Winding Down

Yes, this may very well be my last posting on this blog. I'm well into my last week on this amazing trip. I am very very sad to be leaving soon, especially this place where my friend lives. She's been acting as my interpreter here but strangely enough, I am starting to get the gists of the conversations and am able to pick out some of the words if everyone speaks slowly enough.

Anyhow, I've been chilling here at At Tabiyyah. It's near Wadi Musa near Petra. (Petra is the closing scene of one of the Indiana Jones movie with Sean Connery...) But let me give you a brief run down of the places and things I've seen and done.

After Op Smile, I left with my friend and another volunteer to this volunteer's village Ma'adi (in the county, so to speak, of Deir Alla). Ma'adi is located in the Jordan valley. Descending into it provided a lot of eye candy. It's so much greener than here in Tabiyyah. There's quite a few farms of various crops. In her village, we were greeted by many a folk. Lulu apparently is the "Norm" of her village. Actually, she gets teased by the other volunteers as she's gradually working her way into becoming the "Norm" of Jordan! Also, that night we got a chance to glimpse at the festivities of a wedding that took place. (The newlyweds ended up moving in next door to Lulu.)

Since Ma'adi isn't too far away from the Dead Sea we spent the next day there. Again, many a weird moment wandering around and hanging out in my swimsuit! Not to mention receiving stares, the three of us, as we came out of the Sea covered in its alleged medicinal mud from the neck down! The Sea was pretty incredible, though, as was the day. Very nice to just float on my back, staring up at the overcast sky. When we got back, we tried our hands at barbequeing. Hysterical trying to get the coals lit. The fish turned out pretty tasty but the vegetables were a fiasco.

From Ma'adi we took several different buses to get to Tabiyyah. I got another visual overload coming into Wadi Musa. The mountains here are very similar to those of the Sinai peninsula but with villages dotting some of the sides. Not too far from the doorstep of my friend (just across the street) you can see several peaks and ranges. It's much, I imagine, like living on the edge of the Grand Canyon. Breathtaking beyond words. I'm constantly smiling, giggling and laughing everytime I get an eyeload. I still can't believe that she lives here! And everyone that she's introduced me to has been so kind and generous.

One of the things that I'm most happy about with my traveling is that I was blessed with so many opportunities of meeting people. Whenever asked by others traveling or by residents about what is the best part of my trip, I always reply that the best part of traveling and one of my primary objectives is meeting the people, getting to know them a little bit and touch lives for a while. Don't get me wrong...the places that I've seen, the food that I've tasted, the bus rides and other various modes of transport has also been fascinating and educational for me but the thing that I will carry with me always are the people.

So, I'm just chilling out, preparing myself for my return home. It's been very relaxing. I'm looking forward to visiting Petra myself this Friday, inshallah. But it's been such a blessing giggling with my friend, watching movies (like "Jarhead" and "Syriana" which is very surreal to be doing so here), sleeping and simply being silly.

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