Never before have I experienced so much in such a short period of time. This might be a novel. We'll see. We did our big program trip this weekend - which meant four different destinations in only 2 and 1/2 days. Thankfully, Jordan is a relatively small country.

We left right after class on Thursday in our ostentatious tour bus. This bus is basically America. Anyway, destination: the village of Dana. I think this is the prettiest place I've been in Jordan so far (which is saying something, because Jordan is gorgeous). The weather was perfect, there were trees, and we stayed at a extremely quaint hotel. I got my first taste of famed Bedouin hospitality, as this twinkle-eyed older man in a kaffiyeh served us tea. I really wanted to photograph him, but I was too afraid to ask. I need to get better at that. I took a couple surreptitiously, but none were that great. He was just one of the happiest people I've ever seen. I swear all the Bedouin we interacted with this weekend had this certain twinkle in their eyes. What a simple, gorgeous life - their peacefulness just seemed to radiate off in waves . . .

After shay (tea), our guide took us on a hike up the mountain so that we could watch the sunset. Absolutely gorgeous. Plus, there was no trail, as is often the case in Jordan, so I got to do some fun bouldering. Never before have I been happier that not only do I enjoy scaling up rocks, I'm good at it. Climbing things was a big part of this trip. And no one cared about what I did or where I decided to climb. This is why Jordan is an awesome country. There is no regulation. Which goes both ways - such as in Amman, where a breath of fresh air cannot be found. However, that's another reason why I loved Dana so much - I could breath for the first time since coming to Jordan! Fresh mountain air! And when I went to bed, I could hear crickets! It reminded me of home. I do love summers in central Illinois. They have a certain smell, and this village had the same smell. It was so wonderful, lying in bed, breathing the fresh air, and listening to the crickets chirp into the silence.

Oh, edited to add, before bed, we took a little gander around the village and totally ended up walking on some people's roofs at 10 at night. Womp. Way to be an American tourist. We failed to realize the village was built on a hill and therefore, infrastructure is not quiet the same . . .



The next morning, my roommate, Betsy, and I got up at 5:30 to watch the sunrise. Wasn't as great as the sunset, but sitting alone on the mountain in the quiet was definitely worth it. There was some scary growling happening that Betsy described as sounding like "a wolf eating some humans" which sort of freaked me out, but I had to remain cool in front of her, so we stayed and surprisingly enough, we were not devoured by hungry wolves. After breakfast, we watched the sacrifice of a goat for a future meal. I will still eat meat. Some people were all mortified about the brutal nature of the killing or some shit, but I mean, we're in a small village in a developing country. This is how things are done.

We left Dana at 8:30ish and headed to some castle. I don't have any clue who built it or why it was there. I have a serious problem when it comes to listening to the guide. However, I do know that it had the coolest tunnel I have ever been in. It took us from inside the castle, up on a hill, down to some road. It was a steep descent, in the dark, with a really bad excuse for stairs. Most girls were scooching down on their butts. It could have worked as a really cool water slide.
Oh and there were some bats. I chose not to look up. I hate bats. I'm surprised one didn't like smell me, wake up, and try to perch in my hair. I swear they're super attracted to me. Even the night before, in Dana, when I was headed down the mountain, one flew right in my face, and I had to drop down into the fetal position on the ground to save myself.

Ok so our next destination was Wadi Rum. This marked the beginning of the best half day of my life. You're so excited aren't you . . .? Too bad it's too much to write about now, so you'll have to wait for the continuation of the saga of Liz in South Jordan until tomorrow (Betsy found some blog a previous inhabitant of this apartment wrote, and the girl loved referring to herself in the 3rd person. It was so awful, I might just start doing it).