Jordan!

What an amazing place Jordan is. Had three nights there which didn't do the place justice but a good excuse to go back sometime. The highlight of the trip was walking through the ancient city of Petra, which in some parts dates back to 7000 BC! The Romans conquered the Nabateans in 106AD and therefore some of the architecture has a Roman influence. The place is vast and there are so many walks to go on. I had almost a day and half to explore which was just enough, but one day involved 7 hours of walking so a little sore afterwards. You are able to roam as you like and enter almost all of the tombs, buildings, caves, etc. There are places everywhere that have about a 50 foot drop off so you have to be aware of where you are. There is just so much to see so.

On the journey to Petra, about a 3 hour bus ride from Amman I went on a tour with 5 others. The tour stopped at two castles on the ‘King’s Highway’ and other sightseeing vantage points. The terrain is very arid and dry and mountainous rather like Central Otago. I sat beside a 63 year old Australian who teaches in Abu Dhabi and in front of us was a lady in her 30’s from Singapore. The three of us toured Petra together and had a great time. The next night I met an NZer who got in the same taxi as me. She worked for the Security section of the UN in Lebanon and was loving it there. She has been there almost two years and had done a lot of traveling. She even got to meet Helen Clark in New York! We went out for dinner and all up for a full feed of Arabic food it was only $6NZ between us. Jordan is a very affordable place to stay and all up my trip was only around $800 and well worth it.

School Corner School has been very busy as usual with a lot of testing, marking and other extra things. Before the Eid holiday we had a trip to 360 Mall (a brand new gigantic circular shaped shopping mall) and went to watch an Imax movie called Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. It was great and the students loved it although many had actually seen the movie before. Afterwards we had McDonalds which the students had paid for although many of the students bought their own money along. Some even had 10KD notes; the equivalent of $50NZ! A bit more than most kids would normally have for a trip but they were very generous and bought for friends who did not have any money.

On the day before the holidays the school students reenacted the Hajj celebration. This is the pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. They walked around the Ka’ba 7 times chanting a religious chant and then sat in or near the tents which they traditionally stayed in. It was great to see and learn more about the Muslim culture. Here are pictures of three of my students dressed up in what they would wear to the pilgrimage.
I am very jealous of all the NZ teachers going on holiday soon. I feel like I need a holiday as 5 days was not enough between quarters. The students seem rather tired still as well. Will have to wait until the end of January for our next holidays, which last for two weeks. Many other American and English schools have Christmas holidays but because our school is a bilingual we work through it. At least Christmas Day is on a Friday so I have it off. Hopefully will do something with the teachers here. Well must away. Have a great Christmas and New Year everyone.

The movie was supposed to be one continuous shot - Woops!