I got back from the airport at 3:30 am, crashed, debriefed with my roommate, then cleaned the house up a bit. We were having our small group girls over for an all-nighter. We made brownies, served them with ice cream and sprinkles, then settled down to watch a few movies. We served them pancakes for breakfast the next morning, talked, laughed, and said goodbye to the few girls who were traveling for the summer. The rest of that week was relatively quiet, with several dinners with friends who were also leaving the country.
The next week, I started volunteering at a local store that sells handmade crafts and gifts. Karis Krafts is owned by the parents of one of my small group girls, and that family would be traveling in the States over the summer. The things they sell are made locally, many by refugee women. It's a really cool shop. I would be working there twice a week. It was always quiet, never more than one customer coming in during the day, at least while I was there. So the days I worked served as scheduled quiet time - I would read books or play Sudoku. My 20th birthday came, spent with friends.
I would be spending the next 4 days with friends, sight-seeing around Jordan. Ruth's aunt and cousin had flown out to visit. After grabbing Starbucks for the road, we set off on the 4 hour drive down to Wadi Rum. Wadi Rum is one of my favorite places in Jordan. Miles of red sand, broken up by huge rock formations and sage bushes. It's a nature reserve, protected and well cared for by the locals. But what really takes my breath away is the night - the temperature drops, the silence is almost heavy, and when you look to the sky, there are millions of stars, as far as the eye can see. I could lay there for hours, simply drinking in the beauty of the night sky. So I was really excited when I was invited to go down with Ruth, her aunt, Cheryl, her cousin, Ali, and Joanna, another friend of ours. I had volunteered to drive the whole way. The drive down was filled with laughter, stories, and loads of music. We got down to the visitor's center, met up with Obeed, the guy who owned the camp we'd be staying at. We were out on the edge of the reserve, the only ones at the camp. We dropped our stuff, ate lunch under the open-air tent, then piled in the back of a jeep for a 4 hour tour through the desert. It was beautiful. We got back to camp in time to climb up one of the rock formations to watch the sunset. Sunsets in Wadi Rum are stunning - The rocks and sand look like they're on fire, turning brighter shades of red as the sun sets. We drank tea (with sage, a Bedouin tradition) as we took it all in. We then sat around the fire as we waited for dinner to be ready. They had put the chicken and rice into a large metal drum and buried it with coals to cook under the sand. Tasty! We turned in for the night, Cheryl and Ali got up early to see the sunrise. We then spent some time enjoying the views and each other's company before eating breakfast and heading back to the visitor's center. We had decided to take a slightly different route home, taking the King's Highway, which winds up and down and around the mountains instead of the Desert Highway (a straight shot back to the city). It took almost 2 extra hours, but the views were awesome. I dropped everyone off, then sped over to see Aisling, who had arrived in Jordan the night before. She'll be out there until late August, working with an insurance company. The next day, I took Cheryl, Ali, and Aisling up to Jerash to see the Roman ruins. Ruth had left early that morning to return to the States. Afterwards, we went to Jara Market, where vendors line a street every Friday for the summer, selling everything from watermelon juice to antique Bedouin jewelry. We went to get henna - Cheryl and Ali got it on their wrists, Aisling on her ankle, and I on my hand. On Saturday, I took Cheryl, Ali, and Joanna down to the Baptismal Site on the Jordan River, and then picked up Aisling for lunch at Hashim's. Hashim's is a small restaurant in the balad that sells the best falafel and hummus for your money - the five of us ate for 3JD. Helena also graduated from East Chapel Hill High School that day, so Aisling and I called her fairly early to congratulate her.
The next week, I got to see Janelle play with the Amman Symphony. This was the first concert of Janelle's that I was actually able to attend, most of her concerts had been the same time as my rehearsals for choir. They did a cello concerto and Beethoven's 3rd. It was a lot of fun! The week after, I visited more friends, hung out at the pool, watched a ridiculous amount of soccer... I got together with a fellow choir member to make scones with dates, apricots, and brandied kumquats from scratch.
My last week in Jordan was packed. I started packing and ate out with friends for the majority of my meals. On Wednesday, Janelle, Jeff, and I went for one last day hike through Wadi Manshala. It was stunning, as always. We started much earlier, hiked much farther, found waterfall after waterfall. We climbed up to the top of the ridge to get out, which ended up taking far longer than expected, so by the time we got back to the car, we were out of water and had been hiking for 9 hours. We stopped at a nearby shop to get more water, and while reversing, hit a parked car next to us. The paint was a little scratched, but other than that, there wasn't damage. We talked with the guys from the other car for a while, talked to the police for a bit, and finally, maybe 45 minutes later, sorted it out and headed back to the city. We got back just before 9 pm, hit up McDonald's, then headed home. I did the majority of my packing on Thursday and went to my last youth event. Friday started off wonderfully, with an early breakfast with a good friend of mine. Then it got a little rough. After weighing my bags, I discovered that both of my suitcases were overweight. I had to unpack and repack with a 3rd bag, which was cheaper than 2 overweight bags. Slightly stressful. Afterwards, we had a late lunch of pate (brought back from Chimay) and fresh rolls, then cleaned up the house in preparation for the party that night. We were having a going away/ice cream party on the roof with a few friends. We decorated the roof with string lights, served up mint chocolate ice cream, and enjoyed the evening. It was a wonderful way to finish up my time there.
On Saturday morning, I said goodbye to Janelle, put all my luggage in the van, and headed off to the airport with Jeff and Aisling. I checked in, ate some breakfast, got on the flight, and talked my way into 3 seats to myself. It was a long but uneventful flight. Once I got through immigration, I had to pick up all my luggage, go through customs, and re-check my bags. Doesn't sound too difficult, except all my luggage didn't fit on the ridiculously over-priced smartcarte trolley. After 5 minutes or so of rearranging, I finally got it all on the cart, re-checked it, picked up some dinner, and sat down to wait for my next flight. It was also an uneventful flight, although it came in half an hour early. Luckily for me, my dad and sister came early to meet me. I arrived back at home in Chapel Hill in one piece.
Since then, I've been able to spend lots of time with my family. We're moving at the end of the summer, so I took apart my old furniture and moved it into the garage. We had a quiet 4th of July, grilled out burgers and baked an apple pie and a yummy layered treat of chocolate, graham crackers and cool whip. I'm still going through a bit of culture shock, but for the most part, I'm adjusting well to life back in the States.
You can see pictures from our Wadi Rum Trip here.
Aisling at Jerash
Getting henna
Ali and I show off the finished work
Aisling got a butterfly
Date, apricot, and brandied kumquat scones. Delicious.
My 4th of July apple pie
