The Semester is over! Finals are done, and our last Field Study completed. For the last few days I've been on campus in Jerusalem, helping out with short term groups in exchange for room and board. It was sad to say goodbye to almost all the friends I'd made this semester, and to see campus filled with new people. Still, it has been a good time, and I know a few people from Wheaton's group who is here. It has been so nice to have more down time, and to hang out with the few students who are still here. We've done some fun stuff, like spend a day going to archaeological sites in the Old City, and trying out new restaurants for lunch etc. A couple days ago, four of us went to Beit Jalla to watch a basketball game. One of the MA students here plays on the team, and another MA student is their coach, through Athletes in Action. It was fun to finally get to go see them play, and they even were playing against Wheaton's Basketball team! We took the buss to the West Bank boarder check, and Oday, one of the players on the team, picked us up there and showed us around a bit before we went to John's house for dinner. (John is the coach, who we had some classes with this semester). It was a lot of fun.
I want to talk about our trip to Jordan as well, but there is so much to say I may need to either split it into a couple posts, or give an abbreviated version!
Day 1.
We began with a very long buss ride, and a long wait at security entering Jordan. Our first stop was at Dana village, a town near the Dana wadi which was evacuated and has not been resettled, except for a few families. These families run a bed and breakfast there, and do some events for visitors. Our guide, Salem, showed us around the village, and we got to try our hand at some skills, like milking goats, making the everyday flat-bread, and making fig cakes. Afterwards we were served tea, and enjoyed some music from a Rambamba, an instrument with one string and a bow. The man who played for us was very good, and is quite well known in Jordan, supposedly.
Afterwards we went to our campsite, just on the edge of Wadi Dana. It was such a lovely spot in the mountains! We slept in white, teepee shaped tents, and went bouldering before dinner. After we ate, we were served more tea, and listened to stories and jokes from our host around the campfire.
Day 2
The next morning we went back to Dana village, and met Salem again. We started our hike down the Wadi, about a 10 mile trail. It felt so good to walk all day after being in the buss so long the day before. We saw lots of Oleander flowers, and lizards, and plenty of great overlooks into the wadi and the Rift valley bellow. We stopped and ate a picknick lunch halfway through the day, and Salem made us tea. We also passed several bedouin camps. Although the country has provided houses for them, these families chose instead to live in their tents like they always have. At the bottom of our trail we reached the Finan Ecco Lodge, a really nice hotel where we spent the night. There they served us cold tea and then took us for a ride to see the Finan copper mines, which were used as far back as Solomon. We also saw the ruins of a Roman base near the mines. After taking the trucks back to the lodge, checking into our rooms and showering, we went for another hike to see the sunset and - of course - drink more tea. After sunset we returned to find the lodge lit only by candlelight, and we were served dinner under the stars, also by candlelight. The lodge is run by people who grew up as Bedouin in Finan, and several still live in their tents nearbye. They make their own candles, and are very ecco friendly with the whole lodge. Finally, before bed we went to the roof where we were given a guided tour of the stars, and served more tea. We drank a lot of tea, and it was always supper sweet! I won't mention every time they served us tea, just assume it was several times daily!
Day 3
We left Finan and arrived in Shaubak, at a small camp owned by a man named Saleh. While there, we learned how to grind grain using an old fashioned millstone, and also how to crack wheat with a mortar and pestle. We also learned how to roast coffee, plow ground with a donkey and hand guided plow, and how to use a sickle. Saleh told us his uncle, who owns a barley field nearby, harvests the whole thing by hand with a sickle. We went on a hike to a nearby hill to drink tea and watch the sunset again. There were lots of scorpions up there, but you only saw them if you went around flipping rocks. Scorpions are like spiders, and they try to mind their own business and avoid humans. Some of the guys hadn't seen one yet, though, so here we went around some looking for the biggest one we could find, and found at least a dozen of them!
After heading back to camp, some of us girls watched as Saleh's wife and daughters made "fatsa," a big round loaf of bread, which was mostly flat, like a pizza crust. It was tasty! They used the grain we ground earlier that day for some of it. The meal they made us was shredded fatsa soaked in milk, with some other stuff like sugar and jalapeno peppers mixed in. We ate it from common bowls at dinner, and finished with our giant water mellon we bought along the road earlier that day. I didn't like the fatsa dish very much, it was so sweet it tasted more like a desert, and was very gooey.
Day 4
The next morning after breakfast we hiked up to the Shaubak castle, and Liza found the secret entrance! We climbed into the shaft by ladder, and the tunnel lead all the way up the side of the hill, and opened into the castle! After exploring we headed back to camp, and loaded up to head to Wadi Rum. We got there around noon and ate a good lunch at a pretty fancy camp, then went a little further into the desert to where Abu Fad and his family had a Bedouin tent set up for us. We hiked around a bit, it is sooo beautiful there! Lots of sand, and rugged sandstone sticking up everywhere. The eroded sandstone was perfect for scrambling on. We were back to camp just in time to slaughter the sheep for dinner. It was quite sad when James first killed it. He cut it's throat, and broke it's neck. There was a lot of blood, and for a while you could hear it trying to breath, but it's esophagus was severed so it didn't really work. The slaughter was pretty tragic, and even though I guess it was pretty fast, it felt like it took a while to die. I think I will remember that though, as an image of a sheep lead to the slaughter.
After it was dead I was totally fine with cleaning it etc. And there really wasn't any more blood after James cut his throat. Dan Doug Liza and I skinned the head, which was pretty bloody. They cooked the head whole, then cracked the skull open and cut our the tongue, cheek, eye muscle and brains. I tried brains (which was pretty gross) tongue (which was alright) and cheek (which was quite good). The main part of the body Abu Fad's family cut up and put in a barrel in the ground which was burried in sand and had had a fire in it. Then we covered the top of the barrel in sand, a blanket, more sand, and lit a fire on top. It took a couple hours for the meat to cook, and we read some chepters in Job aloud in the meantime, and took a walk to a rock ledge where we could watch the sunset. We ate around 8:00, it was a tasty meal.
That night most of us grabbed our sleeping bags and headed out to a sand dune to sleep. We watched half of "Lawrence of Arabia" on Richard's iPad, since that movie was filmed in Wadi Rum. Most people fell asleep before we turned it off though, it was a long and full day!
I was sleeping streight on the sand, but stayed quite warm all night, and was fairly comfortable. I woke up several times, but was glad I did, because in the early hours of the day the stars were so bright and lovely, you could see the milky way really well!
Day 5
The next morning we packed up camp, and headed off on a camel ride. It lasted about three hours, but we made a few stops at stations where we were served tea. I really enjoyed it, people always said camels were super uncomfortable, but I thought it wasn't that bad at all. I was barely sore the next day, and not uncomfortable during the ride. I was a bid sad they didn't let us steer our own camel, like they have in the past sometimes, but it was still fun.
When we got back to our new camp spot, not far from where we were before, we hung around while James made us lamb and tomato stew. A couple people were sick from something we ate, and were resting. Four of us made a makeshift corn-hole game, using stones. After lunch we sat in the shade and tossed rocks at some target we picked. It was so hot, we didn't feel like setting up the tent, and we wanted to let the sick ones sleep as long as they could. After a while I suggested we go hiking again, so we set off and explored some more. Later we set up the tent, and went to watch the sunset. I really liked some of our sunset excursions, I think something about desert places was so peaceful and quiet. I really loved all the hiking and climbing too.
When we got back to camp, Sami, one of the Jordanians at camp, was doing henna art for the girls, and he did a flower on my hand. We ate dinner at 9:00 in the tent by the light of our headlamps. It was lots of rice covered in a sour milk sauce, with left over lamb. I thought it was really tasty, but we ran out of bread to eat it with, so we had to go native and use our hands. We also were eating off of big platters together. It was really fun!
We slept on the sand dunes again, but this time we just looked at the stars and told stories for a while. We saw lots of shooting stars, and found several constellations. It was fun.
Day 6
Our last day was spent mostly driving home, after we packed up the tent. It felt really good to shower and put on clean cloths! After dinner, several of us went to the rooftop of the market in the Old city to watch the sunset, and we sat and talked and shared some of our memories from the semester. Later that night most of us girls went out for ice cream, and ate it on the roof, then looked at the pictures Liz took of the trip. It was a late night for most people, because everyone had to pack. The next day most people left. It was a quick turn over, and lots of goodbyes! But I'm really glad I was able to go on the trip with them and share those memories before the end of the semester.
Soon I'm heading off to tell Shimron to start a new chapter of this trip. I am beginning to feel ready to go home, but trying not to think about it too much yet, since there is still a ways to go. I am still looking forward to doing the survey though, I think it will be a good experience.
I really do feel so blessed for all of this! I'm so thankful for these experiences, but even more for people who care about me, and people who love me back home.
If you want to see pictures, look at the link I shared on my facebook wall! there are a ton, but it captures what we did well, and you can see the group of people I was with this semester!
I want to talk about our trip to Jordan as well, but there is so much to say I may need to either split it into a couple posts, or give an abbreviated version!
Day 1.
We began with a very long buss ride, and a long wait at security entering Jordan. Our first stop was at Dana village, a town near the Dana wadi which was evacuated and has not been resettled, except for a few families. These families run a bed and breakfast there, and do some events for visitors. Our guide, Salem, showed us around the village, and we got to try our hand at some skills, like milking goats, making the everyday flat-bread, and making fig cakes. Afterwards we were served tea, and enjoyed some music from a Rambamba, an instrument with one string and a bow. The man who played for us was very good, and is quite well known in Jordan, supposedly.
Afterwards we went to our campsite, just on the edge of Wadi Dana. It was such a lovely spot in the mountains! We slept in white, teepee shaped tents, and went bouldering before dinner. After we ate, we were served more tea, and listened to stories and jokes from our host around the campfire.
Day 2
The next morning we went back to Dana village, and met Salem again. We started our hike down the Wadi, about a 10 mile trail. It felt so good to walk all day after being in the buss so long the day before. We saw lots of Oleander flowers, and lizards, and plenty of great overlooks into the wadi and the Rift valley bellow. We stopped and ate a picknick lunch halfway through the day, and Salem made us tea. We also passed several bedouin camps. Although the country has provided houses for them, these families chose instead to live in their tents like they always have. At the bottom of our trail we reached the Finan Ecco Lodge, a really nice hotel where we spent the night. There they served us cold tea and then took us for a ride to see the Finan copper mines, which were used as far back as Solomon. We also saw the ruins of a Roman base near the mines. After taking the trucks back to the lodge, checking into our rooms and showering, we went for another hike to see the sunset and - of course - drink more tea. After sunset we returned to find the lodge lit only by candlelight, and we were served dinner under the stars, also by candlelight. The lodge is run by people who grew up as Bedouin in Finan, and several still live in their tents nearbye. They make their own candles, and are very ecco friendly with the whole lodge. Finally, before bed we went to the roof where we were given a guided tour of the stars, and served more tea. We drank a lot of tea, and it was always supper sweet! I won't mention every time they served us tea, just assume it was several times daily!
Day 3
We left Finan and arrived in Shaubak, at a small camp owned by a man named Saleh. While there, we learned how to grind grain using an old fashioned millstone, and also how to crack wheat with a mortar and pestle. We also learned how to roast coffee, plow ground with a donkey and hand guided plow, and how to use a sickle. Saleh told us his uncle, who owns a barley field nearby, harvests the whole thing by hand with a sickle. We went on a hike to a nearby hill to drink tea and watch the sunset again. There were lots of scorpions up there, but you only saw them if you went around flipping rocks. Scorpions are like spiders, and they try to mind their own business and avoid humans. Some of the guys hadn't seen one yet, though, so here we went around some looking for the biggest one we could find, and found at least a dozen of them!
After heading back to camp, some of us girls watched as Saleh's wife and daughters made "fatsa," a big round loaf of bread, which was mostly flat, like a pizza crust. It was tasty! They used the grain we ground earlier that day for some of it. The meal they made us was shredded fatsa soaked in milk, with some other stuff like sugar and jalapeno peppers mixed in. We ate it from common bowls at dinner, and finished with our giant water mellon we bought along the road earlier that day. I didn't like the fatsa dish very much, it was so sweet it tasted more like a desert, and was very gooey.
Day 4
The next morning after breakfast we hiked up to the Shaubak castle, and Liza found the secret entrance! We climbed into the shaft by ladder, and the tunnel lead all the way up the side of the hill, and opened into the castle! After exploring we headed back to camp, and loaded up to head to Wadi Rum. We got there around noon and ate a good lunch at a pretty fancy camp, then went a little further into the desert to where Abu Fad and his family had a Bedouin tent set up for us. We hiked around a bit, it is sooo beautiful there! Lots of sand, and rugged sandstone sticking up everywhere. The eroded sandstone was perfect for scrambling on. We were back to camp just in time to slaughter the sheep for dinner. It was quite sad when James first killed it. He cut it's throat, and broke it's neck. There was a lot of blood, and for a while you could hear it trying to breath, but it's esophagus was severed so it didn't really work. The slaughter was pretty tragic, and even though I guess it was pretty fast, it felt like it took a while to die. I think I will remember that though, as an image of a sheep lead to the slaughter.
After it was dead I was totally fine with cleaning it etc. And there really wasn't any more blood after James cut his throat. Dan Doug Liza and I skinned the head, which was pretty bloody. They cooked the head whole, then cracked the skull open and cut our the tongue, cheek, eye muscle and brains. I tried brains (which was pretty gross) tongue (which was alright) and cheek (which was quite good). The main part of the body Abu Fad's family cut up and put in a barrel in the ground which was burried in sand and had had a fire in it. Then we covered the top of the barrel in sand, a blanket, more sand, and lit a fire on top. It took a couple hours for the meat to cook, and we read some chepters in Job aloud in the meantime, and took a walk to a rock ledge where we could watch the sunset. We ate around 8:00, it was a tasty meal.
That night most of us grabbed our sleeping bags and headed out to a sand dune to sleep. We watched half of "Lawrence of Arabia" on Richard's iPad, since that movie was filmed in Wadi Rum. Most people fell asleep before we turned it off though, it was a long and full day!
I was sleeping streight on the sand, but stayed quite warm all night, and was fairly comfortable. I woke up several times, but was glad I did, because in the early hours of the day the stars were so bright and lovely, you could see the milky way really well!
Day 5
The next morning we packed up camp, and headed off on a camel ride. It lasted about three hours, but we made a few stops at stations where we were served tea. I really enjoyed it, people always said camels were super uncomfortable, but I thought it wasn't that bad at all. I was barely sore the next day, and not uncomfortable during the ride. I was a bid sad they didn't let us steer our own camel, like they have in the past sometimes, but it was still fun.
When we got back to our new camp spot, not far from where we were before, we hung around while James made us lamb and tomato stew. A couple people were sick from something we ate, and were resting. Four of us made a makeshift corn-hole game, using stones. After lunch we sat in the shade and tossed rocks at some target we picked. It was so hot, we didn't feel like setting up the tent, and we wanted to let the sick ones sleep as long as they could. After a while I suggested we go hiking again, so we set off and explored some more. Later we set up the tent, and went to watch the sunset. I really liked some of our sunset excursions, I think something about desert places was so peaceful and quiet. I really loved all the hiking and climbing too.
When we got back to camp, Sami, one of the Jordanians at camp, was doing henna art for the girls, and he did a flower on my hand. We ate dinner at 9:00 in the tent by the light of our headlamps. It was lots of rice covered in a sour milk sauce, with left over lamb. I thought it was really tasty, but we ran out of bread to eat it with, so we had to go native and use our hands. We also were eating off of big platters together. It was really fun!
We slept on the sand dunes again, but this time we just looked at the stars and told stories for a while. We saw lots of shooting stars, and found several constellations. It was fun.
Day 6
Our last day was spent mostly driving home, after we packed up the tent. It felt really good to shower and put on clean cloths! After dinner, several of us went to the rooftop of the market in the Old city to watch the sunset, and we sat and talked and shared some of our memories from the semester. Later that night most of us girls went out for ice cream, and ate it on the roof, then looked at the pictures Liz took of the trip. It was a late night for most people, because everyone had to pack. The next day most people left. It was a quick turn over, and lots of goodbyes! But I'm really glad I was able to go on the trip with them and share those memories before the end of the semester.
Soon I'm heading off to tell Shimron to start a new chapter of this trip. I am beginning to feel ready to go home, but trying not to think about it too much yet, since there is still a ways to go. I am still looking forward to doing the survey though, I think it will be a good experience.
I really do feel so blessed for all of this! I'm so thankful for these experiences, but even more for people who care about me, and people who love me back home.
If you want to see pictures, look at the link I shared on my facebook wall! there are a ton, but it captures what we did well, and you can see the group of people I was with this semester!
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