وادي رم Wadi Rum

In Arabic, Wadi means Valley and, the interwebz says that Rum is Aramaic for elevated.
Wadi Rum is the biggest valley in Jordan. It's in the southern part of the country, and most people know about it becasue it's where Brit. Commander T.E. Lawrence led the Arab Armies in the Arab Revolt against the Otto. Empire in 1917-1918. Apparently it was one of T.E. Lawrence's favorite places in the world. I don't blame him. it's insanely beautiful...

The site is featured in The Transformers, Lawrence of Arabia. Apparently in Red Planet, Wadi Rum was the surface of the moon.


Our program took us on a 3 hour camel ride through the valley. we slept in tents at a bedouin camp, and in the morning we took jeeps back across the desert. enjoy these pics


Here is a panorama picture that I stole from the internet, because none of my pictures are very good. There were no clouds when i was there, and at night the stars were absolutely amazing. like better than in Yankton. (click on this pic to make it big)


This is a Picture of Some of the Rock Formations...
(note: the area with these formations in 720 sq. km...which is about 450 square miles...it was a really long camel ride...we took a lot of breaks to climb the granite/sandstone rock formations. they were really easy to climb and the views were phenomenal.



This is the tent that I stayed in. My roommate was a girl from Macalester, Kaitlin Roh. I hadn't talked to her in a while so it was nice to catch up.
Also..this place was like a "bedouin camp" it's a really touristy place, but the Bedouin inhabit Wadi Rum and tourism is their primary source of income



The sunset at Wadi Rum. Beautiful!



Sand with camel footprints.
walking in the sand felt amazing. it was so soft.


This is my camel...i called him Paul. I named him after the the protagonist in the movie/film Dune, because Wadi Rum sort of looks like what i imagine Arrakis would look like. it was also really hot and i wanted water all the time...which happens in Dune. the cool kids made fun of me when i explained that if we walked in rhythmic patterns the sand-worms would come after us, but i had a lot of fun pretending i was on Arrakis.




A bunch of the guys during one of our breaks...we went back through wadi rum in the back of these trucks...it was crazy. there aren't exactly roads in the middle of the desert, and being in the back of trucks for 4 hours was kind of crazy. these guys look pretty happy though.



Here is a piture of me and my friends. we look happy here, but after four hours, we all kind of looked like hell.

جبل القلعة Amman Citadel

A while ago, after class I went to the Amman Citadel with some of my friends. it actually took us like half an hour to find a cab driver who knew where we wanted to go because none of us knew how to say citadel in Arabic. At any rate, the Amman Citadel is beautiful. We spent hours wondering around the amazing ruins and enjoying the breathtaking views from the top of the fortification walls.


some ruins and amman in the background


view of amman complete with roman amphitheater.

temple of hercules

again

the sign. now i know how to say citadel in arabic!

Ummayad Mosque

Byzantine Church

delicious food.

sorry that i haven't posted in so long. i've been busy with school, and i haven't had much time, but here i'll try to get updated, because i know that you are all dying to know what i'm up to.


This is what my aunt made me for dinner one night when i stayed with her. i was so excited. it's absolutely delicious. they are stuffed grape leaves! it's one of my favorite foods, but i don't eat it very often because it takes a long time to make. it was so amazing, and i even got the leftovers!

alright, i have to go though. i'm going to meet two of my friends at a restaurant called Hashim by my house. it's one of the most famous restaurants in amman. they have delicious falafel, hummus, foul, and tea. it's amazing and super cheap. me and my roommates find ourselves at hashim's often after a night out.
aight, i have to go, but i'll do a post about hashim sometime. i swear i won't turn this into a food blog, but just know that the food here rules, and is really vegan friendly!

poisoned

ahh, i think i've been poisoned. i don't know what i ate, but i feel terrible. my roommate, and a whole bunch of other people on my program are sick too...i think our program fed us something toxic. anyway, for some reason i went to class today...it was terrible. i've spent the rest of the day skyping laura and laying in bed. :( I feel awful...kind of like this bear.
Hope I'm better by tomorrow!!!
in the meantime, sick-jamila would appreciate calls from america more today than on most dayz.