Salt (Not to be confused with the table kind)

As a month has finally passed since my arrival in Jordan, well technically about five weeks, I decided it was time to extend my borders a little. Thus, when I heard that our director Dil and his wife were doing a trip out to Salt I decided that this might be a good opportunity to get out and see some new things. As a result last Saturday morning I woke up early and headed over to Dil's place to meet up with a group of students from my program to head out to Salt.

Now, I know you are all wondering what Salt is, and no, it isn't the table kind that you are all thinking. Also, it isn't a salt flat either, like in Utah. In fact the name has nothing to do with the lovely seasoning that we all love so much. In fact, I'm positive if you tried to put it on your table or food, you would have a rather difficult time. Rather, Salt is the old capital of Jordan, and a rather historical city. It is located somewhat North and West of Amman, and is considered a relatively poor city. From what I understand about the city, it is built on three hills/plateaus which all face each other creating a really interesting topography. Anciently it was centered on the trade routes and roads that connected Amman and Jerusalem. Later, it became the home of the first King of Jordan, King Abdullah I, whose home has become a museum in Jordan. However, it later lost its right as the capital when Prince Abdulla II moved his headquarters to Amman. The city however, has a full history of: tradition, archeology, trade, and agriculture. The population of the city today is somewhere around 97,000 people, so similar to the area of Orem or Provo.

Since the trip didn't involve much more than walking around the city I have decided to simply show the pictures of the trip and include a few captions concerning what things are.

Many of the homes within the city are extremely old, and the trail that we followed took us by many of the homes that have probably been there for more than several hundred years. However, many of the homes were in such disrepair that all that remained was the outer walls and a hollow inside.

You can see that the entire city is built up on the hill side, and that it starts on one side of the valley and continues all the way around. The Entire city just twists and turns going up the hill connected by stairwells and secret alleys.

This is the main market in Salt. When you enter into the market you start off with fruit and vegetable stands, which then transition into clothing, shoe, and spice shops as you walk down into a smaller alley which eventually opens up on the far side of town.

Inside King Abdullah's Home, this is a traditional meeting area. The home is now a museum which people can visit.

This is an old Water pipe for smoking Hookah. Think of the Caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland. This was part of the room shown above and was probably owned and used by the King himself. And if not, well we can at least pretend that it was.

This is a Traditional garb for Bedouin Women, the one on the left is the same as the one on the right. The one on the right is literally the size of an entire wall, and it is wrapped around and tucked as the woman puts it on until it looks like the one on the right.

Traditional Garb of the people during the early years of the Kingdom, and following the First World War. For an excellent movie which recounts the event check out Lawrence of Arabia.

 

This is the Latin Monastery/Church in Salt.

This trail follows the historic trail/road through salt, and up and over the hill tops. We followed it all the way to the top.

 

This was inside of some abandoned home/building, growing. It looked like someone was tending to it.

At the top of the trail, looking out over Salt below.

 

Dust Storms

This past week has been relatively uneventful. There have been no major expeditions to new place, no fun and exciting outings to do service, no marriages, and no major problems...except for one. The last couple of days we've been experiencing the joys of the Middle East first hand, with our very own dust storm. Let me put it into perspective for you. Think of a normal day in the bay area, or almost anywhere for that matter that is near a large body of water. Now imagine waking up in the morning to a cloud of fog all around you everywhere you look, so thick that buildings furthers then several hundred yards are complete obstructed by the density of the fog. Now imagine to yourself if you will that, as normal you expect that the fog will disappear by around 9 a.m. or 10 a.m. at the very latest, only to your surprise, when 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. roll around there is still to fog. Now, replace the wonderful dewy moist smell associated with walking in fog and replace that with hiking in the mountains on an extremely dry trail for days on end and breathing in all the dust every time you breath because all the people in front and behind you are shuffling their feet and creating a nice thick could of dust that completely envelops you. This is the sensation of living in a dust storm. Granted the sensation differs depending on the severity of the storm, and based on how dry things are, but more or less if you can imagine that you have a pretty good idea of what it is like. The last two to three days has been essentially this.

One of the Campus Gardens

Crossing Traffic going to School

Wednesday morning, I woke up to what I thought was just a foggy day. Granted I thought it was a little weird to be having fog in the middle of Jordan, one of the driest more water deprived countries in the world (number 5 to be exact), but I figured hey, there is a large body of water nearby, its called the dead sea. So I didn't think anything of it. In fact for the walk to school, the entire time I was breathing in dust I was thinking to myself, this is really refreshing to have some moist fog in the air and the have the refreshing moisture in my nostrils compared to all the fumes and dust that I normally breathe in. However, as the day progressed and I sat in my University class listening to a professor speak about international organizations in Arabic, I continuously thought to myself, "Why in the world do I keep smelling dust and dirt? Where is that coming from? Is this room really just that dirty?" I really couldn't wait to get out of that "dirty" room and breath in some fresh air, so much so that when one of the Arab students in the class started smoking I gladly inhaled his second hand smoke as an escape from the dust. It wasn't until I walked outside and noticed that it was still "foggy" that I thought to myself, "My this is truly weird weather we are having here in Jordan. I never knew that in such a hot country the fog would last so long."

Walking down Campus

As I then sat in front of the University Library waiting for my friend to show up to go to breakfast, I continued to breath in the dust and wondered to myself where is all this dust coming from. About an hour later, after I had finished eating my breakfast of hummus and pita bread, I asked my friend about the weather and he proceeded to tell me that the weather was very strange. So, I told him, "Yeah, I never though fog could last this long." To which he told me that this wasn't fog it was dirt. He then indicated that if I ran my finger across just about anything I would see that it was actually covered in a layer of dust. I then realized that I was experiencing a dust storm for the first time in my life.

My way over to my normal classes was much more interesting considering, I now knew I was driving in dust, breathing in dust, walking through dust, and essentially living in dust. I now know what an unused book on a bookshelf at a public library must feel like. Lets just say that it isn't very fun. Even inside of building dust was filling the air, seeing as how doors and entry ways are for the most part just left open allowing all air from outside to freely enter the building. So the last couple of days I have spent eating, breathing, and drinking dust. However, I feel somewhat better seeing as how I didn't do any laundry and then have to dry it out in the dust all day...so many people in the program unfortunately were taken by surprise and had left wet laundry outside in dust all day long. All things said and done, the storm has made this week much more interesting, and has added just one more thing that I get to say I have experienced in the Middle East, and in my life.

All of the dust blocked out the Sun (at noon day) and caused it to look stark white like the Moon

Bedouin Weddings

This last week I was invited by one of my friends Sahim Al-haraizah who is part of one of the tribes here in Jordan. As a result last night I went with my roommate Matt Martin,  and our friends Sahim and Thamer Al-Khalayleh to the wedding. The wedding was located out in the country side about 30 mins away from the University of Jordan campus, however it took us a little bit longer to get there seeing as how we were going by mini bus to the area.

We first met up with our friends at the University since we had no idea where we going for this wedding, and for that matter, no idea how to get there even if we did know where it was. As a result we traveled with our new best friends here in Jordan by mini bus from the University to some other district of the city. While on this first bus, we almost hit a few pedestrians, and then cut off a large truck as the driver was trying to turn onto a small little street. Once we safely arrived at the destination of this bus we walked about 5 minutes, crossed a bridge and then waited for another mini bus to come that would then take us closer to our final destination. After about 5 or 10 minutes of waiting and a quick snack provided by our friends, which was essentially a Mexican sweet bread with a sweet date pudding type filling, we hopped on the next bus and headed out to our next destination.

Here something must be said about the modes of transportation, especially for those people who haven't spent any time outside of the US. In Jordan, there are essentially four ways of public transportation: 1) The taxi which you tell where you want to go and he takes you there for a small fee. 2) A taxi which runs on a circuit and so you essentially get into the taxi and go where the taxi wants to go and then you get out somewhere along his circuit. 3) The mini buses which are essentially the same idea as the 2nd taxi, which is they run on a circuit and you get on at a stop and then get off along the route of the mini bus. Finally 4) The large long distance buses which will take you from city to city and have a designated stop and designated beginning. Now with regards to option 2 and 3 essentially, you have no control over the circuit that they take so even though there may be a direct route by walking down the road 3 blocks to your destination, you may hop on one of these modes of transportation and turn a 10 minute walk into a 30 min vehicle ride. That being said lets go back to the narration of the event.

After hopping on the second mini bus with our friends we then rode it for about an hour or and hour and a half, until we arrived out in the middle of nowhere in the country side, and our friends told us we were getting off here. So following them and following their example we got of the bus and then proceeded to walk about another 30 minutes to our final destination of the Wedding. When we had left, it was still light outside, and I could see everything around me. By the time that we arrived to the wedding it was basically pitch black and you could only see the lights that had been turned on around the area.

The country side where the wedding was held was actually very beautiful and stunning. It reminded  a lot of the olive orchards in California and somewhat of Southern Utah. As we came walking over the hill and down into the valley where the wedding was we saw what looked similar to a small fair set up, there were towers with light strung all over the place. And all around the area was what the beddu call bait isshar, literally the house of hair. Essentially the bait isshar is the traditional beddu tent that the people live in, and they call it that because it is made form the hair of goats, sheep, and camels, from what I understand. Under the tent was set up enough chairs for roughly 1000-2000 people, all of which would be family, relatives, and close friends to the groom and bride.

The event we went to specifically was equivalent to the same thing as white person wedding reception, where everyone sits around and talks and waits for the arrival of the groom in order to congratulate him and then they leave, the only difference is that this was specifically just for the men. The women were in another are the whole time that was set apart for them. So in the aspect that it was like a white reception, the night was a little boring, and my dear friend Sahim was sorely upset. He was in a bad mood the whole night, because when he invited us he was thinking that there would be more of a celebration going on with live music and dancing, etc. However, I found that the night was really very pleasant, and I felt I learned much more about the bedu culture than I would have other wise. For example, traditional bedu weddings last for an entire week, from Friday night until Thursday night. Each night there is a large celebration with music, dancing, food, etc all in celebration of the couple getting married. On the seventh night, Thursday, which was the one I went to, the couple finally are officially married and finally "see each other" for the first time. As a result the name of the night is the night of Idkhala from the root of dakhl which means to enter. I don't think I need to be any more explicit.

When we first arrived to the wedding I asked my friend Thamer if there was anything that I was expected to do or if there was anything that if I didn't do it I would offend the hosts. He promptly told me no, and that I didn't need to worry about anything. Then he said, oh put your camera away while we enter because you need to shake everyones hands as we walk in and tell them Salam Allaykum (Peace be upon you). So I did, then as we passed them I was offered Arab coffee which I had to decline. Then we went and sat down under the tent while we waited for the groom to show up to be congratulated. While we sat there we talked about different things, and met a few different people. It was all very pleasant. All the while being offered Arab coffee. Which as I talked with my friends I learned that it essentially is the way of showing hospitality to the guests, and that the quests are really expected to drink it, but in mine and my roommates situation it was understood that we didn't drink. After many questions about our faith, and many vague answers which went into no detail what so ever a few explanations about why we didn't talk about it the groom and his party showed up.

About an hour and a half after we arrived the groom showed up. He was being carried on top of a chair, and surrounded by close friends and family all singing, and playing drums, and hoisting him up in the air as the proceeded to the tent. The whole procession and event of carrying the groom to the tent on this night and then back to his home where he will finally "see" his wife, is called Zafa. I don't know what that means, but it is happy and exciting and rather fun to watch. About a half hour after that a taxi drove up and into the event full of people who were in charge of bringing water to the event and so that was interesting to see, and rather comical. Then about another half hour to an hour after that we finally left the wedding.

On the way out of the wedding I was introduced to the uncle of the Groom who was helping to host the event with the Groom's father. When he met me I was told to speak in English with him because he had been to America three times and he spoke English. Which he did rather well, except that he kept calling the grooms the brides, so I thought that was a little funny, but I didn't feel the need to correct him. Anyways, while we were trying to leave he asked if we had had any Arab coffee, to which he was told no, and so he insisted that I have some. He explained to me that "Everyone drinks Arab coffee, otherwise you know that they are trying to stab you in the back." So he took my hand, which he had been holding for quite some time at this point (its very normal for Arab men to hold each others hands, arms, etc as they walk down the street) and led me over to where the coffee was being made. At this point my roommate Matt ditched me and slipped off to talk with the kids, and left me alone to try and explain why I couldn't drink the coffee from this man. My attempt at excusing myself didn't work. I tried to explain that it was against my religion, to which he asked what religion and I said "Mormon." So he said "Christian?" And I said, "Yes." He then replied, "Oh, well then its ok, we are all essentially the same religion anyways." and then continued to lead me over to the coffee, at which point in desperation I yelled out to my dear friend Thamer for help. At which point he then came up and helped to explain to the man that coffee in my religion is Haram (forbidden). Thankfully the man understood and dropped the issue but then asked me, "Well, then what do you drink?" So, I told him "I drink water, milk, juice," and then he interrupted me and asked, "Soda?" I told him "Yes, I drink soda." At that he was very happy and told me "Ok, tomorrow when you come for the feast we will have soda for you to drink. I would give it to you here, but we don't have any." I told him that was just fine. He then walked me back down to the entrance of the event holding my hand, and told me that he was giving me a special invitation to come to the feast the following day. Unfortunately, I didn't get to go, because our friends who would have taken us both ended up not being able to go.

Following my near escape of offense and coffee drinking, Thamer explained to me that in their culture there is a saying that goes something like this: "When the old man speaks (offers or insists) there is no room for argument." He said that he had basically told the man that coffee was haram in our religion and that we were very lucky that he understood and dropped the matter. Let's just say I was very grateful for that, I don't know what I would have done, I guess I would have had to offend the man. We then walked back out the way we had come, and stopped shortly at another one of our friend's home, where we lounged and I drank juice and water, while they drank tea. However, when I arrived there my stomach, which had not been feeling good all day finally decided that it was time to die or kill me. So I asked to use the bathroom. When I walked into the bathroom, I was shocked and horrified to learn that they just had a squat spot. After deciding that I just had to man up and relieve myself, I soon realized that there was no TP and no bidet with which to clean myself. All that existed was a small spigot and a couple of jugs that looked like watering pots for gardening. After much debate I decided to use the jug as best I could and not my hand (which is traditionally normal, and is always the left hand which is why you never sit to eat with thieves), since I realized that I wasn't sure there was a sink outside of this little room where I could wash my hands with soap and water. So I tried my best to clean myself off and then just hoped that I didn't smell or still have any inside that would squish around. I am glad to say that I got myself clean.

Following our visit at Anwer's home we took several very Arab pictures and then uploaded one of them to facebook. On that note, I have to explain that having an Arab friend in much more high maintenance than a girlfriend or spouse because they really demand a lot of attention, and sometimes act very much like a girlfriend would, wanting to take all sorts of photos together and then uploading them to facebook immediately. But, its all culture, and last tonight was full of it.

Orphans, Horses, and Break Dancers Oh My!

So this weekend I went out with the group Jordan Volunteers again, and played with orphans. I would have to admit that playing the Orphans was way more fun than hanging out with the Elderly people, but for different reasons. Don't get me wrong I really enjoyed the Elderly people, but little kids are just so cute.

Today we took the orphans out to the middle of no where basically, in an area near Madaba. Not the city itself, but somewhere within the general area. So we were about an hour or so outside of Amman, itself. It was actually really very beautiful, for having absolutely no real greenery. Anyways, we were out in this area to take the kids and help them ride horses. It was pretty funny, mostly because I had one idea that I was thinking of, like when I grew up and we would go horse back riding out in the country on American saddles, and so I had this type of idea going into it. However, when we finally arrived there I was surprised to learn that it was more like a training ground, with a small area for riding horses. Then there were like 3 horses that were ridden by all of the kids as well as most of the Volunteers. So it was really funny, because there were three men with each of the horses who would walk you around the training area and then that was the end of your turn. It kinda reminded me of the little kiddie petting zoos, where they have the pony ride, where you get on a pony and ride around in a circle. Regardless, it was still really fun.

When we first got there we were expecting to have 4 bus loads of Orphans, aged somewhere around 5-10 years old. However, when we showed up, only one bus had showed up and we had 3 buses full of volunteers. As a result the ration of volunteers to orphans was a little off, but it work out just fine. We were divided into groups and while several groups waited to do the horse (pony) ride, the other groups went and played on a giant slide, a zip line, a climbing wall, and a rope bridge. Let's just say that had we been in America these other things would have been condemned as unsafe/safety hazards. The slide looked like it was part of a half pipe, and it literally went straight down and then straight into the ground, and was built on this really rickety tower. The rope bridge was a hazard in more than one way. Either you were gonna fall like 3 feet onto your face because of it swaying from other people, or by the time you had "safely" crossed to the other side, then you had a hand full of slivers and probably some good rope burns. Additionally, the climbing wall also had a really bad rope which resulted in several of the volunteers ending up with major rope burns all over their fingers and palms which were basically bleeding because of how much it had ripped through the skin. Finally the zip line, was actually fairly safe, until you got to the end, because you would reach the end, stop suddenly and if you weren't holding on tight enough then you would fall on your butt.

Nevertheless, everyone had tons and tons of fun. The horse riding was fun, even though it was in a circle, mostly because it was funny to ask the man holding the reins to make the horse go faster. It made me feel like a little kid again. Also, there were these three little girls who learned my name really fast, and then every time or almost every time that they saw me they would come up and ask me to take a picture of them, and of course I couldn't say no since they were just so cute. So I have like 20 pictures of these three little girls. Additionally, I have become the official photographer it seems like of the Jordan Volunteers group, and so I was going back and forth between the groups taking pictures of everything, which I really enjoyed. As a result, I took about 270 photos today of everyone and the kids, and everything else. So yeah, I don't really know what I will do with all of these photos, but I do know that I will be giving a copy of them all to the group sometime soon.

The day was made even better, because I was able to dress up and look straight up cowboy. I had my boots, jeans, and western styled shirt, and so the other students with me kept telling everyone that I was a cowboy from America. It was pretty funny. My boots were a huge hit with them all, and so I was showing them all how high they went, etc, and they were getting a huge kick out of it. It was even better because, after I showed them my boots, they began asking me where my spurs and sheriff star were. I told them that I didn't bring them with me, but it was pretty funny.

In addition to going out with the Orphans on Saturday, Friday night after, I went with a group of students down to Rainbow street in Amman, which is the place to be on Friday night. Every Friday night, traffic builds up down that street to the point that it gets backed up for about a mile. The street is literally the place where all the shabab go and play their music really loud and look at girls, since they can't really interact super freely as far as dating goes. Additionally, during the summer, there is a market there that opens up on Friday nights and sells all sort of jewelry, art, and touristy stuff, but it is still always packed with natives as well. It is probably the equivalent to a farmers market or flea market in America the way it is set up, but it is still really fun. Anyways, this week, while returning home from the market the group I was with were stopped by some shabab who told us that they were about to have a break dancing competition that was sponsored by the Prince of Jordan. So we turned around and watched it. Some of the guys were really good, and others were sub-par. I took a lot of pictures, but eventually I got crowded out by people continually standing in front of me, which was highly annoying. There is no concept of personal space in the culture, oh well.

Finally on a finishing note I want to suggest a great dessert. Get some pita bread, or other flat bread, and warm it up and place some warm banana either inside the pita bread, or between two thin slices of the other bread that you are using. Additionally the bread should be of the white kind. After you have warmed the bread and added the warm banana to it add a healthy coating of warm Nutella over the top. Serve warm. It is AWESOME!! If you don't like it you probably did something wrong.