Moab Land Hotel Madaba

... Sein Reiseplan entspricht mein** Planung und wir tauschen uns**e Handynumm**n aus, um uns am nächsten Tag irgendwann auf dem Weg Richtung Petra wied** zu treffen.<br><br>Am nächsten Tag hole ich meinen Mietwagen am Kempinski Hotel ab und stürze mich in den wahnsinnigen V**kehr von Amman. Durchschnittsgeschwindigkeit ca. 20 km/h. Hand ständig auf d** Hupe - das gehört dazu. Wobei hupen ALLES bedeutet. Es bedeutet: Vorsicht, **st fahr ich! Es bedeutet: yellah! Jetzt fahr schon ...

... on the side of the road by the way, through dust and sand and broken glass (like the Super Highway in Chiang Mai). Past random fruit sellers who are looking at me like I am crazy just journeying in no man's land. For a moment I got nervous I might be going the wrong way and I thought I would call the office but as fate would have it (don't pay attention to this part mumsie), I forgot my phone at the apartment. at that point I decided to show a fruit vendor my ...

My flight went well. There weren't many people on the plan so I got to spread out on three seats and sleep. Amazing! I exchanged money, went through immigration, got my bags (There were two other people waiting for purple luggage. What are the chances?) went through customs, and BAM got in a cab. The driver didn't speak much English and I couldn't convince him that ...

... there shops say 'Welcome' to us.<br><br>We spent Saturday on a sightseeing tour. First we visited Mount Nebo which is believed to be where Moses came to view the promised land. Then it was on to Bethany-Beyond-the-Jordan which is believed to be where Jesus was baptised. We were able to be about 3 meters from the border of Israel and Palestinian Territories. There were hardcore army people with big guns on both sides of ...

... for a while, but I don't know beauty products to say for sure. After the mud dried we ran into the Dead Sea to wash it off and to float, which was something else. I had never been to a salt lake before that was so salty you were buoyant enough to float. As a scuba diver the feeling reminded me of what it is like to have an inflated BC on, but ten times stronger. The Dead Sea is 33% salt which increases your buoyancy to the point where you can ...

... there were wearing long thick jackets that extended all the way down to their legs. They didn't even look hot in them and when Hope asked her dad how they could wear them, he answered that they just got so used to it that it didn't bother them anymore.<br><br>The next church was the church of the map. Inside we found out it had a large mosaic of the map of the world. The reading said it was very accurate to the same map of the world we had today ...

... its way up to Mt Nebo. Mt Nebo is where it is believed that Moses saw the promised land before he died and was buried in a cave around the mountain somewhere. It was a very peaceful place and had items from the past which gave an insight into how old this place is. The view over to the promised land was amazing and imagining all of this place covered in lush green trees, it would have felt like walking from hell to heaven. They also have a rolling stone from a ...

... and a pretty sizable portion of french fries. We had ketchup and hot sauce with our fries, which was pretty good although the ketchup was reallllllly sweet. The shawermas were amazing though, definitely one of the best meals I've had since we have been traveling. The meal was way too much for me to finish, although Cory got close, and it cost us 7.5 JD total. At first the guy told us that it was 6, then changed it to 7.5, but oh well.<br><br>After lunch we ...

... and not left off to ruins really far away, where there were no other people whatsoever. A camel rider offered us a ride, but we declined. We also passed a Bedouin goat herd. We were in the middle of a desert valley. It was so cool! <br><br>We finally got back to civilization...Roman and Nabeathean civilization that is...on the other side of the valley and continued exploring. By now it was almost 4 and we hadn't eaten anything sincew breakfast. It was hotter than ...

... was! World Language Competition-all students that are in Arabic, French and Spanish have the chance to compete with poetry, reciting, and conversations.  It's pretty cool when an 8th grader whose first language is German wins 1st place in Arabic after this just being his first year of that language!  Each student that competes gets an award and all this is organized by one of the Arabic teachers.  Pretty cool! Band and Choir concerts-there was a dress rehersal on ...