Jerash, Ajloun, and Meeting Zaynee's Other Family

Ghamid and Dad in the front seats on the drive to Jerash

After a pretty bleak hotel breakfast of lemon poundcake and a hard boiled egg (I was so disappointed there wasn't falafel and hummus again), Ghamid picked us up around 8:30am and we headed over to the city of Jerash. Jerash is about 30 miles north of Amman and didn't take very long to get to. Ghamid is quite a good driver, which is really saying something, since Jordanians drive like maniacs! It's like they follow no rules when they drive: lanes are ignored with people driving on two lanes at once or on shoulders, indicators are never used, red stop lights and stop signs mean nothing, and driving straight into incoming traffic and expecting them to stop for you is a very real thing. Also, nobody wears seatbelts. The back of our car only has one working one, so we gave up and try to ride like the Jordanians. Hopefully Ghamid keeps us safe!

We made it to Jerash in a timely fashion, and immediately set out to explore the ruins of the Greco-Roman city. It was amazing seeing how well-preserved everything was! We saw the impressive Corinthian column and Hadrian's Arch when we first walked in. Hanaa and I didn't realize there was more to see behind the arch, and were a bit disappointed for a few minutes, until we walked through the archway and saw just how big the site of the ruins was! It took about two hours to walk through and see everything, but the weather was nice and the ruins were fascinating, so it didn't feel long at all. Being an Anthropology lover, this is exactly how I like to spend my time--learning about ancient cities! I'm still trying to make it to Pompeii, but now I can say that I've seen the "Pompeii of the Middle East," as Jerash is sometimes called (though there is no volcano here!).

Me in front of Hadrian's Arch

As well as seeing the column and arch, we saw the large hippodrome, a large amphitheater similar to the one we had seen yesterday, the Temple of Zeus, the Temple of Artemis, the Three Churches, a few temples and baths, a fountain area, and almost a perfect ring of columns. It was an incredible sight to take in.

The circle of pillars

Panorama of the view from the Temple of Zeus

Another view from atop the Temple of Zeus

Inside the Amphitheater

Me atop the fountain garden

From Jerash, Ghamid drove us through the nearby hillside town of Ajloun. I never realized how hilly Jordan was until we got here, even though Zaynee's photos and her blog title, Seven Months on Seven Hills, should have been some indication. As we got closer to the town, it got more and more crowded. People shared the road with the honking cars and casually walked in front of cars knowing they would stop. Dead lambs and cows hung butchered from shop windows and vendors were setting up olive and vegetable stalls on the side of the roads and calling out to people. It was very noisy and lively...Mom said it was a lot like Pakistan but a bit quieter. I couldn't believe that, because I thought this was loud!

We finally made it through Ajloun, taking in the sights and sounds of daily life in the town, and we headed up the windy road to the top of the hill where the 12th century Ajlun Castle was located. The castle was amazing! It was built as a fortress in 1185 AD to protect the country against Crusader attacks, and is one of the only Islamic castles that was successful in doing so. We walked through the many rooms and made it to the top of the castle where we could see land for miles around! To the West, we could see Jerusalem, Nablus, Jenin, and the Jordan Valley. In the North, Bisan, the Lake of Tiberius, the Mounts of Shaik, the Jordan Valley, Wadi Al Yabes, and the City of Aljoun were visible. We were also able to see Palestine, West Bank, and the Dead Sea to the East and South. It was amazing being able to see so far around us. The clouds were hanging low in some places, which was a bit sad, but it didn't obscure too much.

View from the Ajlun Castle

Us at the top of the fortress

The theme of Hanaa's trip is that she is always hungry. We stopped at a restaurant that Zaynee recommended to us just outside of Jerash. We didn't want to eat too much, but when there is hummus and naan involved, it's too good to stop. We filled up a little more than we had intended to, and started our journey back to Amman.

Dad always has a thing for side-of-the-road sellers (e.g. Churros in Miami, Grapes in Tuscany, etc.), and asked Ghamid to slow down next to an olive stand so he could take a picture. Then, Ghamid started slowing down at EVERY olive stand, of which there were many. After about the fifth one, Dad told him he had enough photos and we finally gave up on the olives. Here are the fruits of Dad's labour:

Dad's favourite olives

I took a quick nap in the hotel for half an hour before getting ready to go to a late lunch with Zaynee's host family. She adores them, and we couldn't wait to meet them! Suhair, her host mom, had prepared a big feast for us with Zaynee's favourite foods. Ali, the father, was so nice and spoke great English. He was very personable and chatty. Suhair was absolutely lovely, but didn't know too much English. I'm so sad I wasn't able to talk with her, or Zaynee's younger host sister, Zeina, more because of the language barrier. It almost made me want to learn Arabic! The five of them (Suhair, Ali, Alaa the oldest brother, Muhammed the younger brother, and Zeina) are all so sweet and I can see why Zaynee is going to miss living in Jordan with them. The food was delicious (except the spleen...none of us could brave eating the black spleen!); hopefully Zaynee will learn how to cook the dishes from Suhair! We spent almost four hours together, eating and talking. It was such a nice evening and really made our stay in Jordan feel more personal. We're planning another dinner together on Thursday night!

Suhair's feast for us!

Enjoying the feast!

Two families becoming one

Despite being exhausted and still a little jet lagged, Zaynee persuaded Hanaa and I to go see the Hunger Games movie with her, Alaa, her friend Nick, and her friend Katherine at the Taj Mall. The mall was super ritzy and had a huge variety of stores from American Eagle to Miss Selfridge to Burberry and more. There was also a Starbucks and a Nestle Cookie Shop, both of which made Hanaa hungry again. The movie theater was very nice and big, and the movie was so great. It was a little hard watching it with blinding white Arabic and French subtitles over half the screen, but it was manageable. The movie was good enough to ignore them anyway! It was such a fun end to the busy day, and I already want to see the movie again! 

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