Jordan Day 16, June 27

Was back to work today. The heat is on and it was lovely to be out in it. We did get to go to the police station to get fingerprinted and get our visas extended. Wahoo. I am on file in Jordan!

I realized while sitting on the bus coming back from the station, with the smell of hot sand, diesel and cooking food wafting through the window that I am not ready to come back in 5 days.

Jordan Day 15, June 26

Another day spent sick. Still had a bit of a fever this Am so I stayed behind, but had an all around productive day. I went with my roommate to the Suq (shopping is far easier than working I find...) and we got to see the Roman theater and citadel in town.
We went for a dip in the pool at the hotel which is the only olympic sized pool in Jordan apparently. Ate a small lunch and then washed some pottery and took a nap.
Amanda and I decided we needed adventure so we grabbed a taxi to Mecca Mall. Yep. The Mall. It's monster huge and just as frightening as any mall in the US. They did have a Starbucks though, which was nice.
Turned in early. Sick has it's advantages I guess:)

Jordan Day 14, June 25

I am sick. I think it is a cold, but I have a slight fever and a sore throat and am staying at the hotel today. Only 3 more digging days and then we have a free weekend to travel...So I had best heal fast!

Jordan Day 13, June 24

5:30 was peaceful and still and quiet as Eva and I padded down to the gate and the guard let us in early. 5:58 found us as the first guests to enter Petra and we enjoyed a quiet hike down the Siq, past the Treasury and toward the tombs across from the Roman theater. We saw the Urn tomb, the Palace Monument and some others whose names escape me. We then traipsed across some hills to see some Byzantine/Nabbatean ruins of churches on the hills. Amazing mosaics inside the lowest of the three structures, blue marble columns from Egypt in the second structure and an eagle eye view from the top structure all lead to a majestic experience on a mountain top.

The Urn Tomb, thus named for an urn found on the top. Creative, no?

The Blue Marble Columns. They really are blue and they are in perfect condition as opposed to the sandstone that is being eroded away rapidly.
Mosaics in the aisles of a church, celebrating God's creative power.
We only had a short time at Petra today so we headed back to the hotel to shower and load onto the bus.

I could move to Petra in an instant. Not to marry a Bedouin (though I did buy the book 'Married to a Bedouin' which is great so far), nor would I be allowed to live alone there (women just don't do that here), so I guess being a tour guide is in my near future. I had best learn a couple more languages.

It's amazing to be standing on sand that has had so much happen on it before I had ever even heard of it. What a stunning (and very gritty) reminder of how small I truly am. This is my feet in the sands of Petra.

Jordan Day 12, June 23

After a delicious breakfast at the hotel, Eva and Walter and I headed to the gate about 8 AM so we could take the LOOOOOOONG hike to Jabel Harun, or Mt. Aaron. Though Aaron died elsewhere (see Deut 10:6) his remains have been moved to the mountain about 7 kilometers to the south of Petra. There is now a lovely bright white mosque at top. You can see the Promised Land from the top. Oddly enough, the Wadi, or wash or river bed that Petra is built on is known as Wadi Mousa, or Wadi Moses and it is thought that the rock that Moses struck to get water flowing is here in Petra.

After walking about 2 hours we ran into a Bedouin family who lives in the caves below the snake monument. We were invited for tea as all passersby are and accepted once we heard an offer of a car ride to the base of Jabel Harun. In the cave we found 4 women, 13 children, a hoard of flies and floor mats waiting. 3 of the women were wives of our host Gaseem and 9 of the children were his. He was recently left by a fourth wife and is looking for another and Walter graciously volunteered me. HA! Walter dancing with the eldest son looks like this.

Some of the most beautiful girls ever. The one in pink was so shy that she would cover her face when she caught you looking at her and then giggle insanely.

After tea and lute music and dancing, we loaded into the diesel 4x 4 truck and drove ½ an hour to the base of the mountain. On steep parts, we had to shut of the AC (which didn’t work anyhow) and we bumped and crept our way over dry river beds and past ancient caves that serve as dwellings to local families. Here is Mount Aaron from a distance. The tiny white speck at the top is where we went.

It took us about an hour to summit and the view from the top was stellar. We could see for miles, into Israel, over all of Petra, over the Great Rift Valley and into the towns of Ma’an and Petra. There were even some recently excavated, not yet open to the public ruins that we could see up there. The mosque was locked but we had Walter. Here is how we all got to see the interior. Walter got shoved through a window. This is the end we got to see of Walter.

A view from the top looking toward Ma'an in what is Biblical Edomite territory, with a bit of the terrace around the mosque in the foreground.

We ate some snacks we had toted to the top with us, soaked in the amazing vista and then hit the path back to the bottom. In another hour we were back at the Roman Theater. Round trip – 5 hours, 6 liters of water each (did I mention it’s blooming hot here?) and 1 amazing Sabbath hike.

Walter left us to go see the Monastery and Eva and I returned slowly to the hotel, sans animal power this time, to shower and shop and get some dinner. We turned in early. We had plans for 5:30 AM the next day.

Jordan Day 11, June 22

Today found us loading on the bus headed to Petra. The trip should have taken about 3 hours but took us 7 since we stopped for potty breaks (why is still unknown as we had a bathroom on the bus...) and a panoramic shot and to visit a Bedouin family in their tent.

Upon arriving and settling into our lovely hotel, The Petra Palace, we raced to grab some lunch and then headed into one of the most amazing wonders of the world.
About 4 o'clock we all descended on the gates and, since we work for the Department of Antiquities here, we all got to visit the site gratis. Free is always good!
This is what the walk begins as. It seems plain, expect for a few carved caves and one tomb known as the Obelisk tomb. The sandstone is an orange-y tone here and you walk over a crushed limestone path.And then you enter Al Siq. The Siq(said like seek). And you know you are in an entirely different world. The wind sounds different here and the smell of hot sand and the bright blue sky over head are all at once calming and invigorating.



















And at the end of the Siq you see this peeking around the wind carved sandstone. And I seriously expected to see someone dressed up as Indiana Jones for pictures, but found camels and Bedouins instead. I must admit that the group I was with did robustly sing the theme song to the movies. Bum ba rum ba bum ba dum. Such tourists!



















Al Khazar or The Treasury is amazing to see. It is a stunning reddish hue and is a fabulous first look and good bye as you enter and exit the city by way of the Siq.
Eva and I hit the road to Al Dayr, the Monastery. We walked past the old Roman theater and the Street of Facades in our race to get to the top before the sun went all the way down. It is about an hour walk in, up steep canyons and stairs carved out of hills and it is worth every drop of sweat. For me, it is more beautiful than The Treasury and Eva and I got there in time to have the perfect lighting hitting the front of it. A side note, this facade is 43 meters tall, so though it may appear small, the bottom of the doorway was over my head....
Farther up we saw some amazing views from the top. I snapped this picture in honor of a road trip with my mom in '97. Oh the VIEW! What a view!
And here are Eva and I at the top, with the Jordanian flag and a view of the great rift valley and Isreal in the far distance.
Darkness was coming quickly and we hit the road for the bottom. We met some local boys and their donkeys who took us, jarringly, on my first donkey ride. I think my bone marrow rattled loose.
We found Walter and Nick at one of the vendors tents about to have tea and dinner and we joined them. What fun eating in the middle of Petra when all guests are supposed to leave. The four of us all walked out of Petra by moonlight and starlight.

Jordan Day 10, June 21

A great sunrise this morning. The desert is stunning in its beauty. Life thrives here, even in the heat. We are expecting temperature in the high 90’s and low 100’s over the next week. A heat wave is on its way. Water is being pushed as one of our girls was rushed to the hospital with severe dehydration. We have her IV bag hanging up on our window to remind us to drink up!

A good day on site, no finds, but lots of work done. I got to join Connie Gane on the run to pick up second breakfast. Madaba was a fun trip (again!) though this time the food shops were where we went. I did not take a camera, but it was great. The first fruit stand we hit was an open air fruit and vegetable stand. We got 4 watermelons. Cost – 7 JD Generally we feed all of us (about 50 people) for 20 JD. Next stop was the pharmacy for pink eye ointment and then Connie let me go on an adventure. I got to go buy dessert. Off into a sweet shop a raced to get 3 kilos of baklava. I thought baklava came in one form, but boy was I wrong! I got to try sample after sample of delicious pastries while the owner and son loaded up 3 kilos for us. Yum galore! Pistachios on everything, and none of it was overly sweet. I have got to get recipes! Ordering food when you speak no Arabic is an adventure. The owner knew some English… ‘Hello’ and ‘Welcome’. Phew! And I thought it would be hardJ

After returning to the site, I raced off with the girls from Field D to have second breakfast at one of our workers homes. Zayeed had invited us all and we had a blast. Instead of ½ an hour to eat, we took an hour and loved every bite. Zayeeds mom cooked a fabulous spread and we chowed down. Lots of flatbread with all sorts of spreads and meat and veggies. Sooooo good! No wonder our workers go home to eat.

And while there, we got an invitation to Mensiff. Mensiff is a big deal and we got invited to the sheiks house. So at 6:30 we loaded into the truck. I got to ride in the back! Must say, a white girl in the back of a pick up wearing a traditional Jordanian dress with no head cover gets MANY stares here.

Mensiff was amazing. Coffee and tea is offered, and you sit and talk. We met the grandmother, the mother of the current sheik and took pictures when she ordered us girls dressed properly. We got proper Bedu headdresses put on us. Surprisingly comfortable and very breathable.

Then it was off for more coffee (you get about 1 swallow full in a tiny cup that is shared by everyone, no washing it) and then the call for dinner. You eat with your hands here. Forks are uncivil! I am so moving! After a feast of rice and chicken and veggies we moved back to the living room for more coffee and then fruit for toppers.

WOW!

On the way home, Stephanie, Jenny (aka toasted almond) and I all sat in the back of the truck and sang songs at the top of our lungs all the way back to the hotel. Amazing day all around.

Jordan Day 9, June 20

Today was a hard day to wake up. Generally I am up like a shot and ready to go, but today was tough. I was sore from using the pick ax, and only getting 6 hours of sleep a night finally caught up I guess. Everyone however was feeling about the same so it was a slower day on site. Well slow is relative…I sifted about 120 goofahs of dirt. I did take a nap on my dirt pile today. Surprisingly, it was very comfortable. Here is a picture of me on my dirt pile.

We have a new man on our field The mad sombrero wearing guy is none other than Walter Rogers. Crazy Canadian, fellow seminarian and all around good guy. We now call him Bacon.

We found some priceless artifact today as well. One figurine head, about 2 x 2 and one head and torso of the goddess Artemis. The figure appears to have multiple breasts and is about 3 inches tall. Very good finds.

Since I still had the car this afternoon, Walter and Sam and I piled into it and headed to Madaba to see some sights. Madaba is about a 40 minute drive from Amman and we had a blast getting there and seeing some beautiful churches and getting lost on on

e way streets.

The first church we stopped at is the Apostles church. The ruins were rediscovered in the early 1900’s and work to restore the amazing mosaics was carried out by a group of …wait for it…. Italians. Yes. Signs were actually up in Italian too! They explained more than the English did. See?

The mosaics here were stunning, very intricate work of animals, St. Thomas, youths and plant life. Apparently the site was built originally in the 6^th century and had two separate chapels on it. This was my favorite church for the day. Dusty and quiet.

The second church we went to see it the world famous St. Georges Cathedral. Why world famous you ask? Excellent question. St. Georges is a Greek Orthodox Church with an extremely rare mosaic inside. On the floor of this church you will find a map of this region of the world. Jerusalem, the Sea of Galilee, even Egypt makes an appearance. It is quite amazing, especially since I love mosaics. So here are some shots of it in all its geographic glory.

Jordan Day 8, June 19

I woke up exhausted today. Very loooong day. We took the official group photo. I'm not in this version, but I made it in the official one. This shot is taken across a huge water cistern on our site that creates an awesome crater. Grass even grows at the bottom since all water in the area runs that way and collects. Smart hey?

Kephia joined us again on site. Here he is bonding with Ryan at Field C.

We did have to quit early because the wind picked up so much about 11:30. The wind not only can whip up the sand, but can knock over shelters and dehydrate you. Vicious wind.

After heading back to the hotel, I rented a car (yeah for driving!!!), grabbed Eva, Walter, and Bryan and we hit the road to the Dead Sea. I love driving in Jordan. Lanes are optional and speeding is encouraged by lack of limit enforcement. However, if you drive with no seatbelt, it'll cost you 15 JD.

So the Dead Sea. Yeah. You float like a cork. And it rocks. Had an AMAZING time. Salty, salty and more salty. Cakes of salt on the rocks, your skin feels very slimey in the water, and you can float like a dream. We hung out in the water for about an hour and then headed up a wonderful new road that led to some amazing views of cliff faces and oasis valleys.
Here is photographic evidence.

Jordan Day 7, June 18

Another day playing dwarves. Hi Ho Hi Ho, it was off to work we went. Had a puppy show up on site. We call him Kephia. The locals think dogs are in the same class as pigs and are very cruel to him and find it amazing how we treat him. He eats with us and naps most of the day, being carted around by one girl or another. Overall, an exhausting day, thus just some pictures. No real news. Well... we did start a new square, which means a totally new area to dig.

Kephia in a Guffah

The austere beginnings of the new square


My 'tan' after 7 hours of labor

Further Adventures of Day 6

A sunny Sunday should always include adventures with friends. After lunch Amanda, Cecilia, Dustin and I all packed up and headed into town. We found the second craziest taxi driver in Jordan to take us into town. We visited a glass blower/artist, of Armenian decent whose parents fled the genocide, and has lived in Jordan his entire life. His siblings and children are scattered all around the globe, and he spent an hour talking to us, and sharing tea with us. An amazing moment to share.
After bidding out new friend farewell, we hit the road into the depths of the suq to look for dresses and kephias and random treasures. After the adventure of finding an ATM that worked, we found a quaint Iraqi restaurant with a gregarious owner who invited us to come back after shopping for dinner. He was hilarious. And the food, pickled cucumbers, biryani, potato stew, was all delicious. And all of it for 4 JD (jordanian dinars) each. Here's Dustin and the owner of the best Iraqi restaurant in town.
The true adventure came when we got in the taxi to head back the to hotel. Our driver must have been sampling a bit of forbidden drink because he was wacked. He counts as the craziest driver in this town. He introduced himself as George Bush, told Dustin it was tragic that he was single and three single "sisters" and that since we were beautiful we could pay more. He grabbed Dustins' Arabic phrasebook and while driving began to read it. When he couldn't find a word he wanted, he hollered and chucked it into the dashboard. He pounded on the side of the car and yelled at all his friends about the Americans in his car. We laughed the whole way and paid him double just for the entertainment.

Jordan Day 6, June 17

It's Sunday. A day of laze. Planning on a trip to the suq (market) and doing laundry in the sink. And trying to get tan. All day yesterday in the sun and no burn or tan or anything. Why, I ask? WHY???

And Father's Day! So to my dad, a tribute.

Babbo, this is how glad I am to have you as my Dad. Photo was taken yesterday in the site of Ghadera. It also happens to be my "I'm so happy to be standing in a ruin in the middle of Jordan, in the summer, getting credit for it" face.

I love you Dad!

Jordan Day 5, June 16

I am so thankful for Sabbath! We got to sleep in until 7 AM, though my roommate and I woke up about 5:30 and talked for about two hours, we ate a late breakfast and hit the road on a tour of sites at 8AM. A huge tour bus came to get us and off we raced. How our driver managed to get us around some of these roads I am still not sure.

The ride was amazing. Often one of our professors would pop on the loudspeaker and say "To our left is the creek where Jacob and his family crossed over and he wrestled with God" or "At our 8 o'clock is the mountain where Saul and Jonathon were killed" or "Directly to our right is the most well preserved crusaders castle". Monkeys!
Our first stop was a site that had been excavated by a group from Norway. Dier Alla is the place where the Ba'laam stone was found. An entire wall was covered in red and black writing on plaster detailing the life of a prophet. Apparently the prophet was sent to curse a group of people known as the children of God and instead wound up blessing them. Three times. Sound familiar? Yep.
Second stop for the day was at a site called Pella. It was here that some of the first Christians settled when forced to leave Jerusalem. They has a breeze on top of this hill, and a spring at the bottom, and a nice view of the Jordan valley. There is also a ruin of an old mosque up on the top of the hill. One of the first known mosques in the area.
Third stop...lunch. And our first real view of the Sea of Galilee. The SEA OF GALILEE!!!! It was amaaaaaazing to know that here, on Sabbath, we were hanging out by the Golan Heights (yep, we drove right by a corner of Syria) and we were walking where Jesus walked. Jesus walked on this Sea. And here I am holding it in my hand. Wahoo!
Next up we went to Ghadera. The story of the demon possessed man in scripture, the one where Jesus sent the demons into the pigs? Yeah, that happened here. A relatively amazing thing to know that this city was around and thriving back in the day, and now we get to walk in its ruins. Here are Sean and Scottie acting like wanna be archaeologists in the middle of Ghadera.













And here is one of the amphitheaters on the site. It was amazingly well maintained, and had great acoustics. Note the modern road in the background. Historical sites aren't sacred I guess. Unless they are located in Israel and called "The Dome of the Rock". Irony, I believe we call it.


Our final stop for the day is one of the most well preserved sites in the Middle East. Jerash is amazing. The site covers about 200 acres of land and has some of the best of everything. Temples, mosaics, streets, arches. And the Jordanian government is taking great pride in restoring parts of it for posterity. Here is my favorite shot from the temple of Artemis (aka Diana).And here is a fortuitous shot of some locals walking through one of the main gates in Jerash.

Jordan Day 4, June 15

Breakfast at 4 AM is more and more appealing. I love hummus at that hour. I still am not, nor will I ever be, a morning person, but at least food is good for enticement. And the desert is beautifully still at that hour.

Arrived to the site on time this AM. It was blooming cold out on the Tel today. And very, very windy. Some of our workers lit a branch on fire and huddled around it. Surprisingly it did give off a lot of heat. Funny how desert dwellers know how to stay warm when it's cold and cool when it's hot.
In other news, we had pirates attack today. They forced us to listen to them singing and even declared the Tel as their domain by planting a flag. Crazy pirates. Their crazy antics did however allow me a chance to tell silly pirate jokes which made us all "ARRR".
Actually our local workers freaked out a bit at the 'ghost' on the flag. Said it would bring bad things to happen on the site. So far, not true.
Field A found another skeleton today. A baby this time. A lot of dead people popping up on the Tel. Recent burials mostly. So we have to exhume them and then rebury them. None of the graves are marked and so they are always a surprise.
Since it is Friday, we let our workers go at 11 to pray, as all Muslims are supposed to on Friday, and we did pottery reading early, which leaves us with plenty of time to do laundry, watch movies, e-mail and run to see cool site around the area. Found out that there is couple here from St. Helena. And a girl from Austin. Nice to catch up on 'home' news.
Also was told today that the hotel in which we stay is famous for being a place of ill-repute. Yep. Apparently prostitution is very alive and well here and seeing women dressed as we do in this hotel is very rare in this country. For some reason platform shoes and strapless dresses are a no-no. It's what the ladies of the night (or really any hour) wear.
Here is the place I spend much of my day. The sifter. Well, I spend much of it between here...

















and here...

Jordan Day 3, June 14

Our bus drivers got lost on the way to the site, so I got to see the not-so-thriving metropolis of Madaba this AM. Of course, at 4:30 nobody was awake, so it was a quiet trip. Amanda helped start the day with a bit of Tai Chi. I later learned that Amanda doesn't actually know Tai Chi. But she faked it well.





Young Hwa enjoyed the dawn (my Day 3) while wrapped in her kephia, a typical male headdress, and Dustin was taught by Aleph how to wrap his kephia. Dustin is the one in white, just in case you couldn't tell.

Scottie and I cleared about 80 goofahs (those handy rubber baskets) full of dirt today. My arms and back ache. But we found a butt! It’s the butt of an animal, a tail, and a broken off leg, hollow body, no head. Sad looking decapitated piece of pottery, but a nice find. Scottie was happy to make many butt jokes this evening once the piece was identified. Many big rocks were shifted today from ancient (well really old) wall collapses. Dustin has educated our field helpers in the art of grunting. Before hauling the rocks, they all now hit knuckles together, grunt and flex. It’s like watching cavemen.

Field C, the field next to us, found the head of a figurine. Very cool figure of a lady with long hair and a headdress. Apparently a very rare find of a Moabite goddess figurine. Our dig director has only ever seen one before, and that one was in a picture.

Falafel sandwiches for second breakfast, and melon. Lots of melon, which is wonderful to eat just as the heat is starting to build. And I still love falafel and hummus. This is the view from where we eat breakfast. Olive groves and houses.

At pottery washing the gang decided to sing show tunes. Stephanie, Shawn and Scottie enchanted us with everything from Phantom to Fiddler. They have an amazing repertoire. We should hire them out. They take requests, just not the request to shush.

And today another compliment “Yenniffer, you good woman.” And then “Yenniffer, you smart.” WOW! I think I have a following. And a proper gender assignment.

Tomorrow is Friday, which my muscles are glad for. And Sabbath will find us loaded on a bus headed north. I get to see the Sea of Galilee! And Jerash! Dinner is calling and then bed. I do miss my bed. This one is like a brick with some foam on top. And a thin layer of foam at that…

On to Day 4!

Jordan Day 2 June 13

Today was Cecilia’s birthday and she joined us at field D. She usually is at the hotel sorting and tagging all of the finds, but this day was an exception. Not a cloud in the sky today, which made for a lovely hot day. Lots of dirt to move today. We cut into balks (dividing piles of dirt in each field, about 1 meter wide) and found some spiffy stuff. Found a complete handle to a pot. Found some painted pieces. But the major haul for the day….an egg. Yep. Hard boiled, buried about 6 inches below surface, and was probably sorely missed by the person who brought it years ago for breakfast. Sadly we discarded it, as it "does not have any historical value".

Shawn performed a lovely dance for Cecilia today. Dustin somehow managed to capture the entire thing on video. I believe he has posted it to YouTube under “The dancing archeologist”. We laughed for hours over that one. Shawn fears for his seminary career now, but the world will have laughter!

We also had camels, Cecelia’s favorite animal, come visit the site today. See? Cecilia loves camels.

Received an interesting compliment today. As I was hauling goofahs full of dirt to sift, one of our helpers, a local guy, about 18, from the tribe whose land we are nearest, said “Yenniffer, you good man.” Made my day that one! A) to be told I am good at this is great, since it is all so new B) to be told I am a man in riotous and C) to hear this from a young Jordanian man is highly complimentary and hilarious.

Instead of sticking around for dinner, after pottery washing Amanda, Dustin, Cecilia and I headed into the city center. Found a watch that had Arabic numerals on the face. Now I can’t tell the time in another script. Drat! We ate dinner in town and we meandered the streets like hooligans. Well watched hooligans. I guess foreigners are rare in the part of the city we went to, as we were watched at every turn. Even at dinner. I imagine it must be what animals in a zoo feel like. I think I may boycott zoos from now on…The smell of the city reminds me of Rome in the summer. Diesel, dirt and cooking food. We got ‘home’ in time to sleep and I woke up at 1 AM. I still can’t seem to sleep through the night here…

On to Day 3!