Shrines

Seeing as much of the country where you're studying abroad in is worth it, even if it means waking up early on the weekend to attend an optional class field trip. Last weekend, our Contemporary Thought in the Islamic World professor took us to about 7 different mosques to see Islamic shrines aka tombs of prophets and their companions. What may have seemed like another boring lecture with the only difference that it would be on a bus this time, turned into adventure in an area of Jordan I didn't know existed.

The first mosque we saw was not too far from Amman. I believe the city was called Salt. I'm not sure if it was because it was the first day of the weekend and everyone was sleeping in, but this city was quiet and peaceful. And the mosque we went to was on a hill that overlooked Jordan's agricultural lands, Israel/Palestine, and the Jordan River. It was like a map was taken out of the Bible and put to life in front of me. The tomb or shrine of Joshua was there.

After that, we were off to another mosque. The mosques we went to were located in picturesque areas in the Valley of Jordan. There were green trees and grass and blooming colorful flowers. You don't realize how much you miss a patch of green grass until you've been in a country that's mostly desert. :) Anyway, we saw the shrine of Jethro. This was Moses' wife, Zipporah, father. Honestly, the only mental image I had of him was from the Prince of Egypt as that jolly cartoon dancing and singing "Through Heaven's Eyes" around a campfire. Yes, my friend and I listened to that song on her iPod back on the bus. So it was quite a site to see a solemn tomb in the middle of a prayer room. Like the first mosque, we got a little tour of the view they had of the Valley of Jordan. It was a great break to see the countryside after living in a densely-populated city for a few months. At this point, it took my breath away even though CA has more-or-less the same scenery...but they don't have random goats grazing in the hills.

Even though both mosques, so far, were beautiful, I assumed that this was what it was going to be like throughout the day--bus, mosque, shrine; bus, mosque, shrine...They all blended together after the fourth stop. But I realized that I learned more than just about mosques and shrines. People--Imams and locals--were a part of this trip.

We arrived at the third mosque during Friday prayer. So we had to wait about 20 minutes. Several of us decided to see the farmer's market across the way. Talk about crazy, especially for tourists who stick out. Assuming that every whistle or word a person says is harassment, my friend and I tried ignoring the little posse of boys following us. Thank goodness, I had my sunglasses on. If you remember, they were my invisible shield in Egypt (earlier blog). HaHa. But they caught up with us and were motioning us to take a picture. I figured what they heck. They're little boys who want pictures and they weren't doing anything to us. Then one older boy took my sunglasses. My invisible shield! I'm like, "Heck no!" But he said, "Don't worry." Yeah right. HaHa. I figured I got them for $2, anyway, across the university so I could always get another. Then as my friend was taking out her camera everyone was crowding around to get in the picture. I thought I would just be in the back to avoid this excited-ness, but the boy with my sunglasses took my arm and put me in front of the group so we could all take a picture. We took a couple then he said thank you and gave back my sunglasses. I didn't know sunglasses I bought in his own country would amuse him. But they turned out to be a fun bunch who sees little diversity and when they do, they get excited by it. We finally made it back to the mosque and when we went in, there were fountains and palm trees. CA? HaHa. this was the most nice mosque we went into where we even sat on over-sized chairs in a VIP room. They treated us very politely...not as an average tourist. They even served us juice. :) It's hard saying goodbye to people who treat you so nicely and are excited to show off their mosque.

The next several mosques we went to were little ones in random areas of the country side. I don't know if this is a good comparison, but their locations were like where a cute cottage would be--green farmlands surrounded by hills. We arrived at the last mosque in the late afternoon and they waited for us all morning. We thought they were upset when we finally arrived since they waited that long, but after being showed the shrine, they asked if we wanted to stay for tea. At this point, the majority of the group just wanted to go home, but I'm glad we stayed. We were huddled in a little office where extra chairs had to be squeezed in. There was awkward silence, but the Imams (caretakers of the mosque) just smiled and were glad to serve us. Once we all started to break the ice, we had to leave since it was getting late.

It was a refreshing experience from being in the city of Amman the past couple consecutive months and not leaving it. The Imams were so helpful and excited to show us their mosque, it was cute. Earlier in the semester, our class visited a mosque that wasn't really welcoming. So this first experience sort of stuck with the view that the rest will be like that. But that wasn't true. Every mosque we visited in Jordan, thus far, on class trips treated every single one of us with respect and attention.

The Turkish Bath Experience

The semester is coming to a close, papers and presentations have been submitted, last-minute trips are planned, and finals are creeping up. A must-have break, especially in the Middle East, is going to a Turkish bath. Because winter is here, the weather is very cold in Jordan. A Turkish bath around this time was perfect. Entering a place so different and warm from the outside was a trip in itself. After changing into a swimsuit and rinsing off in the showers, we were lead to a steam room to exfoliate our skin. The ladies gave us ice-cold cloths to put over our heads and served us slushy-like hibiscus tea to keep us cool from the hot condensation drops that kept falling on us from the ceiling. Afterward, we sat in a spa under a pretty dome ceiling until more ladies called us up to give us a good hard scrub. It was like all the pollution from taxi smog and cigarette smoke from the past couple of months were being scrubbed away. After an exhausting scrub, we were lathered in oil ready for a massage. Right before falling asleep, we were lead to a sauna where we each claimed a bench, lied down, and wished time would stop before heading back out to the city of Amman. But were were refreshed and ready.
This blog isn't as long as my other experiences, probably because my brain was asleep half the time, but if you ever have a chance, a Turkish bath should be on your to-do list. And if you happen to be in Amman, go to Al Pasha. :)

Wadi Hasa

So I was wearing my bathing suit, had my backpack on, life jacket secured, and water shoes ready for the wet hike of Wadi Hasa. But something was wrong with this picture...We were standing in the desert. No water was in sight. From where we were standing, the landscape was just yellow hills of sand. Of course, we had to joke about this. As we were making our way down the hill, greenery began appearing, but it was just little tomato gardens. Then we heard the sound of rushing water. One by one, our guides prepared us to slide down a natural water slide made of rock. It was angled in a way that we couldn't see what it was like when we made it down, but once we did, the beginning of our adventure began. We ended up in a pool surrounded by large rocks. So it was like a big tub. All we could see when we looked up was blue sky. Once everyone slid down, we swam to another pool where the current was calm. There was a big rock that everyone was jumping off. Probably about 20 feet before hitting the water. After having our fix of the wonderful adventure we were about to embark we continued our 5-hour hike of swimming and walking.

We did some more jumping off rocks in a couple places, walked under a little water fall, and floated under rock tunnels. It reminded me of a Disney land ride coming to life. Other places felt like we were in a jungle...I do believe the reference to Vietnam was used a lot since we had to walk chest-deep in water brushing away long leaves from our faces. And trampling on bushes when we were on dry land. No joke, it felt like a jungle in the middle of the desert. Also, there were goats grazing as their Bedouin owners were near by getting a kick out of us. I remember finally reaching an open spot after walking through tall plants with long leaves and a Bedouin was right above me chilling on a rock watching us American students laugh every time we tripped coming out from the plants.

When I heard "water hike" I didn't know that it meant being fully emersed in water most of the time. It's hard to imagine such a place existing in the valley of a desert. It was a 360 degree view of a natural oasis. We took a break sun bathing on a rock while people enjoyed the thrill of jumping off from it into the water. Isolated in the desert in this environment was not all half bad. It was hard coming back to the city of Amman later that night. But the best part before leaving, was hanging out in the hot springs for an hour. The sun was setting and we were getting chilly from the cold water so resting in a natural spa was a perfecting ending to the day.

Obviously, I couldn't take my camera so I found some pictures on google that can show you what Wadi Hasa is like. I hope you can imagine this random oasis running along the valleys between sandy hills in the desert.