Back from Jordan

Well, I am back and am sorry that I did not have more time to spend in Jordan. It was a fantastic place to visit. Petra has been the most spectacular site I have seen in our travels. The grandeur and massive size of the monuments and structure was fantastic. There was a virtual rainbow of colors in the rocks in everything from yellows and blues to red and black. There were also a massive amount of stairs to get to most of the tombs and I must say if you ever think about needing a stair climber just go visit Petra.


(Monestary)


(Royal Tomb)


(Royal Tomb)

It was also interesting staying for several days in a country where we were told not to drink the water. So trying to shower with out ingesting water was an experiences along with brushing my teeth with bottled water. The people in Jordan were very nice from what we got to experience and most of them even seemed to brighten a bit when they found out we were Americans. That was an unexpected bonus. Even here in Israel there almost seems to be slightly negative reaction to Americans by both Palestinians and Jews alike. The Palestinians because they believe that it is because of America that Israel exists at all, and I am not really sure why the Jews feel the way they do. But in Jordan were tourism is really only beginning to make an impact on their country and people are begin a migration from agricultural type jobs into tourism industry jobs or catering to tourist as a desired portion of their business they seem to have really taken a liking to Americans. At Petra and Jerash, both really touristy spots, the first question almost anyone, well those that didn't look middle eastern, got was if they were Americans. Those that responded in a language other than English or said no you could see the expression in the face of the local change to a little less friendly as they began to engage them in the native tongue of the visitor. I was very surprised to see how many languages most of the merchants spoke. Most are not able to read in any languages, but spoke many well enough to communicate. The tour guide stopped a small boy of about 12 who was selling postcards. He asked him several different times to give us his sales pitch in a different language each time. After Russian, Spanish, German, French, Arabic, and English he gave the kid a couple coins and sent him away. It was an impressive display of need based learning. I got a donkey ride from a nice fellow who claimed to be able to speak fluently in 7 different languages, the ones spoken by the majority of tourist, but he could not even read in Arabic, the local language. He said that he learned all of these languages just from talking to tourists. He rattled of a few comments in several languages that caught the attention of other tourists walking by so I assume it wasn't just gibberish. When I think of how many languages the normal American speaks it is impressive to see so many uneducated people with such a diverse linguistic knowledge.


(Oval Plaza)

Jerash, one of the Roman Decapolis cities, was an amazing example of Roman might and influence. The site is called the city of a thousand columns, but our guide assured us that they had just stopped counting at a thousand and from seeing the site I can believe that. It was an
enormous site covering several acres of land and just jammed full of columns. The Roman Cardo and the main cross road, called the Decumanus, were lined with two rows of columns. And there were several temple structures with many columns still standing with capitols intact.


(Temple of Artemis)

The temple of Artemis had columns that they estimated were several hundred tons. Constructed of smaller round sections stacked on top of each other the segments are said to weigh between 25-30 tons each and there are between 15-20 segments per column. It was an impressive structure to see, but more impressive when we learned more about their engineering. The columns were engineered to resist earthquakes and strong winds. Each segment of the column is designed to move and shift slightly without transferring the motion to connected segments. To demonstate this the guide took one of the girls in our group and told her to push on the column. He then wedges a knife blade between two segments in the column and had her push. As she was trying to rock the column over the knife began to move up and down with the rocking of the segment. Now remember these are 25-30 ton segments of solid rock that is moving with the force of one person. He explained that this is why so many of the columns here at Jerash are still standing through the earthquakes that knocked down the majority of the other Roman cities in the Middle East.



(The Nymphaeum)

There was another amazing structure just down the Cardo called the Nymphaeum. This was a bath and pool complex right on the main street. The guide said that this was one of the many ways that the corruption of the Romans reached the rest of the world. His description of this place was that it was a complex built for young maidens to come bath in open view as a pleasing site for returning Roman soldiers to enjoy. The official description given is this:
"This ornamental fountain was constructed in 191 AD, and dedicated to the Nymphs. Such fountains were common in Roman cities, and provided a refreshing focal point for the city.This fine example was originally embellished with marble facings on the lower level and painted plaster on the upper level, topped with a half-dome roof Water cascaded through 7 carved lions' heads into small basins on the sidewalk and overflowed from there through drains into the underground sewer system."

It was an amazing trip in all and when I get my pictures uploaded I will post the links for them and include more of what we did. God Bless

Wednesday Nov 7

Nothing really special to report, but I thought I would let you all know that our group is going to be traveling into Jordan for the next four days. We leave Thursday morning at 6 am to try and make it through the border before the morning traffic gets heavy at the checkpoints. We are spending most of the day around Ammon and north, but eventually we will make it down south to Petra and the Dead Sea from the other side. I am excited about getting to see Petra. If any of you have ever watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade you to have seen Petra. The big stone building at the end where they go into to find the Grail is at Petra. It is a very impressive piece of history and construction and I can't wait to explore it. Who knows maybe even find the Grail.

Other than that there really hasn't been to terribly much going on. Just in case any of you were wondering I received a question about my post of fireworks inquiring if I was sure they were just fireworks and not bombs or other violent explosions. The were definitely only fireworks. I was watching them from the front gate of the school with about 40 other students, although they were by far the most powerful fireworks I have ever felts. As the semester begins to wind down here there is a frantic scramble on campus to finish papers and study for tests. Finals week is the last week in Nov and then about 30 of us take off for Egypt for 9 days. If you are wondering I arrive back in good ole Nebraska around 10pm on December 30th if all of my flights are on time and they don't want to check through my souvenirs to much.

I pray that you are all well, and the God has been kind with you all. See you all when I get home, hopefully.

Fireworks

Hey everyone, didn't have much new to report but thought I would tell you all that I just saw the most mazing display of fireworks I have ever seen. I wish I had my camera with me to take pictures and share but they started in the middle of a class and we had to have an intermission because they were so loud we could not hear the teacher. I don't know why they were having fireworks because there is no holiday for Thursday. The were so close that as the explosions went you could feel the sound waves hitting you. Windows were rattling and every car alarm around was going off. The explosions were so massive that large pieces of red hot ash made it all the way to the ground from the massive artillery shells. It was an amazing 3-4 minutes. I have been to displays on military bases and even DC for the fourth of July, and even though they last much longer and are more varied I have to say I believe these were the most powerful I have ever experienced, either that or this is by far the closest I have been able to get to them. Either way I could feel the explosions deep in my chest with each blast.

Well, I hope you all are well and having a pleasant fall season. I am still waiting for the seasons to changes here. We keep hearing stories of this rainy season that was supposed to start a couple weeks ago and have seen little evidence of it. We have had one short 5 minute rain and then more of upper 80's and 90's heat and dry desert winds.