Downsides of an SLR

or, If I Only Had a Digital Camera!

From Philip Goes North

Amman, Jordan

I've been teased a lot in the last few years for still having one of those old-fashioned film cameras, and for most of that time, I've been able to counter that it takes better pictures than some cheap digital camera. That claim's getting harder to make, especially in Jordan. I don't know if it's the way the vendors take care of the film before I purchase it, or the heat I subject it to after I've purchased it and taken pictures, or the quality of the developing, but it seems that all the photos I've taken in Jordan this time around have been grainy and poor quality. They tend to be washed out, too, even with my UV-protected and polarized lenses. I think this is probably because I can't find a place to purchase 400-speed film in Jordan. Every shopkeeper I try to ask says, "The sun is so bright in Jordan, you don't need 400-speed film!" But I think using 200-speed is over-exposing my film. (Not to mention that sometimes I want to take indoor pictures of kids whizzing around, or people dancing, for example.)

The other problem with film cameras is the time it takes to finish a roll of film and develop it. I just developed seven rolls of film this week, the best of which I've uploaded to Picasa. These photos go back months, all the way to our first trip with Tareef Cycling Club: Biking in Wadi Musa and Hiking in Wadi al-Ghwayr. Most of the other pictures are more recent, from the trek down the King's Highway with Philip, John and Ann, from my trip with Philip to Umm Qais and Jerash, and from the day that Ryan, John and I rented a car to go to Ajlun, Pella and Umm Qais. There are still a few more pictures left in my camera, and I'm waiting to get the pictures I took with Philip and Ryan's cameras!

From Ryan's Rental

Refreshing Frankness

Amman -> Ajlun -> Pella (Tabqat Fahl) -> Umm Qais -> Amman, Jordan

My roommate Ryan has been dying to drive, so today we rented a car, he and I and my colleague John, and went on an adventure. From my archaeologist friend Chris, I'd gotten a copy of the best map he had and directions to Pella, and from Pella to Umm Qais, my favorite place in Jordan, and Ryan's. However, there are no truly good maps of Jordan, so even the best map is mostly an approximation of where you're actually going. In addition, signage is spotty in Jordan, so we had to stop frequently to ask for directions.

The directions we got from Ajlun Castle down into the Jordan Valley turned out to be a simply gorgeous ride down flower-covered mountainsides, through the villages of Halawa and Hashemiyya (the one in Ajlun, one of two villages of Hashemiyya where there were Peace Corps Volunteers in my day!), and the ruins of what looks to my untrained eye like an Ottoman village. Once we got down to the bottom, directions were pretty simple. There's basically only one road along the Jordan Valley, so we turned right/North at the checkpoint and we were off.

But the guys at the checkpoint had said 7km to Pella, and when we had gone 9km and still not found it, I as navigator started to get nervous. We stopped a couple times to ask for verification, and the most useful of these was also the most amusing. Usually I would ask women for directions, but with Ryan and John in the car, I felt safe enough asking a young man hanging out by the roadside.
"Why don't you come in for lunch and then I'll take you?" he immediately responded.
"No, no, we have a lunch date in Umm Qais later," I replied quickly, only a slight exaggeration since we'd been talking about lunch and a glass of wine at the Resthouse at Umm Qais all the way up the road.
"It's okay, I'm just obligated to ask!" he grinned, and gave us excellent directions.

As we drove away, Ryan and I had a good laugh at his candor. It's true, in Arab culture, hospitality is so deeply ingrained and so important that one is essentially obligated to invite into one's home anyone who asks for help in any way. As a Peace Corps Volunteer, sometimes I took advantage of this, because it granted me the access to the community that was so essential for not only my work, but for my personal well-being. Still, it is exceedingly rare to hear an Arab speak so openly about his obligation of hospitality!

We got a little confused on our way to Umm Qais, too, because there seemed to be no signage in English, but eventually we made it. I've never seen Umm Qais so busy! Like every other grassy overlook or streambank we passed today, Umm Qais was swarming with Jordanians who'd had the same urge we had to get out of the city and enjoy the precious few weeks of green!

Also, if I may be frank myself, the new guard tower in Umm Qais is just a blight. Perhaps it is warranted for security purposes, but it was in the way in many of my pictures today. Most notably, it stuck right up in the middle of the beautiful sunset we watched from the top of the West Theater!

Medina-tain of the Decapolis

Jerash and Umm Qais, Jordan

Today we hired a driver and I took Philip north to 2 cities of the Roman Decapolis, the league of 10 cities that were economic and military strongholds on the edge of the Roman Empire in Palestine. I love Petra, and there are so many things there I still haven't done. Still, I find the cities of the north of Jordan more compelling to me. In part, perhaps, it's because I know so much less about them now. Perhaps it's because the mobs of tourists are slightly less. And in the case of Umm Qais, it's definitely the old adage: Location! Location! Location!

From Philip Goes North

Umm Qais

This is my favorite place in Jordan. The view is just amazing: the Yarmouk River Valley, the Syrian Golan, the Israeli Golan, Lake Tiberius (aka Sea of Galilee), the city of Tiberius, Israel, the Jordan River Valley ... you feel like you're standing on top of the world. Add to that the delicious food at the restaurant there, and Philip's fabulous company, and you've got a perfect day! We wandered about in the ruins down the street of columns to the west, too, found the mosaic floor hidden back in the weeds, and some beautiful flowers. This is the best time to visit the northwest of Jordan, because even with the stingy little bit of rain we've gotten this year, the whole Irbid/Ajlun region just explodes with greenery and flowers, like the kind of spring-time I'm used to from the American northeast.

From Philip Goes North

Jerash

Jordanians must have gotten over the little Danish cartoon fiasco, because the Danish-Jordanian archaeology partnership in Jerash seems to be alive and well. Philip and I discovered a number of things that I'm absolutely certain weren't there even as recently as when I came to Jerash with CLS at the end of June. For one, there was this whole Byzantine church next to the Hippodrome and Hadrian's Arch, with this pristine mosaic floor, and I swear it wasn't there before!

Perhaps the most refreshing thing was our timing. We arrived in Jerash in late afternoon, a time at which I'd never visited the Roman ruins there, and I was pleasantly surprised to see a number of Jordanian families lounging in the grass around the park, enjoying the beautiful sunshine and dramatically warmer weather.

From Philip Goes North

Rediscovering Jordan

It's actually been very nice in quite a few ways to be travelling around with Philip (even if people keep mistaking him for my husband!) and doing the tourist thing. Sometimes in Amman, between work and my social life, I almost forget that I'm in Jordan, especially now that my work schedule keeps me from visiting the village. Even cycling with Tareef, while it gets me out of Amman to parts of Jordan I've never seen before, often feels more like California than the Middle East. But with Philip around, I have an excuse to spend a little more money and get out into the country. In fact, our lovely driver Waseem almost has me convinced to sit for the tour guide examinations to become a licensed Jordanian tour guide. I love my job at Bell, but some weeks I feel like I may as well be in Bulgaria or China or anywhere, I use so little Arabic and have so little contact to "real" Jordanian life.

So, please, come visit me in Jordan! Philip, Auntie Viv and my parents will all testify that I'm an excellent trip planner and tour guide, and I only get better with more practice!

The Circle's the Thing

Jerash, Umm Qais and Irbid, Jordan

Today was our group excursion to the ruins at Jerash and Umm Qais. Not much has changed about Jerash since I left, though there are new police guard towers all around the archaeological park, and a lot more Tourist Police than I've ever seen before.

But are traffic patterns in Irbid ever changing! The north end of the Amman Bus Station where the "service taxis" to the University waited has been razed to make room for a traffic circle, and they're putting in more traffic circles at all the major intersections along that road down to Yarmouk University. The university itself has a new auto bridge onto campus from the south end, though it escapes me why such a thing is necessary.

Then, on the road out to Harima, there are several new traffic circles, and a bright, baby blue footbridge over the main road in the middle of Bait Ras, and a couple more new traffic circles on the road West of Harima towards Umm Qais.

I wish we'd had more time in Umm Qais. It would have been nice to wander around a little and enjoy the breeze, or at least sit in the restaurant for a bit and have a cold drink. It was unbearably hot today, even for Jordan, it seemed, and Umm Qais is just over the Yarmouk River valley, too, so it was pretty humid (for Jordan, anyway!).

We came back home along University Street in Irbid, and that, at least, is pretty much the same, with the addition of a Burger King and Popeyes south of the Pizza Hut. Speed2 Internet Cafe is still there, where we whiled away many an hour, and lots of little restaurants that brought back fond memories of our Peace Corps days.

At times, I have to say, it's pretty weird to be back here, and pretty surreal. It feels simultaneously like I'm in Jordan, and like I'm seeing Jordan from this little tourist bubble that I never wore before....