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!