So this past weekend I spent exploring some more of Jordan. On Friday I took a bus up North to a town by the name of Irbid and then from Irbid hired a taxi to drive from Irbid to Um Qays and back. My destination was Um Qays because this is a big mountain that happens to be on the border of Israel and Syria. So the view from this mountain on a clear day one can even see as far as the Lebanon Mountains; however, when I was there it was cloudy so I simply saw Israel, Syria, the Sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights. These views were pretty awesome and plus on top of this mountain it was a bigger Roman establishment so there were more Roman ruins throughout. Plus these ruins were different than the other ruins I have seen in Jordan because the fact that these ones were darker colored. Not exactly sure why but it could be because that far up North the terrain is more green and alive than some of the other places. That is just one guess and am not sure how true.
On Saturday I woke up early and showed up to the University in order to go back to fix up the school in Aljoun. Once we get up to the school we were split up into three different groups who each were given a classroom. In this classroom we were given the task to paint the walls, but not just in plain white. We were given multiple colors and told to draw stuff on the walls. So in the classroom I worked on we put the Arabic alphabet going one way and then the English alphabet going the other way. Plus we did the same thing with numbers (at least up to ten). Plus some other items such as a sun, music notes, and a fish were put throughout. It was pretty neat looking when we were done with the classroom. After working for a couple hours we went and had lunch at a local family’s house. Like always the food in Aljoun is really good and does have some more seasoning than the food in Amman. For our cultural activity we ended up getting to go to the Dead Sea. This was my second time there but it was the first time that I have been in the Dead Sea. It is real interesting because the fact that you can’t sink at all. There is so much salt that it does take a lot of force to get completely submerged and when that happens it is not fun because the salt gets in the eyes and mouth. Plus at the Dead Sea you put mud all over yourself and let it dry and then proceed to get in the water in order to wash off the mud. This mud basically is a natural lotion for the skin and does make the skin a lot softer. It was definitely a neat experience to be able to swim in the Dead Sea at the lowest point on Earth.
Now it is Monday and so it is the second day of the school week. I am done with Arabic classes for today, but this week is going to be a little busy. I have two presentations today for my area studies classes and I need to get working on my second area studies paper. Plus on Thursday it is Thanksgiving which is not really a holiday in Jordan, but the study abroad program is putting together a Thanksgiving dinner that we will be eating on Thursday at the restaurant on campus. I will write later when I have time. إن شاء الله
No comments:
Post a Comment