Jordan, 2 Canadian backpackers & the Superbowl

Thursday, after work, I finished packing my new intense, perfect-for-traveling backpack (Surprise! It's orange!) and left with Allie for the bus station. 6 hours later, we were in Eilat, the southernmost city in Israel. We met our other travel companion (one of the TASP girl's brother's friend) at the hostel and went out to grab a beer and get to know each other. His name is Mike and Allie had met him once. He was in the middle of doing some world traveling and jumped on the chance to have some companions to Jordan. We were very glad to have a guy coming with us, so we wouldn't be harassed or taken advantage of.
Friday morning we got up and found out that the road to Petra was closed because of the weather. It had snowed in Jerusalem, Petra and everywhere in between on Wednesday. Since it doesn't snow often, these places aren't equipped to deal with it. Good thing we were going to Wadi Rum first! Crossing the border was easier than expected, probably because of the weather in Petra. There, we also found out that it wasn't the road that was closed, but Petra itself. hmm...
We took a taxi to the Wadi Rum visitor's center, literally in the middle of the desert! We signed up for a 5 hour tour, picked out our guide and jeep & took off. We saw some pretty cool rock formations, like natural bridges that we actually got to climb up and a secluded small canyon. We saw Lawrence of Arabia's old house, or what was left of it and drawing of camels on a rock wall dating from his 1500-2000 years ago depicting which way the caravans were going. We hiked up a huge red sand dune & filled our shoes with sand as we ran down. We drank delicious Bedouin tea and listened to our guide play the oud. Luckily, we stopped for lunch with our guide's friend & his group. They had a lot of extra food they shared with us. We had stupidly just brought a bunch of snacks instead of figuring out some way to make & pack sandwiches or something. The most amazing part, however, was just standing in the middle of the vast stretch of desert, with huge colorful mountains on either side and a perfect clear blue sky above. It was a good place for life pondering & trouble forgetting.
At the end of the day, our guide hooked us up with a cab driving friend who drove us to Wadi Musa, the city right outside Petra. The day had be gorgeous and warm enough for everything to open up by this point. Our cab driver, Muhammad, was a blast! He was dancing in the car, teaching us some of his moves. We stopped on the side of a road at at a little stand and he bought us tea & took a picture with us. He made sure to point out everything we were passing, like the farm of goats that were all imported from New Zealand and King's Highway, which was up the side of the tallest mountain in the country that you could drive up. At the top of it, he pulled over to let us take pictures of the sunsetting behind the still snow covered (or spotted) mountains. Allie and Mike were the only ones with cameras (By the way Sean, what's the status on mine?) and Muhammed pulled me behind the car and we started covertly making snowballs with the thick snow on the side of the road. We launched them as they started walking back. I learned that I am a terrible snow ball thrower, which is confusing because I can throw a baseball. Anyway, I think Allie got pictures.
In Wadi Musa, Muhammed pointed out his house and the clothing shop where his wife works. We were almost sad to part ways when we got to our hostel-- it was the best cab ride I've ever had! We got his number, though, so he could drive us back to the border the next day. We were staying at the Cleopetra...haha...and bargained our way into the same deal that our friends got the weekend before, even though we only stayed for 1 night & they stayed for 2. Only 7 dinar per person. That's about $9.80. We got situated and then inquired about where to get dinner. Mousla, the guy that ran the hostel pointed us to a place down the street called Alarabi & we were instructed to let them know he sent us and to give us "the deal". Another, older guy named Gregor joined us. He was from Vancouver, had been traveling alone for a few months now and had just come from Egypt. We shared a bunch of dishes-similar stuff to Israel: hummus, pita, grilled meat, falafel, chopped salad. In the end, it was a total of 13 dinar ($18.20) for 4 people!
It was dark when we got back to the hostel, but it was only about 8pm. There was a decent sized living room and about 15 people staying there were hanging. We joined and ended up playing cards for a while with 2 other guys (Dustin & Kevin) from Vancouver who only knew Gregor because they happened to meet in Egypt. What a small world! They had about a week left of traveling and were planning on going back to Egypt because they were flying out of Cairo, but weren't crazy about spending another week there. Allie and I were talking to each other about making it back for the the Super Bowl on Sunday. Dustin & Kevin were much more excited about that, though weren't sure about traveling to Israel for just a few days. We opened the invitation to our apartment hostel, even though we thought we had finally shut it down after the winter Birthright season.
Saturday was the perfect day for Petra. Mild weather & another cloudless sky. We tour a 2 hour tour through the canyon that leads into the heart of the city, learning all about the history. Did you know that there is a new list of the 7 Wonders of the World? Well, the pyramids are out & Petra is in! It is an entire ancient city inside a ring of mountains. Instead of cutting and hauling rocks around to make buildings, the ancient settlers carved the buildings into the mountains! It was literally stumbled upon by a Swiss explorer in 1812. There is one structure called the Monastery, named by the Crusaders, that was the main pilgrimage site. I can imagine that it was traveled to often because you have to climb 800 steps and several uphill ramps to reach it. Mike, Allie & I did it, though, with only one short break & in 35 minutes. The grueling hike was all worth it when we came around the corner & saw this intense carved building. We sat, ate and stared for a while. There is a bell shaped ornament at the top and we noticed 2 guys walking around on it, quite high up. Mike wanted to see if he could go up there, too. I said why not & joined him looking for how to climb up. We went back the way we came and realized that wouldn't work. We went to the other side and saw the reason "why not". There was a big sign that said NO CLIMBING. That was enough for me, but Mike wanted to explore more. So, I sat with Allie until Mike came back, also claiming defeat. The guys at the top were being stupid, jumping from one building section to another and walking on the small ledges on the sides of the walls. That's when we decided to walk back down, before we witnessed a death.
On our way out of the ancient city, we bargained (very well!) to just ride a camel in a little circle, long enough to take pictures and say we did it. We got the guy down from 20 dinar each for a walk to the end of the road (not too far) to 1 dinar each. At first he wasn't budging, but we walked away and didn't look back. We got about 20 feet away when he realized we were serious and caved. Victory!
After our day in Petra, we said goodbye to Mike, who was taking a bus to Amman to continue his world travels and we had Moula call Muhammed to get a ride back to the border. Sad news, though, he couldn't come. He sent his cousin, though. He was friendly, but didn't speak as much English. We did stop at his house, though, and he invited us in for tea. It was neat to see the inside of a Jordanian house, but it was so awkward. His wife and 4 daughters were there (his son was at work) and I highly doubt they had ever seen anyone like us because they just sat there and stared.
We had made reservations for the 9:30 pm bus from Eilat to Tel Aviv, but got back to Eilat sooner than we thought. We were hanging out at the Eilat mall (There's not much to do in Eilat in the winter!) & decided to change to the 8pm bus, which would get us home about 2 hours earlier. We found out that Dustin and Kevin were at a bar in Eilat & had decided to join us in Tel Aviv. They met us at the bus station and snatched the last few seats on the bus. It was a very eventful bus ride, full of an argument about D&K being in the wrong seats (They're assigned here.) Since it was their very first experience in Israel, they were very confused about what was going on, but Allie was strong and argued back in Hebrew. Kevin ended up laying on the floor, like one of the soldiers on our way to Eilat on Thursday and Dustin had to sit with the girl that started it all. After we stopped for a break, the girl magically managed to find another seat and the guys were able to sit behind us again. Woah. We finally got home at about 3 am.
Needless to say, we all slept pretty late on Sunday & then I took D&K to the laundromat while Allie was a good student and worked on a paper. The guys made dinner for us that night & had it ready when I came home from Hebrew class! The Super Bowl started here at 1:30 am. We got to Mike's Place about an hour before kickoff and were shocked to find a place to sit. It is a very American bar, actually next to the American embassy on the water, with huge TV's. It was as packed as I would imagine any sports bar in America would be. I think the only Israelis there were the ones working! We got home from the game in time for me to get ready for work! The guys left Tuesday morning after another mostly sleep filled day. They didn't see much of Tel Aviv, but we made them go spend the day in Jerusalem, at least, before heading back to Cairo.
And now, after two exciting weekends, it's back the grindstone and paper writing. I think I'll finish just in time for the next semester to start on the 17th!
(Pictures will be up as soon as I steal them from Allie.)

An hour in complete darkness

Last Wednesday (the 30th), I got my 2nd non-Mom haircut. I went to a place called Highlights nearby. Allie had gone and so had another girl from the program. The guys that own it/work there are from South Africa, though they have lived in Israel the majority of their lives. They do, however, speak perfect English. Allie loved them, and though they were more expensive than the first place, I figured being able to communicate exactly what I want and get it was worth it. Well...I was right! I am still growing out the bulk of my hair, but I got fun new long bangs and layers to spice things up! He (Jonathan) even straightened it for me. I don't think it's ever been so straight- I don't have the appropriate straightener or patience. I didn't wash it for 3 days, just to keep it!



That evening, I went with some girls from my program (Dina, Shari, Stephanie & Jen) to a town about 30 minutes south of Tel Aviv to the children's museum because they have a Blind Exhibit. You are given a cane and led through complete darkness by a blind person. Talia was our leader. I don't know how they did it, but your eyes never adjust! There are several rooms you go through, each set up with objects, smells and sounds of real life places, like a pond, a cabin, an outdoor market, a harbor (where we "rode" on a boat), a city street, and a cafeteria. In each room, we had to feel and listen around, exploring and trying to figure out what was there. As I was passing a fence on the city street, a dog started barking. I actually jumped! We were told to bring some change ahead of time and we bought snacks at the cafeteria. We had to bring change so that we could feel the different sizes and figure out how much we were paying. On the way to the table, I dropped my bag of chips and Talia picked it up immediately. I was pretty amazed! We sat and discussed our experience and asked Talia questions about her life as we snacked in the darkness. Talia said that when she first started working there, it only took her a few minutes in each room to learn her way around. I don't think I could have done that. I felt like I was fumbling around the whole time, proud of myself when I found something new on my own that no one else pointed out. The whole point was to, for at least an hour of your life, not just imagine, but actually experience, what life would be like without the gift of sight. It was a very mind-opening experience.