Petra

Whew, we just got back from Petra!!! AMAZING!! So a little history about Petra first, it is an ancient and mean ANCIENT city built by the Nabateans, later used by the Romans. The City is built straight out of sandstones, it's all red rock ( a lot like Moab actually) and carved out insaaaaaaaane buildings, pillars, sculptures etc. The buildings are vast, and virtually perfect. The path to the city is through a Siq, that they paved almost a thousand years ago. They had a very complex water system, really amazing. The Siq is a narrow hallway with rock wall so high above you, and its littered with ancient carvings. The air is cool even though its so hot outside, the sun barely hits the floor of the siq during the day.

Then as you walk along, there are tons of little carts pulled by small horses carrying tourists who don't want to walk to the entrance of the city. The carts are loud and dangerous. Also some obviously local Jordanians were walking at about the same time and pace as us, and they had about 7 little kids under the age of 9. They were SO cute, they were very poor, wearing well worn out coats and hats, with only flip flops for shoes, but they were beautiful! They were SO cute, and got a kick out of us saying "Hello". They would say hello, then giggle and say Hi, and giggle and say how are you? or where from? They teach English in the schools here...anyway one little girl was playing peek-a-boo with me all the way to the entrance. Speaking of the entrance, it is just Breathtaking!

Also, I fulfilled one of my life goals, I rode a camel!!! They are so tall and super stinky, but it was fun. It's a little scary when they stand up and lay back down, but they really are cool. I love their faces, they can be so expressive, especially their eyelashes, I love it! It was fun. I would do it again, but probably not for very long, it's not the most comfortable thing ever :) We made our way through the ancient city, there were merchants on every side, as well as small boys trying to hire out their donkeys. They would shout "Donkey Taxi ride, good price, happy hour, give you special deal!" (They ALL say happy hour, all the time...it's pretty funny. Also one of them was yelling "Air conditioned Donkey Taxi ride!" It was funny. There was also an old man with a blanket full of trinkets, saying to everyone that passed by "Chinese coins, straight from China, only half dinar (that's like 50 cents) Only one week old straight from China!" It was so funny, it was modern Chinese currency, but he seemed to think it would be a novelty item...yes sir that's exactly what I want as a souvenir from Petra, something made in China! Brother! Okay the rest I'll tell with pictures. Enjoy!

Me in front of the Tomb of Obelisks and the Tomb of Triclinium, this marked the beginning of the city, before the siq.

This was in the Siq, carvings like this one were all over
In the Siq
These children running through the water trough in the Siq, it was dry of course, they were singing and laughing all the way, it was so cute to watch and interact with them
A glimpse of Al-Khaseh through the Siq

Mounting the Camel...
And off we go!
Me in front of AL-Khaseh, the most well known structure in Petra
A Nabataen guard...he let me hold his staff/spear

A close up of the carvings in the pillars
Al-Khaseh
Awe, Camels
In front of the 17 Tombs at the end of the street of facades

The street of Facades

The Urn Tomb, and royal tombs...the picture doesn't do it justice, it is really magnificentHilarious right? And why not?

Behind me is the theater, it looks more like a bowl shaped rock, but look closely they are steps/theater seats! Donkeys and the Treasury

Posing on a very Zeus-like statue, though it's not Zeus, it's a Nabataean God.
This is the South Temple, or what's left of it. I think they are working on restoring it.

Well so that's Petra, it was amazing, and really the pictures are cool but they never do them Justice, it was really awe-inspiring. There are tons more pictures, but I just had to put a few.

Hammam, a Turkish Bath

Wow, this is one of those cultural experiences you just can't resist, okay maybe some people can, but I really can't. So a Hammam is a Turkish Bath, it's like a Bath and Sauna, Scrub down, and Massage all in the same beautiful and ancient place! Let me try to paint a picture. You arrive to this unassuming place, ancient but who knew what it held inside. Upon entrance there is an indoor courtyard, with sofa's (All amazingly beautiful and intricate in design), a fountain with Coi goldfish, tons of artifacts that add to the ambiance, as well as some brightly colored birds hanging out in the rafters (The majority of the ceiling in the courtyard is glass structure, beautiful).

Then we walk into a dressing room where we don our bathing suits and flip flops. Then we enter into the main part of the Hammam. It smells like incense and spices. We are led to a shower to rinse of and warm up, and then into a Sauna. This is NOTHING like the Saunas we are familiar with, it is so difficult to breathe in the steam, so hot, and sweat just pours off your body, as well as the steam of course. There is a strong smell of sweet citrus and lemongrass. A woman in a traditional robe comes in to serve us Hibiscus tea, which is in slushie form, and very delicious. It tasted like juice concentrate from a combination of juices, but it was very tasty, plus it was like slushie, so I put the cup up to my nose so I could breathe the cooler air coming off. After a few minutes in that Sauna, our skin started to shed...it was so weird-like if I rubbed my hand on my arm, I would pull off a ton of skin, gross. It's like when you get a bad sunburn and peel like crazy. So we sit in the sauna for like a half hour, maybe twenty minutes.

Then we rinse off again and sit in the jacuzzi and soak. The temperature isn't so high, just pleasant and warm. We wait our turn to be scrubbed. So I went first, and I approach the marble slab table, where a very nice woman instructs me to take off my bathing suit on the top, meaning keep it around the bottom, keep my buns covered. I lay down on the marble which is surprisingly warm-ish, but very slippery! On my front side all over and I mean ALL over, I get scrubbed by this woman who is wearing a scrubbie mit, very course, and she scrubs with vigor, like she's waxing a car. It was a little painful, and she kept exclaiming, look, feel, so dirty, very very dirty! And I would touch my back or arm that she just scrubbed and there would be tons of skin rolling up into little pilly balls. GROSS. So she did that front and back, and on the back

(WARNING if you don't want to read details, skip to next paragraph, and don't say I didn't warn you!) On my belly she scrubs my back, legs, and butt. She lifts up my suit so she can reach. then pulls down my suit so as not to miss a spot. It was kind of funny, when she scrubbed my feet, I laughed so hard, I felt like such a dork as everyone in the hammam looks over at me, but I am SO ticklish, I really couldn't help it. So then a soapy wash with a milder but still abrasive spongy-loofa thing. All done and my layer of dead skin has been scoured off my body. Then best part, the lady pours warm water over me with a bowl, rinsing away all the skin and soap, more and more splashes of warm water, it felt like heaven after the scrubbing! Then I walk over to the massage table...mmmm...massage. A tiny girl gave me my massage, she had strong hands for such a little thing. It was so nice, they use olive butter to massage with, it's moisturizing but not oily-gross like some massage oils. And yes she totally massaged ALL of my back side and ALL of my front. Any sense of modesty was left at the door, but it felt SOOOO nice! It was hard to relax at first, but I just had to embrace it. I especially loved the back and scalp massage, and that oil stuff felt so nice. Then a rinse off and just chill in the jacuzzi with some more hibiscus tea until everybody else was done. Jenni and Debbie and our friend Rhonda came. It was a fun girly time, I would totally do it again, and the best part is, I feel so clean and like I'm just glowing from the inside out...or the outside in...whatever I am glowing. Okay we also went to some shops a few blocks from our house for some fresh bread, hummus and felafel. We also went SHOPPING (shocker right, mom I can hear you laughing). And I got some really fun stuff.

Just outside, I don't know if you can read it, but the sign says Al Pacha, Turkish Bath

In the courtyard at the fountain, Me, Jenni and Debbie, all clean!

Very front of the entrance, I LOVE all this wood with intricate carving and inlays!

Anxious for the unknown...

The ceiling in the courtyard (can you see the hanging glass lanterns toward the bottom of the photo? so cool!)


This door was made into a chair...I am fascinated by all this old stuff, i love it!


The chair part of the piece, SO cool!
This sofa was so beautiful, every inch was carved and inlaid with patterns and different woods, and just a beautiful design

Interesting textures everywhere, Dad I thought you would enjoy this. It is the side of a push cart
Another really cool door, with bathing ladlesThis is the jacuzzi inside

A really great picture of the ceiling, all those colored holes let in the natural light, it so neat!Some cool old stuff, notice the photo above the telephone, it is of the King and his wife on a motorcycle, the king is young, and you can't walk into anyplace without seeing multiple, usually very nice framed pictures of the King, this one was interesting to me because the King ad Queen are riding a Harley. Awesome.

Interesting right?

Lots of interesting observations today...
Jordan is cool. Today it rained. We were planning on going to Wadi Mujib, but the rain sends deadly flash floods into the Wadi's (A Wadi is a dried up river bed, very deep like a gorge). Lane said that in Israel there was a guy rock repelling down a Wadi 60 miles from Israel. It started raining in Israel and the park rangers came running in to evacuate everyone, but this fellow didn't listen. A giant wall of water came rushing through the Wadi, high enough to reach the man, and swept him away. He drowned. Not be a downer, but that just illustrates how dangerous they can be when it rains. Bad news. It doesn't rain too much, Debbie says it's the first rain she's seen since she's been here since July. So we didn't get to go to Wadi Mujib. We did however go to World Exposition center where there were merchants representing every country I can think of on this side of the world, also including Canada, and there was an American food stand selling Hot Dogs. They had all kinds of beautiful things, French perfumes, Italian scarves, weavings, batik's, all kinds of clothing and decoration and Jewelry. SO fun! Some were selling cheese or canned meats etc, and there were lots of baskets and purses, all from Algeria to Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Egypt, just to name a few. It was like a fairgrounds sized warehouse building full of Tables and tables of just really beautiful things. And on my way out I did buy some Belgian chocolate...so SO worth it! Hazelnut. Dark Chocolate. Amazing. I know I know, I have been a little focused on chocolate...is that so wrong? Would you turn down world class chocolate? Yeah...me neither.

I also walked to a shopping strip like a block and a half away. Tons of barber shops, yummy fresh bread shops, fruit stands, and stores like 7-11 that carry a menagerie of different things. It's really hard for me to do, but here you can't look men in the eye. Women are fine, and they are beautiful and most wear scarves on their heads, with dramatic black eyeliner. But the men, if you so much as glance their way they take it as a very forward move, and an invitation. Gross. It's really hard not to want to smile at everyone and express the happiness that's inside of me, on the outside. It's like I'm in a play, or acting or something. When I step out onto the street, or out of the car I give myself a little pep talk...do NOT look at the men, do NOT look them in the eye. Keep your eyes down etc.

Everyone here dresses very well. Even if they don't have much money, they may have 2 or 3 outfits, but they dress very nicely, every pair of pants and every shirt is crisp and ironed, well done hair, or scarves etc. It's nice that everyone looks nice. Is that weird that I notice that? Anyway it's interesting to see a man in a ritzy outfit walking along the freeway, approaching stopped cars and selling things like belts, newspaper, flowers, anything. You'd expect someone like that to be dressed a little more shabby. Interesting.

Jordan smells really good, like spices. And after in rained it smelled like Jasmin, a lot like the kind in the backyard by your bedroom window mom.

We also went to a grocery store today, it was actually like wal-mart, minus the killer deals. I was surprised to find my "Bob's Red Mill" products (gluten free mixes etc) in the health food section. Also, the peaches were outrageously priced. They are imported from who knows where, and they cost, are you ready for this? about 16 JD PER POUND!!! which is like $24 dollars US. Crazy right? The crazy part is that people must buy them! Wow. And there's no guarantee they even taste that great, they've probably been frozen on the way here. Yuck. Also Interesting. Cabbage is bigger than a basket ball...and they sell TINY heads of romaine lettuce. Interesting again.

Anyway, here are a few pictures from today. There's a lot of different things around here, I'm trying to document some of the funny differences. There will be a REALLY amusing blog in the future containing small differences, okay maybe some large differences. So stay tuned.

The Belgian chocolate...really rich, so good.

Hazelnuts, Yum!

Debbie and Me, notice the finely dressed man in the back, I bet you anything he saw we were taking a picture and out on his best GQ face for the background. Weird.

Insane right? I just can't even believe people buy them!

Ruthie would say this is HUNORMOUS! It's like the size of a basketball, only flattened...that's a lot of cabbage y'all. Tiny Pineapple?

Ever heard of a custard apple?

Perfect size for your wonder bread sandwich right? Or felafel...whatever.

shopping, chocolate, and turtles, I mean tortoises.

Yesterday we went to a second hand store where all the princesses donate their clothes!!! All of it was designer, and really odd, and much of it was picked over already, but I did get a cute brown sweater-shrug. Plus probably a princess wore it before I did...at least that's the story I'm sticking with.

We also went around town to some shops around the mall, not in the mall, that will be another day. There were tons of really "posh" stores with designer stuff, not at all interested since I'm a total bargain huntress...but there were also some cool places. I bought some really beautiful scarves/head wrap/shawl/table runner. I love when things get to have multiple identities! I also got a cute pair of Italian shoes, brown flats-so cute for 5 JD (Jordanian dollars, or Dinar) which is like 7.50 US dollars. Sadly my feet are hunormous compared to folks' feet around here, and the man helping me was glad I likes the brown ones I did because he said he didn't have much to choose from in my size...how embarrassing! Everything in Jordan as so expensive! Jenni, my sis in law, bought some Cheerios for Amelia, and they costed 9JD!! Which is like 13.50 US dollars! FOR A BOX of cheerios! Dang. I don't know why she bought them, but baby's don't understand making do I guess. :) SO I was pleased with my shoe purchase. I know their not like Italian leather or anything, but I love them.

I haven't had any chocolate since I've been here ( a whole 4 days!!!) And I was really craving some, luckily we found this great chocolate shop, and the man inside was very friendly and let us sample many of the chocolates before we bought some. Chocolate is the same in every language...YUMMMY!!!!

Inside the chocolate shop, he gave us some free samples, YES!

How to choose....?

Outside the Chocolate Shop

Our delish findings

Around our house live 9 tortoises. Some big some small. Debbie said she thought that they had all burrowed in to hibernate for the winter, but Shameela (not how it's spelled but It's how it sounds) our maid found four of them and fed them some lettuce. Two of them were tiny and cute! It was really fun to watch them for awhile, and Amelia was fascinated with them, they were really cool. And I would like to give a shout out to Danielle and Clay, because when I saw them I thought of how much you would love to see them in their natural (backyard?) habitat. And I never thought turtles or tortoises were that cute, and I thought you guys were really funny for having and loving them so much, but they really are fun to watch, I will give you that.:)

I never saw little turtles like this one, he's so cute! Shameela said at the beginning of the year there were tons of hatch lings, like the size of a quarter, and she said they were practically clear, like their shells and stuff. Interesting! Sadly most of them died she said.





A few bigger ones too...

Today is Friday and we went to church, the branch is really cool, and it's fun to attend with such a diversity of saints. I especially loved Relief Society. For Muslims Friday is the Sabbath, so that's when we observe the Sabbath too. I'll write more about it in a later post. Oh yeah and last night I went to what's called a "Hail and Farewell" where all the folks who work at the embassy in the military had a Chile and corn bread feast. Most were American. It was really fun to talk to everyone, and here at church and in the military everyone is so happy to have you here, and so welcoming and kind and ready to put you under their wing. It's a nice sense of community.

Also I really like being here with the Lances, we're having a ball. Yesterday I played Basketball with Jeremy (15) and Jared (12). It was awesome. And Debbie does a lot to make sure I have the right foods to eat and am taken care of. Its weird but since I'm closer in location to Afghanistan, I feel waaay closer to John, plus being here with his fam helps.

I miss everybody, love you!

Olive tree factory

Today we went to the Olive tree factory, owned by Americans who employ Jordanians who have a hard time finding work elsewhere, like a few of the men there are deaf. In Jordan most of the work is separate for men and women. The olive wood is purchased from Olive farmers whose trees stop producing or something, and the cool thing is they cut off the tree and leave about meter of the stump there, and it grows another tree! That produces fruit and everything! After being cut off! Crazy and cool. We took a tour of the shop, downstairs where the men are they do the basic carving of the figures (mostly nativity figurines and the like). Then another level of men do the detailed carving, and then the top level the women do the sanding and finishing details. It was so cool to see the process. As one of the men was demonstrating for us how he makes/carves/cuts a Noah's ark scene, I asked him to hold it so i could take a picture of him with it, and at the end he told the owner who was giving the tour, in Arabic that he wanted me to have it...cute! I got to keep it :) Lucky me. We went into the gift shop, the best part. I spent a pretty penny getting beautiful things made of Olive wood. Cool. I would post pics of what I bought, BUT some of my readers will be recipients of the things I purchased...

Some of the women doing the detail work

Amelia went right to this woman who was so sweet and played with her with the camel she was working on, so cute

In the store/gift shop. It's mostly online so the store is small

Finished nativity full set

Some women making Damascus silk bags and table runners

The rough carving stages

one of the men carvers, he's been working with olive wood fro 50+ years

More carvers

This is the piece the guy gave me. cool.

And as promised, here's the update form my arrival:
Hey guys I made it here. I'm not quite sure what day it is, or what time it is, but I am here! My flight was LOOOOOONG! The flight from SLC to JFK-New York wasn't too bad, I slept a little, and watched Get-Smart which I hadn't seen yet, very funny flick. We got in early so I had more time than I had expected to find my connecting flight gate....luckily it was really close to my arrival gate. SO I decided to peruse the gift shops and news stands, and stretch my legs. I also went to the loo...while sitting on the toilet I hear "All Amman passengers should now be boarded, last call for all passengers to Amman report to gate 6" Freak I'm in the middle of taking care of business!!! So I HURRY and finish, wash my hands, no time to dry and super amazing speed walk down to my gate, which was a lot farther away than I had thought, I guess I had wandered farther that I anticipated. I was the second to last one on the plane. I guess for International flights you have to board quite a bit earlier than domestic flights so you can go through an additional security scan/check. I made it though. Phew. On the plane I had requested a gluten free meal...gluten free it was, delicious it was not. bummer because I was hungry! I did watch Swing Vote, and Prince Caspian though, did some word puzzles and read up on my Oprah magazine. IT WAS LONG. I tried hard to sleep, I even wore those cute face masks they give you for long flights so I could sleep. I slept for maybe an hour...WHAT??? Amy and Nate and testify to this, I have NO trouble sleeping, any time of day, anywhere, I am the queen of nap time. SO it was a bummer that I couldn't sleep. But I read some great articles about Breast Cancer in Oprah. Anyway, I arrived in Jordan and Debbie was waiting at the gate after visa check and customs. What a welcome sight her face was. It was about 2 am SLC time, and I was surprisingly wide awake.
First impressions of Jordan...I looked out the window of the plane and all I could think was, sheesh this place is BROWN! There are some palm trees, but other than that, dirt and white limestone buildings. Outside the airport things were much greener, olive trees and some kind of conifer, etc. I was relieved to find that there are many signs and things English-friendly. When pulled up to the house, which is really cool I'll take pics soon, there was an armed guard standing in front of the place. Debbie says he's their house guard. Beats a guard dog right? She said they are there 24/7 and that we are advised to just ignore them. Interesting. The house inside is clean and posh. The kitchen is HUGE, all marble counters etc...in fact the entire house is either marble floors or tile. very beautiful. There's a nice blue pool out back but its freezing. Too bad. Also they have a maid that does all of the cleaning, laundry, and I don't know what else. Debbie also said they have a gardener who takes care of the yard and washes their cars a few times a week. Cool. All the buildings here are made of white limestone, and there are a lot of CRAZY beautiful homes that look like hotels. Debbie says the newer ones are built by very wealthy Iraqi refugees.
Also, a few blocks away from the house is a Mosque and five times a day we can hear their chanting/prayers/song. It's actually pretty cool to listen too...it could get old but for now it adds to the feeling of being in a foreign country. (of you're interested in seeing what it sounds like, look up "Muslim call to prayer with English subtitles", you'll find a pretty accurate video of what I hear out the window 5 times a day.)
By the way...the toilets here are rectangle instead of oval...weird. And every bathroom in the house has a beday (that's not how you spell it, but its a butt freshener up er...Debbie said the boys thought it was a foot washer. Funny. I'm determined to try it, so I'll keep you posted.
Anyway, Love you lots, let me know what's going on, and I will do likewise. All my Love
Court

How's this for amazing?!

Tonight I had an opportunity to go to the church building where the Jordan Branch meets. Elder Holland and Elder Steven Snow (Member of the seventy) were visiting and held a fireside for the branch, as well as another branch from a little up north. There was a reception at the beginning, a kind of munch and mingle type thing, and there were probably 50-75 people there. I looked for an opportunity to go and say hello to Elder Jeffrey R Holland and found it when Jeremy my bro-in-law found his way over, I followed his lead. Elder Holland and Elder Cook introduced themselves (like THEY needed to!) And I shook their hands, but then gave Elder Holland a HUG, Yep I did. It was brief but really cool...cool because being in the presence of a prophet is for lack of a better word, pretty cool. We chatted for a few minutes, and told him about John, and met his wife and sister Snow. Such righteous people can't help but rub off on you, you know? Okay so that's pretty cool...but just wait, it gets better. Way better.

So after chatting and mingling, we moved into the chapel, which is the size of a large relief society/multipurpose room. It was a chapel though, with a pulpit etc. So the branch president conducting the meeting announces that Elder Snow will speak followed by his Wife. They both gave really great messages, a very tender and string spirit was felt by everyone. Then in the printed program it says that after Elder and sister Snow, the speakers will be determined by Elder Holland...do you see where this is going? SO after the Cooks, the branch president announces that Sister Courtenay Lance and Brother (something, a 19 year old kid waiting for his mission call) will share their testimonies. SURPRISE!!! Wow, did I turn Red. What an honor right? Ever wondered what you would say if a prophet asked you to share your testimony? I'm glad I didn't have any notice though, or I would have been pretty nervous. I wasn't too nervous though, and just shared my simple testimony. Wow. It was so cool. Not my testimony really, just that I was asked to share it, of all the people there, I got a moment to share what I know. I know testimonies are strengthened in the bearing of them. After The kid and I spoke, then sister Holland followed by Elder Holland Spoke. He spoke about his dedication of Jordan 23 years ago, and how much the membership has grown since then. There are no proselyting missionaries in Jordan, but still the membership grows. I wish I knew every little thing he said, he did give us a blessing though. It was powerful.

What an experience! After the meeting was over I went over to them and Elder Holland gave me a small hug, but a kiss on the cheek. And hugs form the wives and from Elder Cook who all complimented me on my poise (I must have a pretty good poker face) and Elder Holland said how he was surprised at how calm and collected I was, and he thanked me for not being mad at him :) We chatted for another moment but there were tons of people waiting to talk to him (the group doubled in size for the fireside). I Will always treasure those few moments when I got speak with on a very personal level, a prophet of God. What a blessing.
Anyway, I just wanted to share that with you all...I so wish you all could have had this experience that has left me with such a desire to be a better person, and to feel the spirit tangibly more than I can remember feeling.

I'll post the email I sent my family tomorrow explaining my first impressions, flight info, etc... Love you all! Jordan is cool. And brown.