Jordan (Shawn)

So about Jordan. The first day we went to Mt. Nebo. I saw there how small of an area we are in because we could see where Jerusalem and Jericho were, while in Jordan. We went to a church in Madaba with an old mosaic and paintings. We then drove down to Petra. In Petra I climbed up like three mountains which was fun. It is a very dry mountainous sandstone desert. There are MANY tombs carved into these mountains and canyons. Very picturesque. I also rode a camel which was very exciting. I dared my friend, Machenzie, to kiss it which she did. (She also put a tarantula in Neil's bed. She sure is a good friend). I then tried to kiss the camel but was rejected. It growled at me. It apparently only had room for Machenzie in its life. 

   The next day we were in Amman, there and later Jerash. Jersash is very restored which made it pretty fun. That night in Amman I went out with Neil, Annie, and a friend, Hailey, to go talk to people. I used my missionary skills to get us into a Filipino house (there were a lot of them in Jordan) where we talked and they gave us food. We then got into a Jordanian house which was a little more difficult because they did not speak English. They served us coffee, and we spent the next half hour or so teaching them English words while we taught them Arabic words. The sixty year old man held my hand for a while. Apparently that is a Jordanian thing.

Our second night in Jordan I then took out a couple more girls and Annie to get into a house. We got into another Filipino house and talked with them about why they were in Jordan. We had a good time talking with them. They didn't like Jordanians too much. Later that night Neil's friend, David who is studying Arabic in Amman with BYU picked us up and took us to one of the market places. A very nice guy. The next day we packed up and went to the river Jordan and had a devotional there. We then spent many hours at the border waiting to go through. After that we returned to the Jerusalem center where I did homework.

     Interesting things about Jordan. A pretty varied group of people. You have some people who dress Western style. You also have a lot of conservative people who dress Arab style. I saw quite a few ladies in black who had their faces completely covered. The guys where what looks like a dress with a handkerchief for a hat. What  I thought was super cool were the Bedouin. There are a lot of them out in the countryside, or better said, desert. They live in tents made out of goat and camel hair. It's crazy. They are just out in the desert with sand and goats living in tents. It was pretty fun. Thanks mom,

   -Shawn

Jordan (Annie)

Jordan in brief: a small, oddly-shaped country dominated by desert landscapes and awesome rocks. And it looks a lot like Nevada and southern Utah. I'll admit that to the world (coughcoughEthancough). But really, it was amazing how similar it sometimes is here to the landscapes back home. It always surprises me.

We started out our lovely trip with a trip to Mount Nebo, which is near where Moses and Elijah were translated. Unfortunately we could not see much, as it was very smoggy, but if we had been able to see we would've seen the Dead Sea, Jericho, and the mountains across the valley in the Holy Land. Then we went to Madaba and saw a mosaic map that is the earliest known depiction of the Holy Land. It was REALLY cool, because looking at the map you were able to see a little bit how the map-makers viewed the Holy Land in regards to what they thought was important, what cities they chose to include and the pictures they depicted. Unfortunately a lot of the map was damaged, so there are big chunks of it missing, but we can see a lot of ancient Israel in the rest. It was really intriguing.

That was it for Day One of our Jordan trip. Day Two was the most FANTASTIC DAY EVER! In other words, Petra! Petra in short is a city built by the Nabateans, a trading tribe in ancient times. Petra is located in red-rock slot canyons in the middle of the Jordanian desert. It looks a lot like St. George. Alison and Ethan would LOVE Petra. It was beautiful. The treasury is the first things you see when you walk out of the canyon. It is amazing, but it doesn't even compare to the massive monastery carved into the stone an hour's hike away. The monastery was amazing! The thing was huge. Definitely worth the hike up there. Next Neil, Shawn, Nicole and I hiked up to the high place, which is where the Nabateans sacrificed people on an altar up there. The altar itself wasn't that special, but the hike up was GORGEOUS! The steps were carved into the mountainside, and every time you turned a corner there was another spectacular view. It felt so good to hike--it's been a while since I have done that! At various points during the day all of us rode camels. Camels are smelly and dirty and covered in flies but it is fun to ride them because you are very high in the air and just lurch around up there while people laugh at you down below. After a solid eight hours of walking and hiking around Petra we headed out of Petra, but I definitely want to come again someday. It was a ton of fun.

In front of the Treasury

First glimpse of the Treasury through the slot canyon.

After Petra we drove up to Amman, the capitol of Jordan. After we got to the hotel Shawn was itching to get out, so he, Neil, our friend Hailey and I all headed out into the city to see if we could meet anybody, and we did! We met a pair of women from the Philippines who are working in Jordan, and they invited us into our home, fed us, and were happy to talk to us! After we visited with them we left and headed down the road, where a Jordanian family was chilling on their porch. Although we don't speak Arabic and they didn't speak English, we started talking with each other and then they invited us into their home as well, where Shawn showed off his surprising charisma and charmed his way into their hearts. Shawn is really funny! We learned a bit of Arabic and Shawn played thumb wars with the grandpa of the family, Ali. By the end of the night the family had decided to adopt Shawn and informed us that we could leave him there and go.


Day Three, Halloween! We celebrated Halloween a few days before (more on that to come) but that was fine. What we got was much better than candy. We went first to the citadel, which was a city of ruins in the middle of Amman. There was a little museum attached to it that had a lot of really amazing artifacts in it, including a human figurine dating back to 6500 B.C. It is the first known figurine of a human--at least I think that's what Stratford said. Then somebody said, "But Professor Stratford, that's before Adam and Eve!" And Stratford replied, "This was when God was practicing making humans." Then my lovely friend Alyssa said, "Good thing it was practice." SO GOOD! I love everybody here.

Next we went to the Jabbok River, and then Jerash, which is a large ancient Greco-Roman city. It included two theaters, a temple to Artemis, a temple to Zeus, and a lot of columns. It was just like Hercules! Not that I base my real-life experiences off of Disney movies or anything...

Next up was the Royal Automobile Museum, where we saw cars. They were very shiny. I'm not a car person, so I couldn't tell you much more than that. This museum was wasted on me.

This is a Ferrari

That night we went out and met another Philippine woman, and we talked with her and her roommates for a little while and now we are Facebook friends! Who would have ever thought?

Day Four: Last day! So sad. First we saw a Roman theater and Odeon, which basically were a large theater and a small one. Theaters are always fun because of all the exciting acoustic things you can do in them. Next we went to Bethany beyond Jordan, where Jesus Christ was baptized. We went to a platform on the side of the Jordan River and dipped our feet in. It was incredible to see it, and fortunately we'll see the River Jordan again in a few weeks when we go to Jordan. We had a devotional here and said our last farewell to the beautiful country of Jordan.

We then headed to the border, which ultimately took four hours to get through. This was because we had to sit for hours while they searched every one of our bags. And then they lost one and it took another hour to find it. Finally, at long last, we got home.

 "It was like a mix of every wonderful thing I've ever seen in my life." -Hannah Perry, a student here.

Mackenzie found this spider and put it on Neil's bed. Neil was delighted.