Leaving on a jet plane

Well! It is the end. I leave tomorrow, I even have my boarding pass and my bags are at the airport. All I have to do is show up with my carry-on.
My landlord said, "This way, you travel like a gentleman. Not carrying bags!"

Today we spent a lovely day at the Dead Sea-a much warmer and more pleasant experience than the first visit. But salt in the eye is no thing to be scoffed at.

So, thank you all for reading my blog, and special thanks to DAN Belongia for so faithfully posting comments and making me look popular.

Lots of love
See you soon.

Collateral Repair Project

Hello All!

As promised, I am going to write about my volunteer experiences (instead of driving myself crazy over finals). Over the semester, I have worked on and off with a great organization called Collateral Repair Project. It is a grass roots organization that works with Iraqi refugees and other displaced persons.

When I arrived, I helped the project director Sasha organize a Valentine's Day party for Iraqi children. I couldn't attend that weekend because I went to Petra. However, several of my friends participated and were happy to bring some joy to these little kids. On the ground, CRP does home visits for families to assess their needs. They have provided coats, food, milk and nourishment for babies, as well as a safe space for the refugees. Also, they have also started a small lending library.

While I have been here, we started an Iraqi social night, where native English speakers can practice with non-native speakers. I have been very lucky to interact with these wonderful and forgiving people. I was able to recruit a lot of my friends to volunteer as well and serve as interns.


Saood, the boy below, is a really talented artist. He showed us a lot of his drawings and paintings. He is extremely talented and hopes to go to school in California. He speaks English really and well and is just an absolute pistol.



Please enjoy the photos and read their blog! Oh, and donate if you can.

Salam,
Liz

The Last Supper

I am planning a few more posts before I ship off for the United States on Saturday. Here are pictures from the last program dinner as well as a blog post. The first picture is of a dance performance from some program people, the second is one of my landlords and I.



This post is a simple one, a list of what I will miss and what I won't miss (but will probably end up missing...in spite of myself). Ellen Cormier did a similar thing with her blog about Copenhagen. I suggest you all check it out, even though she is no longer blogging.

Here is the list:

The best:

• Desert Roses: My last blog showed pictures of flowers. There is nothing like finding roses and other flowers in the middle of a desert. My apartment is surrounded by a lovely garden, and that I will truly miss.
• My Friends: I'm going to miss my flat mates quite a bit. We traveled together, cooked together, and studied together. They became great friends and I look forward to seeing them in the near future.
• My Landlords: My land lord is a wise-cracking, technology-fixing, and all around hilarious man. My land lady makes the most delicious meals and even though my body will thank me for not stuffing myself silly, I'll still feel melancholy.
• Street Cats: Their funny to see around, especially "our" cat Poopy, who always stays around our apartment.
• Location: Jordan is so close to amazing locations: Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria...as well as awesome places inside the country. The US has cool stuff, but you can't go to Lebanon in less than three hours.
• Arabs and Arabic: This is truly my language-I love it, I love constantly trying to understand, and I love the frustration. Also, the people here are beyond kind.
  
• Amman: Amman has its rough spots (read: it has no sidewalks), but I fear I have taken advantage of the idea that I can hop in a cab and get to a nice coffee shop where hookah and Turkish coffees are both cheap and good.
  
• My Arabic teachers: They have been so helpful, I owe so much to them.
• My Jordanian/Palestinian friends: I had the best peer tutors-they were understanding, curious, were not afraid to speak to me in Arabic, and showed me my favorite restaurant in Amman. I am not good at goodbyes, though.
• Volunteering: I had a great opportunity to volunteer with Collateral Repair Project (this will be my next blog entry, so stay tuned to learn about this organization and how to donate)

The worst:

• The distance: Being far away from those I love is too hard.
• Traffic: The traffic here is insane: too fast, too congested, ect. I miss traffic laws.
• Cigarette smoke: enough said
• Easy internet access: For those who tried to Skype with me, you know how bad my internet connection is. It is unreliable to the point of being unreasonable.
• Expensive fruit/clothes: I love to eat healthy, but fruit here is just too expensive. I also love shopping, but the clothes....eh I ended up buying them anyway. Woops.
• Modesty: I am by no means a very revealing dresser, but I miss a good skirt and a nice summer dress. Which leads me to my next comment...
• Cat Calls/Harassment: I firmly believe that a woman does not "cause" harassment. I am not a white elephant walking down the street, I am just a lady with blond hair. Apparently those both cause staring. Some guys are just ridiculous, others are crude and should be ashamed of themselves. Oh well.
  
• Nescafé: Instant coffee is just so wrong
• UJ Campus: I love learning, I hate this campus. The bathrooms are disgusting and it is an overpopulated place. The food is also terrible.
  
• Street cats: I have conflicted feelings about them. They are both amusing, but sad because they have to live in such sad circumstances. A simple catch, neuter, and release program would do so much for this city.
  

Anyways! See you all soon.

Salam,
Liz

p.s. Dan, don't worry, I have not forgotten about you.

Spring Time in Amman

Another, quick lovely post before my Arabic exam. I hope you enjoy these photos of spring time in Amman. And by spring time, I mean summer.

Cats of the Middle East

Hello friends,

It is finals period...which means I need a quick pick me up. So what do I choose? Cats! A kitten and her mother I saw on the way to school the other day inspired this thread.

My Arabic teacher said there are two types of "bissee(cat)". Bissee "Low Class" and Bissee "High Class." These are low class, but nonetheless adorable.
This is the cat I saw in Damascus...digging quite quickly and with purpose.
This little guy inspired the thread. His mom is in the back ground.

I saw this cat at the Dead Sea. Very friendly.

My friends gave me this guy at the Syrian border. He is wearing St. Christopher on his neck.

Another dead sea cat.

Muhammed's Paradise

A few thousand weeks ago, I went to Damascus with a few flat mate and my Smith pal Ally. I had a great trip. I thought about doing two different entries, but since I am so grossly behind, I will just do one super entry.

A lot of people back home think Syria is dangerous. Hopefully, I will prove to you in this blog that it is anything but a scary time. In Damascus, I felt at home and comfortable, both being a woman and a foreigner. The only unpleasant time was the fight with a cab driver, but that is so normal here, I just shake it off.

We left right after school on Thursday and caught a cab all the way to the Syrian border. This part of the trip did not thrill me much. Even though a cat from Jordan could quite easily run to the other side of the border (which I saw), I could not. Americans have a pretty hard time getting through quickly. After we handed in our passports, we waited. And waited. Three or four hours later, we had our stamped passports and could cross. The wait passed pretty quickly since we had somewhere to eat and a place to sit, where we talked to one guy who had waited 32 hours to get across.

We got to Damascus around 2am. We arrived at our hotel, where they said we didn't have a reservation (welcome to the Middle East). But instead of shooing us away, he walked us to the nearest hotel. We got in just fine and then he convinced us to come back the next day.

The next day, we woke up and started walking around the Old City. Muhammad the Prophet said he did not want to go to Damascus, because he wanted to go to Paradise only when he died

Description is important, but so are pictures, here are a few:

Old Roman temple remains inside the city gates

One of the main entrances to the Old City

We wandered over to Azem Palace, a beautiful old Ottoman Palace. In addition to being a beautiful, calming place in the middle of a bustling city...it was filled with beautiful items from the period. I could not take pictures of them...but here are some of the lovely place:
The rest of the day we did some more walking around, talking with various people, eating some delicious ice cream and window shopping. At one point, we arrived by chance upon a little hole in the wall with a man baking bread. He handed us slices. We didn't even speak to him, but we could tell by his smile he enjoyed our presence. We ate dinner at a nice place, where we sat around talking and eating.

The next day Ally and I took a trip to the Omayyad Mosque, one of the main Holy Sites in Islam. We wore long robes with hoods to remain conservative. There are enormous golden mosaics that depict Mohammad's paradise. There are two important burial sites: John the Baptist and Hussein, the grandson of Muhammad. Prophets of the Shiite sect visit this site as part of their religion. It feels almost invasive to see this holy trek, but probably the closest I will get to a pilgrimage.

Getting back to Amman was easier, but took awhile. I am sorry this isn't a more detailed account, but I would like to add a few more entries before I leave (18 days, can you believe it?)

See link at the left for photo albums! And as always, ask questions.

Salam,
Liz

My journey to the "Mother of the World"

Well, it has been more than a week since I returned from Cairo (it has felt like three months), so I am sorry for the delay. I have added another link to the side of the blog for you to check out my spring break pictures as well as more adventures. I went on a castle tour this last weekend. I know "CASTLE TOUR" sounds magical and exciting and worth of many blog posts--but it is mostly all explainable in a few sentences. If I get bored, I'll talk about them. But, information is included in the facebook album.

Since I have been a recent addict of www.cracked.com, a website known for making awesome lists, I want to echo their style. Also, lists are easy and fun to read, especially if there are pictures.

The name of the list?
Liz's Personal Highlights of Cairo
(bad name, sorry)

5. The Nile-
I know, the Nile is always a hit. An incredibly influencial thing historically. So seeing it was anti-climatic. However, you could noticeable see the contrast between Amman and Cairo in terms of greenery, farming communities, ect. And this is all do the different quanties of water...which Jordan does not have, and Egypt has a lot of. This makes a dramatic difference in the scenery. In comparison to Amman, Cairo is practically a forest in terms of amount of trees, flowers, ect.

4. Tahrir-
This building has significance to me because it is featured in the excellent film, Terrorism and BBQ. This is the building that the main character takes over accidentally when he is trying to help his children change schools. It is a hilarious commentary on the ineffectiveness of the Egyptian government. I squealed when I saw it, as it is one of my favorite movies of all time.

3. Koshary-
Koshary is a tasty, fast food snack. It is incredibly unhealthy-but super cheap. Egypt isn't well known for its cuisine, but if you are in Cairo, you should try this. It is composed of pasta, lentils, fried onions, and topped off with lemon or hot sauce. You can get it in three sizes: small, medium, and large. It is endlessly tasty and satisfying. And it beats stuffed pigeon, which was also on the menu.

2. Sitting with Egyptians, talking about their culture, politics, and the rest-
I traveled with my friend Hanne to Cairo and we met up with her friend, Hatim. He is Egyptian and he brought his two friends out with us to have some coffee. We sat around, talking about anything, including Obama, movies, and music. I really enjoyed sitting around, not moving around at the crazy tourist pace and seeing other parts of life...including a fight in the street between some fellas. In addition to meeting native Egyptians, we met up with some retired Norwegians who live in Cairo and enjoyed our time with them.

1. Giza Pyramids, Sakkara, and Dashur Pyramids
Ok, so you all predicted this...but let me explain. Never in my life did I think I would see the pyramids. It was in the back of my mind, for sure, but never a top priority. Not only did I get to see them, but I saw them with Ally, my friend from Smith. I also didn't go with a tour group, but just with a group of friends. We could set our own pace and didn't have to listen to a tour guide talk, but could just wonder and read in our books.

They are beautiful, mysterious, and all around maddening. But what was is more mind boggling- they are not the only ones near Cairo. We also went to the Dashur pyramids, the model for the Great Pyramids. By "model", I don't mean little pile of rocks. Full on pyramids that you can climb inside...for a lot cheaper than the Giza Pyramids. If you go to Cairo, see these pyramids. They are less touristy, not a lot of people selling/bothering you, and all around a much calmer experience.

Sakkara has only recently been excavated is the site of the famous step pyramids, created by Imhotep. The discoveries are ongoing. Currently, they are trying to find Imhotep's body since he wasn't in the tomb. There, we saw various tombs including hieroglyphs. Just incredible. I couldn't take pictures inside the coolest tomb, where the awesome paintings were, but you can trust me.

Anyway! That is Cairo as I experienced it--not quite enough, but still quite a lot.