END OF WARNING.
Hello people! I was watching Looney Tunes and Speedy Gonzales two days ago when I started writing this entry. The show was so inanapropro! The mice were all speaking in accents, and they were supposed to be in Mexico, but are doing all Spanish dances... and they say Holy Frijoles! But who pays attention to that at the age of 5? Horrible side effect that people don't realize: I (and I'm sure countless others) was forced to realize that Spanish and Mexican dances and people are, in fact, different. Anyway...onwards!
Holy Frijoles, however, is the right phrase because the last three days have been days of holy proportions. As I actually feel bad about not posting, I will try to write as much as I can before I fall asleep from exhaustion.
Thursday:
We visited the Jordanian Interfaith Coexistance Research Center. It was a Catholic Church made in the 5th century, and it is one of the Churches for the Arab Christian minority in Jordan. It was really great to meet Father Haddad. He was in charge of the Interfaith Coexistance center and spoke to us about his work and the challenges he faces. The church he head of is part of the Malachite Christians. Father Haddad was an amalgamation of identities. He is a Malachite Christian, an Arab and grew up with the Islamic tradition. For him, Islam is his culture, and he believes the Church of Islam is not for Muslims only. This was a novel concept to me. I was so impressed with the way that he balanced his identities and was able to separate them; I for one cannot imagine professing faith in one religion and growing up and socially experiencing another.
In regards to his mission, he said: "As people of religion, it sour role to act; acts that serve humanity." And I could not agree more, it was absolutely beautiful to hear that one faith tradition was working so hard in conjunction with another tradition to dispel negative images. He emphasized the "fraternity between Christians and Muslims" and this is something that I think everyone should recognize more. ** This meeting was a wonderful testament to what my study in Contemporary Islam really means. Islam is not to be feared, as the media would have you believe, and the study of Muslims and their life is an essential criteria to being a competent Global Citizen. One must understand the value of being part of an Abrahamic tradition. Jewish, Christian, and Muslim; they share the same tenets of faith. Even if you don't believe in religion, I still think its important to know about the different religions and study them, at least in some regard.
It has taken me way too many days to write that so I am moving on!
After that meeting, we went to Mt. Nebo, a historical site in which Moses is buried and/or supposedly received the tablets aka, the Ten Commandments. I was feeling the weight of history on my shoulders and it was really interesting! I wanted to watch the Ten Commandments movie right then and there! My camera died right after we left, and so that was stinky, but other people took pics, so that was good. Then we left the site and our bus driver deserted us, sadly, and we waited for a bit before he showed up. We get back on the bus and try to go to a mosque, or try. So instead, we go to the Royal Automobile Museum. That was fun, I got to see the Royal family's car collection since 1912. It is quite extensive and I wish someone would buy ME a Bentley for my birthday! haha. Jk. At this point, DAD, i would appreciate any car that won't kill me on the freeway!
That was the end of that day, I think I took a nap and then called it a night!
Friday:
Friday was pretty epic. On a scale of 1-earth shattering experience, it was an earth shattering experience! We meet in the lobby after 8 am and depart for PETRA! I feel shapeless in what I am wearing, but I go the conservative and comfortable route rather than the sporty chic look. I am rewarded for my efforts when the chaperone says I have exactly what the females should be wearing. Lupe-1 Petra-0. Then the bus ride takes three hours. That was only tolerable because we had a discussion with the two female tour guides tagging along. We spoke on issues concerning identity, Islam, culture and politics in Jordan. Then they asked us some questions and it turned into a very fruitful discussion regarding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. We deduced that schools should start teaching curriculum that encompasses the Palestinian side, and not exclusively the Israeli side. Culture, Religion and the Middle East in general is largely neglected in school. We also concluded that it takes personal initiative, even in higher education, to learn about the Arab and Muslim worlds. An unfortunate situation, especially since we learn about nearly every other major religion and region. After this discussion, I read a bit (interesting to note that I do not get carsick while I read here! I do not know how this is happening since I KNOW that I do get sick. I wonder if its because my stomach is already in a perpetual state of sickness that it's not affected exponentially when I expose it to reading. Hopefully this lasts!) and then we order our lunches to go, shwarma (sp? I have no idea) eat on the bus and get to the gates of Petra. There is a Monastery in Petra that you have to get to by climbing over 800 steps and more than half the class wanted to go, so I said I would do that. Before we could do that though, we needed to be shown a tour of Petra.
Our tour guide was an interesting character. He got piqued when we would take pics and make a comment about Petra to a classmate while he was talking. And he knew how to talk. A lot. He stopped us every so often and he would not shutup! However, the view was soooo worth it. And I took so many pictures! Then...we get to the Treasury! This, if you remember correctly, is where Indiana Jones (the #1movie) goes to. That was really cool. But then, the group who wanted to to go to the Monastery was on a strict timeline, so we had to book it right after the treasury. It was quite the trek. When we got to the stairs, the group split up because there were different levels of climbing expertise. My partner and I were on the bottom half of the climbers, but we persevered! Half way up the 800 steps, my partner almost gave up, but I would hear none of that. I was not about to let the others beat me, and I was now determined to finish the climb. I bought myself a blue necklace as a memento that I made the climb right after we hit the 3/4 way mark. We make the top and it is breathtaking. However, since we are in a hurry to get back to the bus, we hurry up take a few pics and then make the climb down, going even faster than we did on the way up. We do not smell nicely, let me tell you that!
We meet the rest of the group on the bottom, but not without incident: for 15 minutes, we had lost one of our classmates. One minute he is ahead of us, the next minute he is not, and he's not at the resting stop. We freak out and after buying some water, go out to look for him and there he is! He'd gone ahead but didn't see anyone so he circled back! So thankful we didn't have to explain to our professor, "So professor...we lost Daegun on our way back from the Monastery!" So then we walk back, are one big group again and make our way to the bus for Wadi Rum.
Before getting on the bus however, I fulfill one of my life long goals: I RODE A HORSE. YES, ME. I RODE A HORSE!!!! After two decades of reading about them (yes, I started reading when I was a year old...) after countless books about horses (one of my favorite books as a kid was about a horse and it was not Black Beauty, though I read that one too) and books where the heroine has a special bond with the horse, and after writing about horses in detail in my own books before ever riding one myself, I was able to ride a horse. Going up the steps of the Monastery was secondary to riding a horse! We are walking along and my professor and I want to ride horses, but there are none to be found, even though the ticket we paid for gives you a free ride on a horse. But we keep walking and see a few horses and their people coming back for more tourists, so I flag one. My roommate takes the first, my professor takes the second and I take the third, this beautiful white and grey horse. I have never ridden a horse (gasp!) before so the horses person has to help me up and just like the heroines in the books and the first time they ride a horse, I swing my left leg over the horses behind and suddenly, I am on the horse. I am THRILLED! I feel like a little kid and Molly is snapping pics and takes a video. The horse is turned around and we are on our way!! I have never been so happy! I turn around to yells of "Say something! Youre on video!" So I yell "Arriba, Arriba!!" The guy leading me asks "Hablas espanol?" and I say "Yes!!" and we hold a mini conversation in spanish, switch to english, all the while I am amazed that I am on a horse. I share that I have never been on a horse and that I am nervous but there is a HUGE smile plastered on my face. At one point, he hands me the reigns, and he makes a few click sounds and the HORSE STARTS GALLOPING! My foot gets off the stirrup, but I remain sitting, and the guide does this twice more, and I am nearly dying of happiness! I stayed on a horse while it galloped! My life is complete! Then we get to the end point and I get off, and I am shaking, and I find out the horses name is MoonDesert, and nearly die. My horse's name is MoonDesert! and it was a male and its coat (since I was petting him) was so nice! Ahhh, I felt like a little kid, NO JOKE! I was sooo ridiculously happy. I tipped the guy 7 bucks (5 dinar) since I didn't have any change, but also, it pays to help me fulfill one of my life goals. Seriously, the guy was really cute too, and if he had asked me right then and there to marry him, I was in such a state of euphoria that I would have said "YES! As long as I get to ride MoonDesert!" I get my camera back and my hands are shaking and I try to explain to Molly and Ismat the experience and a derivative of the following few sentences comes tumbling from my mouth:
"Oh my gosh, that was the most amazing this I have ever done! I have only ever read about horses. And now I got to ride one...I mean all my life I have read about books, er read in books about people riding books, er I mean read in books..." The girls: "We get it..."
Ahh...my life is so good. The guy said I was a natural. Be nice to me and you get a nice tip. But I did cool on the horse! And it wasn't too hard and I want to do it again! I am so happy! I heart horses!
Okay, then we get on the bus, and are on our way to Wadi Rum and its supposed to be one hour away. It's not. It's three! But we get to Wadi Rum, and its a Bedouin tourist camp. And in this huge camp, our group does not fill the space and one classmate says that this was a bad idea. I feel bad because I was the one who was adamant about going to a Bedouin camp and made my professor schedule it in. But we climb the rock and the stars are amazingly bright! Then we sit on this couch like circular thing outside, with a huge center meant for dancing for all I know. And there is music playing on the huge speakers near the circle, and a few of us try to dance, but we are all embarrassed. Then we eat, fill ourselves, and sit back down, awkwardly waiting for something to happen. Then one classmate stands up and dances with the guys who look after the camp, and as I will never be outdone by a man, decide that I am going to dance as well (since I have been trying to the entire time) and gather a few girls and after practicing the shopping cart, the lawn mower, and Elizabeth Hatch's dance, I get up and drag the girls and Daegun (who is an awesome dancer!) with me and we start dancing. This prompts us to get the rest of the class dancing and pretty soon, we are all dancing to Arab music! Then we see a group of people come into the camp and they join us too! A few of them are women and I start copying their moves. They try to teach me how to shimmy, and move my hips like they do, but I am a failure of a Latina and cannot and they just laugh. But it was awesome! We have a conga line, I make my class do the macarena, and for an hour and half the class just dances together! We are dancing under the stars with people we have never met, but this is one of the few times where you don't have to speak a common language in order to have fun and transcend culture! Then, sadly, we had to leave. And believe you me, no one wanted to! We were all so pumped (me especially since I drank their super strong coffee!) and we did a few dances to commemorate our departure. The last one to leave the dance floor was the one who thought it had been a bad idea to come! We just had way too much fun and the entire class bonded!
On the bus, for the first 15 minutes, we continued to ride our high from dancing and discussed the merits of each person on the dance floor. It was nice to see the class put away all inhibitions and just BE happy with one another and laugh about what they had just seen.
The bus ride is supposed to take about 3 hours. It takes six! We leave just before 11 and don't get to the hotel until 3:30ish. I am so wired from the coffee that I can't sleep and since everyone else is asleep, for an hour and half I look out my window and sing to the moon! At one point I cry, but that's just because I feel sorry for myself, and I started singing sad songs and started missing my family and was sad to be leaving behind such a happy memory. I snooze a bit, but wake up every once in a while. Needless to say, we are all happy when we get to the hotel and are able to sleep!
Saturday:
Saturday was another day of Holy Proportions! We wake up early, groggy from the night before and the lack of sleep (i got four hours?) and I don't eat very well. On the bus, we get to the Baptism Site at 1ish. And that is an amazing experience. As Prof. said, it's kind of like the Mecca for Christians. I was at the site where St. John baptized Jesus! It was an amazing feeling. I tried to imagine what it looked like 1980 years ago when Jesus had walked in the area I was walking. Thinking about it now, its a humbling experience. We went to the site where Jesus was actually baptized, and then to the current area of the Jordan river that people go to.
It was very odd. The first thing you notice when you get to the platform is what is on the other side of the river: Israel. Literally. Opposite Jordan's platform for tourists to go into the river, is the Israeli equivalent. That side is much more developed with a granite or ceramic buildings and nicely set up steps where as our side is made of wood; people can go further into the river, and there are two armed guards, to our one. But I am not there to comment on Israel's facilities.
I am there to soak in the fact that at one point, in these waters (not at this spot) Jesus was baptized. The man all Abrahamic religions believe in was here. It was amazing. I roll up my pants and step onto the one step that leads into the river (I can't go any further unless I want to start swimming, in which case I would be promptly arrested). I put my mother's cross into the river for a little blessing. I feel so privileged! This is my pilgrimage! After a few more pics, we leave, I snap a pic of the other side and make my way to the bus. Then its off to the Dead Sea.
The Dead Sea is an experience in and of itself. It was amazing! First off, we were in a resort, and were the only ones! Imagine 12 twentysomethings going wild after seeing water slides and pool, a lazy river and the Dead Sea. We go down to the sea first and scrub mud all over ourselves, then go in. You really do float people!!! And its amazing!! It is very, very very, salty however. I got a drop of it in my eye and it teared for five minutes straight. I floated, then scrubbed the mud from my body and OH MY GOSH! my skin was the softest it has ever been...EVER! it was awesome. Also, you must not shave before you go into the Dead Sea. I was personally not affected, but from what I heard from the others, shaving is PAINFUL! I did receive a few cuts previous to going to the sea and those did burn. But my pain was not as extravagant as the others'. After we floated and took in the view, we went down a few water slides (and I went on the biggest one, called Kamakaze, and ohhhhhh my goodness. Not only is it very steep and I thought I was going to fall forward and die, when I got to the end, I broke the Guinness World Record for biggest wedgie ever! Too much Information? Well, don't read my blog. Hatchet, it was terrible!! Luckily, I was not the only one who got one, and it was funny to compare the severity of the wedgie with the others) and then ate a lunch of hamburgers. Then we had to leave by 5 and it was 410ish and we convinced one of the guys who worked there to take us back to the Dead Sea. It was only 5 of us females, but we put on mud masks all over our hands and necks and faces and floated for a bit longer. Then we washed it off, gathered a bit of mud, and went to wash our face with water that would not absolutely kill us. We then changed and made our merry way to the hotel. I showered and fell asleep trying to blog about the last few days. I was uber pooped out. I didn't even eat. So that's how you know I was tired.
Sunday
Sunday we toured Jordan University and that was very fun. I met Maha during lunch and we talked about books the entire time! Walking to the class, you can point out all the Europeans and Americans and I start checking out this guy only to realize he was from SCU! What???! Talk about a friggin small world! I don't personally know him, but he is in the poli sci department and I was gaping at him, and I now wish I had said something. Oh well. Our lecture was on Peace Building and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and how there needs to be a dialogue between Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Syria and the other main players. The conflict is exacerbated by so many other problems in the region, especially the water crisis. If the country's leaders could talk to each other, the water crisis could be discussed and the people wouldn't be suffering. But its never that easy. After that, we toured the campus a bit more, JU has 40,000 students!!! Crazy eh? Then we attended a class with JU students and had a small discussion and exchanged questions. That was pretty informative, and when I spoke, I turned really red. I hate that, but at least, its not as bad as it was when I was younger.
Okay, well its 6:15 am over here, and I woke up at 4:15 to check the Giants score and stayed awake since writing. I am not done yet, but the major hurdles are over. I am almost up to date! Now I need to put pics in, fall asleep for another hour and be ready by 845. However, IN CASE you didn't hear:
GIANTS WON THE WORLD SERIES! GIANTS WON! GIANTS WON! WAY TO GO GIANTS!
Waking up to find that out was ridiculously awesome!!!!! I am so happy!!! I would post a pic, but the internet is not very happy at the moment.
Okay, well I need to hit the hay for a little bit, there are lectures tomorrow, and I must be awake...which I doubt I will be. Plus there is sooo much more to write!!! I am excited!
**I need to cater my blog more to Professor Nimer's specifications. I need to tie what I am writing to Contemporary Islam better. And while I agree, I just wanted to point out his request, since I said I would write it on my blog**
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