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.
30 May 2008
29 May 2008
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.
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.
24 May 2008
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.
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!
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-takingLife 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!
20 May 2008
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...
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...
17 May 2008
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!
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!
15 May 2008
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.
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.
14 May 2008
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!
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!
10 May 2008
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.
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!
04 May 2008
How Many People Can Say That They Have a Wonder of the World in Their Backyard?
Hey!!!!!!!!!
It's my birthday! And as luck would have it, I get to check my email, which is what i really wanted =]
Unfortunately, it's taking FOREVER to upload photos..... So that may have to wait a bit...
Here's my updates for the few days:
Friday, 2 May 2008 11:12 Jordan time (Ten hours ahead of Cali)
Right now I’m driving through Jordan on the way to Petra. Jordan reminds me somewhat of Mexico—Dry, dusty, and abandoned buildings with graffiti. The only difference is that everything is in Arabic instead of Spanish. People just walk along or on the main highway. You have to wonder where they’re going or where they came from or how they ended up there, especially when they’re just standing there, far from any village. There are also a lot of shepherds that we’ve seen out on the land along the highway, strolling with a herd of little brown and black goats. I also saw someone driving a herd of camels. I found that intensely amusing =]
The landscape here is basically flat and brown, with a scatterings of scrub bush. Around villages there are usually trees that have been planted. It kinda looks like Nevada, actually. Everything is built out of cinderblock and cement and there are the occasional buildings that are painted in very bright greens, blues, and pink. But mostly everything is whitewashed, which has faded to grey or brown or yellow and looks like it’s in serious need of a new paint job. Half-collapsed walls mark some property. Stores had open fronts and hand painted signs above the enterance. We saw the butchered bodies of sheep hung out front, wrapped in plastic bags. Laundry strung out on lines behind the buildings. Every village we drove by had at least one mosque, sometimes two or three. Small square buildings with the minerat from where the call to prayer is issued, and the little alcove that juts out on the exterior that points the direction to Meccca so they know which direction to pray.
The sky is blue and absolutely cloudless, though there is a haze that dulls the color somewhat. The weather is surprisingly cool, only about 65 or 70 degrees. Inshallah, it will stay that way for awhile.
A couple of the guys bought kaffiyahs (traditional Jordanian headdress) from the gift store in the hotel. They look awesome. I’m going to get one, though women don’t wear them. I think it’d just be fun to have.
We stopped at this little rest stop place, and I went in with a few other people. I came out of the bathroom and walked over to the little store. One of TA’s, Scott (who I went on survey with up in Idaho last year) came over and stood by me. "You were being followed, so I decided to follow you so they wouldn’t" he told me. Then he added that the whole room just focused on me when I came over. "It was really interesting" he commented. It would have happened to any American women, but I know I get especially weird looks for being so tall. I definitely did in India.
We just got off the main highway, and we’re driving along a road that’s a bit more windy. The area is a lot more hilly. Right now we’re passing through a fairly large town. It’s actually fairly pretty and green, especially compared to what we’ve been driving through. There are actual stores and lots of houses. The Jordanian flag is everywhere. Black, white and green stripes with a red triangle piercing them from the side. And there are seriously goats everywhere. We passed an old crumbling building that was missing it’s roof, and it was being used as a goat pen. And camels. And the occasional donkey or two.
Apperantly we’re in the Petra area…. It sure doesn’t look like it—It’s too green. But what would I know? It’s not like I’ve ever been here. And the only pictures I’ve seen of Petra have been of the actual city, not the area surrounding it.
Okay, we just summited the hills, and it’s definitely desert on the other side. We’re on an impossibly curvy and steep road… In a huge bus… with no seatbelts. Makes me slightly nervous, but I’m going to trust that the driver has done this many times… Kinda like how I just trusted the drivers in India to not kill us…
Okay, I’m done for now. More later!
Later (Fri. 02 May 2008)—8:45 PM
We arrived safe and sound at our house! It’s seriously HUGE—Three stories, and like 7 bedrooms on each floor. We take up the top two floors, while the host family lives on the first. Most the girls are on the third floor, but me and three other lucky girls have one of the bedrooms here on the second floor with all the guys. Ours is right off the main area. There are four single beds and a tiny little locker closet thing. We’re just going to use it to store our valubles and toiletry stuff, since there’s not room for much else. The main area is a big room with a kitchen and a huge long table where we eat. Earlier this afternoon, right before lunch, we were all playing card games like Phase Ten and Skip-Bo and Egyptian Ratscrew. Super fun =]
Lunch was absolutely AMAZING!!!! It was chicken mixed in this huge thing of yellow rice and califlower, eggplant, green peppers and potatoes. It was seriously some of the best food I’ve ever eaten. It also helped that we were all starving. We didn’t realize we’d be on our own for about 24 hours when it came to food, and that we wouldn’t really have a grocery store to go to. So most of us had had a granola bar for breakfast, on top of the granola bar we had for dinner the night before. I gave in and bought a KitKat, even though it was ridiculously expensive ($JD 1). So we all ate our share and more when lunch came around. There were stll leftovers though—in keeping with Middle Eastern tradition, our cooks made more food than we could eat.
Speaking of whom, our cooks are absolutely wonderful. They are the daughters of the guy who owns the house. Their names are Badhri, Fatima, and Farah. Badhri and Fatima are hilarious. I told them I could speak Arabic and they were absolutely delighted! And they both speak and understand the Egyptian dialect (which is what we learned in school… The people in Amman had a hard time understanding me). It was funny, when they first realized I could speak Egyptian, they both yelled "Izzayik!!" Which is "how are you". In Jordanian, they say "Kaif halik". Then they started laughing. Badhri was cracking jokes right and left. They both teased the three boys endlessly when they couldn’t open the door to the roof, and Fatima, who is probably just over 5 feet and fairly slender, opened it with one hand. It was hilarious. But it was really fun speaking to them.
I’m surprised how not nervous I am to speak to them, because I know last year I would have been too shy and unconfident. But I was trying to say everything I could in Arabic, and they would offer helpful tips or correct me with conjugations. I know to be fluent in a language, you have to know the proper grammar, but I really think that what you need to do is learn the basic grammar, and then just a ton of vocab, because once you start talking to people, you figure out the grammar more. It’s just like how little babies learn English. They learn words and then hear other people using them and figure out from example what’s proper and what’s not. So I really need to brush up on my vocab so I can talk to them more. I’m really excited to improve my Arabic =]
After lunch, a few of us took a little stroll up the street into the village. We definitely got stared at. All the little kids like to wave at us and say "Hello! Hello! What’s your name?". They always look really surprised and suddenly shy when I speak to them in Arabic. We saw this donkey just suddenly take off across the street, braying loudly. We joked that it was his signal for "Donkey crossing!" And he really trotted! It was absolutely hilarious because it was way random.
When we got back, we all just laid down on our beds… And we were all asleep within minutes. I was planning on reading or something, but I guess my body had other ideas. I kept drifting in and out because of the unfamiliar sounds like kids yelling and donkeys braying and people working in the kitchen.
We were awoken for dinner, which was really just pita and things to put on it, like hummus and falafel (which I LOVE!). It was honestly the best falafel I’ve ever had… Probably because it was real falafel, not the Pita Pit type. But I was still full from lunch, so I didn’t have that much. A lot of people didn’t really like the falafel, so they gave me theirs. I was happy to receive them =]
And now we’re all basically chillin. Some girls are watching a movie, I think I’m going to unpack a bit and read.
Oh, I went up on the roof just after dinner. You can see the stars soooo well out here. And Wadi Musa up on the hill away from us looked so pretty with all its lights. When it gets slightly warmer we want to sleep up there (Yes, believe it or not, it’s actually chilly. I had my sweatshirt on tonight).
I really like it here. I feel very comfortable, probably because everyone is so friendly. It’s dusty and everything looks like it’s still under construction, but it’s not bad at all. It reminds me of a mix between Indian and Mexico, except cleaner than both.
Tomorrow we’re setting up the labs here and maybe going down to the sight. We’re probably going to start digging on Monday because Dr. Johnson has to go back up to the airport on Sunday to get a bunch of equipment that customs confiscated, saying they had to register it. Inshallah, they’ll get it, because we can’t dig without it. But until then, we basically have free time here. Hopefully we’ll get up to town to internet soon. I guess you’ll all know when I do, because this will be filled with a week’s worth of posts. I promise I won’t make them all this long… There’s just so much that I’m seeing and want to share! I guess you don’t have to read it all if you don’t want to… but I hope you do =]
Sat. 03 May 2008—8:21 pm
Today was quite the exciting, and long, day. We were up at 5:30, even though breakfast wasn’t until 7. Stupid jetlag. After breakfast, we hauled up a bunch of gear out of the "cave", as the underground storage unit is called, and semi set up our lab upstairs. Then we had a bit of free time, during which time I read a bit a bit. At 10:30 we had some fun with rocks, and trying to find faces etched into them (All part of Dr. Johnson’s kinda wacky research….). Then we had more free time until lunch at 1:30, so I went up on the roof to do my readings for this class. I got a wee bit pink from being out in the sun for almost an hour with no sunscreen… But it felt so nice. The weather here is absolutely gorgeous right now.
After lunch, Katie, Krystyna, Jessica and I explored the village a bit more. Katie and I had fun talking to all the little kids (since we both speak Arabic). We got a little lost and wound up on a dead end across the gully from our house. The man who lived in the house right there invited us in for tea, but we told him "Manashrubish shai besubbub deenna" (We don’t drink tea because of our religion). But he insisted we come in and have a drink anyway. He was there with his wife and two little kids and spoke very good English… So we did. It’s an Arabic custom to greet guests of any type with a drink and to sit and chat a bit, and it’s fairly rude to refuse. We ended up sitting out of his front porch (which was very pretty) sipping Pepsi while he drank his coffee and we talked about what we were doing in Petra and his little two year old daughter shyly looked at us from behind her father. It was a fun cultural experience, I must say. We left and crossed the gully to our house. We started talking to three little girls out in front—Nikra, Rasul, and Raha—and found out they’re members of the family who we’re renting the house from, and live on the first floor. They were absolutely darling, and didn’t speak any English. But they were really easy to understand! And we just chatted away for maybe 10 or 15 minutes.
At 3:30 we hiked down to look at the site…. Except that Johnson forgot where it was, exactly. So we ended up just exploring the wadi and playing in all these amazing little tombs that no tourist would ever see. While hiking down there, we ran into some Bedouin boys on their donkeys, and they gave a few of us a ride. But mostly we passed the time going from tomb to tomb and climbing all up and down the rock face while Johnson looked for the tomb. He ended up finding it, but we didn’t go look at it. Instead we went to this really large tomb up on the top of the hill. The area out in front is the second site we’re going to excavate. Then we hiked home… Ugh. I didn’t realize how far down the mountain we had come until we hiked straight back up it. And it’s not like we were on a path. It very much reminded me of surveying up in Idaho, where we would just hike off into the wilderness, forging our own paths.
When I got back to the house, three other little girls came over to talk to me. They told me and Courtney (who was with me) that we were very pretty =] We talked about our names, our ages, where we lived and where they went to school, how pretty her hijab was, where I could buy one ("2 dinar!"), and how tired I was. We said good bye and began walking away, and they ran back over to ask me something. Unfortunately, I didn’t understand what they were saying. I think they were asking me to have tea with them…. But I just told them "Mafahimish, esif!" (I don’t understand, sorry!). They tried again and again, with many a hand gesture, but to no avail. They looked slightly disappointed, but I told them "Hashufkum!" (I’ll see you!).
I took off my boots, changed into clean clothes, and just laid on my bed until dinner (which I ate very fast). Then I took my first shower here…
We have no hot water… And the shower is basically a heavy drizzle. But it’s better than nothing! I was shivering the entire time, and I still kinda smell like donkey and goat crap. But at least I feel clean =]
Brittany, Dr. Neilson (Glenna), and I are going to the store with Badhria soon. Then it’s definitely bedtime.
Tomorrow we aren’t doing anything because Johnson and the TA’s are going back up to Amman to try and get some lost luggage and the confiscated equipment. It’s also my birthday. We’ll see if anything cool ends up happening. Maybe I’ll walk into town and use the internet =]
And as you can see, I did get to use the internet! I hope you all are doing well. Send me an email! ashley.wilk@yahoo.com
It's my birthday! And as luck would have it, I get to check my email, which is what i really wanted =]
Unfortunately, it's taking FOREVER to upload photos..... So that may have to wait a bit...
Here's my updates for the few days:
Friday, 2 May 2008 11:12 Jordan time (Ten hours ahead of Cali)
Right now I’m driving through Jordan on the way to Petra. Jordan reminds me somewhat of Mexico—Dry, dusty, and abandoned buildings with graffiti. The only difference is that everything is in Arabic instead of Spanish. People just walk along or on the main highway. You have to wonder where they’re going or where they came from or how they ended up there, especially when they’re just standing there, far from any village. There are also a lot of shepherds that we’ve seen out on the land along the highway, strolling with a herd of little brown and black goats. I also saw someone driving a herd of camels. I found that intensely amusing =]
The landscape here is basically flat and brown, with a scatterings of scrub bush. Around villages there are usually trees that have been planted. It kinda looks like Nevada, actually. Everything is built out of cinderblock and cement and there are the occasional buildings that are painted in very bright greens, blues, and pink. But mostly everything is whitewashed, which has faded to grey or brown or yellow and looks like it’s in serious need of a new paint job. Half-collapsed walls mark some property. Stores had open fronts and hand painted signs above the enterance. We saw the butchered bodies of sheep hung out front, wrapped in plastic bags. Laundry strung out on lines behind the buildings. Every village we drove by had at least one mosque, sometimes two or three. Small square buildings with the minerat from where the call to prayer is issued, and the little alcove that juts out on the exterior that points the direction to Meccca so they know which direction to pray.
The sky is blue and absolutely cloudless, though there is a haze that dulls the color somewhat. The weather is surprisingly cool, only about 65 or 70 degrees. Inshallah, it will stay that way for awhile.
A couple of the guys bought kaffiyahs (traditional Jordanian headdress) from the gift store in the hotel. They look awesome. I’m going to get one, though women don’t wear them. I think it’d just be fun to have.
We stopped at this little rest stop place, and I went in with a few other people. I came out of the bathroom and walked over to the little store. One of TA’s, Scott (who I went on survey with up in Idaho last year) came over and stood by me. "You were being followed, so I decided to follow you so they wouldn’t" he told me. Then he added that the whole room just focused on me when I came over. "It was really interesting" he commented. It would have happened to any American women, but I know I get especially weird looks for being so tall. I definitely did in India.
We just got off the main highway, and we’re driving along a road that’s a bit more windy. The area is a lot more hilly. Right now we’re passing through a fairly large town. It’s actually fairly pretty and green, especially compared to what we’ve been driving through. There are actual stores and lots of houses. The Jordanian flag is everywhere. Black, white and green stripes with a red triangle piercing them from the side. And there are seriously goats everywhere. We passed an old crumbling building that was missing it’s roof, and it was being used as a goat pen. And camels. And the occasional donkey or two.
Apperantly we’re in the Petra area…. It sure doesn’t look like it—It’s too green. But what would I know? It’s not like I’ve ever been here. And the only pictures I’ve seen of Petra have been of the actual city, not the area surrounding it.
Okay, we just summited the hills, and it’s definitely desert on the other side. We’re on an impossibly curvy and steep road… In a huge bus… with no seatbelts. Makes me slightly nervous, but I’m going to trust that the driver has done this many times… Kinda like how I just trusted the drivers in India to not kill us…
Okay, I’m done for now. More later!
Later (Fri. 02 May 2008)—8:45 PM
We arrived safe and sound at our house! It’s seriously HUGE—Three stories, and like 7 bedrooms on each floor. We take up the top two floors, while the host family lives on the first. Most the girls are on the third floor, but me and three other lucky girls have one of the bedrooms here on the second floor with all the guys. Ours is right off the main area. There are four single beds and a tiny little locker closet thing. We’re just going to use it to store our valubles and toiletry stuff, since there’s not room for much else. The main area is a big room with a kitchen and a huge long table where we eat. Earlier this afternoon, right before lunch, we were all playing card games like Phase Ten and Skip-Bo and Egyptian Ratscrew. Super fun =]
Lunch was absolutely AMAZING!!!! It was chicken mixed in this huge thing of yellow rice and califlower, eggplant, green peppers and potatoes. It was seriously some of the best food I’ve ever eaten. It also helped that we were all starving. We didn’t realize we’d be on our own for about 24 hours when it came to food, and that we wouldn’t really have a grocery store to go to. So most of us had had a granola bar for breakfast, on top of the granola bar we had for dinner the night before. I gave in and bought a KitKat, even though it was ridiculously expensive ($JD 1). So we all ate our share and more when lunch came around. There were stll leftovers though—in keeping with Middle Eastern tradition, our cooks made more food than we could eat.
Speaking of whom, our cooks are absolutely wonderful. They are the daughters of the guy who owns the house. Their names are Badhri, Fatima, and Farah. Badhri and Fatima are hilarious. I told them I could speak Arabic and they were absolutely delighted! And they both speak and understand the Egyptian dialect (which is what we learned in school… The people in Amman had a hard time understanding me). It was funny, when they first realized I could speak Egyptian, they both yelled "Izzayik!!" Which is "how are you". In Jordanian, they say "Kaif halik". Then they started laughing. Badhri was cracking jokes right and left. They both teased the three boys endlessly when they couldn’t open the door to the roof, and Fatima, who is probably just over 5 feet and fairly slender, opened it with one hand. It was hilarious. But it was really fun speaking to them.
I’m surprised how not nervous I am to speak to them, because I know last year I would have been too shy and unconfident. But I was trying to say everything I could in Arabic, and they would offer helpful tips or correct me with conjugations. I know to be fluent in a language, you have to know the proper grammar, but I really think that what you need to do is learn the basic grammar, and then just a ton of vocab, because once you start talking to people, you figure out the grammar more. It’s just like how little babies learn English. They learn words and then hear other people using them and figure out from example what’s proper and what’s not. So I really need to brush up on my vocab so I can talk to them more. I’m really excited to improve my Arabic =]
After lunch, a few of us took a little stroll up the street into the village. We definitely got stared at. All the little kids like to wave at us and say "Hello! Hello! What’s your name?". They always look really surprised and suddenly shy when I speak to them in Arabic. We saw this donkey just suddenly take off across the street, braying loudly. We joked that it was his signal for "Donkey crossing!" And he really trotted! It was absolutely hilarious because it was way random.
When we got back, we all just laid down on our beds… And we were all asleep within minutes. I was planning on reading or something, but I guess my body had other ideas. I kept drifting in and out because of the unfamiliar sounds like kids yelling and donkeys braying and people working in the kitchen.
We were awoken for dinner, which was really just pita and things to put on it, like hummus and falafel (which I LOVE!). It was honestly the best falafel I’ve ever had… Probably because it was real falafel, not the Pita Pit type. But I was still full from lunch, so I didn’t have that much. A lot of people didn’t really like the falafel, so they gave me theirs. I was happy to receive them =]
And now we’re all basically chillin. Some girls are watching a movie, I think I’m going to unpack a bit and read.
Oh, I went up on the roof just after dinner. You can see the stars soooo well out here. And Wadi Musa up on the hill away from us looked so pretty with all its lights. When it gets slightly warmer we want to sleep up there (Yes, believe it or not, it’s actually chilly. I had my sweatshirt on tonight).
I really like it here. I feel very comfortable, probably because everyone is so friendly. It’s dusty and everything looks like it’s still under construction, but it’s not bad at all. It reminds me of a mix between Indian and Mexico, except cleaner than both.
Tomorrow we’re setting up the labs here and maybe going down to the sight. We’re probably going to start digging on Monday because Dr. Johnson has to go back up to the airport on Sunday to get a bunch of equipment that customs confiscated, saying they had to register it. Inshallah, they’ll get it, because we can’t dig without it. But until then, we basically have free time here. Hopefully we’ll get up to town to internet soon. I guess you’ll all know when I do, because this will be filled with a week’s worth of posts. I promise I won’t make them all this long… There’s just so much that I’m seeing and want to share! I guess you don’t have to read it all if you don’t want to… but I hope you do =]
Sat. 03 May 2008—8:21 pm
Today was quite the exciting, and long, day. We were up at 5:30, even though breakfast wasn’t until 7. Stupid jetlag. After breakfast, we hauled up a bunch of gear out of the "cave", as the underground storage unit is called, and semi set up our lab upstairs. Then we had a bit of free time, during which time I read a bit a bit. At 10:30 we had some fun with rocks, and trying to find faces etched into them (All part of Dr. Johnson’s kinda wacky research….). Then we had more free time until lunch at 1:30, so I went up on the roof to do my readings for this class. I got a wee bit pink from being out in the sun for almost an hour with no sunscreen… But it felt so nice. The weather here is absolutely gorgeous right now.
After lunch, Katie, Krystyna, Jessica and I explored the village a bit more. Katie and I had fun talking to all the little kids (since we both speak Arabic). We got a little lost and wound up on a dead end across the gully from our house. The man who lived in the house right there invited us in for tea, but we told him "Manashrubish shai besubbub deenna" (We don’t drink tea because of our religion). But he insisted we come in and have a drink anyway. He was there with his wife and two little kids and spoke very good English… So we did. It’s an Arabic custom to greet guests of any type with a drink and to sit and chat a bit, and it’s fairly rude to refuse. We ended up sitting out of his front porch (which was very pretty) sipping Pepsi while he drank his coffee and we talked about what we were doing in Petra and his little two year old daughter shyly looked at us from behind her father. It was a fun cultural experience, I must say. We left and crossed the gully to our house. We started talking to three little girls out in front—Nikra, Rasul, and Raha—and found out they’re members of the family who we’re renting the house from, and live on the first floor. They were absolutely darling, and didn’t speak any English. But they were really easy to understand! And we just chatted away for maybe 10 or 15 minutes.
At 3:30 we hiked down to look at the site…. Except that Johnson forgot where it was, exactly. So we ended up just exploring the wadi and playing in all these amazing little tombs that no tourist would ever see. While hiking down there, we ran into some Bedouin boys on their donkeys, and they gave a few of us a ride. But mostly we passed the time going from tomb to tomb and climbing all up and down the rock face while Johnson looked for the tomb. He ended up finding it, but we didn’t go look at it. Instead we went to this really large tomb up on the top of the hill. The area out in front is the second site we’re going to excavate. Then we hiked home… Ugh. I didn’t realize how far down the mountain we had come until we hiked straight back up it. And it’s not like we were on a path. It very much reminded me of surveying up in Idaho, where we would just hike off into the wilderness, forging our own paths.
When I got back to the house, three other little girls came over to talk to me. They told me and Courtney (who was with me) that we were very pretty =] We talked about our names, our ages, where we lived and where they went to school, how pretty her hijab was, where I could buy one ("2 dinar!"), and how tired I was. We said good bye and began walking away, and they ran back over to ask me something. Unfortunately, I didn’t understand what they were saying. I think they were asking me to have tea with them…. But I just told them "Mafahimish, esif!" (I don’t understand, sorry!). They tried again and again, with many a hand gesture, but to no avail. They looked slightly disappointed, but I told them "Hashufkum!" (I’ll see you!).
I took off my boots, changed into clean clothes, and just laid on my bed until dinner (which I ate very fast). Then I took my first shower here…
We have no hot water… And the shower is basically a heavy drizzle. But it’s better than nothing! I was shivering the entire time, and I still kinda smell like donkey and goat crap. But at least I feel clean =]
Brittany, Dr. Neilson (Glenna), and I are going to the store with Badhria soon. Then it’s definitely bedtime.
Tomorrow we aren’t doing anything because Johnson and the TA’s are going back up to Amman to try and get some lost luggage and the confiscated equipment. It’s also my birthday. We’ll see if anything cool ends up happening. Maybe I’ll walk into town and use the internet =]
And as you can see, I did get to use the internet! I hope you all are doing well. Send me an email! ashley.wilk@yahoo.com
01 May 2008
In Jordan!
So we're in our hotel in Amman. We're not anywhere near being in downtown, we're way the freak outside by the airport, and we're stuck here until tomorrow morning, unfortunately... A couple of us were hoping to explore the city.
The plane ride wasn't all that eventful... It's weird that it was like... over 12 hours ago I was in New York talking to you. We flew over spain!!!! I looked at it out the window (until the stewardess kinda yelled at me to close it). It looked gorgeous, very hilly and lots of farms and little towns. I also saw Italy and Greece and we flew over Israel in about 10 minutes. It was kinda cool.
I actually slept on the plane. I know, amazing. And I had 6 hours of sleep, haha. But I was sitting next to my friend Brittany Wurtz. I really like her. But yeah, we just kinda leaned on each other and snoozed. I probably slept for 4 or 5 hours. Yay! I was across the aisle from these absolutely adorable arabic kids. This one little girl was about three and had curly dark hair and really light eyes and was sooo cute. She kept looking at me, and I said "Ahlan, ya jamila" (hi cutie) and she got all shy =]
So, I made a friend here in the hotel! His name is Hamza, and he runs the gift shop. He was all excited I could speak Arabic, he said I do it pretty well. And then I wrote something for him, and he was even more excited and said I had good handwriting =]
We leave tomorrow at 9 am, and until then we're just chillin here in the hotel. It's about 8 pm right now. I'll update you when I can =]
The plane ride wasn't all that eventful... It's weird that it was like... over 12 hours ago I was in New York talking to you. We flew over spain!!!! I looked at it out the window (until the stewardess kinda yelled at me to close it). It looked gorgeous, very hilly and lots of farms and little towns. I also saw Italy and Greece and we flew over Israel in about 10 minutes. It was kinda cool.
I actually slept on the plane. I know, amazing. And I had 6 hours of sleep, haha. But I was sitting next to my friend Brittany Wurtz. I really like her. But yeah, we just kinda leaned on each other and snoozed. I probably slept for 4 or 5 hours. Yay! I was across the aisle from these absolutely adorable arabic kids. This one little girl was about three and had curly dark hair and really light eyes and was sooo cute. She kept looking at me, and I said "Ahlan, ya jamila" (hi cutie) and she got all shy =]
So, I made a friend here in the hotel! His name is Hamza, and he runs the gift shop. He was all excited I could speak Arabic, he said I do it pretty well. And then I wrote something for him, and he was even more excited and said I had good handwriting =]
We leave tomorrow at 9 am, and until then we're just chillin here in the hotel. It's about 8 pm right now. I'll update you when I can =]
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