Umm Qais and Jerash, Jordan

Our class with the Sea of Galilee in the background.

     On Friday, we had a day long excursion to Roman ruins in Jordan, namely Umm Qais and Jerash. Umm Qais, the ruined Hellenistic-Roman city of Ghadara. Ghadara was pretty deserted, which was nice since we had the run of it. It is located at the Israel, Syria, Jordan border, so that was really interesting. Israel occupied Syria, Golan Heights, was really pretty and has so much historical significance. Golan Heights has been under Israeli control since the six-day war in 1967. These ruins also overlook the Sea of Galilee or Tiberias Lake, depending on who you're talking to. It is the lowest freshwater lake in the world. After many photo ops and walking around, we headed to the Yarmouk River. This river forms the border between Syria and Jordan upstream, and Israel and Jordan downstream. We headed upstream, where there was just a river between us and Syria. In 636, the Muslim Arabs overtook the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of Yarmouk, which is significant because the Arabs were a small power until this time. The Byzantine Empire was the most powerful, but this battle started the string of Islamic Conquests following Muhammad's death This led to the swift advance of Islam in the Levant, (Eastern Mediterranean/ West Asia).

     Security checkpoints are really common here and have become slightly annoying. We have to stop at every checkpoint, sometimes we have to get out of the bus/car, and there is often a frenzy of loud Arabic between our professors and the guards. They all carry rifles and were very intimidating at first. Now, stopping at checkpoints has become routine, and I often sleep through them. There was more extensive security as we traveled upstream to the Jordanian/Syrian border, but that seemed more justified. Americans cannot travel to Syria without first obtaining a visa in the United States. After the many checkpoints and beautiful view, we went on our way to Jerash.

Hadrian's Arch in the remains of Ancient Jerash.

     The ancient ruins of the Greco-Roman city of Gerasa were in Jerash, Jordan. These ruins were a large city, and were really cool to walk through. This city is the most well preserved and most important Roman city in the Near East. This city was in the Decapolis, and has many well preserved monuments. These monuments include the Corinthium Column, Hadrian's Arch, a hippodrome, two immense temples, a forum, two theatres, and a large portion of the circuit of city walls. We wandered around the city, and stopped to take a plethora of pictures. We jumped off of some rocks and sat in a giant bowl amidst laughter from Gabe and Mike. Alot of us get along really well, and we have a lot of fun snapping pictures of each other. There's always one person that delights in making others miserable, and this group is not exception. Fortunately, the daughter of the professor will not spoil my learning or travels, but she will end up ruining her own. I feel quite sorry for her, but have so much going on that she's nothing but an annoying pinprick. However, it would have been nice if we were a cohesive group. After the day of wandering through ancient ruins, we headed back to Irbid.

     Another student on our trip, Mike, studied in Yemen two years prior to this trip. He made it a goal to find a Yemenian restaurant, and we went to it after our exhausting day. Sitting around in a circle, we were given delicious bread and then the choice of a spicy chicken, beans, lamb, beef or en egg and tomato dish. We scooped up our meals with large pieces of bread. It was a nice change from the Jordanian food we've been eating, and I found that I love Yemen food. Mike became my new favorite person that night. Onto week four of class and a trip to the Dead Sea at the end of the week! It's hard to believe that we're through semester one of Arabic!

Victoria's Secret International

    
     Thursday after class, we went on a trip to another area of Irbid to visit one of the factories here. The trip was treacherous, as most cab rides are here, and consisted of a persistent metallic smell. It was mechanic row. There were fenders, tires, and pieces of cars everywhere. We went into the factory, which looked like a normal building from the outside. The factory was two levels of women working on underwear for the Victoria's Secret line, Pink. They gave us orange sodas and told us about the factory as we walked through the assembly lines. As a result of the 1994 Jordan/Israel, the factory is owned by a family in Israel. Jordan can then export products duty free to the United States as long as eight percent of their industrial input come from Israel. In the United States and part of Europe, the products say "Made in Israel," while they say "Made in Jordan" everywhere else. The women seem content and happy, they make between 2-500$ a month, which is more than many women make in Irbid. On our way out, we were given a gift bag of Calvin Klein and Victoria's Secret underwear and Gap tank tops. The tour was a lot more interesting than I thought it was going to be, and it was really cool to see the process of Victoria's Secret underwear being made, from fabric to stitching to branding.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

The tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa.

     Spontaneity is key. We had a free weekend, and took full advantage with a trip to the United Arab Emirates. With the help of my ridiculously accommodating friends, Ashank and Joel, the Wisconsinites had a splendid time in Dubai. However, what's the fun in a last minute trip without some last minute drama? We set off on the bus to Amman and upon our arrival (an hour later), Rebecca realizes that she left her passport in our room. With a departure time of two hours later, there was not enough time to travel back to Irbid to get her passport. And thus begins the generosity of Jordanians. A friend of ours found another person with a car to pick up her passport at the hotel and bring it to the airport in Amman. Unfortunately, he did not make it to the airport in time for the flight.  Consequently, she missed our flight and had to wait for the next one, three hours later. 
     
     Ashank picked us up at Dubai International Airport after a day of work with his father. The weary travelers met up with our sharply dressed friend, and headed to a mall to hang out and wait for Rebecca. We saw the world's largest aquarium, fountain, and skyscraper in less than twenty minutes. We wandered around for a bit longer, and then braved the hot humidity to pick up delayed Rebecca. After picking her up, Ashank and his brother took us to an outdoor bar/restaurant. It was ridiculously warm there, even for nighttime. My other friend from UW-Madison, Joel, came out to meet us as well. We had a fantastic night out, and even got our picture on a Dubai nightlife website! Afterwards, we went to Asahnk's place, which is located in Jumeirah. Dubai has the most strict drinking and driving penalties, there is an absolute no tolerance policy. If you're caught drinking and driving, you're put in jail for three years and then deported. Thus, Ashank's brother was our designated driver for the weekend.

View from Ashank's, overlooking the Persian Gulf.

     Ashank's house was beautiful. Right out his window was a gorgeous view of the Persian Gulf. The view from his balcony was overlooking the palm islands. It was so wonderful to wake up to the sun reflecting on the gulf. The next day, we slept in and enjoyed the spicy Indian tea his mother made for us in the morning. We made our way down to the beach and frolicked in the Persian Gulf bathwater. When we were sufficiently steamy, we made our way to the private pool to rinse off and cool down. After the beach, we changed and headed out to see some more of Duabi. We went to the Palm Islands, which are ridiculous. They are composed of rock and sand from the United Arab Emirates. To get onto the island, you drive on a highway that was built below ground. It doesn't even seem like an island, it's so large and architecturally beautiful. We went to the Atlantis hotel and saw the large aquarium, and then headed out to see the Burj Al Arab, the "Tower of the Arabs." It mimics the sail of a ship, is built on it's own island, and is known for being the place where Tiger Woods teed off of the helipad. 


     After this, we went to another mall and saw the indoor ski slope. It was really interesting how they constructed it. Everyone inside was wearing winter jackets, hats and mittens. We went a a rampage to find Mike clothes for the evening because as Joel so eloquently put it the night before, "Mike, tomorrow wear fucking pants and not trainers." The previous evening, Mike was not allowed into the club because he had shorts and gym shoes on. He had to quickly buy a pair of pants, which ended up being skinny jeans. Having learned his lesson, we found him an acceptable outfit for going out in Dubai.


     We went back to Ashank's to change and headed out for the evening. We went to a few different places, and we quite happy to find that women get free cover everywhere. Perfect for Rebecca, Cassidy and I. We thoroughly enjoyed Dubai's nightlife and consequently woke up late the next day. We headed to the pool for a little bit of sun, and then headed out for sushi, shopping, and the Burj Khalifa. The Burj Khalifa is the tallest structure is the world, at two thousand, one hundred and twenty-seven feet tall. It just opened in January of 2010, and is so sparkling and new. The view from the top was amazing. You could really see the distinction between old and new Dubai from the top. We could see the largest fountain, which looks similar to the Bellagio's in Las Vegas, but on a much grander scale. We also could see The World (archipelago) from the top. Dubai is such a development. They have the most advanced everything, it's so exciting! We heard that now they're going to replicate the new Seven Wonders of the World, which should be interesting.We went to Dubai's "markets" which are still very similar to regular stores, with admittedly cheaper pricing. We picked up a few souvenirs, and headed to the airport. Leaving our carefree weekend was especially difficult knowing that we had class at eight thirty am the next day. I can't wait to go back.