Running low on time left here -- oh no!

Hey everyone!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted and, of course, a lot has happened since then. After coming back from Jerusalem, it was hard to figure out what adventure would top that, until I got the green light from my parents to go to Beirut.

Beirut has seen a lot in the past few decades – with its sectarian conflicts, civil war and life with Hezbollah. But it’s also extremely resilient. I have a friend on the program who attended the American University in Beirut this summer and she’s been raving about Lebanon all semester. So we bought the tickets, booked the hostel and crossed our fingers that no bombings would occur between then and when we left Beirut.

But, make plans, and God laughs.

 Or in this case, a Sunni group decides to bomb the Iranian embassy in south of Beirut two days before departure. Read here for more information about what happened:  Here

Because we’d be staying up in the northern part of Beirut, which is predominantly Sunni, we figured retaliation could possibly be targeted at those areas. Instead of taking chances, risking the airport road closing and being at the wrong place at the wrong time, we ended up holding off on our trip. Womp womp.

Instead, we spent the weekend pretending we were in Beirut by doing fun things such as going salsa dancing, watching “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” and hanging out at the Roman Theatre in downtown Amman (being ridiculous tourists even though we’d been there for about three months at the time.)

The week after that was Thanksgiving! It was weird to still have class on Thanksgiving, but at least it was the weekend. My roommates and I hosted a Thanksgiving dinner, complete with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, everything classically American. (My roommates happen to be fantastic cooks).

To continue the weekend, we went pretend Black Friday shopping but just ended up having a relaxing day of leftovers and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” (sort of fitting because Amman was once called Philadelphia). That Saturday, we went up to an elementary school a little outside of town for a community service project. We spent the day painting, worked to level out the schoolyard and other beautification projects. I loved being able to do some work for the community that I’ve lived in these past few months. Seeing the impact our actions had on the neighborhood and the entire school – which had been requesting aid for seven years – made me grateful for all I’ve been able to do here.

And then came my birthday weekend. I was at first a little wary to turn 21 in a Muslim country – I was convinced before coming here that it would be extremely anti-climactic. But it wasn’t. To start off, the entire day was rainy. It was the first time it rained consistently since getting here, and it was insane. The streets flooded, traffic was impossible and I finally got to break out the rain boots. We went out for dinner (amazing) and ate way too much food. After that we went dancing and, to say the least it was a fantastic birthday.

That Friday, our landlady had us up for a big birthday dinner. It always astounds me how amazing her cooking is. She invites over so many people for the celebration, and we spent the night talking in Arabic and English and eating all of the fantastic food she prepared – my favorite is her chicken wings. She also made a killer dish with fish, onions and rice that’s cooked upside down so it’s all really delicious. For dessert, she made pineapple upside down cake, a chocolate custard dish that reminded me of Culvers (ooh, I’m ready to have Culvers again) and these almond cake things that left me comatose with sugar and over-stuffed-ness. It’s been great to have a landlady take care of us on our birthdays – almost like home!

That next morning, we headed down to Kerak, which is a town about an hour south of Amman. It’s one of the last few places we have to visit, because we’d heard the people were pretty sketchy and had driven the tourism out of the town. We could understand why—apart from a few others, my friend and I were the only ones at the castle, which wasn’t that easy to get to without speaking Arabic.

A guide took us around, speaking formal Arabic to us, and we learned a ton about the castle that was both Crusader and then updated during the Mamluk period. The castle was gigantic – 1,500 soldiers lived in the barracks, which were gigantic, and the kitchen, which included a huge oven and a place to make olive oil and wine. So cool.

Now, there’s only 12 days left until I come home! What’s happening in that time? Well, we’ve got Arabic finals this week on top of a few more classes, and then next week I have my history and Islam finals! Not sure I’m ready to leave! 

P.S. – sorry for the lack of pictures! My iPhoto has decided it wants to go home so it’s quit out on me… Until then feel free to see the pictures I posted on Instagram: http://instagram.com/lydiaramsey125

A Weekend in the Holy Land

Hi friends and family!

Another week’s gone by and I’m happy to say that this was one of my most favorite weeks here so far (as if every week isn’t already fantastic!)

After a few days of class, we were given Thursday off for the Muslim New Year, so I went with two other friends across the border over to Jerusalem. It’s amazing to think how close Amman is to Jerusalem – if there wasn’t a border, it would take only about 45 minutes to drive from one place to the other!

As luck would have it, the three of us managed to get through the border in only 3 hours – from the crowded downtown of Amman, across the no-man’s land and across all the Israeli check points! By that night, we were safely to our hostel and eating a delicious Italian food dinner (can’t go wrong with Italian food, no matter what country you’re in!)

The next day, we woke up early to explore the Old City. The Old City is surrounded by huge walls maintained from the time of the Romans – amazing! Once in the old city, we wandered around until we came to the Western Wall and the Dome of the Rock. We were able to go up to the Western Wall, but couldn’t make it up to the area with the mosques because the line was much too long (plus, non-Arab Christians can’t really get in). After that, we went looking around for the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where Jesus was said to have been laid to rest.

Once we found the church, we were immediately surrounded by thousands of pilgrims, all saying prayers and kissing the stone where Jesus was laid. It was a little overwhelming. The Orthodox Church runs the church, so it was interesting to see the way their pilgrims differed from some of the protestant faiths.

We weren’t really sure what else there was to see in the Old City, so we continued to wander until we stumbled on the Austrian Hospice – aka the best free view of the city! It was really cool to see the whole city and the Mount of Olives off to the side.

We ate lunch at a fantastic hummus/falafel place outside of Damascus Gate before departing to Bethlehem for the afternoon. Seriously some of the best food ever. The ride to Bethlehem was super smooth. Once we got there, we were bombarded by a cab driver that tried to take us to the Church of the Nativity (we agreed to this because it seemed like a pretty good idea to get exactly where we wanted to go) but then convinced us to hire him out for the afternoon! This turned out to be a great idea, because he showed us where all the Banksy pieces were in the city, like the one that’s just casually on the side of a car wash.

Getting to the Church of the Nativity was great too – we walked around, got stuck behind some tour groups but eventually got to see the site where Jesus was born. I still haven’t decided how I feel about having spiritual revelations at sites that are so venerated – I’ve never been one to believe that my faith is tied to a location. Maybe that’s just the camp mentality (hey, Lutherdale) but seeing all this pilgrims crying or freaking out or kissing everything in sight almost made me feel less connected and isolated from the space because I wasn’t having the same reaction.  Regardless, I’m still can’t believe I was in the same space where so much happened thousands of years ago (can’t really get that in the states!).

Once we’d seen basically all of touristy parts of Bethlehem, we headed back to Jerusalem by bus just in time for a Renaissance Fair in the Old City! Totally unexpected, but still fun. We ended our day by having a drink with one of our hostel buddies and passing out from way too much walking.

The next day was Friday, and the border closed at one so after a fruitless search to find a T-Shirt shop again in the Old City (that souk is waaay too confusing) we headed back to Amman!

But that wasn’t the end of it. The next day we had a group trip to some of the Biblical sites on the other side of the Jordan River – complete with baptism site and Mount Nebo. It was pretty cool to get to see the river up close for the first time. Did you know the Jordan River is the only river in Jordan? How neat is that!

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend, full of good food, mixed feelings and amazing sights. I’m glad I got to pop over there for the weekend.

There’s only 5 more weekends left here before I head home! Only a few more adventures left to go on… Next up, the castles in Ajloun!!

Ruins and midterms and beaches -- this place has everything!

Happy November!

I can’t believe it’s already November, and I’m more than halfway through my time here. It’s been a couple of weeks since my last post, and of course plenty has been happening. After a week back in Amman and a relaxing weekend (doing Fridays right by staying in all day sleeping/studying) a couple of friends and I went on a public bus adventure up to the archaeological site at Um Qais. It was the site of an ancient Roman city and even has a cameo in the Bible (ever heard about that story with the demon pigs running into the Sea of Galilee? Well it takes place here!) We spent the morning navigating our way up there, passing through the city of Irbid and making friends with chatty Jordanian women. Once we got there, we walked around the ruins; re-enacting fight scenes and thinking about what life might have been like.

But really, the most shocking part about the location was its proximity to so many places of turmoil. To the north was the Syrian border – a place where just a few weeks ago some refugees died of starvation maybe not even a few kilometers away from this tourist site. To the northwest was the Sea of Galilee, which is now mostly controlled by Israel. Thinking about all of the things that have happened in this seriously disputed region made it hard to look at it in all of its current silence from over here in Jordan.

Following Um Qais, we stopped back through Irbid to change buses and head down to Jerash, a city with more ruins! These were a little different from Um Qais – a little more complete and city-like. Even though we got there about 20 minutes before it closed, the tourism police still let us in and it was enough time to wander around and see the Temple of Artemis and catch snippets of tours in different European languages. It’s so cool that there is so much ancient history here in Jordan, and only a 1 Dinar bus ride away!

Then last week was midterm week – it was almost a shock to actually have to do work and crank out a paper. But nothing compared to Northwestern’s midterms marathon. Thankfully, Jordan has a good way to de-stress after a week of midterms: Aqaba! Aqaba is a town about four hours south of Amman right on the Red Sea. It was amazing to hang out down there and snorkel on the coral reefs – I kept feeling like I was in “Finding Nemo!” The water was pretty chilly, but it was 80 degrees in the beginning of November, so I’m not complaining. We stayed in a hostel down at the southern end of town that was actually closer to Saudi Arabia than it was downtown! Too bad it’s basically impossible to get in to Saudi… as cool as it would be to say that I’ve been there. Across the sea from us was Sinai as well as the Israeli city of Eliat (distinguishable against Sinai based off of how many lights the Israelis used to light up their city!) It’s crazy to think how close Jordan is to multiple other countries – not something you see every day in the United States.

What’s next? Well, Wednesday I’m headed over to Jerusalem and Bethlehem for a quick trip! We get Thursday off for the Muslim New Year, so it seemed like the perfect time to pop over. I can’t wait to see what the city is like. I’ll be sure to post some updates then! 

Adventures in Istanbul

!مساءالخير

Hope the fall is nice and pretty back in the states! The weather here's starting to cool off so that it's perpetual sweater weather. I'm a big fan.

Well, for those of you who have been keeping up with this blog (or via various forms of social media), I spent last week with a bunch of friends from the program in Istanbul! We had the week off for Eid al-Adha (Google it if you'd like to learn more about it — it's a super neat holiday!). 

We spent the week living in an apartment in Fatih, right off the Tramway — it was really nice to go back to a land with public transportation — and filled our days with sightseeing and exploring. Here are some pictures! 

Still blown away by the Hagia Sophia

Blue mosque!

Roommates take Istanbul! 

So much tourism. After the first three days of extreme sightseeing, we spent the day on the Asian side of the city, taking a ferry across the Straits. It was exciting to have lunch over on the Asian side and then dinner back on the European side! The next day, we got to explore the Prince Islands — thankfully the weather was great most of the week so we could bike ride and walk around with some exposed shoulders (after two months in a very conservative country, seeing skin was a bit shocking!)

Surprisingly, more people in Turkey knew how to speak German than Arabic! I had fun trying to remember my high school German. Now that I'm back in Amman, it's hard to get the German out of my head!

Needless to say, it was a fantastic vacation. Makes me wonder why I never thought to take Turkish instead of Arabic! Istanbul has such a vibrant culture and amazing history — I still can't believe I got to visit the capital of the Ottoman Empire, let alone see the things I got to see. It was definitely one of the coolest European cities I've been to so far.

Can I go back yet?

But really, it's great to be back in Jordan — this place really does feel like home right now. I've even managed to figure out most directions to the Villa! I can't wait to see what adventures are up next.

Loving every second of this adventure

Hi all!

It's Week 6 of my time here in Jordan, and I've totally been slacking on this whole blog thing. So I figured it was time for an update about what I've been up to in the past few weeks (Weekends are way more fun so I'll talk about those rather than the 12 hours of Arabic I have each week):

September 19-20: Wadi Rum and Petra

For one of our group trips, CIEE took us for an overnight to Wadi Rum, a desert about four hours south of Amman. There, we spent the day hiking in sand and riding camels. Here's a camel pic because those are important:

I named him Honey because he was the smallest camel in the group (aka a baby)

Spending the day in the desert was such a fantastic change of pace. Instead of crazy crowded streets and concrete buildings, all there were were rock formations and ancient Nabatean inscriptions. WE spent the night at a camp ground made complete with a nighttime hike and an attempt to go stargazing (too bad the full moon was seriously bright). 

After staying up much too late and waking up much too early, we were on our way to PETRA! A wonder of the world. And for good reason. We spent the day admiring the Treasury, climbing up all the 800+ stairs to get to the monastery and learning more about the people who built this ancient city tucked away in a bunch of rocks. Not only was it a great place to walk around (might have been nicer if it wasn't so stinkin' hot), but I came out of the day totally mentally charged. I'm so grateful that I get to experience these places, particularly now as the world looks at the Middle East as a land only of conflicts. But since I've been here in Jordan, it's hard to remember that that's what the region is known for. Jordan is so peaceful and welcoming and full of amazing stories. 

Cheeese

September 28: The day we hiked Wadi Mujib

So we decided to go canyoning at Wadi Mujib, which is this fresh water canyon right next to the Dead Sea. Needless to say, the views were fantastic and the hike was a serious adventure. They had us climbing up rocks, sliding down rocks — so many well deserved battle wounds(bruises). At the end, we got to play in a super cool waterfall. So worth it. Why go on actual water slides when you can just slide down a river?? Unfortunately, I don't have a water proof camera, so here's a photo of me by the Dead Sea after! 

It was a seriously fun weekend. Those seem to be a theme. 

Last weekend (October 3-5)

To start off the weekend, we went out for my housemate's birthday. We danced it out and fun was had by all. The next day, we took it easy and got brunch (pancakes oh how I missed you) before going to a music festival featuring local bands. They were actually pretty amazing! We'd made friends with one of the guys in a three-piece electronic band and the music they played was incredible. Trumpets and electro beats go surprisingly well together. 

But the next day we got to go to the Dead Sea for real this time and swim in it! I was lovin' it. It was so warm and fun to float around -- I wish all swimming was like it. The Dead Sea mud was fun to play in and supposedly makes your skin feel better (I got sunburnt anyway so I figure those canceled each other out). A day of relaxing and playing by the pool was definitely a good call. 

Floating woo!!! (Thanks, Erin, for the excellent pic)

To cap it all off, today I spent the time when I was supposed to have history class (it was cancelled for the week) exploring one of Amman's more quiet neighborhoods. I hung out at an art gallery, which ended up being more garden than gallery. It was great to sit in the garden with all the green and write and think. I spent some time thinking about why I'm here, what I'm getting out of this experience, and I realized it's a whole lot. 

Every minute I'm here, every time I interact with the shawerma guy or a cab driver or even just a random student at the University of Jordan who mistakes me for being French, I'm learning more about the language and more about how I fit in here. Amman is a crazy place. It's unlike any city I've ever been to. It's developing, but it's already developed. It's full of Jordanians, but also Palestinians, Iraqis and Syrians. It's a place so different from what we consider "western" and yet there are still familiar things that remind me of home (case and point, the Papa John's down the hill). 

I don't have anything earth-shattering to say about why I'm here, and I'm definitely still trying to figure it out. The easy answer of course is to say "well, I want to learn Arabic." But is that all? I'm in a location with so much history (today at the gallery there were 6th century Byzantine ruins) that it's impossible to be just that. I'm not just here to travel and do cool things — although I'm loving every second of those activities — and I'm not just here to study formal Arabic or even spoken. So why? 

There are pockets of awesome tucked into this country, and I'm loving every second of it. 

What's next you may ask???? Well, Eid al-Adha is next week, so we get the week of from classes so I'm off to... ISTANBUL!!! I'm so excited to go to such an important world capital and see the places I've studied so much in classes (hey, Ottoman Empire).

I'll be sure to send updates once I get back from Istanbul with lots of pictures :) But in the meantime, for more immediate photos, definitely feel free to follow me on Instagram or Twitter (@lydiaramsey125, or just lydiaramsey125 for Instagram)

Ma salemma!!

Hubz and Dreams: A terrible pun, but it basically sums up my first two weeks here

Hi!

So it's been about two weeks since I first arrived in Amman, but it definitely feels like I've been here for longer than that. To sum up my life for the past two weeks, here's a listicle (listiblog?) of the top 7 adventures so far.

7. Classes started

Not so much of an adventure as it is just a reality. Classes here run Sunday through Thursday, which is definitely hard to get used to. This quarter (semester?) I'm taking Advanced 1 Arabic - both formal and colloquial. Our Formal class meets five days a week, our colloquial for three (Sun/Tues/Thurs). I'm also taking a history class called "Modern History of Jordan and the Middle East" and religious studies class called "Islam in the Modern Context." It's so different to not live near campus. Our villa is about a 1.5 JD cab ride away, so it's not really worth it to go home between classes. So what have I been doing with all that free time between classes? I've been on the hunt for the best shawerma sandwich near campus, or I've been bumming around cafes. All of my professors have been fantastic so far, especially my formal Arabic teacher. It's going to be a tough class, but it'll be a great experience.

6. The Villa

Also not really as much a one-time adventure. But really, it's been great. We got another roommate this week (hey, Steph!) so now all our rooms are filled. It's pretty nice. So far, we've all been cooking for each other, a random assortment of fried rice with chicken nuggets as the meat source and pita pizzas. We've been pretty inseparable, which is both impressive and gross. But most importantly, it's been a blast. On top of it all, though, we have a wonderful landlady who randomly brings us snacks and told us that she's throwing us all birthday dinners. She lives on the top floor -- the five of us have the other two floors. Essentially, we've got a host grandmother but our own place as well. 

Noms. Bread= life

5. Sports on sports on sports

I thought that by leaving the country, I'd be missing football season in its entirety. Turns out, that's not the case. There's a place called Wings and Rings (so BDubs) located on one of the main streets, so Sunday Night Football can still be a thing. Something about being in a foreign place with a seriously different culture makes an American restaurant and sports so much more appealing. But let's not forget about real football.

4. That time we tried to get into a world cup qualifier even though the tickets were sold out.

An experience, to be sure. Last Friday, Jordan played its first of two qualifying games against Uzbekistan in an attempt to make it to the world cup for the first time in forever. Naturally, we figured it would be a great idea to go. So we dressed as conservatively as we could, headed over to the stadium only to realize that we needed to find scalpers to sell us the tickets. Too bad all the regular tickets were sold out. So some guards escorted a group of probably 15 Americans to the media gate, hoping to get us in that way. No such luck. We tried to find a way in (by paying or just by getting let in) but all to no avail. But a learning experience, for sure. It was insane to see the crowds of fans —mostly men— who were there to support their country and wanted so bad to get in that eventually the guards had to chase them off. Bummed, we went to watch the game in a cafe. They tied that game anyway. The next game though, they won off double overtime and are on their way to play Uruguay!

3. Books @ Cafe 

Last week, CIEE hosted a guest lecturer to speak with us about LGBT issues in Amman. The owner of Books @ Cafe, a great cafe located off Rainbow Street that has a book store on the first floor and a great cafe/bar on the second floor and roof, came and told us about his role with activism in Jordan and the region. It was interesting to hear about the much different LGBT environment in a region that has more pressing issues (hey, Syria and Egypt) keeping the conversation off the table. Thursday, we went to the cafe to hang out for a friend's birthday and we had a great time hanging out, making friends with some of the people who frequent the cafe and running into the owner who gave the birthday girl a round of free drinks. Seriously a great night. 

2. BBQ-ing at an olive farm overlooking the Dead Sea

OK so these next two are more like a tie, but this one chronologically came first, so it makes more sense to put it first here. So last Saturday, a group of us kids went with some Jordanians to an olive farm up in the mountains outside Amman. We got some food, had dinner there and just hung out, climbed up some boulders and got the most fantastic view of the Dead Sea, Palestine and Israel. All from one place. Surreal. At night, you could see the lights that made up the borders — first a line of lights dictating the Palestinian-Jordan border, then another one a little ways out dictating the Israeli-Palestinian border. Beyond that, you could see a clump of lights that was Jerusalem. It's insane to think about an area that is so heavily contested can be viewed from one hill. I thought about times in the states when I've gone hiking in the Rockies and seen larger expanses of just land. But here, in this view, so much was happening. 

To top it all off, the Jordanians we met there were seriously great — one even lives in the same neighborhood as us! Another one is in a local band that's performing in a few weeks for a 3-day music festival in Amman. Lolla in the Middle East I guess? I didn't think anything could top that. 

1. Rock climbing -- on actual rocks. In northern Jordan.

But then this weekend happened. Yesterday, five of us went out to Ajloun, a town in northern Jordan to go rock climbing with a few of the guys we had met last week. To give you a sense of where I was, I took a screen shot. 

We were near the red dot.

We spent the day climbing rocks. On the way over, our friend explained that the people we were climbing with were some of the only expert rock climbers in the country. He said there were only about six total. Of course, he said, there are about 200 or so beginners. Jordan has amazing natural terrain that is great for climbing, but the sport is still catching on. 

Climbing on real rocks is not the same as on the Lutherdale climbing wall. Somehow, the rock seemed like it had nowhere to hold on to. But getting up higher and seeing that view was just perfect. If I could do that every weekend I would. 

That's me. Strugglin' up the rock. 

What's up next? Well, next weekend we're going as a big group to Wadi Rum and Petra, so be on the lookout for that quintessential study abroad camel pic!

Life in the villa

Ahlan!

Tonight begins my first weekend in Amman. This first week has been seriously great. Orientation went for two days, we got to stay at a swanky hotel so that was nice. But it got even better once we moved into our apartment -- or should I say villa! Yep, we get a whole house to share between four girls. It. Is. The. Best. Check out some of the pictures: