A Day at Jerash

 On Sunday, Rob and I picked up our rental car and drove out to Jerash, about an hour north of Amman. The Roman ruins there are meant to be spectacular, and we were not disappointed!

We got a bit of a late start, having some trouble finding the rental car office and then getting stuck in traffic leaving Amman. By the time we got to Jerash, we were ready for lunch. Lonely Planet recommended Lebanese House, a lovely Lebanese restaurant in an open air villa just south of the ruins. Lunch was absolutely delicious, and we no doubt ate more than we should have.

The ruins of Jerash are spread out over a few kilometers. Visitors enter through the Gate of Hadrian at the south (see below).

 Then you walk up through ruins of a hippodrome, into an amphitheater and the beginning of the cardo. The site is stunning, especially because directly across the street, contemporary Jerash hums busily away. It seems unthinkable that such history has been preserved, such a large archaeological park, and also exciting to think of how much more is yet to be excavated.

 On the way home, exhausted and sweaty, we navigated rush hour traffic in Amman. What can I say, this ass was holding up traffic for a mile or so...

A few summer days in Amman

 The weather's much more manageable here in Jordan (than Oman) but it's still pretty warm. Two days ago, Rob and I slept in late as he arrived at 3:30am. We headed out to visit Amman's Roman amphitheatre and the citadel. The amphitheater is about five minutes walk from our hotel, if that, and nestled right next to a main highway.

 After we slogged to the top of the amphitheater for the obligatory top-down shot, we walked up the opposite hill to see the citadel. The view of Amman is amazing! The city was originally built on seven hills, but has spread to 19 now. Amman has been inhabited for a very long time, and was known as Philadelphia in the Roman era. You can see the layers of the city as you walk through the streets: it has been built and rebuilt, and remains in the process of becoming as new buildings emerge and old ones crumble.

 At the citadel, there is also a small archaeological museum with relics from the site dating back to the Stone Age (gives 'historical' a whole new meaning). There was also a pretty bizarre jewelry display (see below: Rob asked, "Liz Taylor?").

 The view looking down into 'al-balad' (as the downtown area is called) is pretty incredible, and you can see the highway and the amphitheater again.

Later that night, we tried out the Wild Jordan Cafe for dinner. We ate a delicious healthy meal on their patio, overlooking the city spread out beneath us.

Above, you can see the citadel illuminated at night. It's gorgeous, but belies the many many hills of Amman we climbed...it was an exhausting day. We learned some important things, though: everything is negotiable. Never accept the first offer, and never pay more than 500 fils for a big bottle of water. Always ask the driver to restart the meter on the cab, cause he won't do it on his own. Even when you speak to Jordanian cabbies in Arabic, they will still try to take you for a ride, and you have to yell at them when they take you the opposite direction of your hotel just to get the meter up a bit. It's really tiring to constantly haggle prices and fight down superinflated prices ($3 for a can of Coke, for example). In this respect, I miss Oman: Omanis don't care about taking foreigners' money. They are scrupulously honest, and will hand money back to you if you overpay.

Yesterday, we headed to Darat al Funun, basically because Rob is being very generous about putting up with a few research items that have ended up on our itinerary. Darat is one of the first art centers in the Middle East, and has been a pioneer, so I couldn't pass up the chance to check it out. This place is a sanctuary: a series of three buildings amongst Roman ruins and lush gardens terracing down the hillside. It is quite the breath of fresh air from the busy tumult of Ammani streets.

After Darat, we headed to the Jordanian National Gallery in Jebel Weibdeh. We walked (again) and it was quite the long walk, but worth it once we found it, nestled in two buildings adjacent to an art park. The collection was lovely - unfortunately, we are missing the opening of their 70 years of Jordanian artists exhibition that is coming up soon.

Last night, we went to Beit Sitti for Jordanian cooking classes. Turns out Beit Sitti is basically right behind Darat al Funun, which would have made us pretty cranky except we took a taxi there this time! On the menu: cucumber salad, mutabel, matloubeh, and osmaliyeh (a kunafeh-y dessert). We started our lesson with Laure, and she talked us through their spices, including turmeric, sumac, garlic, parsley, mint and tahini.

Our "kitchen" was outside on the patio, overlooking the hillsides of Amman, and we chopped and minced at Laure's direction. We even made our own pita bread. Everything was so simple, and she used spoons and cups but no official measurements. You can see the stove and oven in the back, above, where we cooked the matloubeh, the eggplant for the mutabel, and the pita.

Happy chefs!

Here is Rob after Laur said, "You should do something! She is doing everything!" So we documented his labors (to be fair, he did cook quite well).

The final meal was delicious: at the top left, you can see our cucumber salad (with mint making the starfish pattern), the pita under the napkin on the top right, the matloubeh (upside down dish: with chicken and rice, cooked in one pot and then flipped), and the mutabel on the bottom left. It was so incredibly delicious, and we ate more than we should have but didn't regret a bite.

Afterwards, Laur gave us a ride over to Jebel Amman and we enjoyed a brief 'argileh (shisha) and lemon-mint juice before hitting the sack so we could get up for Jerash in the morning.

من عمان إلى عمان

Safely here, from Oman to Amman. Yep. In Arabic, they're spelled the same.

More soon, once Rob gets here! Alhamdullileh.

Jebel Akhdar

Jebel Akhdar is located in the Sharqiyah region of Oman, and in Arabic it means "the green mountain." We parked the bus at the base of the mountain and transferred into 4x4s. The falaj at the base of the mountain had been paved, with stone bridges over the falaj. Some local boys were using the falaj as relief from the heat, climbing underneath the bridges and floating down the channels.

We soon understood why the 4x4s were necessary: the mountain road was steep and windy. Our bus would have made it about 10 feet. It took a while to reach the summit, but the view from the top was magnificent.

From the overlook, you could see small villages scattered on the terraces below. And the mountain was surprisingly green: the falaj systems keep the terraces blooming with grapes, pomegranates, apples, grass for goats, olive trees, and corn, among other crops.

The stone outcroppings of the overlook also showcased the mountain's geological history: scores of worms, coral, shells and fish were captured in the rock. This area used to be underwater, and we could see the beautiful remnants everywhere. 

After walking along the falaj from village to village, we ate lunch and headed over to Wadi Ben Habib, a village abandoned about the time that Sultan Qaboos came into power (1970) and began his modernization regimes. You can explore the village, and get a sense of the structure and architecture of the old style of houses. Wadi Ben Habib looks over a wadi (obviously) where there are other inhabited villages, barely visible in the photo below - they are made from adobe and blend well into the surrounding land.

It was great fun to trek around the mountain all day, climbing on ruins, aflaj, and walls. The weather was warm, but far more temperate than humid sticky Muscat. We got tired out pretty quickly, and after arriving back to the hotel, hit the hay as soon as possible. Now, there is but to take the final exam and buy gifts at Matrah Souq...and then, on Thursday, my time in Oman will come to a close.

Visiting Maryam in el Yahmady

Last Friday, we visited Maryam in her village, el Yahmady, near Ibra. We met her in Nizwa, one on of the first weekends here - she came up to Julia and I and just started chatting. When she invited us to her village, we realized that this might be the only opportunity we had to visit an Omani home (and access to Omani women!) so we rented a car and planned our visit. Maryam's sister hosted us (second from left, with baby) for a snack: fresh juice, cake, and fruits before we headed out to visit their plot of garden in the oasis, watered by the falaj. Maryam is the far right, in the blue veil. I was so happy to be around Omani women, and have the opportunity to speak with them in Arabic. They were very curious about us and our lives, about the cities we lived in, what we were doing in Oman. It was really lovely. We sat in their majlis, a room off the main entrance and to the side so that women can enter and exit without being seen by the rest of the household, and ate fruit and drank juice.

Hurra, the littlest girl, came with us to the falaj: she's absolutely precious. I loved her red satin outfit.

The al Yahmady women's outfits were so brightly colored and patterned - they were so beautiful! Especially after weeks of nothing but black abayas and hijabs.

Hurra is standing on the date oven - after the farmers harvest the dates, they cook them on this big stove. The fire goes underneath (follow the smoke marks) and above, there's a large cauldron where the dates go. They are cooked halfway, and then transported away for further cooking.

It was far too hot to stay out in the gardens for long, so we returned to Maryam's father's house. Again we entered the women's room from a private entrance. It had its own bathroom and sinks, and a separate entrance into the courtyard and the main house. We had lunch: something none of us had expected, since we were already full from the snack earlier. After a heavy lunch of rice, beef, and chicken, the girls applied henna to us.

As the sun sent down, we headed to an abandoned village nearby to see the old style of Omani houses. They were beautiful, and nestled among still-inhabited homes. The new homes recycle bits of the old ones, an ever-growing and evolving dwelling.

After dark, we headed back to Muscat and returned the rental car. I was very grateful to have spent a day with Omani women. It seems such a simple thing - but it was nice to be included and to be treated as honored guests - a heartwarming welcome after several weeks of awkwardly inhabiting the liminal space of Western woman in Muscat. It seems hard to believe that the program is coming to a close already, and I am thankful to go out on a high note.

Interlude: Gas,Pomegranates & Fezzes

What an incredible weekend! I am completely exhausted. Before I write up my weekend tomorrow (inshallah) to tell you about my visit with Maryam in al Yehmady and my trip to Jebel Akhdar, two quick notes.

1) Here's a picture of the gas prices in Oman. The prices range from 120 besa to 146 besa per liter. 1000 Besa make an Omani rial, which is worth about $3 USD.

...which makes gas about 30-35 cents per liter here.
Yes. You read that right.

2). Last week my mango wore a turban & this week, my pomegranate wore a fez. I had no idea fruits were so into stylish headgear! Wait a minute...

More soon!

Special Update

Given that my last post was about marriage, I think it's fantastic and appropriate that the Supreme Court has struck down DOMA as unconstitutional. This is a really really exciting day - I agree that this law limited the liberty of individual citizens and denied them dignity and benefits they are fully entitled to. Being here in Oman, I have spent so much time explaining how our government, history, and beliefs about appropriate love and political organization are different, and rationalize them to someone who comes from a completely different way of seeing and making sense of the world. Having to do this has made me re-evaluate my beliefs and made me believe in them so much more strongly and deeply, especially because I see so clearly how gorgeous our freedoms are and how important the concept of democracy is (even if it is not fully realized...yet). I am so proud and thankful to be a citizen of the USA today - it simply comes down to

LOVE IS LOVE IS LOVE.