Friday, January 8, 2010

Kristen Conquers Her Fears

Dead Sea & Wadi Himara, Jordan

Our new Bell Amman colleague Melanie is determined to get Kristen to conquer some of her fears and phobias this year, and become a generally more self-confident person. To that end, she set Kristen a challenge as a New Years resolution: Do something that scares you every month. Today we addressed two fears: cycling and heights.
From Kristen Conquers Her Fears
First she cycled 25km without getting off the bike once (voluntarily OR involuntarily), without going below 3rd gear, and still beating a third of the group!

Then we went for her fear of heights. Like Philip before her, Kristen got this far and decided to sit down and wait for us to come back:
From Kristen Conquers Her Fears
But Ammar, bless his heart, would have none of it. He convinced her to give it a try, and coached her over the big boulders, and she made it all the way up to the little waterfall.
From Kristen Conquers Her Fears
I figured she wouldn't climb up the waterfall with us. After all, I didn't on my first trip up Wadi Himara, and I'm not nearly so afraid of heights. In fact, I was so sure that she'd stay at the bottom that I left my backpack with her when I went up.
From Kristen Conquers Her Fears
But Kristen's student, who happened to also be on the trip, was absolutely right when he said, "Just don't watch, and she'll come up when she thinks no one's looking!" We hadn't been up at our final destination for long when we turned around, and there she was! And let me tell you, it was worth the climb for the spectacular waterfall!
From Kristen Conquers Her Fears
Not to mention the galayat bandoura and wood-fired tea!
From Kristen Conquers Her Fears

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