Back From The Future... almost

Brave little Bedouin woman

Last week we played host to my parents, Kim and Lea Ann who flew into Amman on a bright Sunday morning. Sunday is the beginning of the Arab world's work week, but that did not stop a big portion of it from taking the morning off to crowd the reception area of the airport. Equipped with drums and noise makers, various groups welcomed family members home from abroad in a deafening chorus of screaming, pounding and second-hand smoke. Remember the scene from The Two Towers where the Urkiai army is about to attack the people of Rohan at the stronghold of Helms Deep, and they are stomping on the ground and chanting all aggressively and waving their torches and swords in the air? Do you remember that? The airport scene was kind that, except there were no elves to save us from the mob. My mom and dad had to push through the crowd where we were waiting with a taxi.

We went downtown that day and did a bit of shopping and listened to the friendly Amman locals greet us with "welcome in Jordan!" It was a good time. But what I didn't tell my parents is that we were walking around a place where a week previously, a gunman opened fire on a bus load of tourists. We were shopping next to the King Hussein mosque where other white-ish people have also been stabbed in the past. Apperently this area is where the Muslim Brotherhood has set up shop and performs various financing operations. I don't even want to know how many of our dollars-cum-dinars have gone on to fund the Brotherhood, Hamas or Fatah during our stay here.

The next day we took my parents to the Citadel. Since Lindsey and I have already been there (see previous blog post), we were able to show them the popular points of interest. But the main event was the next day when we rented a car and headed down to Petra. I guess I shouldn't just gloss over the fact that we rented a car and that was that. I actually called the Thrifty Car Rental office here in Amman and was told they had a car available. I notified them that I would be there in 20 mintues. So of course upon arrival they claimed they had no idea what I was talking about and that there were no cars. We got "A-rabbed." The good news is I found out how good my Arabic is when I argued with them and told them they were rediculous and that someone else was going to get my money because they don't know how to run a business. And someone else did get my money. Avis did.

Then we went to Petra. The pictures are posted here. Petra is possibly the oldest and coolest place I've ever carved my name into. According to the history books: "Petra is the ancient Nabatean city where Indiana Jones found the holy grail and thereby saved his wounded father, Henry."

But honestly, the city was absolutely breathtaking (and no I didn't actually carve my name, or anything else into it). The pictures truly speak for themselves. The juxtaposition of Nabatean and Roman architecture was truly a sight to see. My mother actually walked around and explained the different parts of columns and their various stylistic periods. Something that needs mentioning though, is that one old Bedouin man showed me a ceramic oil lamp for sale that featured a sexually explicit imprint. Our day got better and better... and explicit-er, especially upon our 800 stair ascent to the massive monastery. The hike down did quite a number on my parent's knees, so much so that it caused my dad to walk like a sassy robot (his words, not mine).

The next day we went to Madaba, which is a city that has ancient Christian churches and wild floor mosaics. They are brightly colored and tediously pieced together. They depict scenes from the bible, maps of the holy land and/or principles of the gospel. Also, Madaba is the most rediculous city I've ever navigated. There are signs pointing to attractions that tell you to turn down one-way streets that are going the wrong way. Or, the signs face the wrong way and you can only read them if you look in your rear view mirror and can make out the backwards lettering (but of course by the time you decipher it you've already missed the turn and you want to crash your car into someone's falafel stand).

The same day we also saw Mt. Nebo (Deuteronomy 34:1) and the Dead Sea. It was a succesful week and a nice visit from my parents. It's also nice to be able to get back to reality and wrap up some things that matter in this century. My parents left the saturday after they came. I think secretely they were sad to leave us to our plight here in Jordan. But we're surviving. Less than three weeks to go, now. We'll be back in AZ on the 19th of August at 11:29pm. We're ten hours ahead of you all in the United States, and although it has been fun living in the future for the last 2+ months, it will be good to get home. I listened to America the Beautiful while garbage blew around my feet on the way to work this morning. Three more weeks...

والحمد لله على نهاية هذه الرحلة

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