Date Line Jordan - Thursday, April 8

I believe it is now 6PM here in Amman - I didn't bring a watch, and haven't changed the clock setting on my computer to local time.  The electric outlet of choice at the moment is in the lobby of our beautiful little hotel which is perched on a hillside across from the University. There are pastoral views from our windows - hillsides and houses.  This morning at breakfast in a charming restaurant in the hotel we caught sight of 2 foxes making their way down paths in the midst of tall grasses!

Our day began with a 7AM wake-up call.  Most of us had showered last night to remove the grime of the long trip, which was a very good thing because there was no hot water this morning.  I just heard the desk clerk assure one of my travel companions that they would look into the situation tonight - but I've decided to be clean rather than sorry and have already showered today's dust off, which may or may not be more than you wanted to know.  As a scribe it's hard to tell what to share and what to save for later - forgive me if I occasionally cross the line.  Also please forgive grammar and typos - it seems that I am typing faster than my converter can supply me with electricity (the engineers amongst you are surely groaning, but that is what it looks like from here).

So this morning our tour guide Zuhair (he says it rhymes with no hair) and our driver Khalid met us at the door of our hotel and off we headed north toward the mountains.  Those who got to the bus early, returned to their rooms for jackets and to tell the rest to do so, as it was perhaps 60F.   Zuhair thanked us for coming to his country, telling us he knew that we were surely told by some  friends and perhaps by family that we were foolish to come to Jordan, but that we are warmly welcome here, and that he hoped we could tell others upon our return of the friends and beauty we had encountered in his country.  After that, we drove on twisty, switchback roads through towns as Zuhair related history, both ancient and more recent to us.  My notes are full of dates beginning with the 4^th century BC and continuing through 1901, 1916, 1948, 1991, and 2001.  Those 20^th century dates held much more meaning for me as he related Jordan's experiences with major influxes of refugees from so many different regions.  But it was the earlier history of which we partook in our visit to Jarash (multiple spellings abound).

While Jerash was  first a Greek city, the ruins in evidence are Roman, as they rebuilt many things with rich Corinthian columns, etc.  We saw colonnades and Cardo street (so named as it is the main artery of the city), the hippodrome (with horses and camels ready to re-enact the races), ampitheaters, temples and the magnificent gates leading from the city to Damascus, etc.  The site is quite large with much to see and significant terrain to climb.  There were hundreds of school boys on tour as well with their teachers, all of the students very, very happy to chant Hello, Hello, Hello as they passed and to say with big smiles and great pride Welcome to Jordan.  English is required from the first grade and they were thrilled to practice with us.  I am told that the public schools are separate for boys and girls up until college, and that the elementary school excursions to places like Jerash are planned so that the boys and girls visit on different days.  In one of the major colonnaded areas by the gates there was local music and boys dancing in circles, left and right, in and out, all the while laughing.  Also, everyone was carrying cell phones or ipods and cameras.  A young couple were sitting far from the crowd, quite some distance from the major sites - close they sat and obviously enjoying each other's company - beside them played an ipod.  It was impossible not to smile.

After that we departed from our scripted travel plans and went to a castle named Ajlun built during the times of the crusades by Saladin.  To get there we climbed via shuttle bus to about 4000 feet where the castle sat atop the chilly wind-blown mountain with amazing views.  Once again young boys glad to practice their English were clambering all over the rocks and saying Hello, Hello, Hello.  We taught them to say Good Bye!  Then home to our hotel, our nightly meeting, dinner, and that brings me to you.

And so I must say good bye as well.  The call to prayers occurred about an hour ago.  Zuhair says the faithful are called to remember the basics of their beliefs, and so are we all.

Good night and God bless.

Ross, the scribe