What can I say about this last weekend other than it was absolutely amazing? There is nothing better than seeing crusade castles and getting sunburned in February while seeing one of the seven new wonders of the world.
Friday at 8am I met at the University of Jordan with members of my program and we loaded onto a bus. A few hours later we arrived at Shobak castle, a small castle built during the crusades. Afterwards, we went and had tea with an old man in his cave (complete with a satellite, tv, and refrigerator). On the back wall of his cave were pictures of foreigners that he had befriended including a couple from California. On a table in the center were various items such as old coins, bullets, jewlery, etc for sale. One of the guys that works with our program bought an old rifle for 1000JD (1000+US!!!!) and an Arab revolt era tea pot for I think 150JD like they were just normal souvenirs!!! How we have someone working with our program that can drop money like that is beyond me. Afterwards we ate lunch and boarded the buses for Wadi Musa, the town right outside of Petra. Once there, some girls from my program and I took a taxi up the veeeeeeeery long hill to the supposed Spring of Moses where we drank from the spring (I'm hoping its a decision I do not regret). We than proceeded to walk back down the hill where we were frequently bombarded by shop owners trying to lure us into their stores. One shop was very friendly and after striking up a conversation they offered us some tea and even played a small drum for us. That night we cooked and ate "authentic arab food" at a place called Petra kitchen where I unfortunately attracted the attention of the 30 some year old chef who later asked for my number :( (an unfortunate side effect of smiling too much----a situation made even more awkward because he was our chef the following day!). The next morning we started our walk to Petra (entrance was only five minutes from our hotel). We started at 6am which is good because there were very few tourists inside------we saw the treasury and then walked the remaining way to an outside restaurant where we were given the option to hang out or climb the 800 steps to the monastery which WE DID! It took us awhile to make it to the top but it was well worth it----the monastery is much more impressive than the treasury (made famous by Indiana Jones). On the way down we stopped and had tea with one of the bedoin women selling jewlery and then had lunch down at the restaurant. Afterwards we made our way back through Petra, all the while being offered donkey/camel rides by the locals, most commonly saying "Donkey! Want Taxi? Mercedes? Jaguar? For you 1JD!". Other common phrases heard by locals trying to sell little knick knacks included "Buy one get one free!!" and "Happy hour! Special price!!". One guy said "later gator" when we left----I think its hilarious how they pick up on silly little western phrases.


Oh and my all time favorite part of this weekend: Driving back to Amman and seeing a tellatubby with a ball or balloon standing on the side of the street......random?!


Next big trip: Wadi Rum!!!!