely stunning masks. I wasn't allowed to take pictures (without paying more money than I was willing, and the lady was watching me the entire time so I couldn't sneak any), but oh I wish I could have. They were phenomenal. We spent maybe 15 or 20 minutes in that one store just looking at the intricacies of several of the masks. They were beautiful. Some were vibrant colors with delicate wiring or arrays of feathers or they were black and white and gold. You could almost imagine a festival back in the Renaissance where masks like that were actually worn. It was very fun to see (plus the store was air conditioned! We actually stopped into several stores just to get a break from the heat and humidity).

We went to the Piazza di San Marco (the one you see in all the movies, like The Italian Job), which was filled with THOUSANDS of pigeons. They would flock to anyone who had food and viciously and aggressively battle it out. We're talking talon slashling, feather pecking, and wing flapping. So of course Dane crushed up some potato chips and they swarmed him. We got some fun pictures. A few landed on me, but I beat them off (squealing and doing my little dance). Dane made me keep one on while he took a picture, and I was NOT happy. Filthy flying vermin...

Anyway, the main attraction in Venice is the Basilica di San Marco, which cost 20 euro and was over an hour wait, so we decided it wasn't worth it. We had lunch at a wonderful little restaurant that was way cheaper than all the others. Oh my goodness... The pasta was AMAZING. AMAZING. There is nothing like real Italian pasta. It's prepared al dente, meaning it's not cooked as long, so it's a little harder than the way Americans have their pasta. I love it that way. And the sauce was perfect in terms of amount and flavor, and the parmesan was just exquisite. We stopped by the little bakery for desset, wandered around the streets a some more, got more gelato (We had gelato 4 times that day. And why not! It's Italy!), and, since we had seen most of what Venice had to offer, we opted to take a little trip to another nearby city where it wasn't quite so humid. We decided to find a place no more than an hour and a half away, and thus we ended up in Verona.

Verona isn't the most exciting city today. It was back in the Roman days and especially during the Renaissance, but now it's a lot quieter. It is pretty though, and much less humid than Venice. We saw most of the main sites in the few hours we were there. There was a beautiful bridge over the river that we spent some time on, plus we bonded with the gladiators outside the colosseum there. We also searched in vain for Juliet's tomb, which was on our map, but after 45 minutes of wandering around the entire block and looking at every building and sidestreet and still not finding it, we gave up. She's fictional anyway, so it's not even a real tomb...

We went back to Venice for dinner (after a nice nap on the train. I love trains!). We found this little restaurant, again on a back street, and we were literally the only non-Italians there. It was AWESOME! I'm so glad we ate at a place that local Venetians frequested instead of the tourist places along the Grand Canal. People would come in and the bartender and the guy making the pizza would greet them loudly (classic, stereotypical Italian). We got our own pizzas, which were at least two feet wide. It was wonderful; super thin crust, tomato sauce, cheese, and mine had huge chunks of peppers and sausage. And I ate it ALL. We were also privileged to watch the EuroCup semi-final game, Spain vs Russia (Spain DOMINATED! ¡Viva España!) during our meal. All in all, a truly enjoyable experience.

As we walked back to the train station, we paused on one of the main, large bridges to overlook the Grand Canal at night. The stars were out, the moon was shining brightly, gondolas carrying with lanterns floated romantically along the canal, the city lights were reflected in the water...

I know, how much more Belle Notte can you get? If only we had had some spaghetti with meatballs to share and an accordian-playing waiter in the background.

Instead, a lady came up to us, carrying a gorgeous red rose. Her first words to us? "I'm not selling anything!". She was refering to the guys around all main European cities who 'give' you a rose, then hound you or the guy you're with until you give them money. We thought it was hilarious she said that. She explained she was leaving the next day and wanted to give away the roses instead of throwing them away. So I got a rose, and no one followed us around. And when we got back to our hotel, Uncle John told me that I was as beautiful as the rose. Teehee ;)

The next morning, we woke up later than we wanted, and had 20 minutes to pack out bags and book it to the train station to catch our train to Rome at 6:04 am. We ended up waiting for it because 1) we ran and 2) we forgot that trains in Italy are ALWAYS late. It was a pretty uneventful train ride. I actually slept.

We pulled into Rome at 10 am and spent the next 3 hours figuring out how we were getting back to Madrid. We waited in line for over an hour to talk to the guy at the international ticket counter. He was THE most UNHELPFUL man IN THE WORLD. Grrr... We told him we needed to be to Madrid by Sunday night and we would like to leave Saturday morning. He typed in a couple things and was like "Nope, can't be done. You need this train and it's full". So I asked him to try some other routes and places and he kept typing in from Milan to Barcelona or other random things like that. And when I asked him to just put in "Rome to Madrid", he ignored me. So he basically told us he couldn't help us, and we left.

We went to the internet cafe across the street, I pulled up the timetables online, typed in Rome to Madrid, and sure enough, there were THREE different options for how to get there, all getting up there Sunday. The guy was on crack. Just soooooo difficult and unwilling.... It still makes me mad. We went back to wait in line, but it was even longer than before. We started discussing it, and decided that because of the tight schedule we had between a couple trains, we didn't want to risk having one train delayed and missing ALL of our other connections, which would make us miss our flight. Also, the reservation fees would add up, and it was 28 straight hours of travel. So we bought plane tickets from EasyJet. This way, we KNEW we'd make it to Madrid on time, and it cost about the same, and it was only 3 hours instead of 28 (though I was hoping to stop in Monaco... Oh well).

That accomplished, we finally went to find our hostel. It. Was. GHETTO. It was the cheapest one we could find with room for us last minute, and it was way close to the train station, so that was nice. But oh my... The walls were brightly painted and covered in writing, I guess to make it look "hip", but it just looked trashy. The guy at the front "desk" (aka a table with a very unorganized binder) was cool though, and gave us an excellent map and recommendations for food and sites. We stowed our luggage and took off! We were starving, so the first thing we did was find somewhere to eat lunch. Again, we found a little backroads restaurant in which we were the only non-Italians and had an amazing meal for a very good price.

Then we saw Rome in about 8 hours. It is possible. We went to the Colosseum first, of course. We didn't even have to wait that long, only about 20 minutes. 11 euros got us into the Colosseum, plus the House of Augustus and the Roman Forum. We spent a good three hours wandering around all those places. It was so awesome to be there! Just think that 2000 years ago, that was the centre of the world. It was where the Roman Empire was based. It's where Paul preached and where so many other amazing things happened. I'm so glad the Catholics didn't pull down a lot of the old "pagan" Roman ruins like the Conquistadors did in the Americas. Instead, they made it Christian without destroying it. It was wonderful to see.

Then we saw as many other things as we could: Fontana di Trevi (the big famous one that you throw a coin into to ensure that you'll come back. It was smaller than I thought), the Spanish steps (Roman Holiday anyone? The church behind it was covered in scaffolding, so Dane and I stood there and pretended to analyze it like it was modern art), Piazza del Popolo, and other various churches and piazzas, etc etc. We had dinner in another little backstreets restaurant. This time we got lasagna, and oh my goodness. Best lasagna I've ever EVER had. And we had tiramisu for dessert =] Mmmmmmmm!!!! Then we wandered across the river to the Vatican. The courtyard was open, so we technically went into another country ;). We admired the building and the obelisk and everything else for awhile, got some more gelato (which we had several times that day too), then walked back to our hostel, arriving around 12:30 am.

Here's the fun story of the night. So they were going to put us in seperate rooms, but with how ghetto it was combined with needing to get up early the next morning, we requested to be in the same room.

"Well, there's a group of guys in this room, but they seemed pretty cool. We can move one of them", answered the guy at the desk. So they showed us into the room and took the stuff off one of the beds, and left. There were two guys already asleep on the bunk bed in the corner. Dane went and used the bathroom, and as he passed me when he was coming out, he warned "You might want to put some shoes on..."

Indeed, this was the sickest bathroom I have ever been in. The toilet was so close to the wall, you couldn't sit on it and have your knees in front of you. And it was obviously a bathroom used by mostly males... The smell made my stomach lurch. Supposedly, they closed the hostel every day from noon to four to clean... But what they were cleaning I have no idea. It certainly wasn't this bathroom. I decided to forego using the bathroom, taking a shower, or even brushing my teeth that night (I don't even want to go into what the sink was lined with). Instead, I changed into my PJs and climbed up onto my bunk. I crawled onto it from the end, and when I reached the middle, I swung my legs over the edge. Suddenly, the bed gave away below me. Luckily, there was a metal beam over my head, so I grabbed onto that as my mattress became unsuitable to sit on. I lowered myself to the ground and Dane and I checked to see what had happened. Two of the planks supporting my mattress has simply fallen out. Dane replaced them, then graciously suggested that we switch beds. I was still incredibly cautious climbing onto it, and didn't move much the whole night. There were no further bed collapses.

And it gets better. At 3:44 am, I was awaken by loud, druken talking and the lights suddenly being switched on. Yes, the "cool" group of guys had finally decided to grace the hostel with their presence after what had obviously been a very successful night of drinking, partying, and other forms of rowdiness.

Needless to say, the one was NOT very happy to find that Dane was asleep in his bed. He went off swearing (in Spanish, apperantly they were from Mexico) and getting worked up, while another of the guys tried to calm him down and kept reminding them all to be quiet because there were people asleep (this was all explained to me by Dane the next day, since he could actually understand them). The guy was still going off, and said something along the lines of "This is so f-ing stupid. I don't like this" then he paused and said "But I like her". This is when Dane decided to "wake up" and talk to the guys and explain the situation, which they were cool with. I pretended to be asleep through all of this, though I did pull the covers over my head when I heard them walking closer to me after. According to Dane, they were discussing how cute they thought I was. Awww.... Yeah, I'm SO glad I wasn't in the bed Dane was in. Can you imagine what that guy would have said if he had come back and found a cute girl in his bed? This is also when I again was extremely grateful for the fact that Dane is fluent in Spanish.

Eventually they all went to sleep, and a few hours later Dane and I arose to pack up and get to the airport. I cannot tell you how funny it is to be the only girl in a room of guys all sleeping in their underwear. It was the same in Barcelona. But I digress. We caught a shuttle to the airport from the train station. This French couple had some extra coupons, so we ended up paying wayyy less for the shuttle than we expected. Don't you love good-hearted people like that?. We checked in Dane's bag, then went and sat by our gate. My feet were KILLING me from walking around so much yesterday (my chacos gave me blisters and made my feet bleed. What the crap?), so Dane gave me a foot massage while I dozed (awwww, what a sweetie). In time we finally boarded our flight, Dane running ahead to secure us the emergency aisle (which really didn't have that much extra leg room, but I'll take what I can get). I attempted to sleep, but it was kinda hard and I was cold. Dane didn't sleep either because I was using him as a pillow and I kept moving and adjusting my position. The landing was HORRIBLE. We were bouncing all over the place and I just had to put my head between my knees and pray for a quick touchdown. I was sick and nauseous for maybe two hours after our flight, to the point where I had to sit down for 20 minutes in the train station with a bag in front of me, willing myself to puke and get it over with. I didn't, and I finally felt well enough to walk. We went to a grocery store (a Corte Ingles, which is AMAZING and HUGE and had all sorts of yummy food) and got dinner and after eating I felt ten million times better.

We fed these little birds that were by our bench some of our bread crumbs and they were so interesting. One of them would snatch up the crumbs, and then three others crowded around him, fluttering their wings superfast and chirping with their mouths wide open, and this one bird would feed them. The other three wouldn't let him keep any for himself. It was really weird and unlike anything I've seen before.

We went from Madrid to Alcala to get Dane's left behind luggage, and the family, the Benitos, graciously invited us to stay with them for the two nights we had until we left. They are an AWESOME family, just very generous and kind. And they fed us.

Sunday we went to church (so difficult... I was dead tired from traveling and allergies and the church was freezing and I didn't understand anything anyone was saying...), then went to Madrid to do some souvenior shopping. I got an apron, oven mitt, and pot holder with the sillouette of the bull against a red background. I figured I'd wear those more than a t-shirt. We looked at some art from some street painters (got a REALLY cool painting of Don Quixote for Dane's mom) and got some of the best churros y chocolate EVER. We both got España jerseys, since that night was the finals of the EuroCup, and Spain was playing in it.

The city was CRAZY. Everyone was decked out in Spain jerseys and flags and honking their horns and doing random cheers, even hours before the game. Spain won the EuroCup back in '64, and has only been in the finals once since, sometime in the 70's or 80's. We went to the Plaza de Colon, a large plaza in the centre of Madrid, where they had two huge screens set up to show the game. There was an estimated 75,000 people there, and I believe it. We were so packed in. We shouldered our way into a spot right in front of the screen and basically didn't move for the entire two hours. Dane was right in front of me with our backpack between us. I had one hand on the zippers and the other held my camera (which took many pictures and videos). It was so crazy. To make a long story short, Spain played an incredible game and beat Germany, 1-0. We cheered and screamed and jumped up and down, then bounced our way to the exit and ran for the train station. We wanted to make it back to Alcala before things got really crazy. People were still jumping around on the trains, singing and banging the walls and just going crazy with excitement. Back in Alcala, we heard a fun cheer by three exuberant fans, which, translated, was essentially:
A: "The forwards!"
B: "Viva!"
A: "The captian of the team!"
B: "Viva!"
etc, then:
A: "The mother of the goalie!"
B: "Viva!"

We thought that was pretty funny. The Benitos were pretty hyped up too, and we stayed up late celebrating and eating a very late dinner of bread and chorizo and cheese.

The next day, we were up early once again to get to the airport by 9 for our flight at 11. It was useless, because our flight was delayed SEVEN hours. SEVEN! That's almost the entire length of the flight itself. Apperantly there were technical problems with the plane in New York. But we got a free meal out of it! And I took a lovely nap on the benches that did not have arm rests between them.

We finally boarded our flight (waiting another HOUR because they had to unload some baggage of some people that couldn't get on the flight because they didn't have any ID, but their luggage still made it on?). The pilot congratulated the Spainards on their win and everyone cheered, haha.

The flight was alright. All day my nose had been running terribly, which I thought was because of allergies, but after two different allergy pills, I realized it was sinus congestion. I went through so many kleenexes and napkins and paper towels on that flight. It was awful. My ears were so stuffed up and they definitely did NOT pop on our descent. It was one of the more painful experiences of my life. I cried because it hurt so badly. And they didn't pop until the next morning. We landed in NYC around 9 and got shuttled to the Ramada Hotel, where Delta paid for a hotel room and gave us food vouchers.

The food vouchers paid for a continental breakfast. 14 bucks EACH. How ridiculous is that?! But it was all-you-can-eat, and we made sure to take advantage of that ;) We caught a flight to St. Louis, and we had a half hour between our landing and the next plane to Salt Lake. And our flight left a half hour late from NYC. We were kinda panicking because there wasn't another flight to SLC until the next day. But the pilot was really good or something and we got there right on time. So we made it Salt Lake and Dane's dad picked us up. I was very happy to see him. He took us back to their house in Alpine and fed us fresh vegetables and Costco muffins. Dane took me to my Uncle's later that night, and the next day I returned to Provo.

And that's the end of my adventure. It was amazing and I feel like I learned so much about myself and the world. That'll probably be another post--the last post--on this blog.

Again, link to pictures above for Italy and two entries below for the EuroCup final. Enjoy!

Switzerland

First off, we finally made it OUT of Spain. I think that once you’re in Spain, she will do everything in her power to keep you there, as was demonstrated by the ten bajillion little trains we had to take to get to Bern. I believe it was Barcelona to Cerbere to Narbonne to Arles to Basel to Bern… And there might have been one other stop in there, but I don’t remember.

It was an adventure, especially when Dane didn’t reserve the overnight train from Arles to Basel and the ticket office at Arles was closed. I was upset, though he assured me it would be fine and to stop sulking (I know, I worry too much). So, for lack of any better plan, we just got on the train like we had tickets. The conductor asked us for our tickets, and we said that the lady at the station had said our Eurail pass was the only ticket we needed. He smiled and told us (this is in very broken English, since he spoke French and neither of us do) that we needed an extra ticket to reserve the overnight train, but he’d sell it to us right there (this is where Dane gave me the “I told you so” look). Did €1.20 each sound about right?

We tried not to smile or give each other incredulous looks, since usually overnight trains cost a bit more than that. We said that yes, that sounded fine, and the train was off!

So we finally got to Bern. We had decided to take this day easy and decide what we wanted to do for the rest of the trip, since we had been talking about the “go home” feeling since Barcelona. We called Dane’s dad, called my dad, and then decided to explore the city a little. Downtown Bern isn’t terribly exciting, or big, but it’s very quaint and very Swiss. Plus the streets had names like “Spittalgasse”. How could you not love it? We wandered up to the northern area of the city and walked down a beautiful path surrounded by woods. Then the trees cleared and we saw this:

I was in LOVE. And that is the honest-to-goodness color of that water. I really wish we had jumped off the foot bridge into it, like so many of the native people there were doing. (and their dogs). We ate lunch there, talked, and just enjoyed the beauty around us. After a couple hours, we wandered around the main city some more. Again, there’s not much to see in the way of buildings, but the views and surrounding countryside are just GORGEOUS.

One thing I’ve always wanted to do was see the Bern, Switzerland temple, so we did. It’s gorgeous, and amazingly close to the city. We walked around the grounds, then knelt down on the cool, green grass in the shade of the beautiful trees and prayed about our decision to come home early. We stayed there a bit longer, then went back to Bern and called Dane’s dad, and he set up our flights home. What an amazing man.

The next day we went to Interlaken. It’s this little town nestled in the Alps, about an hour outside Bern. It is, quite honestly, the most beautiful place on earth. The sky was blue, the mountains were green, and in the distance the larger ones were snow-capped, and the air smelled so fresh and clean—a nice break after being in cities where everyone smokes like chimneys.

We went up a little further to Laterbrunnen, which has this fabulous waterfall that just jets straight out of a cliff. It was the toughest, steepest little hike I’ve ever been on (and the high altitude didn’t help), but it was one of the more amazing and beautiful things I’ve ever experienced—to stand in a little carved out section of the cliff behind the waterfall, to feel the spray of the water on my face and arms and legs, and to look out over the entire valley… Dane commented that, despite the glorious and beautiful things man has made, they are nothing compared to what God has made. I echo that statement. Standing there in that setting made me feel closer to God than a cathedral ever would.

We went back to Interlaken and hiked along the lake a bit before finding a little beach. We ate our lunch, then decided to go swimming. The lake is pure glacial melt off (think Lake Tahoe, but colder). It wasn’t so much swimming as it was Dane coaxing me in inch by inch for about 15 minutes, but eventually I just took the plunge. It was freezing, but I’m so glad I did it =D Then Dane pretended to propose to me as a tour boat full of Japanese tourists went by. We were definitely pointed at and had pictures taken of us. It was awesome =]

Sadly, we had to leave Interlaken much earlier than we would have liked. I could have spent a week there and not gotten tired of it. I think I’ll have to go back and hike all the trails we couldn’t.

Back in Bern, we had just enough time to get our tickets to Venice, stock up on food for dinner, and get a TON of Swiss chocolate. We ate it slowly over the next few days, but it was some of the best chocolate I’ve ever had.

(Yes, that is a 4.5 kg Toblerone bar)

I really liked Switzerland. The food and the internet cafes were crazy expensive ($1 for 6 minutes?!), but that’s because its charm lies outside the cities. I think everyone should see true beauty like that at least once in their life.

Next post: Italy!
When: TBA…

Pics from Spain!

These are pics from Spain!!! Madrid, Alcala de Henares, Sevilla, Barcalona, and the EuroCup Final!!!!

These are pics from Granada y Alhambra, which is one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen in my life. This was definitely one of the highlights of my trip, and I took so many amazing pictures it just deserved its own album =]

Whirl-wind week

Well, in the last week I've been in 5 countries. How cool is that?

I'll update about our travels in Barcelona, south of France, Switzerland and Italy (and Vatican city... which is it's own country) later. But for now, I thought I'd probably mention that we're coming home tomorrow (Monday). Nothings wrong, we're both fine, we just both really strongly felt that we needed to come home. After three days of debating it, we got flights home from Madrid. So I'll be back in Provo Tuesday or Wednesday-ish...

The world is great, and I'm glad I was able to see the little that I was. Next year, when I have even more saved up and hopefully the Euro crashes, I'll be back =]

The Rain in Spain? Not for us!

I wish I could post pictures and some of the movies (like of the flamenco bar), but I have too many and not enough time on the internet!

Well, we´ve been cruising around Spain here for the last four days, and it´s been BEAUTIFUL weather--clear skies and in the mid-80s. On Wednesday we took the late train rom Madrid to Granada and spent the night. The next day, we went to visit Alhambra (which I pronounce the arabic way--with out the B). That was probably one of the most BEAUTIFUL buildings I have ever seen! EVER! I´ve wanted to go for awhile and I was definitely not disappointed. It´s an old Moorish castle and fortress and the intricate carvings on the wall are just mind-blowing. We spent over four hours there, wandering around the palace and the green flowering gardens.

That night we trained to Sevilla and went straight to our hostel (which we LOVED, by the way). We walked around the entire city the next day, seeing every sight you can imagine. That night we went to a Flamenca bar. It was so so so so sooooooo cool. The dancer was amazing and the singer had the most hilarious facial expressions. According to dane, the guitarist was alright, but I thought he was pretty good ;)

The next morning we trained back to Madrid, walked around for a few hours, then took the evening train to Barcelona. We´ve spent all of today here, and we´re taking the train to Bern tomorrow. It´s gorgeous here, but HOT. And full of college age tourists wandering around in swimsuits. We spent a few hours at the beach after exploring the city, and people are definitely don´t mind nudity....

We saw La Sagrada familia designed by Gaudi, and wandered around the Gothic quarter (LOVE LOVE LOVE the architecture!) where we had THE best gelato I have ever eaten. It was so freaking good, we´re going back tomorrow before we leave.

I´m having such a blast. I´m so grateful I´m able to do this. Even if it was only this country or a couple more, it is definitely worth it. And I´ve been noticing the hand of the Lord in several of the things we´ve done (like getting in to the palace at Alhambra an hour before our slotted time). There´s no way we can always get so lucky by chance. Alma 26:37.

In Spain

So. After a VERY long day of flights and waiting at airports and sleeping in odd places in said airports... I finally got to Spain yesterday afternoon. I love it! After London, Madrid is quickly becoming my favorite city. I went to el Parque de Retiro and realized that I had forgotten what GREEN is! Really! After being in a desert of yellow and brown and red and white, seeing so many TREES and GRASS and BUSHES EVERYWHERE. Even the shade seemed green. It made the Cook's backyard look like a weed patch. Ohhh, I love trees =]

I met up with Dane in Alcala de Henares and he's shown me around a bit. The next few days we're going to go around Madrid a bit, and on the 18th we set off on our adventure!

When I actually take pictures, I'll try and put some up. But for now, that's about all I got. Hope all is going well at home!

PS: Happy Father's Day, dad! You're wonderful =] Love you!

The World-wide Church

Today I got to experience the Primary Program here in the Amman branch: rowdy kids mumbling into the microphone and singing "Scripture Power" and all the verses of "Follow The Prophet". Gotta love how the church really is the same wherever you go in the world =]

Jerash and Shwarma

Yesterday (meaning the 11th) was a good day. I had a laid back morning, where I sat out in the garden and read my scriptures and wrote in my journal and read. In the afternoon, two girls who were with me in Petra, Krystyna and Dana, came by. They had a flight to Germany last night, and had spent the previous night in a hostel... Which they said was basically one of the scariest things they've ever done. So they found haven at the church centre too. The Cooks are truly amazing, welcoming everyone in with open arms and a peanut butter sandwich.

That evening Pres. and Sis. Cook took us all to Jerash for the high school graduation of one of the girls in the branch. The Relief Society of the branch, Elaine, came too. Sidenote on Elaine: She is the coolest woman! She works for BYU, but she's also the director of the nursing PhD program here at the University of Jordan. She's lived in Jordan the last two years, though she's spent time here off and on before that. She's spunky and independent and had the wittiest sense of humor. I hope I like that when I'm in my 60's.

Anyway, we got a bit lost trying to find the entrance, so we got a nice whirlwind tour of the modern city of Jerash. Finally, after asking a policeman for directions (who ignored me when I asked in Arabic), we found where to park. Technically, only Pres. and Sis Cook and Elaine had invitations, and thus could get into the park for free, while the three of us probably should have paid the 8 JD park fee... But they didn't check and we ended up getting in for free.

The graduation was in the ancient Roman amphitheatre. How cool is that?! It was awesome to sit there on those ancient stone seats and wonder about how it may have looked back when it was in it's prime (And apperantly they do concerts there too). The school was the American Community School, though there were only three Americans out of the entire 35 students of the graduating class. The highlight was when they sang their class song, which was "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". How often can you say that you've heard that song sung by a bunch of graduating high school seniors in the ruins of an ancient Roman amphitheatre?

When it was over, me and the two other girls rushed out to explore the ruins for a few minutes. We paused for a moment at the entrance to the amphitheatre, where there were Jordanian guards playing the bagpipes. How awesome is that? Supposedly, it's an old Bedouin tradition.

We went down to the ruins just behind the amphitheatre, then went down to the main plaza. I took some pictures, then headed down to the main road. There were a bunch of guards sitting there, but I figured if I couldn't go past them they would stop me.

They didn't stop me =] So I continued wandering down the main road, taking side trips to explore the various buildings. Strains of the bagpipers playing Amazing Grace and Yankee Doodle drifted down the hill.

It wasn't until I got to the main crossroads that I realized two of the guards were following me. They were about my age, and when they found out I could speak Arabic, a fast friendship was born =] The really talkative one, Mohammed, barely spoke any English, but he would go off in Arabic, explaining things about the roads and how there were water channels underneath, etc. I understood most of what he was talking about, even if I didn't understand most the words he said. The other guard spoke much better English, but he was kinda quiet. They walked with me down the rest of the main road, Krystyna and Dana trailing behind. Apperantly, the park was closed, but they basically let me wander around for about a half hour. Sometimes, it pays to be a cute white girl who can speak Arabic ;)

Eventually, we had to stop and turn around. They looked like they would have let us keep going, but their senior guard (I'm assuming) had kinda given them a hard time about letting us get even that far. But it was very kind of them =] The walk back consisted of them showing us how the columns move ever so slightly when you push on them (by levering a key at the base of one and watching it move up and down... Hard to describe, but the column moved!), and Mohammed trying to instruct me on how to properly pronounce "kh", or the letter that sounds like you're clearing the back of your throat. I thought I did it fine, but they were laughing so hard at me. But it was fun =]

The adults were waiting in the car, and we had a nice drive back to Amman (it's about an hour). We dropped Elaine off, stopped by Burger King for us three famished youngsters, and headed back to the centre.

Today, the Cooks showed me Abdoun, the posh, "Beverly Hills" area of Amman (the church centre is right on the edge of it). They took me to an amazing shwarma place, and we got delicious ice cream =] Then we drove around and looked at all the huge houses and Pres. Cook joked about how they were going to by this one or that one for the church and look! They already have a baptismal font! (meaning the fountain out in front). Then we went grocery shopping, and it was amazing to see real American food in a very American-esqe grocery store. Abdoun made me almost feel like I was back in America... Except it was still quite different (obviously). but compared to where I've been living, it was an extreme contrast.

Tomorrow we have church, and in the evening the Cooks are driving me to the airport for my flight to Spain!

Oh, and I added pictures to my Facebook.

In Beautiful Amman

So. I'm in Amman. Oh my goodness. It's literally like finding an oasis after being in the harsh barren desert for so long. Grass! Trees! Beautiful flowers of every color! Violet, fuschia, periwinkle, orange, light pink, and JASMINE! I love the scent of jasmine flowers--we have a huge bush in our front yard in California. I wrote in my journal while sitting on a quaint stone bench in the shade (Shade!) of an olive tree. The air smells like laundry and car exhaust.

The missionary couple is so nice! They just welcomed me in and gave me a room with a double bed =] And they fed us (being me and Katie, who got picked up by Brian, our old Arabic teacher who is our age. That was fun seeing him). Guess what we ate? Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!!!!! It tasted SO good! Real bread! Peanut butter! MMMMM!!!

The Jerusalem Centre kids came by this afternoon for a little devotional thing with Pres Cook just to hear about the church here in the Middle East. It's pretty interesting. Did you know there's a stake in Saudi? It goes from Kuwait down to Yemen and over to the UAE. And they're making the Middle East/North Africa Arabic speaking area, from Syria and Lebanon to Egypt over to Morocco. It's not quite a mission, but it's getting close. Oh... It includes Jerusalem! That's a big step for the church. I've seen a lot of Arabic study abroaders too. Everyone in from the JC and study abroad is like "...Wait... You're not in our group... Who are you?". Kinda fun =]

I don't know what I'll be doing the next few days, but I might be shown around a little by the missionary couple, if they aren't too busy. If not, maybe I can get one of the study abroaders to come with me somewhere? Man, I hate being a young white woman sometimes...

But I'm safe, I'm happy (I got to play the piano!), and I will be in Spain on SATURDAY!!!!

Photos

For those of you without Facebook, here's a link to see my new pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=17801926&k=ZZE26ZURPVXMZFFGWF26R

Let me know if it doesn't work!

I had a fun little field trip today. Dr. Johnson took a few of us into Wadi Musa to see the Spring of Moses. Yes, the rock that Moses struck and water flowed from it for the children of Israel (Numbers 20:11). Who knows if that’s the real one, but it is a spring that flows out from under the rock, and it’s in the general area where it happened. Just like how the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem may not necessarily be the real tomb of Christ, yet that’s the accepted tradition and it makes it a special, sacred place.

The spring isn’t really that sacred… There’s graffiti on the walls and tons of gift shops outside (“We have good gifts! No charge for look!”). But it was still cool to see. This spring is the one that gives Wadi Musa all of it’s water. It’s interesting how a small spring can bring so much greeness and life. We got there the same time as an Italian tour bus, and it was quite interesting seeing them descend on the place like a flock of pigeons, bustling about, snapping photos, and cooing to each other, then just as sudden as they had come, they flew back to their bus, and drove off.

Then we went to a baklava shop… Huzzah! The old man there didn’t speak English. Well, he knew a couple words, but basically none. He was so nice!!! And he was sooo excited that I could speak Arabic! I was giving him my order and picking out my box of baklava (which is about the most delicious thing in the world), and he kept making me try all these other things they had—and I never turn down a free sample ;). He told me he was from Cairo (hence why he could understand me so well, since I know the Egyptian dialect) and then I helped the others girls get their boxes and helped some people from Australia get their tea. It was really fun. And the other, younger guy that worked there was hitting on Jordyn the entire time, joking about going to America with her. She had no idea what was going on and just stood there looking confused and slightly bewildered the whole time, haha. But I really enjoyed talking with the old man!!! It was fun usuing my Arabic, and I could understand him. It was great =]

Jebal Haroun

Today was our last field trip. We went to Jebal Haroun, the traditional tomb of Aaron. It started out not so good for me. We had a half hour truck ride along bumpy windy dirt roads. I sat in the back of one of the trucks with Cameron and Caleb, but the bed had a roof over it. It was like being in the back of a station wagon, facing the other way. There was also a water container in the back that leaked, but only on my side. Thus, when we finally got to the trail head, not only was I totally carsick, but the bottom of my backpack was soaked, along with the seat of my jeans. The hike up was fun, we followed our Bedouin drivers and just climbed straight up the mountain side. It would have been more fun for me if the world hadn’t been tilting the entire way. Needless to say, it took me a bit longer to get to the top.

But oh my goodness. The view! The view put the one at the Monastery and the High Place to shame! Absolutely phenomenal. You could see all the way to Israel

There’s a little shrine built at the top. The tomb itself was a big stone box like thing with Hebrew writing on it. Next to it was a guestbook, which we all signed. The shrine is a holy place for Muslims, and it can double as a mosque, as was evidenced by the presence of a qibla (the niche in the wall of mosques that points towards Mecca) and rugs. You can climb up on the roof of the shrine, up very narrow steep stairs, and that’s where we ate our snack and hung out. The breeze up there felt wonderful, and getting some food and water in me helped get rid of the dizziness. Even though there wasn’t as much to see as some of the other sites we’ve been at, I think it’s one of my favorite places we’ve been to.

I made a comment while we were up on the roof, gazing at the desert spread out before us, “Can you imagine wandering around here for 40 years?”. The Old Testament seems a bit more real where you’re looking at the desert where the Israelites lived. And the Bedouins in their tents are probably very similar to how the ancient people in the area lived.

We stayed up there for awhile, then hiked down. Just FYI, the hill was steep. Very steep. And the Bedouin drivers leapt down it like they were one of the goats they shepherd. On the way back, Caleb, Cameron, Thomasina and I grabbed the back of an open truck. It was dusty and bumpy and MUCH more fun:



Interesting cultural note: The old man in the back wouldn't talk to me or Thomasina. He only greeted Caleb and Cameron, and when he asked a question about me (how tall I was, how old I was), he didn't ask me, he asked Caleb. And when I answered, he didn't look at me. It's so different. The only attention we get here is catcalls from young men in the village when we walk by ("Very nice!!!"). Other than that, we're pretty much ignored (except by some very kind shopkeepers =]). I can't wait to get back to a place where I can walk down the street and I don't have to avoid looking men straight in the eye, and I can wear shorts, and if someone catcalls me I can do something back, and I can talk to men and be treated like an equal. It's so frustrating.

In his defense, the old man wasn't trying to be rude or put women down. He was actually acting in what he considered a very respectful way. But still...

Four more days here. Wow. How does time go so fast?

So I thought work last week was hard...

Oh no. We’re trying to finish off our site this week, and we were hoping to have it done yesterday, but it was so hot and everyone was so snippy that we didn’t get as much done as we needed to do. Everyone is ready to go home, and while there haven’t been any big fights yet, there has been a lot of people getting irritated. Today was better, mostly because it was the LAST DAY OF DIGGING! And we didn’t even really dig, just swept up all the loose dirt from the bedrock while the wind basically counteracted our progress… Sigh. Archaeology is sometimes just a huge lesson in futility and redundancy.

I have shoveled and hoed so much dirt… But I am definitely getting some muscle from it. I’ll hardly be recognizable when I get home, I’ll be so buff and tan. Josh commented on how defined my abs are, haha.

Now that I’ve been out here a few weeks, I remember why I love it so much. It takes a bit to get into it, but there’s something about digging that’s, well, fun. Especially when you have a site that yields cool things. Unfortunately, this last site did not, but how could you not enjoy swinging a pick and wielding a shovel and lugging 20 lbs of dirt in each hand across the entire site in 90+ degree heat? Strangely exhilerating, I must say

Some random things from Life In Jordan.

The family that owns the house lives on the floor below us, and someone down there is constantly smoking hashish (aka, pot, or its cousin). I can smell it right now as I’m typing. It comes randomly during the day. Isn’t that fun?

We all have assigned laundry days, and it takes a day or two to get your clothes back. Mine was on Saturday, and on Sunday I realized that I didn’t have any shirts, socks, or sports bras to wear. So I snuck into the backyard (we aren’t supposed to go there) and just took some of my clothes off the line. It’s kinda fun seeing everyone’s clothes hung up for the world to see. They’re all plainly visible from the upstairs window (somehow everyone knew that the bright red bra was mine…). And sometimes laundry gets mixed up and put in the wrong bag… Katie came into our room a couple weeks ago, holding a pair of Brittany’s underwear and laughing her head off. Apparently, Scott (one of the TA’s who is a tall, gangly, and slightly awkward redhead) had found it in his laundry and was super embarrassed, hahaha.

Remember how I mentioned that all of the houses here are technically still under construction? (So they don’t have to pay taxes). Well, they just leave the rebars up on the roof, sticking out all crazy-like. The other day I was distracted and walked right into one. I have a HUGE bruise on my shin, and the scrape looks like it has the imprint of the rebar. It’s kinda cool.

Our showers are three stalls all in the same room, so sometimes I’m in there with Caleb and Josh, and we always have great conversations as we’re showering, like about how they want to shave their entire bodies and using a hose instead of toilet paper. It’s definitely a different experience.

Sometimes for dessert we have these little baklava pastry things that come in a big red box and they are sooo good. Because our room is right next to the kitchen, sometimes we do roommate raids; peeking out to make sure no one is around, sneaking out the door, dashing to the kitchen and stealing some from the box, hehe. We don’t have to be sneaky or anything, but it’s fun.

My shirts fit all my roommates. None of them had a clean shirt for a special dinner we had the other night, so I let them all borrow one of mine, and they all fit and looked good. It was kinda fun =]

The special dinner was one hosted for us by a family in the village. It was absolutely delicious!!! There’s this traditional dish they make, where they cook huge quantities of rice with various vegetables mixed in, like eggplant, friend cauliflower, carrots, potatoes, peppers, etc. Then they cook chicken, put it all in one big pot and cook it some more, then turn it out onto a huge platter. We’ve had it for lunch a few times at the house, and usually one is more than enough to feed all 29 of us. This family showed the usually Arab hospitality and made us three. Plus there was a cucumber and tomato salad and amazing flat bread. And we had fresh fruit for dessert. We sat on cushions on the floor in the traditional style and ate until I literally felt like I was going to burst. It was so awesome. It’s one of my favorite experiences that I’ve had here.

There are wild cats everywhere here, and we’ve been hearing a couple of them fight a lot lately. One night last week, they were fighting in the stairwell, so it echoed like crazy (seeing as how everything here is built out of linolium and concrete). I finally got out of bed in the middle of the night (well, it was about 11:30, but we had all been in bed for two hours) and shooed them off. “Yalla, q’uta!!! Ya salaam!”.

Lots of times, we’ll see/hear trucks driving around the village, honking their horns really loudly, or kids will be shouting things from where they sit in the truck bed. It took us awhile to figure out that they were selling things, ranging from propane to shoes to watermelon. When I saw one that was selling watermelon, I ran downstairs and told Brittany, who chased it down. Fresh fruit is so sought after. I had a dream the other afternoon about eating a whole bunch of big, round, juicy grapes. Today I had an apple, and it was heaven.

My professor accidently walked in on me while I was just in my sports bra and shorts. That was awkward, hahahahahahahaha.

We are getting so many bug bites. I didn’t get any the first few weeks, but now I’m getting them everywhere, probably because we sleep with the window open because it’s getting so hot. Bug spray to bed!

I read another book today (well, I started it yesterday). Life of Pi by Yann Martel. It was really good and I would recommend it. It’s very different from most other books I’ve read, plot- and style-wise, but I liked it. It’s about a boy that survives at sea in a lifeboat for 227 days with a 450-pound Bengal tiger. And it’s a true story. Now I need to find something else to read… A never-ending quest…

Since we’re done digging, we just have a lot of write-ups and mapping and lab stuff to do. Ugh. They say that archaeology is 10% field work, and 90% research and lab work. If that’s the case, God help us all. Bismallah ir-rahman ir-rahiim…

But in less than a week we’ll be in Amman and in a week and a half I’ll be in Spain! YAY!!!!

The High Place

Situated at the very top of the mountain above the Khazneh and the Ampitheatre in Petra is the Great High Place, the great holy shrine of the Nabateans. We hiked up to it today, and it was quite the adventure. We started off hiking down the back road into Petra, meeting up at the Castle of Pharoah’s Daughter, which is this huge random half-ruined building just past the Great Temple. Legends has it that as Pharaoh was chasing Moses and the Israelites through the desert, he stopped and built the castle to house his daughter, and the Khazneh to hold all his treasure (because when Pharaohs are chasing runaway slaves, they always take their daughters and half the wealth of Egypt, right?). The legend was actually made up when the Arabs came into the area. There are several areas around Petra that are associated with Moses, like the tomb of Aaron (which we’re going to next week), and supposedly the spring in Wadi Musa is the one which sprung from the rock when Moses struck it with his rod. Thus, they assigned stories to other significant places nearby, despite it being totally out of historical context, and fairly unbelievable. But that’s what makes it fun, right?

I digress. We met up there, then began our hike up to the High Place. It was really fun going up the backside, because it’s in the shade almost the entire way, and there are a lot of neat sites there that you usually wouldn’t see. We saw the Soldier’s Tomb, and a HUGE old cistern, met a very friendly cat that kept trying to play with the people that hate cats, and saw a awesome triclinium (An room with a bench on three sides that was used for funerary feasts). Then we went up some stairs… And some more stairs… And some more stairs… My goodness, there were so many steep stairs just zigzagging almost straight up the mountain side. It was killer. But climbing up the final stairs, lungs wheezing from the physical exhertion, legs burning from the sheer height of each step, and finally coming to the wide flat top and seeing the view and feeling that beautiful cool breeze on my face—It was so worth it.

Allison and I took pictures of her pretending to sacrifice me on the great alter (how could we resist?). Then we joined Brittany at the far end, sitting on the edge of the cliff, dangling our feet as we took in the panomara around us. The people below us, walking along the main road from the Ampitheatre to the Palace Tomb and Great Temple were tiny, little specks moving among slightly larger specks (which were the camels). We could see the site where we’re working right now, and we decided it’d actually be quicker to hike to our site then down into Petra rather than walking down the back road. Um Sayhoun made up part of the horizon, sitting on top of one large hill, while to our right we could see all of Wadi Musa spread out. I would highly recommend it to anyone going to Petra. It’s a hard, steep hike, but reward at the top is worth it.

We went down the front path, and came out right next to the ampitheatre, which is right by Al-Khazneh, which is where the Siq comes out. So Brit, Ally and I decided to head up the Siq to the gift stores to do some last minute present buying. We were joined by Josh. It turns out the shops at the very top of the Siq were closed because apperantly a fight had broken out? So the police closed the shops? That’s what one of the workers told me. So we headed up the street into town, and had a very successful half hour shopping trip, complete with delicious Mövenpick ice cream. Then we booked it back through the Siq, flashing our park passes at the gate. I must say, we felt pretty cool, striding through the Siq like we owned the place. It was the third time I’ve been through it.

And I must add, Al-Khazneh (which is the Treasury, by the way) is just as impressive each time you come around that last corner in the Siq and see it peeking out at you, then emerge in it’s full glory. It truly is a gorgeous building.

By the time we made it back to our meeting place, our legs were quite… well exercised, to say the least, and we were feeling it (but it’s that good kind of sore). We tried estimating how far we had hiked, but I don’t know how long the Siq is, or how long the hike to the High Place is. I know it took us just under a half hour to get through the Siq, and we were walking pretty fast. And it took us a little over two hours to get to the top of the High Place. But your guess is as good as mine. Maybe I’ll clock it on GoogleEarth.

Anyway, Dr. Johnson thankfully drove us back, and the cold shower immediately following was very refreshing. It was hot today. That combined with our ambitious walking only served to make today one of the sweatiest of my lifetime. I truly think the only time I’ve ever sweated more was either digging on site, or field hockey practice in August.

Church was at 5:30 today, and I volunteered to give a talk. I spoke about trusting in God, especially through trials, and I think it went pretty well. I used to hate speaking in front of people so much, but I realized today that that fear is, for the msot part, gone. I think it has to do with me making myself bear my testimony every month in church for the last two years. And I don’t write my talks out word for word anymore, just have an outline and notes and follow that and then just add what comes to mind. I liked it.

Dinner was pizza, and I ate waaay too much. But it was so good and I was HUNGRY after the work-out I got today! All in all, it was a really fun day. I love our field trip days. I wish we had more time to just explore Petra. I feel like I know the main city like the back of my hand, and the Wadi Mataha area (where we work), but there are tombs and stairs and canyons that we haven’t even touched. If you ever go to Petra, plan on spending a full, very tiring day there, hiking to a lot of high places and off the beaten track to explore several “lost” tombs. It’s truly amazing.

We've all developed an interesting sense of humor here, deriving from our work with bones, other random jokes and archaeological quirks. For instance, today this girl, Kamila, was talking about how she dyed her hair, but it was growing out, and she said “Yeah, it’s still black… On the distal end”. We all burst out laughing. We’ve been analyzing bones for waaaay too long. There's more, like “I never met a carpal I didn’t like!” or "Tibia, or not tibia", hahahahahahaha.

Anyway.

Today was so windy and dirty. Because the site we're working on now is in a somewhat closed area, the wind just comes from all directions at once. It catches the dirt from the screening and the picking and just whips it around, stinging our skin and getting into our eyes. I felt like I was trowling with my eyes closed for most the day. I even wore my sunglasses, and it didn’t help at all. When I blew my nose… It was black. Disgusting. I walked home early today with Cameron because he was feeling sick (he’s been sick the last two days and stayed home; he should have today too). In the shower, I scrubbed vigorously everywhere, and yet my towel still came away super dirty when I dried off. Then I used a face wipe, and it still came away brown. I miss being totally clean.

I have been working my butt off this week, and I am so tired. I got like 3 or 4 hours of sleep most nights this week (random insomnia), then I screened for two days, and then I picked and hoed (we make so many jokes about the hoes, and they’re still funny, even after four weeks) and carried ghufas (the baskets we carry dirt in) and just made sure I was never idle. I had a lot of energy this week, despite the little amounts of sleep I got, and I wanted to work hard and have an upbeat attitude, since it’s our last week of digging. There’s a few people who just kind of sit around or flat out refuse to help, and I just have to make an effort to not get irritated at them. Other people were being snappy, and I felt like it wouldn’t be long before someone bit someone else’s nose off. But I feel like it was a very satisfactory week for me. And I’m very very very glad it’s the weekend.

We have 10 days left. Al-Humdulillah!!!!!!!!!!!!! And then the REAL fun begins!

Last night I was sitting up on the roof, looking up at the beautiful starry sky with the cool night breeze softly blowing around me, and I started thinking about how extremely lucky and privleged I am. That’s probably the thought that’s struck me the most while I’m here, is how blessed I am by the Lord. I started making a list in my journal. There were some things that I never really thought about until I was here, like how grateful I am for fresh fruit. And lotion. And the fact that I'm able get cookies in town. And cool breezes on hot days, sore muscles from working hard, American toilets and our amazing sanitation system, being able to shower every day, hot water, modern transportation, laughing with friends, the amazing beauty of nature that I see every day, having a healthy body that can handle rigorous work, and yummy falafel with pita and hummus spread for dinner. I could have kept going, but I stopped after two pages =] It is truly amazing how much counting my blessings gives me a positive attitude and helps me recognize the love of God in my life. And right now, especially with tensions running high these last couple weeks, it’s essential to have that cheerful outlook and love for those around me.

Stairs, Goats, and Nutella

On Wednesday we started a new site. I really like it! It’s a “high place”, meaning it was a place of worship for the Nabateans. So it’s, obviously, up on a high place. We get to go up cool rock cut stairs.

Sidenote: The Nabateans loved stairs. If you look at the cliffs, you see stairs carved everywhere, along with little niche shrines. I decided that the designers of BYU were inspired by the Nabateans, because the only place that there are more stairs than Petra is BYU.

But I digress. Wednesday I started out digging, and every time I stood up I got light headed, and almost blacked out once. I hadn’t been feeling well the last couple days, and we think it’s from digging in the tomb and breathing in all that dust, combined probably with dehydration (it’s getting HOT). We had surgical masks and bandanas, but we still breathed a lot of dust. My roommate Brittany and her partner were sick too, and one of the guys, Josh, was really sick last week. But I hate using not feeling well as an excuse not to work, because some people here just sit around picking at the ground with their trowel, and then place their hand on their forehead and feebly declare “Oh, I don’t feel well, I’m not going to work”.

I like working, and besides, I thought I’d feel better… Haha, yeah… Glenna (Dr. Nielsen) would not let me work. She made me go sit in the shade and bag artifacts (I was moving gufas [the baskets we put the dirt in] but then I was all shaky and dropped one and I was banished). Ugh. After break I was trying to help dig or something, and Glenna made me sit down with a hat on, even though I said I felt a ton better. But by the end of the day, she didn’t stop me from moving gufas. (I ended up staying home on Thursday and sleeping until 10. I feel way better now, so don’t worry Dad!)

However, on Wednesday we made a really cool discovery! And by “we” I mean Holly, our grad student who’s in charge of this site. She was almost hyperventilating when she picked it up out of the dirt! It’s a fragment of a molded pot, with three people on it. There’s a man and a woman, and it looks like they’re dancing. Then there’s a little face peeking out from behind the man. We were all super excited; pottery like that is VERY VERY rare. Caleb and Cameron were making remarks about the exposed private parts of the man… Boys…

Sometimes we play games while we’re digging, and the latest one was assigning everyone a Disney character. Four people independently assigned Caleb as Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, hilarious, and so true. Glenna was Mrs. Potts or Mother Willow, and one girl, Thomasina, was Iago from Aladdin. I was Belle, because I read a lot (and I'd like to think that my personality is close to hers too...).

We also watched goats jump off cliffs, even little baby goats. It’s truly an amazing thing to see. They’d just launch themselves into the air and go down fifteen feet and land and then bounce along their merry way. Sometimes we see them up on the cliffs in places that you wouldn’t think was possible for any living thing to get to. We constantly wonder how they get up there, and, even more mysterious, how they get down. The babies are especially prone to getting stuck, and bleat their little hearts out until one of the adults helps them. They’re so cute, and really loud. A herd of them tried going through the lower site on Wednesday, and they had to be herded out. It’s actually happened a few times; we’re constantly chasing away goats and Bedouin children.

Yesterday we went to the Monastery, yet another Nabatean rock cut façade. This one is outside the main Petra complex. We left pretty early, and went down the back road instead of through the Siq, and thus beating all the tourists, so we had the place to ourselves. It’s a pretty good hike, supposedly up 850 stairs, but who’s really counting? You wind up through a canyon, sometimes on steps that have been reconstructed, sometimes on the original Nabatean ones. I was surprised by how many trees and bushes there were back in that area. The Monastery is HUGE. It makes the Kasma (the Treasury) look small. The front steps are gone, so you have to jump/climb to get up into it, which I was fine doing. It only came up to about my shoulders, so I just put one foot in a niche and swung my other leg up no problem. Other (shorter) people, had a much more difficult time. I have a hilarious video of Brittany running and trying to jump in, hahaha. There are a few good look out points nearby, where you can see out into the desert, and look down about a thousand feet. It was an absolutely amazing view. It’s one of the more grand and beautiful views I’ve seen in my life. You could see down into the Wadi Arabia below, and out over the rocky, jutting mountians into the desert and to Israel beyond. It was truly breath-taking

Life here in Jordan is very laid back. With so much free time, it feels like not much really happens. But I’ve thought of some little highlights from my week I’d like to share with all of you.

Apperantly, the spetic tanks can’t handle toilet paper, so we were told that we have to throw away our used… stuff… in the trashcan… I cannot tell you how much that grosses me out, especially since we see the donkeys getting into the trash and eating it and scattering it all over the street. Animal poo is one thing, but when I’m skirting around little pieces of paper that have human feces on them… Ew. Ew ew ew.

The other day, one of my little Bedouin friends named Raha walked with me up the street to the store, holding my hand. She was jabbering away to me, looking up at me and waving her free arm around, scattering chips from the open bag she held. I understood maybe a quarter of what she was saying, but she was so cute I didn’t want to interrupt her with “Mafahimish” (I don’t understand). I just nodded and said “Aiwa… Kuwayyis… Tayib…” (Yes… Good… Of course). She hung out by the store as we got our things, and then walked back home with us. When we parted at the driveway, she called my name and blew me a kiss =D Darling.

We’ve started having Nutella at breakfast. Everyone is so happy. It makes the pita much more bearable to eat. Life Lesson: If it tastes bad, smear something sugary and chocolatey on it, and then it’ll be delicious.

I’ve read a lot of books while I’m here. My favorite so far is The Alchemist by Paolo Coelha. It’s short, but very profound and makes you think. It’s now on my Top 10 Favorite Books list and I would recommend it to everyone. I’ve read about ten books in the last three weeks, and two of my other favorites are Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, and The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale. I wish I brought more books, because I’m slowly running out of books I can borrow from people. I might have to start re-reading some. Or do as my dad suggested, and start writing one =]

Well, I’d say this post is long enough. Thanks for reading! Leave comments and keep me updated!

The Jordanian Government now has a copy of my fingerprints....

So.... I went to the police station today..... And they took my fingerprints.

No, I didn't do anything bad. But to extend your visa beyond one month, they need a copy of your fingerprints (apperantly this is new... Dr. J was really miffed). So we all got on a couple buses and drove to Ma'an, which is an hour away, to get it done.

Our bus was AWESOME! It was like a psycadelic 60's bus. I couldn't resist listening to "I Am The Walrus" by the Beatles as we cruised along. It had these red velvety curtains with trippy fring and tassels hanging from the ceiling in the shapes of hearts and stars and what looked like lips. And our driver was crazy, going way fast around curves, driving with one hand, and turning to talk to the guy next to him. About half of us got motion sick.

We went to one police station, all got off, the buses drove away, then we found out we had to go to the OTHER one. So waited around for the buses to come back while everyone driving by stared at the huge group of white people. The other police station seriously looked like a prison, complete with execution courtyard (it wasn't). We sat around for about 2 hours while they fingerprinted all of us. I was the first one to go and the guy just took my hand and led me around. The whole time I was just laughing. I would have never thought in a million years that I'd ever be fingerprinted by the police, and especially not in Jordan. Good fun.

It was nice to have a day off and sleep in =] Now I just have some lab work to do. I wish I had brought more books. I've already read 10 and there are only so many here at the house...

On Friday, we took another little field trip. About two or so miles down the road, there’s a site called “Little Petra”, because that’s essentially what it is. There’s also a site called Beda, which is the earliest Neolithic site in this area. It dates from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and B, which means it was first built around 6,000 BC. All that remains are the stone foundations to most of the buildings, such a craftman workshops, houses, and a shrine. It was pretty cool that it was still in such amazing condition, despite being about 8,000 years old.

Little Petra was really fun. For one thing, there weren’t as many tourists (though there were still Bedouin trying to sell us jewelry). It’s all in one narrow little canyon, but it’s really pretty. Entering through what Allison, Brittany and I termed the “Little Siq”, you emerge to see some beautifully carved tombs on either side of this canyon. In one of the rooms, which was used as a banqueting hall, the Nabateans had painted leaves and grape bunches and flowers… And you can still see them today. They’re fading fast, but it’s absolutely amazing that it’s survived 2,000 years!

There are tombs and cisterns everywhere, and all over the cliffs you see the cut channels that bring in the water. It was actually pretty green, there was grass in some spots, and trees and big bushes with fuschia pink flowers. Steeply carved stairs led you close to the tops of the cliffs. Those were pretty fun to climb =] On one, I was having trouble getting from the ground up to the initial ledge, so my friend Caleb leaned down to give me a hand. He literally pulled me straight up and onto the ledge. I was impressed! Climbing them, I was reminded of the stairs south of campus that I walk up every school day—steep and endless. The stairs usually went up to where the water came in and pooled before cascading down the channels to the pools belows. Commenting on one of the bigger pools, which has filled in with dirt and sand and trees over the years, Dr. Johnson said if I had stood up straight in it, I probably would have been totally submerged.

This whole place was designed for the tombs, to be a sacred place for the Nabateans. I love that they took such care to make their holy places so beautiful. It reminded me of how care we put into our temples and the landscape around it. Also, to the Nabateans, water symbolized life. That they had so much water flowing where they placed their dead and where they practiced their religious rituals is fairly significant. Again, I draw parallels between these ancient people and today. No wonder Christ compared himself to water. Water, especially in this landscape of the Holy Land, is life. Without it nothing grows, nothing lives; it just turns to barren, empty dust. But when you bring in the water, there is a rebirth; that which was once wilted suddenly blossoms and thrives. Water brings strength, and makes you clean. Is it any wonder that almost every religion around the world uses water to symbolize something like this?

Somewhat appropriate thoughts since Friday is also the day we have church. I do really like our little Sacrament meetings, I think they bring our group so much closer together. Plus it’s the one time a week we all get to look nice, haha.

Today I’ve been cataloging all the bones we (meaning me and my partner Jordyn) have dug up so far in our cist. It took us 3 hours to do the first bag, and we still have plenty more to go!

I’ve added pictures of me digging and of our field trip to my Facebook album. Let me know if you have problems seeing it!

Surreal

Today I began excavating the remains of a 2000 year old tomb. We found all sorts of bones and ceramic. How crazy is it to think that those once belonged to a living, breathing human being who walked and slept and ate and socialized like we do today? Who lived their life with thoughts and emotions and then, as we all must do, died and was buried? Who mourned them? Who tenderly placed their bones in this cist, to rest? Sometimes you can become detached when digging a tomb, seeing the bones as just another object like pottery or ceramic. But they command a certain sort of respect. This was someone who once lived. I wonder if they're in heaven right now, watching me. I wonder if they'll talk to me when I get there; "Hey, you dug my body up for your field school". That'll be interesting...

And as I'm typing this, I can look out over the gorgeous facades of the many tombs of Petra that dot the cliffs. The Call to Prayer sounds behind me from the mosque, declaring Allahu Akbar--God is Greatest, and asking the faithful to come worship and join in his peace. Donkeys bray, goats bleat, and children run and shout and laugh in the street. A faint song from an Arabic radio station plays from one of the houses near by. Laundry flaps in the breeze from multiple clotheslines like Tibetan prayer flags, bringing color to an otherwise harsh, desert place. The sky is dimmed today from an incoming storm, but it in no way diminishes the strange beauty of this place.

I love it. And I love that even though I never knew about this place or these people until I came here, God has been accutely aware of them as He has been of me back in the US. It's comforting to know that, whereever I go, I'm surrounded by fellow children of God, and that they are all just as precious to Him as anyone else--No matter what time or space they live in.

Some Exciting News...

We found a wireless hotspot on the roof!!!! Which means I don't have to wait on Dr. Johnson's whim to take us into the city. However, it is quite sporadic and finicky and I only have as long as my battery lasts (so don't expect me to talk on Skype with you, Dad). But that does mean I can check my email a whole lot more!!!

I got moved to the tomb site today. It's very dusty and hot because it's in a contained area. Hopefully I'll get some pictures up.

Speaking of pictures, this link should take you to a Facebook album with some of my pictures so far. If it isn't working, please let me know!!

http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=17801926&k=Y6CX4ZP2VWVMZFFGWF26R

In other news, I'm on my last belt hole. I started on the third and have tightened it to the fifth in the last week. And it's starting to feel loose, so maybe I'll have to drill another one...

Don't worry, I AM eating. We just get such a work out that I'm becoming PURE MUSCLE! Okay, not quite, but I have slimmed down quite a bit. I don't mind ;) I'm also ridiculously tan already. You'll think I'm a little Arab girl when I get home =]

Okay, love you all, keep me updated!

Getting Dirty in Petra

I have like no time because the internet crashed and so we got way less time (i'm kinda mad aout it, but what can I do?) Miss you all!! Keep me updated!


Thurs. 8 May 2008

Well, this week we began excavating! On Monday we laid out the grids, and Tuesday we commenced digging. Two groups of us are working out in the area out in front of a large rock cut façade tomb (different than the tomb we’re excavating). There’s the outline of a large wall there, and something that looks like it may have been a platform. We’re excavating two 5x5 squares along different sections of the wall. We’ve been digging through a lot of red dirt and finding a ton (repeat, a TON) of ceramic... Which we have to wash in lab in the afternoon. Our square, 15A, has yielded so much ceramic material it’s ridiculous. It takes eight of us over an hour to wash all of it. After recording all the different types and colors and styles and patterns, we take various samplings and dump the rest out on the side of the road (It’s almost painful to do, but honestly, the idea of packing up all that ceramic and taking it back to the US and analyzing it, then storing it away to never been seen again, is just silly).
We’ve dug down about a foot along the wall, and it keeps going. So we’ll see what we uncover in the next few weeks!
The other site is a rock cut tomb with 12 cists carved down into the rock foundation. It’s about 4 or 5 feet off the ground and thus you have to climb into it. I’m not working for at least another two weeks or so.
The weather has been pleasantly cool, the sky absolutely clear and blue. Today a small cloud passed over the sun and we were all amazed, haha.
Other than that, life has been spent napping, reading (I’m almost done with my third book, The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale), writing in my journal, talking to my three roommates (you can almost always find all four of us on our beds doing one of these things), playing cards, walking into the village to get various tasty treats, watching movies and episodes of Flight of the Concords and Arrested Development, and talking to little Bedouin girls. Katie and I have made friends with three named Nikra, Raha, and Rasul (I think I mentioned them before). They’re constantly around, talking to us and holding our hands when we walk up the road. Absolutely adorable.

Picture! Nikra on the left and Raha on the right.

We go to bed around 9 or 9:30. We wake up at 5 am, have breakfast at 5:30, and leave for site at 6, usually getting there about 6:30. It’s a fun little hike… Until we have to come back uphill… In the afternoon… After we’re already super tired from swinging hoes and shovels all day (And our site faces east, so there’s zero shade, except in the tomb, which is currently occupied by a couple decades worth of crap [literally] and a decomposing goat). But then the icy cold shower (still no hot water!) I get to take once I’m home feels especially nice =]
We participate in some of the above mentioned activities (especially napping) until lunch. Lunch is our big meal of the day, and it’s delicious. Then we have free time until lab at 4, then free time until dinner at 7:30. Then free time till we fall asleep. Lots of free time.
I’ll lighten this slightly monotonous post and tell you a fairly humorous story—at least it was to us, late at night (meaning 10:30 pm). Last night, as I was snuggled in the warm arms of slumber, a terrific BOOM jerked my eyes open. I sat up and looked towards my left. I saw Brittany sitting on her mattress… But considerably closer to the ground. My first thought: "…Why is Brittany so low?". It was a few moments before my sleep induced brain fully awoke and realized that the board holding up Brittany’s mattress… Had collapsed. As in, fallen through the bed frame. Mattress, blankets, pillow, Brittany, and everything else had followed. The look on Brittany’s face—one of disbelief, shock, and slight irritation—only added to the hilarity of the situation. Needless to say, we did not stop laughing for quite awhile. Tears flowed freely from my eyes. Brittany and Allison’s attempts to fix the bed simply added to it (They did fix it, though Brittany was quite cautious climbing back onto it).
Good fun. Tomorrow we go to Petra! Yay!

Sat. 10 May 2008
Yesterday was quite the adventurous day! I will attempt to keep it short, but it was so much fun!
We went to Petra! Yes! I got to be Indiana Jones for real! We were shuttled by Dr. Johnson to the beginning of the Siq, and then we went in as a group. The Siq—which is the narrow canyon that is used as the entrance to the city—is absolutely awesome. Along the two sides run water channels with clay pipes. The ancient Nabateans were masters of irrigation and bringing water to help their desert city flower and bloom. You come around a corner, and there, peeking slyly though the thing opening at the end of the Siq, is the Kasma, also known as the Treasury, also known as the resting place of the Holy Grail in Indiana Jones.
It’s amazing. Absolutely splendid. It’s beautiful and enchanting and HUGE. All around were people of every nationality you could imagine—Italian, Polish, Pakistani, British, American, French—and Bedouin boys running around, asking if you wanted a camel ride or donkey ride ("Donkey ride to monastery? I give you good price, good picture!"), pictures being taken, everyone vying for the best view. You can climb up and look in the doorway to the see the interior. Sorry, but there is no giant crack where some German chick and the Holy Grain disappeared in the 1930’s, nor is there an old Knight of the Round Table standing in the background (they do, however, sell little Holy Grails carved out of a marble-ish stone). It’s a rather big, square room, with a couple rooms off to the side. But that’s about it. The outside, with it’s gorgeous architecture and delicate reliefs and carvings, is much more interesting.
Then I wandered down to the ampitheatre, passing many Bedouin shops that all sold the same thing: jewelery, kaffiyehs (the headscarves men wear), and little camel figurines that say "Jordan" on them. On one store, there was a little handmade sign that said "PLS if you see someone with out smile give them yours :)". It took me awhile to get past this section, because I kept getting drawn into conversastions. The shopkeepers would ask me where I was from and what I was doing there. When I told them I was with "Doctor Daoud", and they found out I could speak Arabic, there was no getting away. One even invited to eat breakfast with him and his family (which I graciously accepted, since I had missed breakfast). The great thing is, they ALWAYS lowered their prices dramatically when they found out I was with Dr. Johnson. They all know him, most personally, and think he’s wonderful. The fact that I can speak Arabic also added to it. Bargining in Arabic yields many cheaper results. I got a kaffiyeh, with the headband, for 5 JD (the guy said it was because I was his first customer of the day that he did this—The usual price is like 2 JD for the band and 7 for the scarf). I actually got a necklace for free, given to me by a Bedouin woman who I talked to for a bit, and a set of prayer beads from another, older woman, for the equivelant of 50 cents (She also poured me tea and insisted I come sit with her under her little covering by her table of goods, and I had to resist quite forcefully, telling her that I couldn’t drink the tea because of my religion, and that my group was waiting for me). I also bargined a purse from 10 JD down to 4. I kept saying I didn’t want it, and she kept lowering the price. I also impressed the guard at the museum by writing my name in Arabic in the guestbook, and speaking to him for about 5 minutes straight in Arabic (I was kinda surprised myself). And I made friends with a guy about my age named "Eagle" (…I have no idea), and he kept popping up wherever I was.
Just as a funny side note: As American girls—especially young, attractive American girls—we’re hit on a lot by a wide variety of men. Mostly we’re stared at, but other times they get more bold. Like the Pakistani man asking Emily and I if he could have a picture with the "pretty American girls" (to which we obliged). Or being told I should buy a certain scarf because it "would go well with the color of my beautiful eyes". But my favorite is the shopkeeper who was selling scarfs to Brittany. He asked her where she was from, then inquired, "Are you married?" Brittany answered in the negative, and this old Bedouin shopkeeper responded, "Maybe you marry me. Maybe I come to America with you". Brit and I looked at each other incredulously, smiling, and she said, "Ah, so you just want the green card". We left, giggling to ourselves.
Anyway, back to Petra.
It’s actually a lot smaller than I thought it would be. There are a ton of smaller tombs, and if you had the whole day there, I would recommed just climbing up and around all the cliffs and seeing all the little tombs that are hidden back in the Wadis. But we only had about 3 ½ hours, and we work around a ton of little tombs like that anyway, so I just stuck to the big things. Some of those tombs are MASSIVE. And sooo intricate! They were really fun to see! It was also fun to climb around on the Great Temple, which Brown University is excavating. They’ve done a lot of restoration on it, and standing up on a hill examining its lay out, it’s easy to imagine the splendor it once was, before a massive earthquake leveled it to the ground, and thousands of years of sandstorms and flashfloods covered the ruins. Dr. Johnson took some of us up past the Temple of the Winged Lions. We passed a bunch of laid out building and column stones, and he commented "I laid out every single one of those". Dr. Johnson has worked in Petra for the last 30 years, and did most of it on the Temple of the Winged Lions. In the museum, he pointed out artifacts that he had found personally. It was cool. We also took a look at this amazing mosaic floor from the old Byzantine church. Beautiful.
Then we walked home. How insane is it that we’re within walking distance of one of the Seven Wonders of the World? I told you it was in my backyard!
Lunch was ready for us when we arrived home, exhausted (I never said it was a short walk!). Then we had free time until church at 6.
We have church on Fridays here, because that’s the Muslim holy day. Church consisted of an opening prayer, a sacrament song, the sacrament (pita bread on a plate, and bottled water poured into hot chocolate mugs), a spiritual thought, a closing song, and a closing prayer. Afterwards, we all stayed and sang more. The accoustics in the main room are pretty good, and anytime you have a group of BYU students, you can bet all four parts, plus a descant, with be sung. So it sounded pretty good.
Dinner was PIZZA!!!!!! Dr. J got it in town, and we were all quite excited to have some American food =]
Today we got to sleep in, and did some ceramic analysis. w00t!