Mr. Hakel gets behind in his blogging and then catches up.

Blog 4

Ok, a little catching up to do. I’ve been a little under the weather and the timing of a night without internet have conspired…is that a convincing excuse?
The last three days have been very different from one another and I’ll do my level-best to give you highlights and observations in a concise manner. Do you believe me?
First day… Ajlun Castle was our first stop after eating breakfast on top of a mountain with a view of Israel or the West Bank as it is more often referred to here. The castle was an Ummayad structure t hat was built to command the Jordan River Valley and balance a French Crusader castle built on the other side of the valley. It was magnificent. Largely intact, it was more like walking up through a natural cavern than a manmade structure. The views on top were spectacular.
Then it was a long descent into the Jordan Valley where we drove to Pella, greek ruins that I observed from above, but did not wonder through…too hot…too tired….way too hot. Then it was off to a fortress location overlooking the Golan Heights and the Sea of Gallilee/Tiberias Lake. Lunch here was like being perched on the side of a cliff. The ruins were magnificent as well and featured another large theater.
Finally we drove back to Amman where I forsook my oath to eat only Middle Eastern food and eagerly consumed a partial order of McDonalds fries and half a “pepperoni” pizza. Pepperoni was in quotes to the fact that pork is not eaten in this country, hence the beef salami on the pizza. Both were wonderful. (I’ve concluded that half my intestinal problems are because I had quit eating junk food cold turkey. So, I am going through a corollary of withdrawal. I have reintroduced small amounts of Pringles and Bugles to my diet and I feel better. Conincidence? I think not.)
Second day… This was our water day. Water? I was surprised too. Our first stop was the site of the baptism of Jesus. I was wondering which side of the Jordan River Jesus had actually been baptized on, but I became less concerned when I saw the Jordan River. I had seen pictures of this site before and they showed what could be generously called a typical Wood County ditch, but I figured it was just a side channel of the greater river. I was wrong. The Jordan River is small. After gazing at Israel from afar, I was now literally within spittin’ distance. (My choice of metaphor in no way should be taken as choosing sides in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Nor does it reflect the views of Toshiba the manufacturer of my laptop) I commented on the bus that it was hard to imagine such a small river was cutting such a large, deep valley/canyon. I was then told two things. The Jordan River was much larger in Jesus’s lifetime and we were in the Great Rift Valley that stretches a 1000 miles from Turkey into SubSaharan Africa. The rift is where two continental plates are passing each other. Amman will eventually move considerably north of Jerusalem. This causes frequent earthquakes in the area which accounts for the poor state of early buildings.
Just a few miles down the road is the Dead Sea. Swimming time. Well, I say swimming in a bizarre form of the activity. Can you really be said to be swimming if you can’t sink. I don’t mean you can float really easily, I mean you cannot sink. I know, I tried! Do not, I repeat do not put your head under. While I managed to miss the experience myself I’m told that getting it in your eyes pretty much ruins your day. I got a drop or two on my lips and they burned until I rinsed off. It also has curative properties. It ate through a scab I had on my hand from a project back home. I also for 3JD took a mud bath, which was a new experience. (I have velvety soft skin now!) It was amazing and as close an experience to weightlessness as you can have on Earth. Or should I say under Earth? At this point we were 1200 feet below sea level! (yes, that is the lowest point on Earth that is dry. The Dead Sea is receding one meter every year. Evaporation and the lack of water from the Sea of Gallilee/Tiberias Lake. The salt is so thick that you can see it in the water. At one point I was floating in just 8 inches of water. Way Cool!
Final water stop of the day was on the Zarka Cliff. We drove up a road Lance Armstrong would rather retire from racing than climb. Near the top we took a side road that led to Ma’in Hot Spring. The most unusual feature here was the 100 degree waterfall you could stand under. It was a new experience and a relaxing one.
Third day… Today was mosaic day. It was fascinating. We visited a number of different sites and the unifying theme was mosaic floors. Our first visit was to Mt. Nebo, that should sound familiar to any Christians and Jews out there, but also to fans of Cecil B. DeMille. For those of you who do not know, this is the mountain top upon which Charlton Heston looked proudly out toward the promised land and mercifully brought the world’s longest movie to an anticlimactic ending. Also at this location Moses learned from the Lord that he was looking upon the promised land and that he, Moses, would not be able to get there. The location itself was quite beautiful. The main church with accompanying mosaic, was, alas, closed for restoration/protection efforts. (By the way, my efforts to post pictures with the blog have been stymied by the internet connections I am working with. Also, never hang laundry to dry right above an Ipod Touch…the touch doesn’t like it and gets its revenge by killing itself. Sigh.)
After Mt. Nebo, we visited a small house with an amazing mosaic floor. The detail on the animals was really interesting. One vignette had a man shooting an arrow at a tiger, but the tiger just catches the arrow in its mouth and plays with it. Each mosaic in every location has a prominently displayed appreciation of the person who paid for the mosaic. I suppose that’s the equivalent of corporate sponsorship today.
Next stop was billed as a mosaic workshop. Jordanians have taken up mosaic again as a cottage industry. The workshop we visited employs women who have some sort of disability. Two of the women we watched were in wheel chairs. They receive a monthly wage and a payment per piece completed and for piece sold. The work they were doing was incredibly detailed and precise. Very beautiful and expensive. I made my first school money purchase here. I bought a small completed piece and a bag of uncut stone so my students and I can try our hands at the job this fall.
Last stop that I’ll note today was a World Heritage Site. I’ll have to look up the name. it is an unimproved fortress whose walls are gone, but a number of churches still have walls and occasional arches. It is most famous, of course, for the mosaics in Saint Stephens Church. The mosaic was a complete map of the Holy Land or Terrasancta in Latin.


Salaam,

Lane/Mr. Hakel/Dad/He Who Runs