Gardens Amman

... while in Cairo, this mosque was just one giant, bright, modern room with high ceilings and printed carpet.

During the visit of this mosque, it wasn’t the site itself that was impressive; rather, it was the hour-long talk we had with Nassir about Islam that really had an impact on me. All of us participated in an open, in-depth dialogue about the Muslim faith that was frank, and honest, and eye-opening. We discussed Islam in general, as well as the ...

I arrived back in rainy Amman ready for a warm shower (it was quite cold outside). In wanting one, I guess I had forgotten the price of my hostel, 5 JD (about 7 USD) a night. They advertise hot showers, but then again I don't think that Jordan has the same rules against false advertisement as the US. I turned on the hot spindle and frigid water came out. "Probably just needs a moment to heat up," I thought. Nope. 5 minutes and a lot of lost hope later, the ...

... It was gorgeous. It started off as this small, tiny canal of fresh water and then we saw that it was a tiny tiny stream and eventually we were walking through a decent sized stream (no river or anything, but a fast ankle-deep stream). The water felt great on my Chaco-ed feet and the vegetation was like an oasis...palm trees, cat tails, tall grasses, short grasses, other trees, etc. It was so nice. Mini waterfalls too. In the end there was a natural pool that water from the ...

... where to tell the taxi to go. Actually when I got there I didn't even know if I was at the right place because the cab pulled right up to this tunnel-ish tent that you walk through to get inside so I couldn't see the signs or anything. As with many of the major hotels here since the 2005 incidents there is a lot of security: I threw my shizznit on the x-ray machine, walked through the metal detector, and got frisked behind the lady frisking screen. The good parts about the meeting ...

... old adage to write what you know. I bought it in Siena as soon as I got in town and devoured it before leaving town, which is why my next selection was the rather longer Dickens tome. I gave it to Francesco in Bologna en route back to Milan, and have felt guilty ever since I realized in Belgrade that I'd forgetten it in my earlier post. If for nothing else, I'm glad I finished David Copperfield so that I could finally give Hornby his due.

... in the WRC her sophomore year. My mind was like blown out of the water while we were talking. We even have the same major and are both in love with Catherine MacKinnon (she actually had her as a professor at UofM). CraZy cool! I already thought she was cool before knowing any of this now I know why she is so cool. Haha, the universe works in mysterious ways. Just thought I would share that my housing situation is under control for at ...

... br>Devan and I got up and started rearranging the apartment and cleaning it as best with could with almost no cleaning supplies. Since there used to be five people living there is had become a little disheveled and the garbage was a bi out of control. Unfortunately there is no recycling here so all of the water bottles we buy, because you can’t drink the tap water, become garbage.

I took a break to see a movie with Casey, Tony, and Casey ...

... to my collection. We had a great dinner/ late lunch of felafel, bread and gummous at this laneway cafe full of locals and headed back to the hotel where while having a shower I managed to rinse out my filthy clothes. Later in the evening around 9pm we popped out for more food only to find most of the shops shut so we settled for an ice-cream each. While waiting to pay, a street urchin came begging and then suddenly punch Wayne in ...

... It's amazing to walk down the street and hear people call out "Welcome to Jordan!"

Anyway, on Tuesday morning we woke up early to try to catch the bus to Petra and there was a note under the door from Henry... he had been stopped at the Syrian border and detained for 8 hours. He had arrived at 4:00 am and was in the room downstairs. Poor guy. I woke him up, like the not told me to, and we visited for a bit. He had had a great time in Beirut and ran into ...

... off to Petra with a driver that did not speak English. We got to Petra after about 3 hours and found it hot enough in June. This magnificent place is a wadi or river [at times] that flows thru a canyon. Its a steep incline, and one that can be descended with ease. Later in the PM when its really hot it would be difficult to climb back up, but no worries, there are plenty of camels, donkeys and horse drawn carts to take you back for a few dinars ...