Traveling in Jordan: Day 2: The Mosaic Factory and Saint George Church

This is at a handi-craft center. The ladies here hand make all of the mosaics seen on the walls and sold at the shop.

This old man spends his day weaving

Check out the mosaics behind these ladies. Everything is hand-made. All of the tiny pieces of stone are hand -cut. Amazing!

There were also ladies who created pottery from scratch.

This kind gentlemen helped me with my bedouin head-dress. He then proceeded to offer me 1000 camels and 20 sheep! (In exchange for my hand in marriage)

Even in the mountains of Jordan, you can find Saint George Orthodox Church

Here is the front of the actual church. It is over 100 years old.

Classic Saint George Icon

Original mosaic floor

Almost all icons in the church are mosaic. This is thousands of tiny cut stones, formed together to make a beautiful icon.

Onward and up the mountain! After departing Mount Nebo, we stopped at a lovely little shop where mosaics were hand-created. I must admit, after looking at the mosaics, and watching the ladies hand cut the stone and place them to created the mosaic, I will never look at this art-form the same again. This is truly art, especially considering the work that goes into it. In addition to mosaics, workers here create weavings, and pottery as well, so there were all kinds of cool things to look at. I will admit I must have spent at least an hour in this shop, just looking at and admiring all of the lovely art that was being sold. As always,  I was offered tea as I looked around, and there were men smoking sheesha inside (this occurs everywhere). This is entertaining; while I was walking around the shop, a gentle men was talking to me and insisted on wrapping up my head so that I could look like a traditional bedouin women. After finishing, he proceeded to tell me how beautiful I was, and offered me 1000 camels and 20 sheep! I then had to ask, "What on Earth would I do with 1000 camel, and 20 sheep?!" This man ensured to me that camels start at $1000 per camel, so I would be fairly wealthy upon selling the camels. I of course declined such a gracious offer. And funny enough, this occurred only shortly after one of the other men who worked at the shop told me how much he had always wanted to marry a teacher. But, he also told me he wanted a teacher because then she would have the summer off and she could pay for him to travel with her. I of course declined this man as well. (There is truly not enough women in Jordan, so these men are very excited when they see one, it seems). After spending a boatload of money at this shop, we finally departed and moved on up the mountains. We reached the top, and stopped at a church. Believe it or not, the church was Saint George Orthodox Church. For those of you who do not know, the church of my family back in Pittsburgh is Saint George Orthodox Church, so it was pretty cool to see another one on the other side of the planet. The sweet thing about this church was that it had an original mosaic floor (which must have also taken forever to create), as well as the majority of the icons being mosaic as well. Some of these icons were massive, so it was truly a sight to see, especially with the thoughts of the hard work that goes into mosaic creating. Needless to say, this was an incredible church, with many old icons and relics dating back to the 1800's and beyond. It was great to make this mountain stop as we headed towards Petra.

Traveling in Jordan: Day 2: Mount Nebo

A view from Mount Nebo. Far to the left is the Dead Sea.

Here we are having our photo taken at an overlook in the mountain. We are posing with our driver/tour guide Riphe.

Beautiful views of the mountainous country of Jordan.

Old carvings found on Mount Nebo

Here I am standing at the Moses Memorial.

People tied tissues to this tree. There was no real reason for it other than tradition. 

This giant stone was once someones door.

The original mosaic floor of an old church.

This tree is a Pope John Paul II memorial.

We were able to see exactly which cities were located in the valley below

More awesome scenery

Info about the mountain

To start our second day in Jordan, we woke up and hand an early breakfast. Our driver/tour guide, Riphe (the gentlemen in the 2nd photo), picked us up at the hotel, and we began our drive towards the south of Jordan. Our first stop on our tour was Mount Nebo. This mountain gave a lovely scenic view of Jordan, and is historic/biblical as well. The mountain was supposedly cross by Moses, and is therefore considered to be somewhat holy. The scenery was truly beautiful, where you could see mountains and valleys and villages and the sea. There were some awesome statues and monuments as well. One of the ones (as shown in photo 5 and 6), and faces carved into them, and were fairly old. I got to stand at the Moses memorial. It was kind of cool to stand on the same mountain that a biblical figure stood on so long ago. It's one thing to read stories, but to actually be there gives you a whole different feeling that is hard to explain, but awesome nonetheless. There were other cool sites as well. The giant circular stone we are sitting in front of was once a door. Before there were conventional doors like there are today, people use to use round doors that they could roll in front of the doorway. We also visited a very old church on Mount Nebo as well. The church is not used currently, but it contain an original mosaic floor, dating way back as well. Although there are parts of the mosaic floor that are gone, it is still amazing to see. This floor took a very long time to complete, especially considering the work and labor that goes into making a mosaic. Outside of the church, there was a tree dedicated to Pope John Paul II, which is pictured above as well. The tree was protected by a small fence so that people would not touch it or pick the leaves. Finally, from Mount Nebo, we were able to see where different cities were located in Jordan, as well as Palestine. Palestine was visible from this mountain, and we could see it below on the other side of the river. Our visit to Mount Nebo really was breathtaking with its amazing views and history. After this first stop, I couldn't wait to see what other cool things Jordan had to offer.

Traveling in Jordan: Night 1: Food and Sheesha

The Middle East is a very social place. Nights are always meant to be spent with family and friends, just talking and eating and drinking (coffee or tea), and smoking sheesha (flavored tobacco), and having a good ol' time. Continuing on with our first night in Amman, we met up with our friend Zaher ( 2nd, he is on the far right, next to me) and his best friend Bashar (2nd photo, far left, next to Rhoda). After viewing a few sights in Amman, we had worked up quite the appetite and were ready for food. We first decided to stop for some teas or coffee at a sheesha place, while we waited for Bashar to arrive. The place was nice, and very busy. We ordered some sheesha, coffees, and hot chocolate (the hot beverages were much needed, especially because it was so chilly outside). The sheesha here was done slightly different from other ways I have seen it done. If you look at the second photo from the top, you can see a yellow circle towards the top. At this place, they use fruit (I think this one was a giant grapefruit), to enhance the flavor. We also smoked one that had an apple. Sheesha here is very acceptable, and somewhat of a social staple, along with tea and coffee. At every gift shop or small shop you go to, someone at the store always offers you tea, and in many shops, you find people smoking sheesha as well. Just to make mention, in Jordan, you are allowed to smoke in most shops and restaurant. You cannot smoke in a clothing or department store, but any street shop or corner store or gift shop, you are allowed to smoke. Anyways, after enjoying our sheesha and hot drinks, we were ready to actually sit down and have a real dinner. It was late, about 11:30pm or so, so it was hard to find a nice restaurant to go to, as many places were preparing to close, or were finished for the night. However, despite our struggles, we finally found a place that was still serving. We dined at the oldest restaurant in Amman. It served traditional Jordanian cuisine, and was an awesome place to eat. The restaurant had many pillows where you sat, and a giant table with a huge platter in the middle. The purpose of the platter was to make serving the food easier. The platter spins, so if a plate of food that you wanted was too far from you, you can just turn the platter and have access to whatever dish you want. We began with appetizers such as 4 different salads, including fatoush (a salad with crispy pita), and tabouleh. There was also hummos and moutabol, olives, veggies, pita, kibbeh and more. Our main course included a variety of grilled meats (lamb, chicken, kefta), grilled veggies, and potatoes. This was truly a feast for kings. All of the food was amazing and I am so happy we got to enjoy this restaurant! It made a perfect end for our first night in Jordan.

Traveling to Jordan: Night 1: Exploring Roman Forts and the City

During our first night in Amman, we met up with our friend Zaher, who works at the school with us, and is from Jordan. We took a taxi ride to the Amman citadel. The citadel was an old Roman fort located at the top of a high hill/mountain in Amman. There were a few remains left of the fort (as pictured above). This citadel was very old, and very historic. There was also a lovely view of the city from this overlook, as you can see there are many lights behind us in the top photo. After spending some time at the citadel, we continued down into the city where we saw an old Roman amphitheater. It was amazing as well. Outside of the amphitheater, there were old bits of columns and stone. With my superhuman strength, I lifted these super heavy stones with my bare hands! lol joking! Finally, at the bottom, we visited a mosque. This mosque is the oldest one in Amman, and it was fairly large as well. One thing you will notice is that the mosques always have green lighting, and only green. This sparked my curiosity, so I decided to inquire about it. Apparently, there is no rule that says the light must be green, however, it is traditional. From what I recall being told, when the prophet Mohamed was buried, he was supposedly buried in green, so the mosques use green as somewhat of a remembrance to the prophet. Interesting stuff! After doing the historic things for the evening, the rest of our night was dedicated to eating and relaxing.

Traveling To Jordan: Day 1: Hotel Arrival and Exploration

So this is the start of my trip to Jordan, which was just amazing. I traveled with 2 colleagues/friends, Rhoda (pictured in the top photo), and Tammy (pictured in the 2nd photo). I work with both of them at the school. We were very excited to travel to Jordan together and have the chance to explore somewhere totally new. So we began our trip with an early morning flight into Amman, the capital of Jordan. We immediately noticed that Jordan is very different from Bahrain. First, Jordan is cold. It has been nonstop summer weather here in Bahrain, but in Jordan, it is chilly, just like it would be in the states. As you can see, I had to wear a coat and scarf, and often wore a hat as well. Second, Jordan has a variety of landscapes. In Bahrain, it is flat and a sandy beige color. In Jordan, there were hills, and mountains, and even greenery! Not all of the houses and buildings were the same color either. Third, there is far less English spoken in Jordan than in Bahrain. In Bahrain, everyone speaks English, so you really don't get so much opportunity to speak Arabic. However, in Jordan, especially in the city, not so many people speak English. We stopped at a place to get schwarma (a type of wrap with meat, sort of like a gyro), and no one there spoke English, so this presented somewhat of a challenge. Fourth, if you were a single lady looking for a man, Jordan might be a good place to go. While we walked around and explored the city, it seemed like all we saw were men. I figured that for every 1 lady we saw, we saw 5 men. And being a lady in an area where there is mostly men, gets you a lot of attention to say the least. Finally, there are not as many traditionally dressed people as there are in Bahrain. Here in Bahrain, there are many men that wear thobes (the long white garment, similar to a dress), and the women are covered in black with their hair covered. In Jordan however, far less people wear the traditional clothing.   So, these are some things that we noticed during our initial exploration of Amman. I figured this would be a fun and interesting learning experience, and was excited to see what kinds of fun things would happen next.

And yet....they love me

So, I accidentally left this post blank for a while, but then I remembered it, and now I have added pictures. This one is important because at the end, and start of the day, my students still seem to love me, no matter how hard I am on them, and no matter how upset I may get. They always say hello to me and shout when they see me from a distance. And they love to make me cards and pictures of me doing things like jumping rope or picking flowers with them. Really, it is very sweet, and it does make me feel really nice at the end of the day to see that they want to make these things for me. Even one boy, who drives me absolutely nuts most of the time, he said to me, "Miss Jamie, I make you something tomorrow!". So he made me a picture with rainbows and butterflies and gave me a big hug. It was very sweet. I can say that these students do sometimes make me smile. Character day was my favorite time the students made me laugh. On character day, the students could come to school dresses as a book character (but it was more like Halloween in my opinion). Anyways, one of the 5th grade students came as a zombie, with the face paint and blood and fake knife in his head and a fake arm/hand. He was really into pretending to be a zombie, so he would limp around the playground and make zombie sounds. Anyways, during break, my first grade students come running and screaming to me, "Miss Jamie! Too much scary! Too much scary!". They were completely horrified and yet fascinated by this boys outfit. However, despite their slight fear, their reaction was hysterical, and I could not help but laugh out loud. This was something you had to witness to truly understand. Regardless, I can say I'm happy that my students come to me for some sort of comfort, and that at the end of the day, they still like me.

Kick in the balls and s**t on the walls...here's to the queen of blood and behavior

Truly, there is no expression for my class. It's really kind of like listening to Welcome to the Jungle, by Gun's and Roses, because it really is the jungle in there. There's none of the sexy stuff that's included in the song, but the blood and screaming and how its gets harder everyday, and all of that, is completely descriptive of my daily experience (as I laugh hysterically about how true this is). Is my post title vulgar? yes. Is it true? yes! Let me explain. I will start by saying that I am very fortunate that I have such a great sense of humor and can laugh at everything at the end of the day, because otherwise my mind would have been gone by now. So, let's start with the title. Every morning on my way to school, I tell myself what a good day it will be and how my students will behave so well and things will go the way I want and I won't be stressed, and all that jazz. I really tell myself this every morning as a pep talk to myself. So, I get to school and do my teacherly things before the students arrive. Then, I go to the field where the students line up in the morning. The second I get on the field, one of the other teachers approaches me to explain how one of my students "punted" or kicked another student of mine right between the legs, and hard. My student who got kicked was crying and limping. So, first 5 minutes and there is already an issue that  is causing me to have to go to the supervisor with both students. So, this incident comes to a close after about a half hour or so. So now, I figure that the "bad thing of the day" has happened, so I should be in the clear and the rest should be smooth sailing. Well, I was most certainly wrong! During the end of the day, one of my students asked to use the toilet. Nothing out of the ordinary. He comes back, and about 5 minutes later, if even that, the bathroom attendant/janitor comes and pulls the boy out of class. I continue with my lesson. Next, one of the supervisors of the floor comes to my class and has to pull me out of the class. She explain to me that my student was in the bathroom and decided to smear his "caca" all over the walls of the bathroom stall! Shocking? Yes! Disgusting? Yes! So, my reaction to this was just me attempting to smile, and breathe in as deeply as possible so I don't lose my cool. I shake my hands and tell her to go, and that I need a moment to compose myself, because the thought of this boy putting his poo hands all over the classroom is making me just a bit sick. So, this little story of today is just a tidbit of my daily experience. I have already had 2 incidences involving blood. One where a boy stabbed a girl in the hand with a pencil, causing her to bleed. And another with a boy accidentally tripping another boy, causing a face-plant into the floor, ending in a bloody nose and tears. I have a few class bully's, and non-stop behavior. Whether is tearing pages out of booking, "beating" other students, pulling chairs from students when they are about to sit, it's just always something. This is really only a small piece of the nonsense that happens constantly. Again, I am fortunate that I can at least laugh about this and joke with my colleagues at the end of the day. But, seriously, it's gross!