Gwen's Wee Bairn

York, Penna., USA

Tomorrow I'm leaving my cousin Gwen's in Pennsylvania. By the time I'm back in America, she'll be in a new house in Massachusetts, and I'll officially have no family in Pennsylvania anymore. It's a strange thing to contemplate. I grew up there, even if I never felt like I belonged there. I still have friends there: Philip, Phredd and Nicole B. for a start. I have a million memories there. But I no longer have family there.

Meanwhile, though, I am looking forward to visiting my first-cousin-once-removed Seamus again soon. Isn't he adorable?

From America In January

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

Farewell, Philip!

or, Next Time, In Paris!

Amman, Jordan

Philip had to leave today, and I almost didn't get to say a proper goodbye. I had to get up and go to work at 9 AM, and he wasn't leaving till afternoon. Fortunately, I find good, generous friends wherever I go, and most of them seem to like each other as much as I like each of them. Exactly this was the case with Philip, Heba and my roommates Ryan and Kitty, who all went out for brunch at Tche Tche this morning to give Philip the proper farewell I couldn't.

But, as luck would have it, my afternoon client cancelled, and I got home in time to spend one last half hour with Philip before he set off for the airport. Heba and I have agreed to visit him in Lille, France, when he's studying there in the fall semester of 2010. You know, unless he ends up somewhere entirely different, in which case it's still my turn to visit him!

From Philip Goes Home

It was, in fact, the perfect afternoon for a cancellation. It's gotten dramatically warmer this week, and today was almost hot. After we saw Philip off, Ryan, Heba and I took Ryan's guitar (and a pair of his pants he asked me to teach him how to mend) up on the roof for a little sunbathing and visiting. It's really been a fantastic day, despite having to say au revoir, auf Wiedersehen, and il al-li'aa to my dear friend Philip!

Donkey Ravine

or, Philip Communing With Nature

From Wadi Himara

Wadi Himara, Dead Sea, Jordan

Finally, another hiking trip on a Friday! This was a Bike & Hike day, actually, starting from near the Baptism Site, taking the bikes down to the Panorama Road, and then hiking up into Wadi Himara (which means, Donkey Ravine). This is the first Bike & Hike I've been able to do, and as I was coming up that last hill to the Panorama Road, I started to wonder if I really wanted to then hike up a wadi. But when we got off the buses at the bottom of Wadi Himara and started in, it was like a whole different trip on a whole different day. I can't tell you how many times I completely forgot that we'd even been biking. I don't know if it was the scenery and the fresh air, or the fantastic company, but I got a substantial second wind.

I think, perhaps, that I may have worn Philip out this week, though. It's true that I didn't warn him to bring crick-stompin' shoes, so he only had the sneakers he has to wear home on the plane tomorrow, but this was a hike you actually could do without getting your feet wet. Nevertheless, when it started to get wet, Philip decided to sit and commune with nature till we came back down, and he insisted that I go on up the ravine, so eventually I did. He says he had a wonderful time sitting there in nature, and I can certainly believe it.

As for me, I had a wonderful time with Emily and her father, visiting from Chicago. And while he was hauling people up cliffs, Emily and I had some long, therapeutic girl talk!

More pictures will be coming when I get mine developed, and Philip sends me his!

From Wadi Himara

P.S. When I got to Safeway this morning, one of my Tareef friends comes up to me and says, "What's my name?" Apparently, I'd had Ammar and Raslan confused again, and it was in fact Ammar and not Raslan who, two weeks ago, commented on how much I had improved, and I got their names mixed up on my blog. Apologies. It's been fixed now. But I could definitely tell today that I am improving, because I've done the biking stretch a couple times before, and it was easier than ever today!

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!

Ester's Big Year!

Amman, Jordan

Philip came back from his little side trip to Jerusalem today. It was a good distraction for him while I was working this week (and it's been a crazy week at work!). As soon as I got home, I took him with me to help celebrate the last night of Ester's 20s. It's a big few months for her, living abroad, getting engaged, turning 30 and getting married! She managed to fill up the entire second floor of La Calle restuarant with people who wanted to help her celebrate, even so many hundreds of miles from home.

She also told us that she's starting a project, on and off Facebook, to get pioneers and young professionals from the Jordanian and expat communities together for networking opportunities. I'm very excited about getting more details!

"Snow" Day

or, Even Maryland's Not This Squeamish!

Amman, Jordan

I had hoped to get more than one day off to spend with Philip on his visit, but the timing was poor, and I knew I couldn't get out of any part of what is our first week of the second session of classes. John couldn't get today off to entertain his friend Ann, either. So Philip and Ann made arrangements to meet around the corner at Baraka Mall, and John and I shared a taxi to work.

We had just come through the front doors and signed in at the palm scanner when my phone started to ring. It took us quite some time to find it (it had fallen out of my jacket pocket into the jacket lining), and when we did, it was our co-worker Martha. "Good news, Maryah! Snow day! You don't have to go to work today! John still has to go in for placement testing, but you and I don't have to work today." Only half an hour too late!

Anyway, the driver took me to Baraka Mall, where I met up with Philip and Ann, and we had a wonderful day at Jafra Restaurant and shopping for pashminas and kaffiya in the city center. It was a beautiful day, actually. Sunny, not too cold....

It took me a long time to figure out why in the world we had a "snow day" today. There was no snow in sight. Not in Amman. But eventually I remembered that, because there is no heating in the public schools, sometimes the Ministry of Education calls "snow days" that are really "cold days."

What Do You Mean, No Bus?

Wadi Musa -> Ma'an -> Amman, Jordan

This morning we got up nice and early to see the highlight of the Petra National Park: the Monastery! In the interest of time, I convinced poor Philip to take a donkey up the mountain. He may never forgive me! But it really was beautiful up there, wrapped to the ears in our new kaffiya, taking pictures, chatting with a young Belgian photographer who was waiting for a second day for the perfect light.

Then we walked back down, passing Miriam on her way back up, and had just enough time to see the highlights of the Roman City before we hoofed it back up to the entrance so we'd make it on to the JETT bus by 4 o'clock. But when we got there, we discovered that there was no JETT bus today. The morning bus down from Amman couldn't make it, because the Shobak road was still closed, so there was no bus to take us back up to Amman. By this time, it was too late to find a public bus back to Amman, either. Instead, the bus parking lot manager offered to drive us to Ma'an, where we could catch a bus to Amman. We agreed.

Now, while I (and many other Peace Corps Volunteers and other expats who live more than 4km from the so-called "Fortress America") think that the American embassy tends to be overly-cautious about their warnings, I do lend some credence to their warning about Ma'an. Not only is it known for its "radical Islamist leanings," a term I'm always suspicious of, but also for its anti-governmental riots: bread riots, Tawjihi riots.... Even my archaeologist friend, who's well known and well respected in Wadi Musa and the south of Jordan, recommends that non-Arab women going to Ma'an cover their hair. And when we got to the bus station in Ma'an, the parking lot manager recommended that Philip let me do the talking, and that I stick to my Bedouin Arabic. And it seems to have been successful, because when we finally arrived in Amman, the young guys who'd been sitting next to us even stood around in the pouring rain to help us find a cab at a reasonable price. So I guess the embassy was wrong again.

Snowed In!

or, Someone Will Know (of) You Wherever You Go in Jordan!

Wadi Musa, Jordan

I've mentioned before how small a place Jordan is, and how closely people are connected to each other here. It was something we sometimes complained about in Peace Corps, how you could never go anywhere without being seen by someone who would know who you were and report back to your site village. On the other hand, sometimes it can be an advantage to be part of the network. This was a night for acknowledging those ties.

It started with a cup of tea last night with the owner of our hotel, Adel. Something slipped out about my being an honorary HaraHsheh, the name of the family in my Peace Corps village, which revealed that the hotelier and I were "cousins," as he was also from the Bani Hassan Tribe. He regaled us with some fabulous, likely exaggerated, tales of how being related to his uncle, alias Abu Mas'ab al-Zarqawi, had both helped and hindered him in recent years. I've heard similar stories before, and I understand what it must be like to know that the most infamous terrorist in Iraq is from your tribe. After all, it's become my tribe, too!

Then, this evening, Philip and I were walking down for another cup of tea with Adel, and I saw this Spanish guy I know coming down from upstairs. "Hey, I know you!" I exclaimed. It's Jose, who's friends with Abby and a number of other people I know in Amman. And he had quite a tale of woe, which he shared over a cup of tea with Adel, some other Spaniards and a Pollack travelling with Jose. They'd been in Petra for the day, and were on their way back to Amman when it started to snow. The higher they went, the more snowy and slippery it got. In Jordan, as is usually the case in south-central Pennsylvania where I grew up, they don't start plowing until the snow is almost finished falling. So when Jose saw an ambulance leading cars in the other direction, he decided to follow it back to Wadi Musa, and ended up at our hotel.

After they'd told their story, Jose and friends went down to the pub in the Petra Palace for a much-needed beer, but they left a note with the hotelier for a girl named Miriam who was also staying at the hotel. Philip and I stuck around to accept an offer of a cup of tea from our hotelier. When it came out, and I put in two spoons of sugar, Adel started to laugh: "You really are Bani Hassan!" But then he had to get up and take a look at the hotel's boiler, leaving Philip and I alone with our tea when the door opened and a girl walked in. The immediate words out of my mouth were, "You must be Miriam!" immediately followed by, "Wait! I know you!" We had met a week earlier while out with some mutual friends. She's an Aussie, volunteering at a Palestinian refugee camp, and staying with a friend who works for the UN. After she'd showered, the three of us followed the Spaniards down to the pub.

And what do you know, but the Swiss couple were also at the pub! Small world.

Neither Rain nor Wind nor....

Petra, Jordan

Our weather luck changed today. In fact, John and Ann called over breakfast to let us know that the park had been temporarily closed for fear of flash flooding. As we've been saying in Tareef for weeks, the weather's been great for biking and sightseeing this winter, but bad for Jordan, so I have to be grateful for the rain. Still, the timing could hardly have been worse for Philip, who was sure that winter would be over by the time he arrived in Jordan!

Nevertheless, as we lingered over breakfast, hoping the weather would change, another couple sat down at the breakfast table and starting talking to each other in a language I know and love ... Schwyyzerduutsch! A lovely middle-aged couple from Winterthur, Switzerland, they even gave us a ride down into the park when it had opened.

I'm running out of new things to see in a single day in Petra. Most of the things I'd most like to see now require advanced planning, more than one day, and a guide. Still, it's fun to go through the park with different people and see it through different eyes. Petra with Josh, Petra with Auntie Viv, Petra with my parents, Petra with Chris Tuttle, and Petra with Philip are very different experiences. Josh wants to pet every stray animal he comes across. Auntie Viv and I climbed every mountain in the place. I started out that way with my parents, and consequently, Mom couldn't walk uphill on the second day, and we rode donkeys, camels and horses all the way home. Going with Chris Tuttle was just fascinating because he knows every stone and every Bedouin in the camp by name and history. It was fun, then, to explore with Philip and recall all the things that I had learned on the expert tour this past summer.

Plus, Philip is a shopper. We hit almost every stand in the park, buying necklaces and such. I ended up with some very nice additions to my growing jewelry collection. As Philip said, "Maryah! You're finally turning into a girl!"

We also found ourselves with a little girl, Fawzia, leading us around the park and trying to play tour guide, which was cute for awhile, and then got annoying, and then she asked for money for a tour we neither asked for nor needed! In retrospect, I think perhaps Auntie Viv and I were also shadowed by Fawzia and a friend of hers, but three years ago they didn't ask us for money!

King's Highway Tour

Criss-Crossing the Backbone of Jordan

Amman -> Madaba -> the Dead Sea -> Kerak -> Wadi Musa & Petra, Jordan

Despite short notice, a full work schedule, and the threat of snow, I was determined that Philip get to see the highlights of Jordan in his brief stay here. As luck would have it, my co-worker John also had a friend, Ann, visiting from London, and had hired a driver to take us down the King's Highway to Madaba, the Dead Sea, Kerak and Wadi Musa, the town at the entrance of Petra National Park. Philip and I decided to tag along, despite my corporate client's warnings that it was supposed to snow and be miserable all weekend long. Philip agreed, it would be silly to come all this way and not even get a brief, rainy glimpse of Petra!

So we left early, in order to arrive in Madaba as St. George's Church opened in the morning. The Greek Orthodox church features a Sixth Century mosaic map of the Classical World, one of the oldest and most accurate maps of the Trans-Jordan region, though the part of the map depicting Egypt is quite skewed, so that the Nile River runs perpendicular and not parallel to the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. Archaeologists interpret this to mean that the mosaic makers were probably from the Trans-Jordan, and were only able to construct the Egyptian section of the map from texts and word of mouth.

As it turned out, the weather was simply beautiful today, warm and sunny and perfect for a trip down the Dead Sea, and along the backbone of Jordan, through the mountains that formed the edge of the Crusader kingdoms. Back in the period of the film "Kingdom of Heaven," the European Crusaders had built a series of castles along the mountain range beyond the Jordan River: Aqaba, Wu'ayra (in Petra National Park), Kerak (which features prominently in the film), Shobak, Ajlun, Krak de Chevaliers and others. They were built at such intervals that signal fires could be lit at one castle at night, and seen at the next one north and south. We visited one of the best preserved of those, Kerak Castle. One of the fun things about archaeological sites in Jordan is that they're poorly labeled (and likely poorly understood as well), so you mostly get to make things up as you go along. Sadly, I couldn't locate what Auntie Viv and I thought was probably the kitchens, but we had some fun wandering around and wondering.

After lunch, we went out to the Desert Highway and hurried down to Wadi Musa so that we could make it to Petra By Night ... which was rather more fun when I came with my parents and there were about fifty people, instead of a couple hundred. Being one of the New Seven Wonders of the World has made Petra an awfully crowded place! On the other hand, I could tell my Arabic was better, because I understood what the rababah player was singing!

Philip, darling!!

Amman, Jordan

He'd been saying for weeks that he would come and visit me in Jordan if he could find an affordable ticket, and for weeks I'd been thinking, 'Yeah, right!' And then, on Sunday, I get a message on Facebook: "I'm coming on Wednesday!" I thought, 'Which Wednesday? This Wednesday? In February? He couldn't mean this week!' But he did. Still, I didn't believe it until I ran upstairs on my break for my last class of Block One, saw Philip step out of the cab, and had given him a great big hug.

As Philip's mother said, "I can never tell where in the world you and Maryah will end up next!" In fact, Philip's coming to Jordan from a rather interesting corner of the earth: South Korea! Clarian University, where he's studying at the moment, is piloting a new study abroad program to study Korean language in South Korea. Someone in the International Studies office must have known Philip, because they offered him a full scholarship to be their guinea pig, and of course he couldn't say no! Learn a new language? Of course! For free? Even better! And because he's enrolled in classes, he's also receiving a stipend from our friend Sec. Hilary Clinton under the G.I. Bill, which is how he can afford to come practice his Arabic in Jordan for ten days!

Those of us who flit about the globe in search of new languages and new adventures frequently have the problem of communicating those experiences to others. When we go back home, people tend to say, "How was it?" and all they expect in reply is, "Excellent!" When you start to extol the virtues of your host community, or tell the little anecdotes that so amuse you about the trip, their eyes glaze over and they become intensely interested in some spot on the opposite wall.... I'm lucky to have an extended family and a few friends, notably Phredd and my brother's late best friend Nathan, who truly are fascinated by every little story. So it's great when Philip comes to visit, because we can swap culture shock anecdotes and enjoy the telling as much as the hearing! Most of my expat friends here are like Phredd and Nate, though, so I knew they would love Philip, and he them. So I took Philip and my new roommate, Kitty, to one of my favorite expat hangouts, Books@Cafe, where we had a wonderful evening with Heba, Abby, some of Abby's friends, and eventually my third roommate Ryan and our mutual friend Lowen.

I only wish Meli had been able to come with the other Peace Corps Volunteers who are in town for a conference, or Emily, who's soaking up the high life in Geneva this weekend!

For His Mother

Amman, Jordan

It will come as no surprise to those of you who know me well to hear that I have stumbled into the GLBT community in Jordan. The longer I am here, the more I learn about what is actually a relatively flourishing Rainbow Coalition here in Jordan. Many of my favorite restaurants around town are under gay or lesbian management, and are therefore popular hangouts for Jordan's sexual minorities.

That's why I was very disappointed to hear today that the fabulous techno club I visited with my German friend and his boyfriend, RGB (reportedly short for "Real Gay Bar"), had to shut down recently. There was apparently an article published in a local newspaper about the gay community in Amman, which made RGB's owner's mother so nervous for his safety that she ended up in the hospital, and he decided to close the club.

So much for the idea of Philip and I going dancing there this weekend!