So I promised you that exciting things would be happening and in fact they have. I was on the road for nearly two weeks and traveled many miles. More importantly though, my family was blessed with two new additions: I have two new nieces who's names are Adalynn and Brooklynn. But as I do not have any pictures to post of them, I will tell you instead about the pictures I do have and the places I've been lately.
Once a year, the team here travels for a forum meeting and this year it was decided that this meeting would take place in England. We would be flying out of Amman, Jordan's capital, to get there. Taking advantage of this fact, Sarah, Kara and I opted to go up to Amman the Tuesday before we were set to fly out. These two and a half days would give Kara and I had chance to see the city and would give Sarah the opportunity to visit friends before going to forum and then onto the States. There are two highways that connect the towns and cities of Jordan; this time we traveled up the Desert Highway because some parts of it run parallel to the Dead Sea. Kara and I were excited to see the Sea so we were hardly anxious about the four hour drive. The downside of this highway choice was that there were very few rest stops along the way. As is my curse, I was the one who needed to stop during the journey. We pulled into a gas station where some of the workers were sleeping inside while others were pumping gas for the cars outside. I asked a gentleman for the 'hamamam' and he unlocked a door on the side of the building for me. Inside were to squatty potties or holes in the ground; luckily I had brought my own paper. This was my first experience with a squatty potty and I must say they are easy to use and not nearly as bad as one would expect. After this quick stop, we drove on until we finally came upon the Sea and found a good place to turn off where we could admire the view. The width of the Sea and the fact that it had the same color scheme as the sky made it difficult for us to see Israel on the other side. Like the Jordan River, Jordan and Israel divide ownership of the Dead Sea. The overly salty water leaves deposits on the shoreline outlining the crystal blue waters in a chalky white. Once we had finished appreciating our view, we drove onward up to the city. As it true of every city, traffic was nerve racking for those who are not used to it aka me. Soon enough though we made it to our friend Jen's apartment where we would be staying until Thursday. Once we were unpacked enough, Kara took me for a walk up to Cosmo's, the nearest grocery store. I was used to small grocery stores with a limited selection and grocery runs that included two or three stores. This store overwhelmed me at first because of the sheer size of the store and the variety of items it housed. I was glad that all we did that night was watch a movie so I could mentally adjust to the scale of the city and the fast pace of city life.
The next morning, we took a taxi to Rainbow Street. This street has been converted into an artsy cultural center that houses many hole-in-the-wall coffee shops and interesting stores. Kara and I had our eye on a waffle shop that served American coffee with free refills. I do admit unashamedly that I ordered the Nutella and banana waffle for breakfast there. Each of the taxi rides in the city felt like they were taking forever. They were longer than what I was used to because of traffic but also because of the distance between our destinations. From Rainbow Street, we caught a taxi that had to snake up and down hills to take us to the Citadel.
On the top of one of the hills that Amman is built upon lies a strange grouping of ancient ruins: Roman, Byzantine and Umayyad ruins. When we entered the complex, there were a handful of tour guides that offered us their services. We respectfully said we would explore the complex on our own. One guide kept lowering his price for us, from 25 JD to 10 JD, because Kara was from Hawaii and he had 'friends' there. At last he pointed us in the right direction and we followed the paved path on our own up the hill to our first stop: the remains of the Roman Temple to Hercules. Like many of the surrounding countries, Jordan was under Roman occupation in the first centuries AD. Amman then lived under the name of Philadelphia and served as important city along the trade route connecting Arabia, Africa, Asia Minor and Europe. This temple was built around the early 160's AD. It is assumed that it was dedicated to Hercules because of huge marble arms that were discovered near the temple. Once you pass the Roman forum and the grave cites nearby, you enter into the next stage in Amman's history. Walking up the path, we entered the remains of a Byzantine Christian Church. The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern continuation of the Roman Empire after its divide in the late 280's AD. Christianity became the state religion in 380 AD under Emperor Constantine I. Where the pulpit would have stood as well as the outline of the rooms in which worshipers would have gathered are still standing. Philadelphia became the home of many Christian bishops until it was conquered by the Sassanians in 615 AD and then by the Muslim forces in 636 AD. Under the Islamic rule of the Umayyad Dynasty the city was given the name Amman and a mosque was constructed on top of the same hill where at least two previous religious had set up places of worship. The mosque had made use of some of the stones from the Roman colonnade but recent reconstruction work has separate the colonnade pieces from the stones of the mosque. It seems that each religion wanted to construct their holy place at the center of the city where they would be visible to everyone and where they could keep an eye on the bustling city surround them. The view of the city coupled with all the history on top of the hill was enough to keep Kara and I enthralled for a while. After we were done exploring, we had to catch a taxi to our next destination even though it was only technically across the street. Our attempted tour guide met us on the way out and directed us to his friend who had a taxi and who would be glad to drive us down. This driver had his entire sales pitch ready for us. He offered to take us throughout the city to the shopping centers and mosques; even if we wanted to travel to Jerash (another city) he would take us there. We politely refused and he contented himself with taking us to the base of the hill, however this ride cost us 8 JD. To compare, the ride to the Citadel which took us from one side of the city to the center only cost us about 2 JD and change. Nearly all of out taxi rides in the city fell between 1.500 JD and 2.500 JD. Not wanting to make a scene, we handed him the money and crossed the street as fast as we could. Next up on our tour was the Roman Amphitheater.
As was their custom, the Romans were not content to build only one awesome structure in the city they had claimed. The theater was built between 131 and 169 AD but the forum is so well intact that sporting events are still held there. We both climbed the first set of narrow stars to the first landing but I did not join Kara in her climb up the second set because I had chosen to wear a skirt that day. Once she was done with the view, Kara came back down to the landing and we took a break watching the traffic go by and the other visitors make their way up and down the steps. Two tourists caught our attention in particular, they were standing at opposite ends of the base of the theater with their heads to the stone. Just what were they doing? One thing Roman theaters have is excellent acoustics, it is possible for someone standing in the center to be heard from someone sitting at the very top. What these two people were doing was talking to each other even though they were yards apart. Kara and I experimented with this once they had gone and we could indeed hear each other from opposite ends of the theater. That ended our history lesson for the day. We spent the rest of our time exploring the shopping malls of the city.
https://picasaweb.google.com/108532852514122909750/Amman?authkey=Gv1sRgCJ-fpp3W4ICLkgE#
Thursday we boarded our plane in the evening and flew five hours to London, England. We arrived at the Wycliffe Center where we would be staying at 3:30 AM London time which is 5:30 AM Jordan time. The next day we were all in a travel-stupor but I think we recovered quickly. This was a great time of debriefing and spending time with friends. Games of bunko, relay races and a murder mystery were some of the fun things we throughout the week. We also shared a time of devotions and worship as well. Different attributes of God was the focus of our study: He is present (even in the darkness), preeminent, mysterious (though He makes himself known), multi-personed (even though He is one), speaking, creative (even playfully so), wise, joyful and one who rests. All of these adjectives we gleaned from Genesis 1:1-2:3. Imagine how long this list would be if we had studied the whole of scripture! In many ways, England reminded me two of my favorite places: home and Scotland. The reasons are obvious but they gave me the comfort of being somewhere familiar even though this was my first time in England proper. It was similar to the warm feeling of being home but did not relieve the feeling of homesickness. If it had I fear I would not have been able to leave when the week was over. The number of differences between England and Jordan continued to surprise me throughout the week. Temperature wise, it was the difference of thirty degrees at least and, as you might expect, we had our share of rain. I stubbornly wore shore sleeves almost everyday determined to enjoy the cold while I could. The color scheme of the two countries is vastly different as well: Jordan is brown and red with sand while England is green with trees and golden with tall wheat fields.
As is fitting for a visit to the UK, a group of us traveled to nearby Winsor Castel. The rest of our group (mostly those with children) elected to spend excursion day at Lego Land instead. Standing since the 11th Century, Windsor Castel housed the British royal family until Buckingham Palace was finished in 1837. This castle houses the seat of the Knights of the Order of the Garter as well as St George's Chapel. Within the chapel, as in other religious houses in the UK I have seen, many monarchs and important people from history are buried in the foundations. In this chapel there were many names of note including Edward IV, Henry VIII, George VI among other kings, queens and members of the British royal family. The Knights of the Most Nobel Order of the Garter are to display the highest form of chivalry and patriotism. This particular Order is headed by England's Sovereign (Queen Elisabeth) and cannot included more than twenty-four members at a time. In the castle, there is an expansive room that houses the family seal of every member of the Order of the Garter ever. Some of the emblems are a blank white. This is because which ever knight owned that shield did something to dishonor himself and the Order; as a result, his seal was removed but the blank shield remains as a reminder of his shame. I'm sorry that there are no pictures of the inside of the Chapel or the inside of the Castel but those are the Queen's rules not mine.
Other interesting parts of the Castle included Queen Mary's dollhouse, a room filled with original artwork done by members of the royal family and the changing of the guard. Queen Mary's dollhouse was a gift for the Queen commissioned by her niece in 1921. It is a perfect 1/12 scale house with working appliances. This includes running water and electricity. Wanting everything to be authentic, artists were called on to paint miniature versions of their famous works and authors likewise to produce tiny replicas of there classic novels for the library. The house is completely furnished and everything is exact right down to the wine in the bottles in the wine cellar. Finished in 1924, it was presented to the Queen as a "gift from the people". It was never actually played with as a dollhouse but was put on display for all to admire. I would encourage you to look up pictures of the dollhouse since it is far more detailed than I can describe. The changing of the guards took place with all the military precision that one would expect. One guard stands stationary at his post until the appointed time. Then he is joined by his platoon who stand beside him in formation awaiting their relief. A military marching band leads the second platoon in to the square where the first stands waiting. Then after the captains of the platoons call out a list of orders, the soldiers switch their guns to different shoulders and stand at ease while the two captains and their seconds go into the guard room to discuss secretive things I'm sure. Meanwhile, everyone outside is treated to a short concert by the band. This day the band played a medley of Beatles songs such as Eleanor Rigby, Yellow Submarine and Hey Jude. As soon as they finished, the captains and their seconds reappeared, the platoons switched places, and a new man was left standing to guard the post.
It took us about two hours to finish our tour of the castle then we went out to explore the town. Kara and I walked up and down the quaint albeit uneven streets window shopping. Of course, since it's me, we had to stop in the Chocolate Factory. This small store had just opened in the pedestrian center that week but already they had chocolate shoes and ducks on display. They also had flavors of chocolate that I had never seen before that were surprisingly good such as strawberry and lemon-lime. I bought myself a milk chocolate truffle which I enjoyed later that night. On from there we circled the town twice stopping along the way in book stores and craft shops to check out the novelty items and look for souvenirs. We also left the town center and sat in a public park just to admire the green and watch people. In typical English tradition, it down poured on us shortly thereafter and we were forced to seek shelter in a Starbucks; of course there are worse places to spend a rainy afternoon. At 5:30 we met up with our group below the train station to wait for our charter bus to pick us up. We ended up waiting about an hour because the traffic out of Lego Land was worse than the driver had anticipated.
It was a peaceful, wet, cold, wonderful time in England that allowed me to reminisce and look forward at the same time. I was able to decompress from all the cultural changes I had experienced while reflecting on what was coming up in the fall. This trip filled the first pages of my passport and now I'm starting a brand new page. I can't wait to see what fills up the pages to come.
https://picasaweb.google.com/108532852514122909750/England?authkey=Gv1sRgCLjejeHRz6zWjAE#
