Petra

October break fell on the same weekend as Columbus Day/Indigenous People's Day, so the embassy had a long weekend. The CLO organized a trip that went to Petra and Wadi Rum, two of the top things to see in Jordan, and I thought it would be a great way to get to know the sights. There were also lots of other kids going, which I thought would be particularly good for keeping Elena entertained, although, as always, we had a lot of fun just the four of us too.

It takes about three hours to drive from Amman to Petra, so we got on a bus early in the morning and headed out. Before we got to Petra, we stopped at Ain Musa or the Moses Spring. In the Bible, Moses struck his staff on the ground to bring forth water. The water is still going strong and runs through the town. Elena was particularly interested in it. She's in full mythology mode, and always wants to know more about religious stories.

We had to keep a close eye on her to make sure she didn't fall in.

By the time we got to Petra it was quite hot, and it's about a mile from the entrance to the main part of Petra. You can walk or hire horses or an electric golf cart. We have had a special place in our hearts for golf carts since our time in Thailand, so we went that route, even though the horses looked pretty.

The Nabataeans, who lived in this area before being absorbed into the Roman empire, carved incredible dwellings and other structures into the sandstone. They were also known for having excellent water management techniques enabling them to create a thriving civilization in this part of the desert. Jeff had fun taking pictures as we golf carted along. 

As we got farther down, the road began to narrow. There was even a part with cobblestones, but the best part was looking up at the beautifully patterned rock walls around us.

On the final tight curve, we weren't sure if the golf cart would fit. This is the narrow entrance to the area in front of the Treasury, which is famously used in Indian Jones as the site of the Holy Grail.

Jeff took many pictures of the treasury emerging from around the curved walls.

The carving is truly impressive, and even more so because it's 2,000 years old.

We took lots of pictures, although it was difficult to get ones without other people in it. This is a popular site.

Elena, of course, wanted her picture with the camel.

Jeff got some really fun ones with another camel who was hanging out in the shade.

This was as far as the golf cart went, so we kept exploring on foot. You can explore the whole city, but we had limited time before we had to get back to our bus, so we took a quick pass around the closest things, and had fun sticking the girls in little alcoves for pictures.

It's good that we left time at the end, because we had to wait quite a while for our turn to get a golf cart back out. Apparently a lot of people walked down, but then wanted to cart back up, which I understand, but, as we have learned, in Jordan, lines are not respected, and so we had to get a little aggressive in order to get our turn. Elena made good use of her time playing with the pink sand.

It was worth the wait though. The first part up was still shady and cool, 

but when we got out to the main open road and saw the people walking along the side uphill in the sun, we felt very grateful for our golf cart.

We had some time before we had to leave, so we retreated to the air conditioned museum, which actually turned out to be really cool in the figurative as well as literal sense.

Even though it was a quick stop, we really enjoyed our time in Petra.

Getting Settled in Jordan

Slowly, but surely, we have been making Amman our new home. Our HHE was busy taking a world tour, but we got our air freight in early September, a little over a month after we arrived. We were okay though. We're used to making home wherever we all happen to be.

I got my classroom set up, and the girls and I started the school year off. Having a routine always helps, and the girls and I really love that we can all go together.

Jeff and I are working on routines of our own. We found a restaurant walking distance from our place that has a good happy hour deal, and some open air seating, which is important because Jordan is a country where people still chain smoke in restaurants.

They have a delicious spinach dip, and other yummy nibbles for a post work, pre dinner get together with friends.

It took about a month, but we now have a car, a Honda CRV we have dubbed Hermes, our god of transportation.

Driving in Amman is completely insane. Drivers don't believe in lanes or rules or basic consideration. Add to that traffic circles where no one yields and you have chaos. I have managed to find a route to and from school that avoids circles, and Ubers are cheap, so most of the time if I'm going somewhere other than work, I just get an Uber and avoid looking at what the driver is doing. Our first week in Amman, Vivi and I were in an Uber when our driver ran into another car in a circle. Luckily, we were close enough to the hotel to walk. Friday mornings are the best time to drive, because there is almost no one on the road, and once you get out of the city the highways are well paved and not too crowded, but trying to get somewhere in the evenings in the city is nuts.

Despite the crazy traffic, we have tried to explore. Elena was invited to a birthday party at a mall with lots of restaurants around an open courtyard, so Jeff, Vivi, and I tried out a restaurant and did some shopping while we waited for her to be done. 

We discovered a store called DNA that sells everything from books to blenders, and Vivi accidentally forgot her retainer at the restaurant, so I had to go back and help the wait staff go through the trash to find both pieces. Sigh.

One of our friends took us downtown to the Rainbow Street area early one Friday morning. There's an arts and crafts market that was just setting up. Our friend said you don't want to come much later, because it gets really crowded.

We also looked in some of the regular stores that sold what I have a feeling are not entirely legal riffs on famous movies.

Jeff actually really liked the Sand Wars with Lawrence of Arabia wielding a light saber, but he wasn't sure where he would be able to wear it.

We both love all the beautiful tiles though, so we will probably end up buying something with tiles before the end of our tour.

One of Amman's nicknames is City of Stairs, and we definitely got a workout going up and down the area around Rainbow Street.

Luckily, we are making our new apartment a comfy place to come back to. I was hoping the embassy furniture would have a nice arm chair for me, but, yet again, we got slightly uncomfortable furniture, so Vivi and I went to Ikea and got my favorite green velvet chair again, this time with a new pillow.

Since our HHE hadn't come yet, Jeff didn't have his regular chair, so he tried out my new one. He approves.

The weather has been warm and sunny, no rain at all, so we have also been trying to get out on the weekends. The embassy has a nice, big pool that's open in good weather, and on the weekends there's a little restaurant that has things like hotdogs and hamburgers for the kids. Elena loves it, especially since there are usually lots of other kids her age to play with.

The adults also enjoy lounging and hanging out. It's been a good way to meet people and make friends.

One friend helped me figure out how to get Elena into Girl Scouts here, and in October she had her first camping trip. They wisely required that each girl come with at least one parent, so Elena and I set off to explore a bit more of Jordan.

They were camping at an established site in the Dana Biosphere Reserve about two and half hours south of Amman. The drive down was mostly on straightforward highway. Then it got a little narrow and dicey, but we managed. The instructions said to park at the main entrance, and then take the shuttle to the campsite. I wasn't sure what the "shuttle" would look like, but this was definitely not what I had envisioned. 

Elena thought it was great!

There were really cool canvas tents already set up at the site with sleeping mats, sheets, pillows, and blankets inside. Elena and I had a whole big tent to ourselves.

A little farther along were stone buildings for bathrooms and an open air eating area where we had dinner and breakfast.

There was also a Bedouin style tented seating area with sweet, mint tea at the ready. The parents mostly hung out there while the girls did Girl Scout things like make tie-dye shirts. 

We all went on a hike together, and it was really beautiful. Elena was very proud of herself. 

The kids' favorite thing to do though was just climb around on the rocks around the campsite. They made various tribes and conducted both diplomatic and not so diplomatic missions between them.

In the evening it actually got quite chilly.

But that made it perfect weather for a campfire and s'mores. 

I also taught Elena how to make a perfect roasted marshmallow. She was very pleased with herself and demanded a picture.

We headed home after breakfast the next morning. It was fun to explore out of the city, but it was also fun to go back "home" and to start to feel like our apartment is becoming our home.