Petra!

Petra is absolutely amazing!
It is an ancient city that was carved out of rock in the 6th century. it seems like people usually associate petra with the treasury which is only one of the many buildings in the city. the treasury is definately the coolest, but there is so much more than that!. . it's like 1000 times cooler than mount rushmore! also if you climb like 850 steps you get to the monastery which is also amazing. the whole city is awesome, and you should all go see it! words can not describe the immaculately carved buildings, tombs, and shrines. it's awesome.

amazing detail


monastery


tombs


tombs


the treasury


also the treasury


some carvings. those are legs and part of a camel.


some more tombs

family!

okay, so i'm done with my midterms and they went very well! i'm happy with all the results i've recieved so far, and now i have a week long break! since the last time i posted my sister noelle came to jordan to visit me. i was not expecting her at all. what a suprise! she will be here for a month visiting fam and hanging with me until she goes to starts school in miami in january.
at any rate, the week long break is called eid al adha which is a muslim holiday commemorating abraham's willingness to sacrfice his son ishmael to god. luckiillly god intervened and had abraham sacrifice a ram instead. you can read all about it on wikipedia if you want to. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eid_al-Adha
so, this means i have a week off of school. thank you abraham.
me and my sister are going to go to jerusalem with my friend Ibrahim which coincidentally is the arabic name for abraham!
I'm leaving tomorrow morning bright and early. I'll post pictures when i get back.
here are some pics of the last few days. i went to sahab with noelle to hang with some fam.


this is a picture of my cousin alaa. he's 18, and he really wants to come to america. i'm going to try to get him a visa. he's a sweetheart. he's really shy, but he's like my favorite cousin. i really really want him to come to the U.S.! i hope you read this dad.

this is a picture of my dad's younger brother rashad and his two kids medo (9) (muhammad) and runda (2)...medo is really sick. i'm not sure what's wrong with him, but it makes me really sad. runda is also afraid of us...she only likes us when we play peek a boo or throw her up in the air...so we do a lot of that. she also cries alot. constant reminder of why i don't want children.


This is a picture of me and sito feisal. I usually call him mr. feisal and he calls me mr. jamil. he only has one tooth. six years ago he had 3. at any rate, he's my great uncle, and he is hilarious! he always pretends to call obama and he told me that he went to elementary school with him. he also told me to tell my dad that abu abdallah died...so i was being really empathetic and then when i got home today and told my dad, my dad started laughing and told me that abu abdallah is a fictional character that feisal used to tell my dad stories about when he was little.

this is a picture of some man chilling on the phone in sahab.


this is my aunt ilham and her son alaa and daughter jomana. everyone calls jomana an elephant which is sad, but apparently normal...they have another brother hamoud, but he like runs around in the streets all the time and bosses everyone around.


me and my dad's brothers rashad and eyad. <3

christine acting a fool

okay, so i will do a detailed roommate post later when i have more time, but in the meantime enjoy this video. i couldn't wait to post it.
this is my roommate christine one night before we went out. she didn't know i was recording her...


Also, I'm busy with midterms right now, but i should be posting a lot after that!
i miss you all very much.
xoxo
jamila.

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.