Morning
First, Friday mornings are very quiet since it is the holy day for Islam. The main prayer is the afternoon prayer time at the mosques, so everyone sleeps in late. Here is a picture you would never see in the US.
We rented a van and driver for 10 JD (about $14) each for a trip to Madaba, Mount Nebo, Jesus' Baptismal site, and the Dead Sea. Waleed our driver was a great driver and host for us. We arrived at Madaba to visit the church of Saint George, a Greek Orthodox church, to see the historical mosaics. We arrived early, so we had to wait two ours until the services were over to visit the church. We walked around the town and did some souvenir shopping and had another delicious hummus & falafel meal.
The church was beautiful inside with amazing recent mosaics and the ancient mosaic map of the Holy Land. I was excited to make out the Greek for Bethlehem.
Fro
m there we visited Mt Nemo, the traditional site of Moses' death overlooking the promised land. Here the whole team is. It has a beautiful view of the the Jordan river valley. Next we went to the baptismal site of Jesus at the Jordan river. Now it is only about 15 feet across! By the time we got down to the Dead sea it was blazing! We stopped at a beach resort with a beautiful pool (and showers.) "Swimming" in the Dead Sea was truly an amazing experience.
m there we visited Mt Nemo, the traditional site of Moses' death overlooking the promised land. Here the whole team is. It has a beautiful view of the the Jordan river valley. Next we went to the baptismal site of Jesus at the Jordan river. Now it is only about 15 feet across! By the time we got down to the Dead sea it was blazing! We stopped at a beach resort with a beautiful pool (and showers.) "Swimming" in the Dead Sea was truly an amazing experience. A friend with us doesn't swim and is deathly afraid of water. Waleed coaxed, cajoled, teased and dragged her into water a little more than knee deep. Kim and Waleed took her arms and told her to sit down. She floated with her head well out of the water and with forearms and lower legs all in the air! Waleed and Kim floated her out and kept trying to get her to relax. The funniest moment was when Waleed holding her said, "Look, I'm floating too." Sure enough, when she looked over his feet were sticking out of the water.
The Picnic
We got back to Amman around 4:00 PM, and got ready for the picnic Claire's students wanted to have. Except for Luke, who went to a wedding, we all met at Second Circle and took taxis and a car to a forest park in Marj Al Hamam. it was a fun hangout time. We taught them the game Samurai, which is a fast gesturing game. Everyone was laughing hysterically. We mostly just talked. Later we ate chicken. Talked more. We had a really good time with a lot of conversation.
Friday night in the summer is a major outdoor picnic time. While driving around we saw groups all along the highways picnicing and hanging out.
Michael
