So I realized I forgot to post about the Dead Sea and the Jordan River Baptismal site. That is a shame since both were so amazing to experience and see! About two weeks ago, we went on a field trip to enjoy the two major water sites of Jordan - the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. That's it and both are so small now that there is a likely future possibility that there will be no above ground water sites in Jordan left to see or swim in or whatever else you want to do with water. This thinking and warning from various signs or obvious physical remnants of bygone days when the water was much higher reminded me of a similar problem we are battling in Arizona. The amount of water loss in the Dead Sea is probably comparable to the amount of water loss in Lake Powell or other major lakes or rivers in Arizona. The Jordan River should really be called the Jordan Creek, same as the Salt River in Arizona. They are barely flowing enough to get a nice tube ride out of it or be able to get baptized in it if you try really hard.
Anyway, we first visited the Jordan River and the "supposed" baptismal site of Jesus Christ. Of course, no one could really know for sure where that might be. However, there was still a nice feeling about the place that was calm and peaceful. There were a ton of people we could watch getting in on the Israeli side to be baptized. Some members of my program also climbed in. I refused since all the water is just agricultural run-off from farms further upstream. Still, the plants and vegetation are reminiscent of what was there during Jesus' day. Plus this was the spot claimed by the Byzantine church to be the site of the baptism. And they only came a few hundred years after Christ, so it was a close as we could get to authentic. It was reaffirming to me to watch about a hundred people renew their commitment to following Jesus Christ. There was another, more private site further down that individual churches can rent for special baptismal services. It has a lot of sitting and a pulpit-like space. This is where the LDS church does their baptisms here in the Holy Land - a few kids from the branch got baptized there about a month or so ago. How cool is that? And what a story to share with all future prosperity. In addition to the magnificent spiritual experience of reflecting on the baptism of Jesus Christ and what it means in my life, it was also an architectual marvel to see so many different churches so close together. Each has its own distinct style and features. It was a humanities' TA's dream to compare all the different features and what they mean or the purposes they serve - Catholic, Orthodox, Greek Catholic, etc.
After spending a short time at the Jordan River (there wasn't overly much to see since it is so tiny) we headed down to the lowest point of land on earth - the Dead Sea. First of all, we went to this really fancy resort complete with multiple swimming pools and its own private beach that led down to the Dead Sea. That was a nice start to the whole experience. The Dead Sea was something I could never had adequately prepared my mind for no matter how much I researched or tried. It was other-worldly. Firstly, let me warn everyone about the beach. It is a terrible beach - it is not the nice, sandy ones I was used to. It is filled with gnarly, prickly rocks from the ninth circle of Hell, but I digress. Just make sure you keep your shoes on until you are ready to enter the water or you will be regretting it for quite a while. Stepping into the Dead Sea is like stepping into the ocean if it was about a thousand times more like slime. The thickness of it feels like oil or grease on your skin but you just skim across the surface. It would make for the easiest swimming competition ever, there is little-to-no effort involved and just small movements propel you really far across the water. If you lean back, it feels like you are laying on a water bed and you could probably also take a nap. You can even pretend like you are running and actually move somewhere unlike normal water. If I would have done the treading water workouts in the Dead Sea, the result would have been to push me halfway across the sea or all the way to Israel, who knows? Also, I would never have gotten an actual workout but it might have been a lot more fun.
After getting my fill of floating in chemicals, I covered myself in the infamous Dead Sea mud and waited about a half hour for it to harden before scrubbing it off. I have to say this really did work. My skin has never felt as nice or gotten sunburned so fast as after I took off the Dead Sea mud. It totally exfoliated everything and left me with all new skin. I also used it to turn my hair into a sizeable and impressive mohawk. Someone has pictures to prove it and whenever I get my hands on them, I'll post them to prove it. After being reborn (quite literally) I went swimming in the pools. I first tried out the water slide, unfortunately, the water pressure here in Jordan is not what it is in America. I had to push myself all the way down the water slide, so that was only a one time thing. I can say I have tried a water slide in Jordan now though. After that, we had some awesome chicken fight matches. When I was on top of Nick, we won a fair few games and held our own. Next, Yao Yao was on top of my shoulders and it was her first time ever trying to play this definitely American invention. Needless to say, we didn't do too well. Yao Yao could take out the other girl Julia, but we lost miserably to a team of two guys who were more athletic. It was a total blast to get back into the water though and just enjoy life.
Following swimming and water adventures of the day, we had the most exquisite buffet I think I have ever tried. It had all sorts of food from the East and the West. I ended up eating a huge plate full of salads from all over the world, then different chicken dishes from all over the world and then a huge plate of desserts from all over the world. There was even an attempt at something vaguely Mexican (although this was not that good). The rest of the food was out of this world though and divine. I ate enough there to last the rest of that week and then some. It was that good.
Ok, now to the present time and week after our journey to yester-week. This past week was as filled with adventures and new experiences as any other. I already covered all the Halloween fun and extravaganza, so now we can move on to the rest of the week. I had a fun time this week getting my first hair cut in a different language. I have decided there are so many basic things we take for granted in life that actually require a good deal of specific vocabulary and grammar to get them done right. Have you ever considered the words for getting a hair cut like how many inches, what style you want, how to cut your bangs back, the number of the "buzzer" size and what that means, "finger-length", shampooing, etc. I have always taken hair cuts for granted but after this week I will never do that again. Thank goodness, the guy I got was very understanding and we got very good at communicating hair cutting terminology through miming and gestures. We also had a good long chat about families, work, life, the universe, and everything (points if you can name that movie) just like you do with anyone that cuts your hair. I also found out that men attend a special hair school here to learn how to do men's hair. Oh yeah, here in the Middle East there are different barber shops for men and women. Apparently, the women ones are kind of like a party because women can take off their hijab and let loose. I would not know this, it is just what I hear. Anyway, there are separate cosmetic schools or colleges for men and women to get trained for their specific gender. The guy who did my hair found my description of American hair-cutting establishments bizarre and slightly offensive since women cut men's hair and that is considered normal. It was an interesting discussion to have. Hair has a much more significant meaning here than in the USA. It is viewed as much more of a sexual, attracive object and seeing a woman's hair has a lot more meaning behind it, generally, than it ever would in the West. It was a great experience to have here.
Ok, I have to have my usual paragraph about food, since I manage to try something new each and every week. This week I went to a new Yemeni restaurant that instead of doing rice, does really delicious flat breads. You order dishes to share with everyone at the table and then you each take a chunk of bread and pick up whatever the dish is with that bread. Like most Middle Eastern dishes, you eat with your hands and not silverware. There was delectable chicken dishes, bean dishes, tomato soup-like dishes, and more. There was also a sweet bread (kind of like a tortilla) that was deep-fried and stuffed with bananas, cream, and honey. It was like a gift sent straight from heaven. I also had quite a bit more of the most amazing Chinese food this week. I also have started to pick out my favorite juices here in the Middle East that I can't get back home such as lime and kiwi, mint lemonade, watermelon and rose water, cherry and banana, etc. I drink quite a bit of those everyday, because they are so delicious and addicting. I also will miss so much other food upon getting back to the States, Trader Joe's might become my next best friend because of all the options that are there.
This week, I was able to attend an original Arabic play for Kaylie's birthday celebration. It was on the life of Gibron Kahleel Gibron who was a Lebanese artist who lived out a lot of his adult life here in America and wrote great works of literature in both Arabic and English. He had a very wealthy American patroness who provided for him as well as lots of interesting life stories and experiences (as all people do). The play lasted about two hours and was entirely in Arabic. I was able to understand the vast majority of it as were at the other people from my program. All of it fit together really well and was very interesting. There are differences in opinion though in what passes for comedy and drama between normal American plays and Jordanian plays. The play utilized two men throughout the play to act as "dimwits" or picture "Horace and Jasper" from 101 Dalmations or "Pain and Panic" from Hercules and just picture the guys from "Dumber and Dumber" and you can understand the role these guys played in the play. And they did it beautifully and laughter abounded. It would just be weird to include such characters in American biographical, time pieces. They also did Arabic expressions of body language and gestures that I don't know if were always supposed to be in there or not or if the actors and actresses just did it out of habit. Also an Arab woman portraying an American woman was quite a sight to behold and they kind of pinned our weird American quirks and tendencies spot on (at least of the 20's flapper type woman who were rich). It was a good boost to my Arabic confidence that I could understand what was being said in the play and what was going on, especially since it was all in Jordanian colloquial which I have had to learn from the ground-up since being here and just talking with people on the street. There is a tremendous difference between formal Arabic we study at Qasid each day and the normal, lower-level Arabic of the street. Basically, I can almost say I learned one-and-a-half languages or even two after this semester is over, because they are that different. It was a great play though and unusual because it was in colloquial and not in formal like things normally are done.
Yesterday, one of the families in the English branch through a movie night for everyone to attend from our program. We watched "The Giver" and after that "Knight and Day". "The Giver" was pretty much what I expected. A sorry attempt to adapt a classic book and work of literature into film. It was worth watching once though and I did enjoy it, but I felt let down by the giant chasm between the expectations I had from the amazingness of the book and its sequels. "Knight and Day", on the other hand, was a revelation of wonderment and laughter. It has Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz and it is a romantic comedy action. He is a spy and she is an unsuspecting citizen who gets caught up in the spy game and how a relationship develops between them and how clueless she is as he continues to save her. I definitely am going to be looking for the movie to buy now, I could watch it again and again. I also have a question for those back home if they want me to look for any movies while I am here or get them anything. Albeit, I have yet to find "Better Off Dead" yet for Lora. I will keep hunting and hope that it will pop up in the future. And two copies of it so I can have one and she can have one.
This week I have made a recommitment to study and do my homework. I think everyone in my program is suffering from burnout and wants to be done. And at the same time wants our Arabic to improve a heck ton more. We only have a few weeks left and we are all excited about the end of the homework and drudgery but at the same time feeling like we haven't made nearly enough progress yet. There is still so much more to learn and so much more to understand and so much more to speak correctly. I just have to find a way to keep improving after I get home and I am not quite sure what that is yet. In other news, if I want to postpone graduation and do the double major I might have the opportunity to go to Qatar for free and compete in an Arabic debate session. That would be really cool and it would be held right after the next semester ends. So that is making me rethink my life plan and goals, but ma'lish. We shall see.
I think that pretty much covers this week and what I was doing. I hope all of you are doing fantastic and are enjoying the grand month of November. You can think of all of us huddling in our apartments freezing because it is so cold here! I need to go buy wool socks so I can stay warm, or just live under a blanket for the next month.
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