Home is where the heart is....

Funny how last year at this time I had just found out I would be spending the Fall in Jordan. How fast the time has gone by. I've officially been home for 3 months now, although sometimes I feel like my Jordanian adventure never really happened.

The re adjustment period has been hard. Honestly, it has been harder than adjusting to Jordanian life. Seeing my family and friends has been more than a blessing, and reuniting with my American life and all the small comforts of home has truly left me feeling great. I now wonder how I even got by living abroad without hot water, real coffee or lots of toilet paper. I am however, disappointed in myself. Once returning home I jumped right back into taking small things for granted. Upon leaving Jordan I had hoped to continue things like short showers knowing how other parts of the world are so water poor. I am however human, and American through and through. This experience has proven how much we take for granted, how much I take for granted living in the United States.

People ask about my experience abroad all the time. It breaks my heart because I know there is no way to convey how beautifully magnificent life in the Middle East is. I get frustrated and typically respond with, "It was amazing, life changing really", only to hear, "WOW that's cool". Period. Most people don't care that I saw some of the oldest places on earth, or that I rode a camel through the desert, and saw the sun set over the vast expansion of sand. Nope, people don't want to hear that I had to barter for goods in a market with broken arabic, or that I smoked hookah or drank endless tea. My memories and experiences are limited by words, pictures, brief stories, and that is if and only if people are interested enough to listen.

I've come to terms with it though, that no one will ever understand or truly be able to grasp how special my time in Jordan really was. The experience was and most likely will be the hardest thing I will ever go through, it pushed me to my limits emotionally, intellectually and personally. I had days I thought I would never survive, but I also had days that changed my soul, that touched me to my core. I met people who lived so differently from me, but who opened their homes, their hearts and their minds to who I am. I learned compassion, patience, cross cultural communications, empathy, and that no matter where we are, or what we believe, we are all humans. We are all here trying to survive, trying to provide and trying to live what we think is a good life. Although beliefs, customs, ideas may be different, our roots are the same.

I think about my time in Jordan a lot. Sometimes I miss it so much I would give anything to go back, even just for one more day, to hear the call to prayer, or have a cup of tea, or even to take a crazy cab ride. I miss it because it was my home. It truly was my home for 4 months of my life. I adapted and made connections with a culture and society that have shaped me and will always be a part of my being. Spending time abroad, and more specifically in Jordan, was the best decision I could have made, and I am extremely thankful I was given the opportunity to do what most people can't even imagine.

I know that I will return to the Middle East. I know in my heart I will always have a home there, and that I am a strong enough person to live and thrive in the Arab culture. The people and the culture have accepted me, and I will forever hold a place for Jordan in my heart. I hope that through my blog you have experienced a small taste of what I am so passionate about. I hope that you look past the war, the bombings, the media negativity and into an area with people, just like you and me, that are strong, rich with culture and vibrant with history. I challenge you to not believe everything you hear, but to experience the Middle East for yourself. Listen to Arabic music, eat Middle Eastern food, read a book from an Arab writer, watch an arabic movie, or simply pick up a bible. Islam and Christianity came from the exact same place, many stories in the bible are also in the Quran. Many Muslim beliefs are paralleled by Christians. So please, don't be swayed by Al-Qaeda or Fox News, form your own opinion on this diverse group of people from this wide area of the world, you may surprise yourself and fall in love, like I did.

Last but not least I want to say thank you. Thanks for following me throughout my journey. Thanks for the constant thoughts and prayers, the warm wishes, the support. I could have never succeeded without all the help. Knowing my family, friends and loved ones were here thinking about me carried me through this experience.

As for me, I am currently taking three classes pertaining to the Middle East, all which keep my love alive. Next year, I plan to take advanced Arabic, so help me Allah, and continue with my Arab/Islamic Studies. Inshallah I will be able to travel overseas again sometime in the near future. There are many more opportunities I hope to grasp as well as places I would love to see. Until my next big adventure, thank you all, American or Jordanian, for being a part of my life. I truly have been blessed. Shukran jazeelan, Ma'salaama!

Day 3- Palmyra Syria

The Citadel at Palmyra








View from the Citadel on top of a mountain











Pretty sunset view







Citadel :)












Theatre in Palmyra







Ruins











Sweet ruins







More Ruins










Ancient Tomb










Ruins with the Citadel in the background








The big tomb





WE were so close to Baghdad















Bedouin Cafe







Me in my bride outfit








Pretty bride headdress- I know you all are probably laughing :)










Inside the Bedouin shop









All of us!




So the first day we spent walking around Damascus and decided to take a day trip the second "real"day we were in Syria. We paid a driver and traveled 250 km north of Damascus to the ancient city called Palmyra- what was known historically as "an oasis" for desert travelers.

We left early Saturday morning and drove for about 90 mins. We stopped at a Bedouin tribe that ran a cafe and little gift shop to break up the drive. It was awesome, we all shopped alittle more and one of the bedouin men decided to dress us all up like bedouin women... that was a treat haha- he really liked me and wanted me to marry him, which was kind of creepy, he was trying to offer my friends camels... needless to say I politely declined.

Once we arrived to Palmyra we spend about three hours looking through all the ruins. It was by far the most amazing place with ruins I've seen yet. It put Jordan's ruins to shame. I dont really know the history of Palmyra but it's an huge ancient roman city, I encourage you all to do some research if you are interested. Either way, it was really cool because it was in the desert but also enclosed by mountains with literally an oasis filled with palm trees and small body of water. We had a great time exploring, ate a nice traditional lunch and watched the sun set.

We then went back to Damascus, and hung out in the hostel for a bit. We had some wine with a french couple and then ended up eating dinner with a man from Amsterdam, it was really cool. Dinner was at this funky little cafe, we all had some more traditional food and smoked some Syrian hookah. It was a nice relaxing night after a pretty intense day.

Sunday morning we got up early and headed back to the boarder, we didnt want to take any more chances so we didnt stay the morning in Damascus like I had hoped. It was a lot easier coming back to Jordan, the total trip was about 4 hours, THANK GOD. We got back to our apartment, made some dinner and watched a movie. Today we had off also, I've just been blogging and getting some homework done. I hope you all enjoy my pictures. It's crazy I only have a week and a half of class left... I'll keep you all updated on my last few weeks here, soon enough it will be Christmas! Miss you all :) Ma'salaama!

Syria Day 2 Pics

Sorry my pictures didnt upload in any order, but I thought you all would enjoy seeing some more fun from my first day in Syria!

All the little "shebab" or boys were SO interested in us American girls. They were so funny, but also really intense, they wanted our phone numbers and were smoking like little men, it was crazy.













The Palace courtyard opened up and there were a bunch of rooms you could enter with artifacts and really interesting art.







All the girls posing for a picture!









The courtyard from another angle








Inside the mosque, this is where the imam stands and recites from the Quran.









The cafe we ate lunch in!







The "putting on special clothes room" where we had to dress to go into the mosque.










Inside the mosque









Ceiling shot








Prayer times!











Mosque shot







I loveeeee my special clothes









The entrance for "visitors"- we were only allowed in the main part of the mosque which was a bummer











Souk shot








Special clothes :)













Shopping











Alleyway shot- there were some great flowers!









Souk












Scarf shot- there were SO many pretty ones!





Syria had a ton of these awesome wooden boxes, I bought two to bring home!

Syria Day 2

Lots of Syrian Boys wanted to take pictures with us











Center of the souk











Pigeons!!!! They flew around in a big group and hung out, it was cool









More boys









Ruins!







Shops










Entering the souk- Happy Eid!








Vendors






Lots of street food!












Day 2 in Syria was Amazing. Well actually the rest of the trip was great, just getting into the country was hard. The city has a really different feel from all the other Middle Eastern city's I've visited. It's small, enclosed in mountains and has a very European feel. I loved it! I actually feel like it's a bummer that America and Syria dont have a better relationship, Damascus would be a wonderful place to study, its middle eastern but so different. Again, I loved it.

So after our long first day we woke up and decided to just walk around Old city in Damascus. It was about a 20 min walk from our hostel to the gates of the old city. The old city is basically a bunch of souks connected, with a Muslim and Christian quarter. It was the BEST souk I've been to because it was really cheap and also really old. I cant describe how cool it was walking around, you really felt like you had gone back in time, there were such old buildings and even some ruins. It was awesome and really different because the whole thing was totally enclosed. We basically spent the whole day shopping and walking around. We ate lunch in a cute cafe and went into a mosque. I liked the mosque because we all had to cover ourselves in traditional garb... it was neat to enter a Muslim mosque, although we all looked really goofy. We also saw and toured an old "palace". It was a really great day. I hope you all enjoy the pictures :) There's a lot there! This post just has the souk pictures, I really wanted to show a lot of them, my next post Ill include the mosque and palace pictures!

Syria- Day 1- The horrible boarder and even worse 21st birthday

Since the french colonized Syria, there's a really European feel to the city








Inside our hostel, this was the little sitting area.








Picture of the hostel at night









Anyone want a fish? There were some interesting vendors










Area surrounding the hostel









Hostel during the day




First of all, Happy Belated Thanksgiving to everyone in America! My roommates and I cooked a small "fake thanksgiving" last week, which turned out great but also very interesting since we lacked a ton of "traditional" American products. Anyways, it was really nice and we had a good evening eating, drinking and cooking a huge turkey. The past 5 days have been like the "Arab Christmas" a big holiday which centers around the Prophet's journey to Mecca the holy city. As you all know, I took off to Syria for another strange, stressful, amazing, crazy Arab adventure.

Ten of us left Amman on Thanksgiving day, my 21st Birthday. We had been told it was going to be difficult to enter Syria, primarily because Syria dislikes America, and politically we aren't the best of friends. So we woke up early and headed to the border, it was a 90 min drive from Amman to the Syrian boarder. Getting through the Jordanian side was simple, you pay an exit fee and get a few stamps. However, once you reach the Syrian boarder control, all hell breaks loose. The ten of us filled out all these forms, had to make copies of our passports and then wait 45 mins just to hand everything in. Once everything was in the boarder patrol told us to wait. We asked how long and he said "Im not sure, 5 maybe 10 hours". We figured it wouldnt take too long, but of course we were wrong. We arent sure why you wait, all I know is the copy of your passport and the papers are sent to the Ministry of Interior in Syria and they decide if you get through. They have to fax an "acceptance" back to the boarder once they decide, and honestly, they probably look at the American papers and take a nice long lunch and tea break, and process our papers when they feel up to it. It was so stressful, I felt like a kid waiting to be chosen for kickball or something.

First let me tell you the boarder patrol guys are huge jerks, every other nationality gets through very quickly, but Americans, all Americans must wait. There really is no rhyme or reason to the waiting, but I assume its because they just have the power to make you wait, and they dont like America. Outside boarder patrol there was a huge "rest area" which proved to be helpful for our long wait. There was a huge, beautiful duty free store, a really nice hotel and a restaurant. In the words of my Father, " If they are going to make you wait, they are going to sell you something too", which was most definitely the case. The first three hours we all took turns shopping in duty free, grabbing a bite at the cafe and walking around a bit. At hour 4 we lost our first man. My friend got turned and sent back to Amman, there was no real reason given. The patrol guy told him " I can let whoever I want into this country and turn whoever down, if I dont like your face I dont have to let you through".... nice huh? So he returned to Amman, we suspect it was because his last name is from Jewish origin, but either way it was a total bummer. At hour 8 the first bit of good news came, three of the girls I was traveling with got through. They decided to split off and head to Damascus to check into our hostel, we all figured that the rest of us would soon follow.

The remaining 6 of us got through at about 9 30 pm... after over 12 hours of waiting. It was the longest and worst birthday haha. It was a good thing we had gotten through because we were about to give up, buy some stuff from duty free and get a few hotel rooms. So we finally get through, and by this time we are all starving, exhausted and ready to just be in Syria. To our luck, there are no cabs willing to drive us the 90 min drive to Damascus. We get a tip from a fellow traveler that there are buses that are cheap. We all decide we dont want to split up so the bus would be our best bet. We finally find one that have 6 empty seats and is cheap and get on. Little did we know that the bus was a charted Saudi bus heading to Syria for the holiday. Let me just tell you if you dont know, Saudi Arabia is the most traditional and conservative place in the middle east. We get on this bus and the people start freaking out. The men were freaked because the other girls and I weren't veiled, and the veiled Saudi women started freaking out that there were American boys getting onto the bus... Let me just say it made for an awkward and very socially uncomfortable time. We were all crowed in the front listening to the Saudi's laugh at us. I truly felt like I was not going to make it to Damascus.

Long story short, we finally got to Damascus at 12 30... from start to finish it was about an 18 hour trip.... not fun. Thankfully the hostel was really nice. Once we crossed into Syria the people were super welcoming, and very excited to meet Americans. I had figured we would be treated poorly by the people but to my surprise they were amazing. I honestly feel like the people I met over my few days in Damascus were the nicest people Ive met in the middle east. No issues, just pure hospitality and warmth. It's sad to think that the majority of Syria has no hostile or harsh feelings towards Americans, only the govt or political workers do. Its sad knowing that a few people are really spoiling the Syrian reputation. I absoutely loved the people, they made up for my horrible boarder experience. Yup, so that was Day 1.