An Eastern Easter (and some Damascus)

I meant to make this post two weeks ago, but a sudden trip to Damascus got in the way so I'm not sorry...

Anyway, Eastern Orthodox Easter is celebrated a week after everyone else's Easter. The ladies informed me that Easter is more important here than Christmas, which would have been good to know prior to the day of. They gave me a really pretty necklace and earrings, which made me glad I brought them back some Turkish Delight from my spring break trip.

So Easter day was pretty much the same as Deena's birthday party, but everyone was more dressed up and there were more people. We ate the traditional Jordanian dish mansaf, which is lamb, rice, and jameed, a kind of milk. Traditionally you eat it with your hands, but only the men opted for that.

Last weekend my friends Patricia, Brad, and I decided to journey to Damascus. We decided to go on Tuesday and left on Thursday, so we didn't have time to get visas beforehand. I had heard of Americans waiting for visas at the border between two and ten hours, but miraculously we made it through in under three hours and the border police were really nice.

When we got to our hostel we dropped our things off and got tea in the old city. The following day was Friday so things were pretty dead, but we managed to entertain ourselves by wandering around the old city. Food was cheap and delicious and spent most of our time just exploring. We decided to hit the National Museum which I would not recommend visiting if you're on a limited time schedule. Afterwards we got ice cream at a place in the old city we had seen crowded earlier that day and it was delicious, though the men taking photos and videos of us sort of put a damper on the experience.

We had a really delicious dinner and then looked into the nightlife that we had heard about from others. At the second bar we went to, I noticed that water was pouring out of a light fixture. After calling this to the bartender's attention, all the lights went out and we drank by candle light, chatting and joking with the bartender.

Our second full day we went to the Ummayad mosque. Not that it wasn't impressive, but it was a little outshined by the Blue Mosque which I had seen in Istanbul the previous week. However, Patricia and I enjoyed the mandatory robes that all women wore, especially after I noted that we resembled dementors (Harry Potter fans? Anyone?). It seemed like a lot of people just went to the mosque to nap, sit, and hang out. So we were sitting and enjoying the sights when a large group of young girls ran up to us. They asked us questions about where we were from and if we were friends with Brad (as though platonic male and female relationships were unfamiliar to them). Then they asked us to take off our sunglasses so they could look at our eyes, proclaiming us all beautiful. They left, but came back in small groups periodically asking to take photos with us. We obliged the first few times because we thought it was so funny, but declined when the frequency and numbers in which they came began to increase. It was especially strange because they wouldn't let us take photos of them (but Patricia slyly snapped a few shots of them taking my picture). We spent the rest of the day shopping in the old open-air souqs (markets) and enjoying Damascus.



All-in-all Damascus was probably my favorite city I've seen so far. I partly liked it better than Istanbul because all the people seemed genuinely kind and welcoming, not because they wanted our money. We sat in a scarf store for almost an hour having tea and chatting with the owner. He said to call any time we ever needed anything or happened to be back in Damascus. No offense to Jordanians, but I daresay that Syrians were the most hospitable people I've come across, save the weirdos taking photos and videos of us everywhere we went. Also as we were walking, men would pass us and say things like "so beautiful" and "give me a kiss". Though I could never get used to that, it was something I've come to expect.

Now I have to run to class but I will add photos later! Unfortunately I think the internet in my homestay is really gone forever this time, so I have fewer opportunities to update.

Note: The photos of Damascus were taken by my talented friend Brad Olson!

Funeral for Jesus (and some Istanbul)

I arrived safely back in Amman yesterday after six days in Istanbul! What an incredible city. We visited such sights as the Ayasofia, the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, and the Cistern... and that was just the first day. We also went on a ferry cruise on the Bosphorous, ventured over to the Asian side for an afternoon, ate fish sandwiches right off the boat, saw a whirling Dervishes show, enjoyed a Turkish bath, and wandered aimlessly through the Grand Bazaar almost every day. We had multiple groups of friends come and go during our stay so we were never bored. Our hostel was located within walking distance of the Ayasofia and the Blue Mosque which was convenient, but everything was pretty expensive because it's such a touristy area. However I really enjoyed the fresh fish and kabob. Also, I loved that no matter where you are in Istanbul there are always at least six gigantic ancient mosques, thirty Turkish flags, and some body of water within your line of sight.


Advice to future travelers:
-Expect extreme nakedness in the Turkish bath. I think that's all I need to say about that.
-Be selective about which whirling Dervishes show you choose to attend. Ours was expensive and not that cool. I recommend consulting a guidebook rather than taking advice from your "friend" at the hostel who just happens to be selling tickets.
-Save Topkapi Palace for a day when you feel fully energized and prepared to get excited over a lot of old stuff... not after you've already been to the Ayasofia, Blue Mosque, and Cistern. You will also feel like your money is going further if you don't pay four different entrance fees in one day.

The only thing I hated about the trip was when my wallet was stolen. I had just purchased some bread and put my wallet back in my bag when a fight broke out nearby. Distracted, I failed to zip my bag. A couple of hours later when it came time to pay for lunch I discovered it missing. My wallet contained a decent sum of cash, my debit card, and my Jordanian residency card. Luckily superhero parents came to the rescue and took care of the money issue, but the residency card is going to be a bit more of a hassle. I can get the money replaced by travel insurance, which requires a police report which I obtained after an awkward and embarrassing trip to the police station. After I wasted about half an hour of their time, they gave me a book about Istanbul as a gift. I guess that's Turkish hospitality.

Something that surprised us was how little Arabic is spoken in Turkey. It's written all over every mosque, and according to our guidebook 98% of Turkey is Muslim. However we saw many fewer women in hijab and the bars were always crawling. I should also take into account that we were in the hottest tourist destination in the country, so Istanbul is certainly not an accurate reflection of the rest of Turkey.

Meanwhile, this Sunday is Easter according to the Eastern Orthodox calendar. The ladies wanted me to attend a "funeral for Jesus" on Friday evening, but unfortunately I was unable to due to a previous commitment. I was less upset when they said that it would last from 5:30 until 9pm. Today I helped/watched the ladies dye Easter eggs. I tried to explain how in the US we buy plastic ones, put candy and treasures inside, and hide them for children to find, but I don't think they really got it. On Sunday I think they are having a lot of family over, so that will be fun for about ten minutes before everyone starts ignoring me.

I will probably come back and modify this post later, but I am trying to step up my blogging and give more frequent updates. Also, I managed to upload some photos to this website today: http://s573.photobucket.com/albums/ss177/anna_in_amman/Wadi%20Rum/

Vacation Weekend

I realize that I am officially the worst blogger ever. Hopefully what I lack in frequency I make up for in length and wit. Hopefully.

This past weekend some friends and I went to Aqaba, which is a beach town about a 4.5 hour bus ride south of Amman. We left on Thursday because we had reservations at a large party on the beach, something that I guess is pretty common there. The party was at a really nice hotel literally right on the beach and we had a lot of fun. Friday we wandered around the city in the morning and went to the beach in the afternoon. If girls want to wear bathing suits, they have to go to a private beach, and the one we went to was nice. It was interesting to see the fully-covered Muslim women swimming in the water or sitting in the sun, usually just wearing normal clothes like jeans. It was also interesting to see the European tourists wearing... much less. After our day at the beach we went back to our hotel and got ready for dinner. We ate on the rooftop terrace of a delicious restaurant. After that we walked around and found a cafe right on the beach where we smoked hookah. People would put their chairs in the water and just sit. I thought that would have been too cold but they seemed to enjoy it. We stayed chatting and people watching until pretty late that night.
Saturday we had made reservations to go scuba diving. I had never been before and have an intense fear of drowning, but I thought maybe this would be a good day to overcome it. We went out on a boat in the morning and stayed out until maybe 5pm. Each person only dove for about twenty minutes total, and the rest of the time was spent relaxing and sun bathing on the boat which was wonderful. I went diving with Chris and at first when we got in the water I had a very minor panic attack, but our instructor was patient with me and held my hand as we went down. The most incredible thing about the experience was not so much the scenery as it was being able to breathe underwater. I would definitely do it again and recommend it to anyone, I had so much fun. All-in-all it was a perfect weekend, and when we missed our bus we all momentarily considered staying just one more day.

Sidenote: after all that time in the sun I developed a pretty decent tan, which I had hoped would help me fit in better with the Jordanians... Unfortunately at the same time my hair seems to have lightened. One step forward, two steps back. Then I realized that maybe it's sad that after two months I still haven't resigned myself to the fact that I will never fit in here.
In other news, we fly out to Istanbul on Friday morning! Unfortunately I have an imtihan kabeer (large exam) on Thursday plus cover letters and resumes to send out for internships this summer, so I can't get too excited just yet. We don't have much of an itinerary laid out other than the obvious tourist attractions, but something tells me we will find a way to pass six days in Turkey. I can't wait!