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As-Salt p. 2

In Photos on July 3, 2011 at 2:09 pm

I also made friends with a bunch of old guys! They saw me eyeing their mancala game and let me in on the action. I did not win. In fact I managed to drop one of the stones we were playing with, effectively delaying the game for like, 10 minutes while we searched for it. After, I decided to sit out with these two.

You may think it strange that I have pictures of all of these men, but before you think that I am being rude, invasive or objectifying them, please note that they are complete and utter camera hogs. Once they saw my camera in my bag (as I was getting my water bottle) they asked me to take their pictures. A lot.

They also had some fun taking each others pictures, though you probably can’t tell because they don’t smile in photos! Seriously, they were worse than a bunch of ladies, making me the delete ones they didn’t see fit.

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As-Salt p. 1

In Photos on June 27, 2011 at 11:09 am

As a class, we took a day trip to As-Salt (pronounced like Assault) on Saturday. It is an old town, at one time set to be the capital of Jordan. There we visited a church and some mosques, along with what would have been the King’s palace (now a museum).

This is a fountain (variations of which can be found at any mosque) for practicing Muslims to perform Wudhu before prayer. Wudhu is a partial ablution ritual that is part of the practice of Taharah (the purification of the body and clothes). Prophet Mohammed said that “cleanliness is half of faith” and so you must wash up before formal prayer. The obligatory acts of Wudhu vary with each sect (Sunni, Shia and Sunnah), but basically it includes washing the hands, arms, feet and face in a particular order for a set number of times.

Me drinking Holy Water on site at a mosque from the well pictured above. It was delicious. I did not get sick (I filled my water bottle!).

Normally I don’t go around with my head covered or anything. But, it’s customary to follow hijab (modest dress code) while in a mosque. Through Mohammed, God expressed that women should be modest, but as I have seen, religious interpretations do vary and there are plenty of Muslim women who choose not to wear a veil of any sort at all in public.

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Madaba and Mt. Nebo

In Photos on June 26, 2011 at 1:37 pm

So a few of us decided to go to Madaba and Mt. Nebo on Friday. I probably should have studied instead since I now have a lot of homework, but old mosaics and the possibility of being near the burial site of Moses was worth it, I suppose.

In all seriousness, both sites were breathtaking, and the historic value they contain is spectacular.

Madaba is an ancient city known for its beautiful mosaics. We visited an orthodox church which houses remains of a mosaic map from an old Byzantine church (the oldest map of Palestine, to this day).

We also stopped by Mt. Nebo, traditionally the site where Moses was lead by God to view the Promised Land. On a clear day, you are supposed to be able to see Jerusalem. Not the case today.
Also, that tree picture (the fourth one down)…this tree is allegedly the tree Moses hit instead of talked to. Water was supposed to spring forth from the cave below. I’m sure you know better than me how this whole thing ended.

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Pictures pictures pictures

In Photos on June 26, 2011 at 9:57 am

So, last post I did not give you any context of where the pictures were taken, other than Amman…so to start off:

I went to the Citadel (Jabal al Qala’a) the beautiful remains of around 7000 years worth of settlements. Found on top of this hill are relics from the Middle Bronze Age through the Iron, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Arab Muslim time periods.

The column things are part of (what must have been) an enormous temple dedicated to Hercules. At least, this is a commonly held speculation due to the size of the fragments of a statue that remain.

There is also the Umayyad palace, marking a civilization that lasted less than 100 years.

From the Citadel, you can see a Roman amphitheater, which we visited earlier that day.

I also went to King Abdullah’s mosque. As customary for women to enter a mosque, I had to don a full coverup. Mosques are not supposed to be decadent on the inside, since it is a place of worship, so there was little art apart from the tiled ceiling.