culturally appropriate

Head scarves were actually more comfortable to wear than just baring my hair. I felt more Jordanian and received less wandering eyes from the locals. I tried to wear a head scarf when meeting with my Jordanian girl friends. We all had fun trying to learn to wrap them around our hair and faces. This picture was taken after a night of head scarf lessons with our friends Manar and Miram. 

always with a smile

Neighborhood kids greeting us as we returned to camp, probably after a long day in the dirt. Their favorite words were, "Ah-lo, whas your name?" 

weekly water truck visit

The contents of this truck brought us the closest thing to clean by providing us with water ever week. Here the truck is filling the cisterns on the roof of our bathroom building. When the cisterns ran dry we had to, somehow, get another truck to bring us water, for a pretty penny. The worst day of the week to run out of water was Friday, the holy day. The water hole is closed on Friday and the trucks don't run. Friday's were usually the days I stayed dirty.

family time

With our friends, The Bedouins. 

exfoliation is never a pretty process

They say the salty mud from the Dead Sea does wonders for one's skin. I couldn't miss such an opportunity as this! Oh, and that's the Dead Sea behind me. And, across the sea is the shore of Israel. 

a hot hike

Crusin' up a mountain with The Word. Here we are headed up to the top of the mountain where John the Baptist was beheaded. I thought it appropriate to bring my Bible and read the story, but this time I'd be able to have just a smidge more perspective. 

tents are the next big thing

Linda, Peter, and I taking a break in a "souvenier tent" after a desert castle tour. 

hot weather + uncomfortable seat = worst place for a nap, ever

Definitely didn't see this picture coming. 

"this one looks so life-like"

Jordan is a land of ample photo oportunities. Case in point: Nathan Cozart pretending to be a bunny statue in a nook of a castle wall. 

recorded live

I'm not incredibly musically-inclined, but I think I could pick up this instrument in no time at all. It had one string and was played like a viola, sort of. Just before this picture was taken I snapped another picture of him on his cell phone. The abundance of cell phones in Jordan amazed me. The musicality of this instrument did not amaze me, however. 

just my size

A fun little doorway in a fun little hunting lodge in the desert. 

a sopapilla, Jordanian style

This bread is called "puri." Two words: saturated fat. Oh, but was it delicious. 

fun with pita

Hey, if you're not going to eat it, you might as well play with it. 

"every rose has its thorn..."

Spiritual Lesson from flowers in Jordan: everything pretty has hidden thorns. Look out for these so that their beauty can be fully enjoyed, even if that means from afar.

calcium-rich

...the "zir"...the Jordanian version of the water cooler. Water was hauled from the town spring to a cistern at the building where we stayed. Then, the water we drank was boiled and put in these ceramic pots. "The latent heat of evaporization," (a catch phrase that never got old, or true) cooled the water. We dipped the coffee cup into the zir and filled our water bottles. In other words-- grimy, sunscreened hands went in and out of this water, bugs floated in it, and calcium collected in it. Yummy. 

a lovely layover

Did I mention we had a nine-hour layover in Paris on the way to Jordan? Oh. Well, we did. We caught the metro from the airport, breezed past the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame, across the Seine River, then back on the metro to the airport, with plenty of time to spare. 

not for the weak-stomached

We're enjoying a lovely meal of "mansif," served on a large plate, on the floor. Eating with one's hands was how all the cool kids ate, so we fell right in line. We have towels over our laps to catch the falling pieces of goat and rice and weird yellow sauce. 

a mother, foremost

This is my bedouin friend with her youngest baby girl. I'll never forget their faces. 

diving in

This hole is a probe Esther my digging mate dug in her square. It was alsmost as deep as I am tall. She uncovered lots of pottery that helped us date the church area and understand better the uses of the area over the centuries. 

camel breath

The classic "I'm in the desert and I rode a camel" picture.  

graffiti

 

Jordanians

This couple was touring the same castle ruins I was. Both are dressed in conservative Muslim clothing. The man's headscarf is the national Jordanian pattern. 

on the dig site

I'm uncovering the famous "storage pot" here. It was under the wall that ran through my square. When I started excavating, the dirt was filled up to the surface line in this photo. I spent about two weeks on this square.  

waiting for the bus

An artistic endeavor with mirrors and public transprotation... 

kiddos

Crazy-cute kids I met at a road-side cafe. My camera might have been the first they ever had contact with, hence the confusion of what to do when one points at you.