Before we left for Jordan, they told us to avoid the salads. No lettuce. None.
Before I went to Russia, they told us to steer clear of salds. No lettuce. None!
Crystal and I would often talk about salad when we were in Jordan. In fact, Crystal wrote on her blog, "Salad is the most wonderful thing ever. I tried to get a cafe rio grilled chicken salad on the way home from the airport but they were already closed. Yesterday I got one for lunch and it was the most delicious thing I have ever eaten. Forget about desserts...I just missed lettuce." And it is true. It's hard to have salad taken away from you when that is really one of the most common vegetables eaten in the United States.
Now, I like more vegetables than salad. I get harrassed by my in-laws for my like of broccoli. But salad, I really do have to admit that I enjoy. A lot.
In the Middle East it can make you sick. In Russia it can make you sick. Why? Because the water they use to grow the lettuce is sometimes a little less-than clean. Things get inside and can't get out. Unlike other vegetables, lettuce is pretty hard to bleach. It is so pourous that it just sucks in whatever moisture is around that: bleach, water, e. coli, etc. Believe me, you don't want to eat over-bleached vegetables, and it's easy to over-bleach lettuce.
Funny how the idea of that happening is so "third world" and then it happens here! I kind of find it funny just because America seems to hold so much pride in being a "developed" nation. I guess these things can happen anywhere.
So, before you think of coming to America, let me warn you: don't eat the lettuce. No lettuce. None!
That said, I think I will continue to eat salad. I can't help it. I'm with Crystal. I went for four months not having a salad.. By golly, I'm going to eat it here!
Showing posts sorted by date for query "out of water". Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query "out of water". Sort by relevance Show all posts
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Not Constantinople
Here we are in Istanbul, easily the most European city we've set foot in since leaving Austria in May. Our hotel is located in the Golden Horn just a few minutes walk from the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. It is a wonderful location. The streets are cobblestone and the all the buildings in sight are very European...but our hotel is an old Ottoman-style house. It is quite amazing--on the inside, at least--but there are a few downfalls (namely hardly any lights, small rooms, etc). I've posted a picture here but we'll have to get some better shots. It really doesn't do the place justice.
On Monday we headed out to explore Topkapi Palace. The gardens are amazing and extend much farther than the grounds of the "palace." There is a park that Andrew and I have walked through almost everyday that is part of the Topkapi grounds, but you don't have to pay to go in so they are much better!
We went on a tour through the Harem first off. The Harem is the name for the living quarters for the Sultan and his family. It housed the slaves (who were apparently paid) and his wifes (no more than 4 at a time) and his children. I wouldn't mind living in a harem myself after looking at this one.
Our guide was pretty humorous. He didn't speak English very well. Surprizingly no one speaks English very well here. Combine that with my lack of Turkish and it is pretty much a recipe for disaster. I would have thought a lot more people would have spoken English...or Italian...or Russian...or Arabic...or anything a lot better than they do, but that's okay. Anyway, in each room our guide would say, "Yes, my guest, we are in the bathroom of the king. I mean, the hammam of the sultan. I mean the Turkish bath where His Highness would be massag-ed and bath-ed." It was funny because he would say "Yes, my guest" even though there were upwards of 60 of us and he would say it in each room. Then he would say the same thing in 2-3 different ways (see the hammam example). Before moving on to the next room he would say, "Yes, my guest, we are to see the room of the mother of the sultan. The sultan's mother room." Then we would go into the next room and he would say, "Yes, my guest, we are in the room of the mother of the sultan. The room where the sultan's mother lives. The room of..." I think you get the picture.
Andrew and I then went on to explore the rest of the palace. There were quite a few rooms that we were, unfortunately, not allowed to take any pictures...but we had a good time looking around at all the treasures and enjoying the gardens and fountains.
**On a side note: Andrew and I went to McDonald's (on the Asia side) the next day, and who do you suppose we saw? Yes, my guest, we saw our tour guide. In a city of 10 million people we ran into the guide of our tour. The one who was giving us a tour of the Harem.**
After grabbing a bite to eat we headed off to the Cistern. Andrew likened it to scenes in Pirates of the Carribean and The Phantom of the Opera. I likened it to being really slippery, but it was kind of like those movies, too, as well as one of the Adams Family films...a lot of movies have cisterns in them. Probably because they are really cool.
I was not in the best outfit for going into the Cistern. The Cistern is an underground building used for storing water. Thus, it is wet. They've built platforms so you can walk around without getting too wet, but water still drips from the ceiling and the fish splash water up onto the platforms (I'm sure it is not malicious). So, I am wearing a long skirt and a pair of flip-flops that are over 2 years old, are paper-thin, and have absolutely no grip on them. There were times when I held onto Andrew's arm and he just pulled me along. It was that slippery. But, it was definately worth seeing.
On our way home from the Cistern we stopped by the Blue Mosque. It is really cool inside, but I think that I liked the Muhammed-ali Mosque in Egypt better. I almost think because it was more reverent. I can't really tell. The mosque in Cairo was based off the Blue Mosque, and I think that the Blue Mosque is more inviting because it is a lot lighter and open. But the people here aren't quite as into the religion as they seem to be in other places in the Middle East. People were letting their kids chase each other around and things were pretty crazy.
Between the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia are these beautiful gardens and a wonderful fountain. I like to pull Andrew into the park every time we walk by (which happens to be every single day). They are just really pretty. I'm not sure if you'll all agree but I haven't seen water, sprinklers, grass, or flowers for quite a long time. The park is beautiful!
On Monday we headed out to explore Topkapi Palace. The gardens are amazing and extend much farther than the grounds of the "palace." There is a park that Andrew and I have walked through almost everyday that is part of the Topkapi grounds, but you don't have to pay to go in so they are much better!
We went on a tour through the Harem first off. The Harem is the name for the living quarters for the Sultan and his family. It housed the slaves (who were apparently paid) and his wifes (no more than 4 at a time) and his children. I wouldn't mind living in a harem myself after looking at this one.
Our guide was pretty humorous. He didn't speak English very well. Surprizingly no one speaks English very well here. Combine that with my lack of Turkish and it is pretty much a recipe for disaster. I would have thought a lot more people would have spoken English...or Italian...or Russian...or Arabic...or anything a lot better than they do, but that's okay. Anyway, in each room our guide would say, "Yes, my guest, we are in the bathroom of the king. I mean, the hammam of the sultan. I mean the Turkish bath where His Highness would be massag-ed and bath-ed." It was funny because he would say "Yes, my guest" even though there were upwards of 60 of us and he would say it in each room. Then he would say the same thing in 2-3 different ways (see the hammam example). Before moving on to the next room he would say, "Yes, my guest, we are to see the room of the mother of the sultan. The sultan's mother room." Then we would go into the next room and he would say, "Yes, my guest, we are in the room of the mother of the sultan. The room where the sultan's mother lives. The room of..." I think you get the picture.
Andrew and I then went on to explore the rest of the palace. There were quite a few rooms that we were, unfortunately, not allowed to take any pictures...but we had a good time looking around at all the treasures and enjoying the gardens and fountains.
**On a side note: Andrew and I went to McDonald's (on the Asia side) the next day, and who do you suppose we saw? Yes, my guest, we saw our tour guide. In a city of 10 million people we ran into the guide of our tour. The one who was giving us a tour of the Harem.**
After grabbing a bite to eat we headed off to the Cistern. Andrew likened it to scenes in Pirates of the Carribean and The Phantom of the Opera. I likened it to being really slippery, but it was kind of like those movies, too, as well as one of the Adams Family films...a lot of movies have cisterns in them. Probably because they are really cool.
I was not in the best outfit for going into the Cistern. The Cistern is an underground building used for storing water. Thus, it is wet. They've built platforms so you can walk around without getting too wet, but water still drips from the ceiling and the fish splash water up onto the platforms (I'm sure it is not malicious). So, I am wearing a long skirt and a pair of flip-flops that are over 2 years old, are paper-thin, and have absolutely no grip on them. There were times when I held onto Andrew's arm and he just pulled me along. It was that slippery. But, it was definately worth seeing.
On our way home from the Cistern we stopped by the Blue Mosque. It is really cool inside, but I think that I liked the Muhammed-ali Mosque in Egypt better. I almost think because it was more reverent. I can't really tell. The mosque in Cairo was based off the Blue Mosque, and I think that the Blue Mosque is more inviting because it is a lot lighter and open. But the people here aren't quite as into the religion as they seem to be in other places in the Middle East. People were letting their kids chase each other around and things were pretty crazy.
Between the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia are these beautiful gardens and a wonderful fountain. I like to pull Andrew into the park every time we walk by (which happens to be every single day). They are just really pretty. I'm not sure if you'll all agree but I haven't seen water, sprinklers, grass, or flowers for quite a long time. The park is beautiful!
Monday, August 21, 2006
Good ol' Dubai
Dubai seems to me to be a city of "new" wealth. Everything about the city screams newness! We arrived at the airport and it was definitely a lot better kept-up than Amman or Egypt. It was also quite a bit hotter! We were a little worried about finding our hotel since we didn't have an address, but we followed the directions given on the internet site: "tell the taxi driver it is by the clock tower." Andrew and I, thinking that this was an Arab country so it definitely has some history, thought that the clock tower would be some old fashioned tower. We were wrong. And amazed.
As you can tell, the clock tower is anything but old. And once we got to the tower, our hotel was in plain sight. I think we fell asleep almost as soon as we got in our hotel room. The heat, even at 1:00 A.M. was quite oppressive.
The next day we took advantage of the hotel's free shuttle to the beach. As we were sitting in the lobby, Andrew picked up the paper and read that the day before had been the hottest day of the year. It had reached an even 46 degrees Celsius (114 F), there was a nice load of sand dumped on the city from the "empty quarter" during a sand storm, and it had been overall a pretty miserable day. We were glad we had missed it.
We knew that it would be hot at the beach, and that we would probably burn so I insisted that we lather up with sun screen. It's probably expired by now or something since it's the same sun screen I used as a lifeguard when I was like 16...but apparently it still works well since we didn't really burn at all.
Anyway, the beach was beautiful. It was clean, the water was clear. There were no rocks or seaweed. It took us forever to find anything resembling a stone, shell, or living creature. The water was nice and warm. It was perfect. We had 4 hours of ocean bliss. The best part was that the beach was pretty uncrowded! I've never been in a more deserted beach in my life! We didn't figure out why until the next day...but it was definitely a good time at the beach, regardless of circumstances.
At 12:30, we decided that we should probably pack up to leave since the shuttle was coming at 1:00 to pick us up. We were drying off under some palm trees when in the distance we hear some disgusting gagging noises. Not too far away, at the showers, a man was puking his guts out. Like I wanted a shower now. Andrew and I headed to the showers anyway and rinsed off our feet while the lifeguards tended to the poor man.
We left the beach and commenced waiting outside for the shuttle. Soon beads of sweat started forming on our faces. Then those beads of sweat began dripping down our faces. We realized that our shirts we soaked. Our pants were soaked. Our hair was soaked. And we had just dried off. We decided to go to a near-by cafe and buy some AC. This was done by purchasing the cheapest thing on the menu and eating it as slowly as possible. Luckily the cheapest thing on the menu was ice cream. We were cooled inside and out! But after finishing our ice cream we had to head back outside to wait. Why was the shuttle taking so long? Why of all days did it have to be late?
We went and waited by the road once again. Drenched in our own sweat. Ringing out our shirts to dab our foreheads. Fanning ourselves with our hands. It was horrible. Finally the shuttle came. We filed in and turned the AC vents to face us. We were exhausted. I saw a billboard, that I wish I had caught on film...but was much too tired to do so, that had the traditional "men at work" sign on it, only instead of working then men were sitting under umbrellas. The sign said, "Men at rest. 12:00-4:00 P.M. Sunday-Saturday." Or something to that effect. I conceded with the sign and quickly fell asleep. It seemed to take forever to get the hotel but we finally made it there.
We somehow stumbled up to our room, drank more water than imaginable, and fell asleep. I slept for six hours, woke up and was still exhausted. I'm pretty sure we were suffering from heat exhaustion. At least it wasn't heat stroke, which I suspect was the level of the man vomiting at the beach.
The next day, a nice Indonesian couple staying at the hotel said that it had been 52 degrees (125 F) at noon the day before. I haven't been able to verify that, but if it is true, that would explain our reaction to the heat. I'm sure I sweated out more water than I had taken in that day. The other days we were in Dubai were all around 45-47 degrees and the heat was manegable...but our first day there was utter insanity. I've never been hotter. Nor have I ever sweat so much in my life! The beach was worth it, but it may have been nice to have done it on a slightly cooler day.
Dubai reminds me a lot of Las Vegas, architecture-wise. That, or a museum of art. It is just amazing the array of buildings they have. And then you go in the buildings and they are just as extravagant. Although I'm sure Dubai has slums, we didn't find them. Everywhere we went was pristine. And boy, did we go everywhere!
On Friday we set out to go to church. We had an address, and although our hotel didn't seem to use the numbering system, Dubai actually has a nice grid-like address system. We gave the address to the taxi driver and set out for our short taxi ride to the church. We ended up in a fancy neighbourhood, which could be right...but we couldn't find the villa the church was supposedly in. We drove all around the neighbourhood and asked everyone we saw if they were familiar with the address...costing us a pretty penny. Alas, we could not find the church and didn't have a number to reach anyone with. At 80 dihrams, we decided to call off the search. It was getting much too expensive. (Not too expensive though. USD outweighs the dihram 3 to 1!) The ride cost us 4 times the amount our trip from the airport cost us! And airport rides are outrageously priced.
Not only did we skip church on Friday, we went to the mall in the evening. We had planned to go the day before but were busy dealing with heat exhaustion. We didn't buy anything though since everything was too far out of our budget range. We did, however, watch an interesting fashion show. A fashion show for hijabs. It was pretty cool. It was a contest for local designers so there were judges for the hijabs. I really wonder how they judged though since all the outfits were black, to the ankle, to the wrists, and hooded. They did add some flair here and there, but really, it was a close call all around. They did a "casual wear" section and a "formal wear" section. Some of the formal wear was pretty scandalous! Seriously, some of the gowns I wouldn't wear...low cut, strapless... They were covered by capes, but I still would not venture out in those gowns.
After the mall, Andrew and I went to the Clock Tower to take some pictures. Dubai has a mascot and he is placed all over the city. His name is Modesh and he has a catchy smile! The fountain has quite a few of these Modesh mascots so we decided to pose with them all. It was pretty fun...people thought we were crazy, but Dubai is kind of a crazy city, so I suppose we just fit right in.
Andrew and I had learned our lesson and refused to venture out during the day, leaving our next days (Friday and Saturday) just mornings and evenings. Besides which, Andrew had developed an ear infection from swimming and getting water stuck in his ear so I had to take care of him.
This involved finding the nearest hospital. I went to the front desk and asked where the hospital was. The clerk was unfamiliar with that term in English. He questioned what I wanted. I said, "My husband is sick. We need a doctor." The clerk informed me that what I needed was a "poly-clinic" and said the nearest one was "Sunny Poly-clinic" and was five minutes (insert ambiguous hand gesture here) that way. I was like, "What way?" and he's like (repeat ambiguous hand gesture) "That way." I'm like (mimicking hand gesture), "Oh, that way?" and he's like (repeating hand gesture), "Yeah, that way."
I went up and retrieved Andrew. He was in pain, swollen, and deaf in one ear. Cool things can happen in just a few days. I told him that I found out about the hospital. It should be cheap. It was close. But I had no idea where it was. Then I told him again. And then I told him again. And then I said, "Never mind. Let's go." So we went to the desk. I stopped to ask another person where the clinic was. They gave me the same ambiguous hand gesture saying it was five minutes that way. Great, I thought, Andrew and I have walked these streets countless times. We had staked out all the pharmacies for self-help just the night before. There was no clinic in sight from the hotel. So, we walked five minutes in what we deduced was that way. After walking for a few minutes we saw a fancier-looking hotel and I decided to ask the clerk inside for directions. He had no idea what I was talking about but was really nice about it. He phoned the local directory to get the number for the clinic and then asked for directions from his hotel to the clinic. He then walked us outside and said, "Turn right at the next street, walk down the whole block and it should be the last building. You'll see a pharmacy with a sign saying, "Ben Sina" and it will be right after it."
I was dubious because we had visited that pharmacy and they told us to go see a doctor but had not said that there was a doctor right next door. Plus, we didn't even see the clinic when we were there...but we followed the directions to a tee considering they were a lot better than the directions we received before. We got to the end of the block and didn't see the clinic so we kept walking. I stopped and said, "This is dumb. It should be right here! Why can't we find it?!?" A man on a bicycle stopped and said, in a nice Punjabi accent, "What are you looking for?" I sighed...would he really know where it was? "The Sunny Clinic," I said. "It's right here." He said and pointed to a sign high up on the building we had just passed. Yup. It read "Sunny Clinic." I thanked the man and dragged a confused Andrew to the sign. We looked at all the signs plastered on the apartment complex. That's right, folks. Apartment complex. We found one that said, "Sunny Clinic. Floor M. Entrance E." Cool, a little computer printed flyer telling us where the clinic was. No wonder we missed it.
We found the clinic by walking through completely unmarked doors. We were ushered into a waiting room where we were almost completely alone, except for the company of one woman who stood up and rushed out of the room as soon as we entered. She was the doctor...she was wearing a sari, but that's okay...she was still the doctor. She looked at Andrew and gave him a prescription. We paid the clinic 50 dihrams and went to the clinic nextdoor to get his prescription. We then walked across the parking lot and...into our hotel. That's right. Our hotel was right there. Why they didn't say, "Take a sharp right until you get to the apartment building with the blue balconies and then go into a door marked "E" and go to floor "M." is a question I'll never know the answer to...but we got Andrew the help he needed and he's feeling a lot better.
That evening we were able to go to the suqs downtown and found a clock with Arabic numbers, hurrah! We walked through the long gold suq and were bombarded by numerous people trying to sell us stuff. It wasn't nearly as bad as Egypt or Jordan. They were pretty wimpy, as street sellers go. I think that's because selling without a license is actually an enforced thing in Dubai, so we had people making us offers but then a police officer would walk by and the seller would disappear. It was interesting. But it was nice to not be bothered!
Dubai was nice, but if I had to live there, I would insist on having a few things:
1) a car with AC
2) AC in the house
3) 24 hour access to a pool
4) an ice machine
Excluding #3, I never thought that I would want any of those things. I've always thought that I could do without AC and ice, but in Dubai that's really a death sentence. How did people live before air conditioning, you ask? Simple...windmills. It's true. Without a cooling system you couldn't live there!
Language-wise, if you don't speak a lick of Arabic, you'll feel right at home. 80% of the city's population is foreign. Most people we saw on the streets and roads and everywhere were Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Filipino, Thai, or Indonesian. Andrew spoke Arabic to two people the whole time we were there - our first taxi driver was actually from Syria, and another taxi driver was from Pakistan who spoke mostly English. Andrew started in Arabic with him, so he struggled through the conversation in Arabic the whole time, amazed that a Westerner like Andrew actually spoke the language. He insisted that we must have had Lebanese or Syrian ancestors or something!
Best point of the lack of Arabic: in one of the pharmacies we went to, a native Arab lady came in and asked the pharmacists if anyone spoke Arabic. One of the Indians affirmed, so she stayed. Even in her home country, she couldn't get by on Arabic. Wow!
So, if anyone wants to come out here for a lucrative job offer, we say go for it. It's hot, but it's a cool, organized, modern city, and English is pretty much all you need to survive (plus AC and all that other stuff I mentioned...)
As you can tell, the clock tower is anything but old. And once we got to the tower, our hotel was in plain sight. I think we fell asleep almost as soon as we got in our hotel room. The heat, even at 1:00 A.M. was quite oppressive.
The next day we took advantage of the hotel's free shuttle to the beach. As we were sitting in the lobby, Andrew picked up the paper and read that the day before had been the hottest day of the year. It had reached an even 46 degrees Celsius (114 F), there was a nice load of sand dumped on the city from the "empty quarter" during a sand storm, and it had been overall a pretty miserable day. We were glad we had missed it.
We knew that it would be hot at the beach, and that we would probably burn so I insisted that we lather up with sun screen. It's probably expired by now or something since it's the same sun screen I used as a lifeguard when I was like 16...but apparently it still works well since we didn't really burn at all.
Anyway, the beach was beautiful. It was clean, the water was clear. There were no rocks or seaweed. It took us forever to find anything resembling a stone, shell, or living creature. The water was nice and warm. It was perfect. We had 4 hours of ocean bliss. The best part was that the beach was pretty uncrowded! I've never been in a more deserted beach in my life! We didn't figure out why until the next day...but it was definitely a good time at the beach, regardless of circumstances.
At 12:30, we decided that we should probably pack up to leave since the shuttle was coming at 1:00 to pick us up. We were drying off under some palm trees when in the distance we hear some disgusting gagging noises. Not too far away, at the showers, a man was puking his guts out. Like I wanted a shower now. Andrew and I headed to the showers anyway and rinsed off our feet while the lifeguards tended to the poor man.
We left the beach and commenced waiting outside for the shuttle. Soon beads of sweat started forming on our faces. Then those beads of sweat began dripping down our faces. We realized that our shirts we soaked. Our pants were soaked. Our hair was soaked. And we had just dried off. We decided to go to a near-by cafe and buy some AC. This was done by purchasing the cheapest thing on the menu and eating it as slowly as possible. Luckily the cheapest thing on the menu was ice cream. We were cooled inside and out! But after finishing our ice cream we had to head back outside to wait. Why was the shuttle taking so long? Why of all days did it have to be late?
We went and waited by the road once again. Drenched in our own sweat. Ringing out our shirts to dab our foreheads. Fanning ourselves with our hands. It was horrible. Finally the shuttle came. We filed in and turned the AC vents to face us. We were exhausted. I saw a billboard, that I wish I had caught on film...but was much too tired to do so, that had the traditional "men at work" sign on it, only instead of working then men were sitting under umbrellas. The sign said, "Men at rest. 12:00-4:00 P.M. Sunday-Saturday." Or something to that effect. I conceded with the sign and quickly fell asleep. It seemed to take forever to get the hotel but we finally made it there.
We somehow stumbled up to our room, drank more water than imaginable, and fell asleep. I slept for six hours, woke up and was still exhausted. I'm pretty sure we were suffering from heat exhaustion. At least it wasn't heat stroke, which I suspect was the level of the man vomiting at the beach.
The next day, a nice Indonesian couple staying at the hotel said that it had been 52 degrees (125 F) at noon the day before. I haven't been able to verify that, but if it is true, that would explain our reaction to the heat. I'm sure I sweated out more water than I had taken in that day. The other days we were in Dubai were all around 45-47 degrees and the heat was manegable...but our first day there was utter insanity. I've never been hotter. Nor have I ever sweat so much in my life! The beach was worth it, but it may have been nice to have done it on a slightly cooler day.
Dubai reminds me a lot of Las Vegas, architecture-wise. That, or a museum of art. It is just amazing the array of buildings they have. And then you go in the buildings and they are just as extravagant. Although I'm sure Dubai has slums, we didn't find them. Everywhere we went was pristine. And boy, did we go everywhere!
On Friday we set out to go to church. We had an address, and although our hotel didn't seem to use the numbering system, Dubai actually has a nice grid-like address system. We gave the address to the taxi driver and set out for our short taxi ride to the church. We ended up in a fancy neighbourhood, which could be right...but we couldn't find the villa the church was supposedly in. We drove all around the neighbourhood and asked everyone we saw if they were familiar with the address...costing us a pretty penny. Alas, we could not find the church and didn't have a number to reach anyone with. At 80 dihrams, we decided to call off the search. It was getting much too expensive. (Not too expensive though. USD outweighs the dihram 3 to 1!) The ride cost us 4 times the amount our trip from the airport cost us! And airport rides are outrageously priced.
Not only did we skip church on Friday, we went to the mall in the evening. We had planned to go the day before but were busy dealing with heat exhaustion. We didn't buy anything though since everything was too far out of our budget range. We did, however, watch an interesting fashion show. A fashion show for hijabs. It was pretty cool. It was a contest for local designers so there were judges for the hijabs. I really wonder how they judged though since all the outfits were black, to the ankle, to the wrists, and hooded. They did add some flair here and there, but really, it was a close call all around. They did a "casual wear" section and a "formal wear" section. Some of the formal wear was pretty scandalous! Seriously, some of the gowns I wouldn't wear...low cut, strapless... They were covered by capes, but I still would not venture out in those gowns.
After the mall, Andrew and I went to the Clock Tower to take some pictures. Dubai has a mascot and he is placed all over the city. His name is Modesh and he has a catchy smile! The fountain has quite a few of these Modesh mascots so we decided to pose with them all. It was pretty fun...people thought we were crazy, but Dubai is kind of a crazy city, so I suppose we just fit right in.
Andrew and I had learned our lesson and refused to venture out during the day, leaving our next days (Friday and Saturday) just mornings and evenings. Besides which, Andrew had developed an ear infection from swimming and getting water stuck in his ear so I had to take care of him.
This involved finding the nearest hospital. I went to the front desk and asked where the hospital was. The clerk was unfamiliar with that term in English. He questioned what I wanted. I said, "My husband is sick. We need a doctor." The clerk informed me that what I needed was a "poly-clinic" and said the nearest one was "Sunny Poly-clinic" and was five minutes (insert ambiguous hand gesture here) that way. I was like, "What way?" and he's like (repeat ambiguous hand gesture) "That way." I'm like (mimicking hand gesture), "Oh, that way?" and he's like (repeating hand gesture), "Yeah, that way."
I went up and retrieved Andrew. He was in pain, swollen, and deaf in one ear. Cool things can happen in just a few days. I told him that I found out about the hospital. It should be cheap. It was close. But I had no idea where it was. Then I told him again. And then I told him again. And then I said, "Never mind. Let's go." So we went to the desk. I stopped to ask another person where the clinic was. They gave me the same ambiguous hand gesture saying it was five minutes that way. Great, I thought, Andrew and I have walked these streets countless times. We had staked out all the pharmacies for self-help just the night before. There was no clinic in sight from the hotel. So, we walked five minutes in what we deduced was that way. After walking for a few minutes we saw a fancier-looking hotel and I decided to ask the clerk inside for directions. He had no idea what I was talking about but was really nice about it. He phoned the local directory to get the number for the clinic and then asked for directions from his hotel to the clinic. He then walked us outside and said, "Turn right at the next street, walk down the whole block and it should be the last building. You'll see a pharmacy with a sign saying, "Ben Sina" and it will be right after it."
I was dubious because we had visited that pharmacy and they told us to go see a doctor but had not said that there was a doctor right next door. Plus, we didn't even see the clinic when we were there...but we followed the directions to a tee considering they were a lot better than the directions we received before. We got to the end of the block and didn't see the clinic so we kept walking. I stopped and said, "This is dumb. It should be right here! Why can't we find it?!?" A man on a bicycle stopped and said, in a nice Punjabi accent, "What are you looking for?" I sighed...would he really know where it was? "The Sunny Clinic," I said. "It's right here." He said and pointed to a sign high up on the building we had just passed. Yup. It read "Sunny Clinic." I thanked the man and dragged a confused Andrew to the sign. We looked at all the signs plastered on the apartment complex. That's right, folks. Apartment complex. We found one that said, "Sunny Clinic. Floor M. Entrance E." Cool, a little computer printed flyer telling us where the clinic was. No wonder we missed it.
We found the clinic by walking through completely unmarked doors. We were ushered into a waiting room where we were almost completely alone, except for the company of one woman who stood up and rushed out of the room as soon as we entered. She was the doctor...she was wearing a sari, but that's okay...she was still the doctor. She looked at Andrew and gave him a prescription. We paid the clinic 50 dihrams and went to the clinic nextdoor to get his prescription. We then walked across the parking lot and...into our hotel. That's right. Our hotel was right there. Why they didn't say, "Take a sharp right until you get to the apartment building with the blue balconies and then go into a door marked "E" and go to floor "M." is a question I'll never know the answer to...but we got Andrew the help he needed and he's feeling a lot better.
That evening we were able to go to the suqs downtown and found a clock with Arabic numbers, hurrah! We walked through the long gold suq and were bombarded by numerous people trying to sell us stuff. It wasn't nearly as bad as Egypt or Jordan. They were pretty wimpy, as street sellers go. I think that's because selling without a license is actually an enforced thing in Dubai, so we had people making us offers but then a police officer would walk by and the seller would disappear. It was interesting. But it was nice to not be bothered!
Dubai was nice, but if I had to live there, I would insist on having a few things:
1) a car with AC
2) AC in the house
3) 24 hour access to a pool
4) an ice machine
Excluding #3, I never thought that I would want any of those things. I've always thought that I could do without AC and ice, but in Dubai that's really a death sentence. How did people live before air conditioning, you ask? Simple...windmills. It's true. Without a cooling system you couldn't live there!
Language-wise, if you don't speak a lick of Arabic, you'll feel right at home. 80% of the city's population is foreign. Most people we saw on the streets and roads and everywhere were Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Filipino, Thai, or Indonesian. Andrew spoke Arabic to two people the whole time we were there - our first taxi driver was actually from Syria, and another taxi driver was from Pakistan who spoke mostly English. Andrew started in Arabic with him, so he struggled through the conversation in Arabic the whole time, amazed that a Westerner like Andrew actually spoke the language. He insisted that we must have had Lebanese or Syrian ancestors or something!
Best point of the lack of Arabic: in one of the pharmacies we went to, a native Arab lady came in and asked the pharmacists if anyone spoke Arabic. One of the Indians affirmed, so she stayed. Even in her home country, she couldn't get by on Arabic. Wow!
So, if anyone wants to come out here for a lucrative job offer, we say go for it. It's hot, but it's a cool, organized, modern city, and English is pretty much all you need to survive (plus AC and all that other stuff I mentioned...)
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Oh, no: Out again!
Yes, we ran out of water today...again. Hopefully this is the last time. Afterall, this is our last week here so we really shouldn't even have a chance to run out of water again. However, since this is us we might run out even though we fill up tomorrow and are leaving on Wednesday. Crazily enough we've only had two weeks here that we haven't run out of water. I'm not sure whether or not to count this next week as the third week or not. I mean, we won't (crossing our fingers) run out of water, but if we stayed the whole week, we probably would run out of water. It's a toss up!
A few weeks ago we decided to keep all of our water bottles to see how much we were drinking. We collected quite a few--and most of those are 2 litres! That's not all the bottles in the house, and we have thrown a few away...but that is a lot of them. We call it our water bottle graveyard. (aka: weapons of little-to-no destruction).
A few weeks ago we decided to keep all of our water bottles to see how much we were drinking. We collected quite a few--and most of those are 2 litres! That's not all the bottles in the house, and we have thrown a few away...but that is a lot of them. We call it our water bottle graveyard. (aka: weapons of little-to-no destruction).
Water Bottle Battles
We have a lot of fun things that we do in our apartment to keep Ezra (and ourselves) entertained. Ezra and I will play a game kind of like hide-and-go-seek, but instead of Ezra ever finding me, I jump out and scare him and chase him all around the apartment. Ezra also likes to get "stuck." This involves tickle torture. We also have been known to engage in pillow fights.
Here are Ezra and Andrew having a water bottle battle.
No one was harmed in the making of this film.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Up on the housetop
We seem to be out of water...again. This time we might actually be out instead of just needing to pump our water. Andrew and I went up onto the roof to check things out. Our roof is pretty scary. There are pipes and cables and satellites and tanks and solar panels everywhere. It's all pretty trashy. We're not completely positive which water tank is ours since there are three different kinds of tanks, but we think that they are these big metal boxes. Please note how rusted the tank on the left is. It is no wonder we are not supposed to drink the water.
There are also some more interesting double-decker tanks that we don't think would hold enough to get anyone through the week. This is a picture of a newer tank...some of them were really gross looking!
After tip-toeing around our roof for a while (there really isn't a good place to put your feet down firmly), Andrew went to get a shot of the city. In this shot we can see our neighbour's roof and understand how they can have parties up there. Do you see how nice and organized their water tanks are in that nice little line? Ours are not like that. Ours are sporadically placed here and there. Some plastic ones, some metal ones...some broken ones. I'm kind of jealous of their roof--and their nice-looking water tanks.
In case anyone is wondering why the tanks are on the roof, it is due to water pressure. Our dear friend gravity is the only thing that helps our water get through the pipes and into our apartment.
There are also some more interesting double-decker tanks that we don't think would hold enough to get anyone through the week. This is a picture of a newer tank...some of them were really gross looking!
After tip-toeing around our roof for a while (there really isn't a good place to put your feet down firmly), Andrew went to get a shot of the city. In this shot we can see our neighbour's roof and understand how they can have parties up there. Do you see how nice and organized their water tanks are in that nice little line? Ours are not like that. Ours are sporadically placed here and there. Some plastic ones, some metal ones...some broken ones. I'm kind of jealous of their roof--and their nice-looking water tanks.
In case anyone is wondering why the tanks are on the roof, it is due to water pressure. Our dear friend gravity is the only thing that helps our water get through the pipes and into our apartment.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Water Woes Continue
Again we have run out of water. This is interesting because it is only Thursday and we don't get water until Monday. We are convinced that our tank doesn't fill up all the way sometimes. After all, we've each only had 1 shower and done 2 loads of laundry this week along with a few bucket baths. Technically that doesn't amount to the quantity of water we should have had. So this morning Andrew heated up the water (because I hate fiddling with the water heater) and just after I had shampooed my hair...
Yup! The water stopped flowing! It's a good thing we had a bucket that we let fill up in the shower before we start showering (for toilet flushing purposes, mainly)...so that was used for the rinse off. Bummer...I'm still not convinced that everything is out of my hair but at least I can stand the smell of myself now.
Sometimes we go so long without showering that we can't stand the smell of each other. I'm quite positive that you did not want to know that, but seriously, we run out of water so often we conserve it like crazy! Oh, well...hopefully it just needs to be pumped. Whenever our bowab wakes up, he'll try that. Until then, no toilet flushes, no hand washes, no showers, no water for cooking, no dish washing, no mopping the floor. We are totally dependent on water! At least we have to buy purified water so we always have some of that on hand!
Yup! The water stopped flowing! It's a good thing we had a bucket that we let fill up in the shower before we start showering (for toilet flushing purposes, mainly)...so that was used for the rinse off. Bummer...I'm still not convinced that everything is out of my hair but at least I can stand the smell of myself now.
Sometimes we go so long without showering that we can't stand the smell of each other. I'm quite positive that you did not want to know that, but seriously, we run out of water so often we conserve it like crazy! Oh, well...hopefully it just needs to be pumped. Whenever our bowab wakes up, he'll try that. Until then, no toilet flushes, no hand washes, no showers, no water for cooking, no dish washing, no mopping the floor. We are totally dependent on water! At least we have to buy purified water so we always have some of that on hand!
Monday, July 31, 2006
Accidental bus ride
Transportation in Jordan can sometimes be a hassle...well, it's always a hassle. The main mode of public transportation is the ubiquitous minibus, which are privately owned and go pretty much anywhere. They usually follow a set route, but are sometimes negotiable, like the one we took to Wadi Mujib and the Dead Sea. You always risk not getting on the right bus.
Since I take the bus to and from school everyday, getting a wrong bus is a semi-common occurence for me, but is easily fixed, since the bus driver usually changes his route for me (weird stuff...)
We had a similar problem going to Jerash. When we got to the Abdali bus station, I started looking around for the line of Jerash minibusses. The destination is always written on the side of the bus, and I had seen Jerash busses before, so I knew that they existed. I soon found our lucky bus. On the side was written "Amman to Jerash Camp" and in my momentary ignorance, I figured that meant a military camp or a tourist campground. I asked the driver if it went by the main Jerash ruins and he replied affirmatively. So off we went...
It didn't take me long to figure out what the Jerash Camp really was. The bus was full of Palestinian refugees heading home to their ghetto refugee camp. Hmmm...that's kind of dangerous for Americans to go to, since they place direct blame for their situation on us and Israel. But we were already underway, so we decided to ride it out.
An old guy next to me asked me why we were on that bus - he already knew we were Americans. He then drilled me on America's policies with Israel and started getting angry with me. He used an analogy 3 different ways to explain his anger at Israel - "What if someone came and kicked you out of your house at night? Would you try to get it back?", "What if I stole your bag and drank all your water? Would you want your water back?" and "What if this was your bus and I stole it from you? Would you want it back? Would you fight for it?"
I just kept telling him that I didn't support Israel and didn't support America's policies towards them and that I was against the war in Lebanon and Palestine. He couldn't believe that an American would say such things.
It didn't help that he spoke to me exclusively in broken English - it made the others on the bus very wary. I responded to him in Arabic the whole time, and it was pretty funny when he asked me halfway through the conversation if I spoke Arabic.
Anyway, during his heated conversation, some guy got on the bus and sat in front of me. He heard that we were talking and turned around and yelled at the old guy "Do you know what you're talking to!? Do you know where he's from? He's a Zionist supporter from America!!". The old guy just said "Yeah, I know. It's okay - he likes Hizballah - he hates the Jews." That wasn't completely true - I definitely don't hate Jews (since I'm 1/4th-ish Jewsih), and I'm not completely against Hizballah - but I wasn't about to negate my "redeeming qualities" in front of the angry guy. He angrily turned around back in his seat and was mostly silent during the rest of the trip.
He only spoke up in response to the BBC news that was on the radio. Every time America, Bush, Condoleeza Rice, or Israel mentioned, he and half the bus would mumble something. Once, after Rice was mentioned in one news report, he turned to me and said "That's your stupid foreign minister coming here. What are you going to do about it?!" I just ignored him and remained silent for the rest of the trip.
It was a huge relief to get off that bus at Jerash. Fun experience, yes. Something I want to do again, not really. At least, not during an Israeli war.
The way home was easier and much more peaceful. We found a busy intersection where tons of people were waiting around for something. I asked if they were waiting for a bus to go to Amman, but one girl responded by telling me that there were no busses to Amman and that we had to find a ride. Some guy overheard our conversation and came to offer us a ride for 6 JD for all of us. Since we paid 40 piasters each coming up, that was way too expensive, so we declined his offer. I asked other bystanders, and they all agreed - there was no bus to Amman. We decided that there had to be a bus to Amman, so we walked down the main road to find the city bus station. After 10 minutes of walking, a large bus for Amman pulled over and we got in.
Our bus drove up to the intersection where everyone was waiting, and everyone got on - even the girl who denied the existence of such a bus. Unfortunately she didn't see us on the bus...I had so wanted to call her bluff!
Since I take the bus to and from school everyday, getting a wrong bus is a semi-common occurence for me, but is easily fixed, since the bus driver usually changes his route for me (weird stuff...)
We had a similar problem going to Jerash. When we got to the Abdali bus station, I started looking around for the line of Jerash minibusses. The destination is always written on the side of the bus, and I had seen Jerash busses before, so I knew that they existed. I soon found our lucky bus. On the side was written "Amman to Jerash Camp" and in my momentary ignorance, I figured that meant a military camp or a tourist campground. I asked the driver if it went by the main Jerash ruins and he replied affirmatively. So off we went...
It didn't take me long to figure out what the Jerash Camp really was. The bus was full of Palestinian refugees heading home to their ghetto refugee camp. Hmmm...that's kind of dangerous for Americans to go to, since they place direct blame for their situation on us and Israel. But we were already underway, so we decided to ride it out.
An old guy next to me asked me why we were on that bus - he already knew we were Americans. He then drilled me on America's policies with Israel and started getting angry with me. He used an analogy 3 different ways to explain his anger at Israel - "What if someone came and kicked you out of your house at night? Would you try to get it back?", "What if I stole your bag and drank all your water? Would you want your water back?" and "What if this was your bus and I stole it from you? Would you want it back? Would you fight for it?"
I just kept telling him that I didn't support Israel and didn't support America's policies towards them and that I was against the war in Lebanon and Palestine. He couldn't believe that an American would say such things.
It didn't help that he spoke to me exclusively in broken English - it made the others on the bus very wary. I responded to him in Arabic the whole time, and it was pretty funny when he asked me halfway through the conversation if I spoke Arabic.
Anyway, during his heated conversation, some guy got on the bus and sat in front of me. He heard that we were talking and turned around and yelled at the old guy "Do you know what you're talking to!? Do you know where he's from? He's a Zionist supporter from America!!". The old guy just said "Yeah, I know. It's okay - he likes Hizballah - he hates the Jews." That wasn't completely true - I definitely don't hate Jews (since I'm 1/4th-ish Jewsih), and I'm not completely against Hizballah - but I wasn't about to negate my "redeeming qualities" in front of the angry guy. He angrily turned around back in his seat and was mostly silent during the rest of the trip.
He only spoke up in response to the BBC news that was on the radio. Every time America, Bush, Condoleeza Rice, or Israel mentioned, he and half the bus would mumble something. Once, after Rice was mentioned in one news report, he turned to me and said "That's your stupid foreign minister coming here. What are you going to do about it?!" I just ignored him and remained silent for the rest of the trip.
It was a huge relief to get off that bus at Jerash. Fun experience, yes. Something I want to do again, not really. At least, not during an Israeli war.
The way home was easier and much more peaceful. We found a busy intersection where tons of people were waiting around for something. I asked if they were waiting for a bus to go to Amman, but one girl responded by telling me that there were no busses to Amman and that we had to find a ride. Some guy overheard our conversation and came to offer us a ride for 6 JD for all of us. Since we paid 40 piasters each coming up, that was way too expensive, so we declined his offer. I asked other bystanders, and they all agreed - there was no bus to Amman. We decided that there had to be a bus to Amman, so we walked down the main road to find the city bus station. After 10 minutes of walking, a large bus for Amman pulled over and we got in.
Our bus drove up to the intersection where everyone was waiting, and everyone got on - even the girl who denied the existence of such a bus. Unfortunately she didn't see us on the bus...I had so wanted to call her bluff!
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Jerash
Jerash is one of Jordan's treasure troves; it's one of the best preserved Roman cities in the whole world. And I must admit, it really is very well preserved when compared to Rome. There were columns everywhere, the streets were original Roman-paved roads complete with underground sewage systems and ruts on the road. It's a complete ghost city.
The first thing we came to was the hippodrome. It was kind of awkward because we bought our tickets at the gate and passed a sign that said, "Make sure you got your tickets." and then we were at a loss of where to go. We hiked up to this wall and then saw a break in it and so walked through. It was completely empty...so we took a few pictures and walked through another gate. At last we saw some people. They were selling tickets for a show. We decided to get them since we are residents in Jordan. Our admission price to Jerash was only 50 piasters (instead of 8 JD for tourists!), and the tickets for the show were only 5 JD (instead of 20 JD for tourists!). The show was really pretty cool.
The men in the show are in the Jordanian army (from the looks of it we think that some of them are retired) and they march well, although their lines got off quite a bit. They "spoke" Latin and had pretty good costumes.
We had a fairly rough day. We just didn't prepare well at all. I wore flip flops for the first time this summer, which probably wasn't a very good idea. None of us put on sunscreen and we had only 3 little water bottles and 2 packages of cookies between the five of us (Me, Andrew, Jason, Crystal, and Ezra). Needless to say we got more and more dehydrated as we went...but it was pretty cool all the same.
We first walked to the South Amphitheater. On the way, Andrew pretended to be a column and I squished into a statue niche to prove that I could. (Ezra was standing in one...and so we thought that we would see if I could also be a statue. I can, by the way!)
There is a wooden stage covering the original flooring because they were preparing for a big event in Jerash. Every year there is a Jerash Cultural Festival there where Arab musicians and artisans come and do concerts and so forth throughout the park. Unfortunately it was cancelled this year due to the war in Lebanon, since a lot of Arab singers are Lebanese (such as my namesake, Nancy Ajram). We were looking forward to going, but it was nice to go when the park was pretty unoccupied.
On the way out of the North Amphitheater we ran across a dead centipede. We saw so many millipedes and centipedes. I have never seen bigger bugs of this sort. They were probably as long as the palm of my hand and my fingers combined!
One of the last things we walked by was the elaborate Nymphaeum. Andrew had me pretend to be a nymph sitting in the fountain...I'm that tiny blue dot in the fountain base.
The first thing we came to was the hippodrome. It was kind of awkward because we bought our tickets at the gate and passed a sign that said, "Make sure you got your tickets." and then we were at a loss of where to go. We hiked up to this wall and then saw a break in it and so walked through. It was completely empty...so we took a few pictures and walked through another gate. At last we saw some people. They were selling tickets for a show. We decided to get them since we are residents in Jordan. Our admission price to Jerash was only 50 piasters (instead of 8 JD for tourists!), and the tickets for the show were only 5 JD (instead of 20 JD for tourists!). The show was really pretty cool.
The men in the show are in the Jordanian army (from the looks of it we think that some of them are retired) and they march well, although their lines got off quite a bit. They "spoke" Latin and had pretty good costumes.
We had a fairly rough day. We just didn't prepare well at all. I wore flip flops for the first time this summer, which probably wasn't a very good idea. None of us put on sunscreen and we had only 3 little water bottles and 2 packages of cookies between the five of us (Me, Andrew, Jason, Crystal, and Ezra). Needless to say we got more and more dehydrated as we went...but it was pretty cool all the same.
We first walked to the South Amphitheater. On the way, Andrew pretended to be a column and I squished into a statue niche to prove that I could. (Ezra was standing in one...and so we thought that we would see if I could also be a statue. I can, by the way!)
The amphitheater isn't much compared to the Colosseum or the amphitheater in Vienna, but considering the population of Gerasa at the time, and that there are 2 amphitheaters in the same city, it is pretty remarkable.
There is a wooden stage covering the original flooring because they were preparing for a big event in Jerash. Every year there is a Jerash Cultural Festival there where Arab musicians and artisans come and do concerts and so forth throughout the park. Unfortunately it was cancelled this year due to the war in Lebanon, since a lot of Arab singers are Lebanese (such as my namesake, Nancy Ajram). We were looking forward to going, but it was nice to go when the park was pretty unoccupied.
South Amphitheater
After the amphitheater, we hit a bunch of churches. Most of what's left of them is columns--there were so many columns! While we were in one of the churches the Call to Prayer sounded. There were so many mosques around (I think we spotted 5 minarets) so it was pretty crazy. It wasn't quite a mess as in downtown Cairo, but it was still pretty garbled. They were all going at the same time and I couldn't really hear the words from any particular one because they were all running together and echoing on the hills. It was really pretty cool.
For some reason we really liked the amphitheaters. The North Amphitheater was smaller but also very well preserved. The tunnels to get to the seating was really cool! When we walked in from the sunshine we couldn't see anything and almost fell down the staircase! There were also some really interesting reliefs on the seating.
For some reason we really liked the amphitheaters. The North Amphitheater was smaller but also very well preserved. The tunnels to get to the seating was really cool! When we walked in from the sunshine we couldn't see anything and almost fell down the staircase! There were also some really interesting reliefs on the seating.
On the way out of the North Amphitheater we ran across a dead centipede. We saw so many millipedes and centipedes. I have never seen bigger bugs of this sort. They were probably as long as the palm of my hand and my fingers combined!
One of the last things we walked by was the elaborate Nymphaeum. Andrew had me pretend to be a nymph sitting in the fountain...I'm that tiny blue dot in the fountain base.
For more pictures you can check out the Slade's blog (who went to Jerash with us), and the Palmer's blog (who went to Jerash the same day as us...but we didn't ever see them).
Monday, July 24, 2006
Something fishy is going on
While we were in Egypt, something fishy started happening in our kitchen. When we came home, the first thing we noticed was the smell...we started looking around at what the smell could be but could not find anything that would smell funny. Of course, we weren't really sure what we were looking for. We checked around for signs of mice. Nothing. We looked for rotten food. Nothing. We looked around our sink for molding stuff. Nothing.
Finally at breakfast a few days ago, I looked up at the ceiling. There was a little line of yellow gunk on the ceiling. It was so small I wasn't sure that it was actually the source of the smell but now I see that it actually was the culprit. That little yellow line has grown into somewhat of a monster and has taken over the whole area above our fridge. Water is starting to drip off of it so we called the landlord and someone should be stopping by shortly to check it out. We'll let you know what it is.
Sunday, July 23, 2006
You know you've been in Jordan too long when...
Andrew and I finally went shopping today. It's been awhile...all we ate yesterday were some biscuits, so it was high time we went grocery shopping! We even splurged and got a baguette (30 piasters--big splurge!), so for dinner we made spaghetti--Italian style (not from scratch, but Italian none the less).
Andrew dished it out and we both stared at our plates for a few minutes. Sure, we had forks, but really, what were we to do? Andrew then broke out the baguette. Relieved, I quickly tore off a chunk of the baguette, opened it up and in a claw-like manner grabbed a handful of spaghetti. Andrew looked at me funny and said, "You've been here way too long."
Here's our list of ways you know you've been in Jordan too long:
1 - Your eating utensil is pita bread instead of a fork.
2 - You are really happy when you've gone a whole week without running out of water (this is week #2, by the way!)
3 - You tell the time based on the call to prayer. ("What time is it?" "Oh, it's..." "Allaaaaaa-hu akbar!" "...about 9:30.").
4 - You sit calmly in a taxi as it weaves through city traffic going well over 100 km/hr.
5- You'll run across the street with cars coming both ways to catch a taxi at a red light (very out of character for Nancy!).
6 - You watch Oprah and other shows you'd never watch at home like Jake 2.0.
7 - You feel uncomfortable in a t-shirt and change before leaving the house so you aren't immodest.
8 - You recognize all the Arabic songs, who sings them, and what the music video for each one is.
9 - You don't look twice at a herd of goats walking down the street and will pick your way through it if necessary.
10 - You hardly notice the gas truck any more.
11 - Your house has turned into a water bottle graveyard.
12 - It's 100 degrees out and you see babies wrapped up in quilts and think that it's normal.
13 - Instead of dancing to songs you all stand around and clap...just clap (and maybe let out a Xena yelp occasionally!)
14 - You understand that instead of yeilding, drivers just honk at blind corners, the tops of hills, when entering tunnels, and anywhere else you could get into a head-on collision, and you're ok with this.
We'll let you know if we think of any more.
Andrew dished it out and we both stared at our plates for a few minutes. Sure, we had forks, but really, what were we to do? Andrew then broke out the baguette. Relieved, I quickly tore off a chunk of the baguette, opened it up and in a claw-like manner grabbed a handful of spaghetti. Andrew looked at me funny and said, "You've been here way too long."
Here's our list of ways you know you've been in Jordan too long:
1 - Your eating utensil is pita bread instead of a fork.
2 - You are really happy when you've gone a whole week without running out of water (this is week #2, by the way!)
3 - You tell the time based on the call to prayer. ("What time is it?" "Oh, it's..." "Allaaaaaa-hu akbar!" "...about 9:30.").
4 - You sit calmly in a taxi as it weaves through city traffic going well over 100 km/hr.
5- You'll run across the street with cars coming both ways to catch a taxi at a red light (very out of character for Nancy!).
6 - You watch Oprah and other shows you'd never watch at home like Jake 2.0.
7 - You feel uncomfortable in a t-shirt and change before leaving the house so you aren't immodest.
8 - You recognize all the Arabic songs, who sings them, and what the music video for each one is.
9 - You don't look twice at a herd of goats walking down the street and will pick your way through it if necessary.
10 - You hardly notice the gas truck any more.
11 - Your house has turned into a water bottle graveyard.
12 - It's 100 degrees out and you see babies wrapped up in quilts and think that it's normal.
13 - Instead of dancing to songs you all stand around and clap...just clap (and maybe let out a Xena yelp occasionally!)
14 - You understand that instead of yeilding, drivers just honk at blind corners, the tops of hills, when entering tunnels, and anywhere else you could get into a head-on collision, and you're ok with this.
We'll let you know if we think of any more.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
One of the coolest places in Jordan - Wadi Mujib
We have a three day break this weekend, but instead of going out to some far away place, we decided to go to a little-visited place in Jordan - the Wadi Mujib nature reserve. If you read about it it sounds really boring - it's just a big animal reserve on the shores of the Dead Sea. It's really quite amazing though.
All along the shore of the Dead Sea there are fresh water springs that flow into the huge body of salt water - water coming from the mountains (but not from runoff - who knows where it comes from?!). One of the larger creeks is Wadi Mujib Gorge - part of the main reserve - which is a long hike up the river through a narrow canyon, ending at a tall waterfall. Immagine Petra's Siq with a fast moving river coming down, like the Subway or the Narrows hike in Zions National Park. Pretty amazing stuff.
We hired a mini bus from the Muhajereen bus stop by the 3rd circle in Amman. We negotiated the price for the whole day - 50 JD. Slightly ludicrous, but we only had a group of 5 (the three male BYU students in Irbid, Curtis, Stephen, and Andrew (aka Sami) came with us), so we took it. It was nice, since we had the driver wait for us wherever we went.
After about an hour drive we made it to the trailhead and paid the 7 JD per person. Once again expensive. Oh well. After paying we started hiking. We walked on man-made, metal bridges for a couple minutes until we came to the edge of a cliff with a metal ladder hanging down. Thus began our long, wet hike.
We had to swim twenty feet across to the other side of the river, where we could actually stand up and walk. We hiked in the shallow water for about 30 minutes, heading up the narrow canyon. The water gradually got whiter and rapider and deeper. We then got to some steep, small waterfalls/cliffs that we had to climb up.
After climbing up all the rapid waterfalls, we made it to the main one, which was a lot more rapid and powerful than the other small ones (duh). We all had fun running through it, trying not to get knocked over or lose anything. Curtis's watch got ripped off his wrist - it's still up there somewhere (maybe we'll find it in our sink someday). Stephen lost his glasses, which Sami miraculously found under the pummeling waterfall. It was amazingly fun!
After a long while at the top, we headed back. This was a lot more difficult, and a lot more fun than coming up. The group that left before us took the ropes that we needed at the steep climbs, so we had to jump down some of them and slide down others. The undertow was really strong on some of the waterfalls, making it difficult to get away and continue. We were all completely bruised by the time we got to the end. My shoes didn't survive - too many fast currents, poweful waterfalls, twisted ankles, and big rocks.
Once again at the beginning of the hike, we spent half an hour jumping back in the water from that first cliff with the metal ladder. The surrounding water was extremely deep and very warm - perfect cliff jumping water. Even Nancy jumped!
We then found our bus driver having a smoking/tea break with the guys at the trail head desk. We got back in the bus and went up to Amman Beach on the Dead Sea and met up with the Slades. We spent a little while floating in the Dead Sea again, but it wasn't as fun as the first time. We had so many stratches and scrapes and bruises from Wadi Mujib that the salt just stung. It hurt way too bad. I still love the Dead Sea, though.
All along the shore of the Dead Sea there are fresh water springs that flow into the huge body of salt water - water coming from the mountains (but not from runoff - who knows where it comes from?!). One of the larger creeks is Wadi Mujib Gorge - part of the main reserve - which is a long hike up the river through a narrow canyon, ending at a tall waterfall. Immagine Petra's Siq with a fast moving river coming down, like the Subway or the Narrows hike in Zions National Park. Pretty amazing stuff.
We hired a mini bus from the Muhajereen bus stop by the 3rd circle in Amman. We negotiated the price for the whole day - 50 JD. Slightly ludicrous, but we only had a group of 5 (the three male BYU students in Irbid, Curtis, Stephen, and Andrew (aka Sami) came with us), so we took it. It was nice, since we had the driver wait for us wherever we went.
After about an hour drive we made it to the trailhead and paid the 7 JD per person. Once again expensive. Oh well. After paying we started hiking. We walked on man-made, metal bridges for a couple minutes until we came to the edge of a cliff with a metal ladder hanging down. Thus began our long, wet hike.
We had to swim twenty feet across to the other side of the river, where we could actually stand up and walk. We hiked in the shallow water for about 30 minutes, heading up the narrow canyon. The water gradually got whiter and rapider and deeper. We then got to some steep, small waterfalls/cliffs that we had to climb up.
Some video of the beginning of the steep waterfalls
As we got closer to the main waterfall, the water got even faster and the cliffs that we had to climb up got higher. Ropes were provided on one of the difficult ascents. As we climbed, we took lots of breaks in the water, playing in the powerful mini waterfalls.
After climbing up all the rapid waterfalls, we made it to the main one, which was a lot more rapid and powerful than the other small ones (duh). We all had fun running through it, trying not to get knocked over or lose anything. Curtis's watch got ripped off his wrist - it's still up there somewhere (maybe we'll find it in our sink someday). Stephen lost his glasses, which Sami miraculously found under the pummeling waterfall. It was amazingly fun!
Me getting pummeled by the waterfall
Nancy falling in the waterfall
After a long while at the top, we headed back. This was a lot more difficult, and a lot more fun than coming up. The group that left before us took the ropes that we needed at the steep climbs, so we had to jump down some of them and slide down others. The undertow was really strong on some of the waterfalls, making it difficult to get away and continue. We were all completely bruised by the time we got to the end. My shoes didn't survive - too many fast currents, poweful waterfalls, twisted ankles, and big rocks.
Once again at the beginning of the hike, we spent half an hour jumping back in the water from that first cliff with the metal ladder. The surrounding water was extremely deep and very warm - perfect cliff jumping water. Even Nancy jumped!
We then found our bus driver having a smoking/tea break with the guys at the trail head desk. We got back in the bus and went up to Amman Beach on the Dead Sea and met up with the Slades. We spent a little while floating in the Dead Sea again, but it wasn't as fun as the first time. We had so many stratches and scrapes and bruises from Wadi Mujib that the salt just stung. It hurt way too bad. I still love the Dead Sea, though.
After a while there, we found our driver, once again chilling with the ticket and security guys - with tea - and came back home. It was an amazing day! We highly reccomend Wadi Mujib to anyone thinking about going! It's an incredible place! (Just don't go to the Dead Sea directly after...ouch!)
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Running low on water?
As you may be aware we have been having water issues. We have run out of water every week since the Slade's have arrived. Generally the water needs to be pumped on Fridays when our porter is out at the mosque, so we have no water on Fridays. Then we'll have it for part of the day on Saturday...and then it will be gone. Not a drop on Sunday. Usually the water fills up on Monday. This usually happens in the morning but sometimes doesn't happen until late afternoon, so we typically go a day to two without water. It's inconvenient, especially when we get sick with Pharaoh's revenge...but, it's doable. Amazingly enough, we haven't run out of water at all this week (yet). One of our neighbours was not so lucky.
Yesterday afternoon, the watertruck pulled up. They lowered a rope from the roof and attached it to the hose; they then hefted the hose up to the top of the roof and connected it to someone's water tank and started pumping the water. The hose was kind of a make-shift hose and was spraying water all over the place. Water was running down the street and spraying our window.
Yesterday afternoon, the watertruck pulled up. They lowered a rope from the roof and attached it to the hose; they then hefted the hose up to the top of the roof and connected it to someone's water tank and started pumping the water. The hose was kind of a make-shift hose and was spraying water all over the place. Water was running down the street and spraying our window.
We had always wondered what had happened if you really ran out of water (which we have). Our porter would always just tell us to wait because we'd get water in a few days. I guess if you pressure him enough you get a truck of water. 20 minutes and 20 JD later, our neighbours have a full tank of water. Ours, I am sure is getting rather empty...
We are not the only ones who've had water problems. Bridget, Brian and the Slades have all have similar complaints. We're just glad that this week it's not us out of water! 
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