The last three days were pretty uneventful. But Thursday night a few of us found a really nice cafe with a view overlooking downtown Amman. Once again I forgot my camera, so unfortunately no pictures. Afterwards we went to another place named Books @ cafe and had overpriced wings and drinks. When we got back to the appartments we had Backlava (desert pastries) in celebration of Mary's 4th of July birthday.
On the actual day of the fourth of July we went out to Fudruckers for a really big lunch. To show my pride in America I ate a hamburger, fries, and a vanilla milkshake, which was all surprisingly good. That evening Alex, Joe, and I went to a shopping area where we found disney books and boardgames in Arabic, and purchased several. Joe found a copy of The Jordanian Times (Jordan's leading English newspaper) with a picture of himself in it, and an article about all of the foriengers now studying at the university. Then we had dinner, and a little boy threw up on me. Hopefully our laughing and non-anger demonstrated to the folks there that Americans are cooler than some people would give us credit for.
On my birthday we went to the Dead Sea, which seperates Jordan from Israel/Palestine, and is known for its high salt content. Basically, it feels the same as you walk out as if it were a normal beach, but at some point before the water is more than chest high, you realize that your suddenly no longer touching the floor. You can float in a normal pool by holding your head up and lying on your back, but here you float no matter what. Joe tried to swim to the bottom (probably just 11 ft where he was) so he took a deep breath and dove, but the couldnt get deep enough to even submerge his knees. Beyond our fascination with the nature of the water, it was stunning to look across at Israel knowing how significant that same view is for so many Arab Palestinains who left the country in 1948 or 1967 and still have not been able to return.
P.S. Please feel free leave me comments/questions, I will respond to them (Eric Lanman- my grandma reads this blog too)
3 comments:
A belated happy birthday Brett!
I would also like to wish you a happy belated birthday. Also, when do you get back? Are you planning on taking any excursions while in the area? Just curious because I have a friend who is interested in studying in the area. You'll have to let me know how you like it!
danielle- We want to go to Syria and Israel/Palestine. Syria is tricky becasue we were supposed to get the visa before leaving the states and didn't, and Israel/Palestine isn't hard but we have to go there second because there is no way Syria lets us in if we've just been to Israel. I go back on the 10th for RA training but should have a few free weekends before OSU starts up. Amman is a nice place for westerners though, and Cairo isn't bad either from what I here. Morocco and Yemen are worth looking at as well. And then Dubai is supposed to be ridiculously nice.
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