Hiking a Wadi at the Dead Sea

Last weekend we decided to get away from the cold, 65-degree weather in Amman and head for the warmer, 85-degree weather just 30 minutes away at the Dead Sea.

We drove down with the Stowe family who have three kids about the same ages as our kids. As we had planned, we headed out on a hike that started directly across the street from the Marriott - where we were staying the night. Luckily the guide book was specific enough that we knew to go right in the middle of a construction site to park our cars and start the hike.

The wadi we walked up had a stream of clear water going down it. Needless to say, the kids preferred to walk in the water most of the way and they threw rocks the entire hike.

It is hard to tell from the pictures below, but the geology of the place was impressive. There were all types of rock formations and different types of rocks.

We passed a young shepherd who was tending to a flock of a couple hundred goats.

Dentist Drama

Shelley took Andrew to a pediatric dentist a few days ago. The dentist she took him to has a very modern and impressive facility. However, they were sent to another medical facility to have x-rays taken of Andrew's teeth.

Despite already being an unnerving situation for Andrew, they were greeted by the below picture of a little girl in tears. Perhaps it was intended to portray another message, but for Andrew it was a bad omen.

Shelley and Andrew sat in the waiting room as they watched people enter and leave the x-ray room. Once it was their turn, they cautiously entered the x-ray room. To their surprise, they found an old lady veiled in a burka lying on the table. Apparently, she was taking her nap on the table as patients entered and exited the room. The x-ray technician and the other patients did not seem to be bothered by a mummy-like napping grandma on the table.

To make matters worse, prior to shooting the gamma rays, Shelley and the x-ray technician left the room leaving Andrew alone in the room with the napping grandma lying on the table next to him.

Thankfully Andrew finished the procedure without looking like the girl pictured in the frame.

The x-rays reveal that Andrew's permanent teeth will not be orderly coming in after his baby teeth. Time to start saving up for braces that will inevitably be needed.

Cub Scout Visit to Civil Defense

Last weekend we took the Cub Scouts to the Civil Defense Center here in Amman. The Civil Defense has fire fighting, hazmat, rescue, and other emergency teams. The kids really enjoyed seeing the vehicles and asking questions about almost every hose, knob, and indicator.

Papa's Favorite Things

Weekend at Petra

Over the weekend we took a road trip to Petra with some friends from the Embassy. The area around Petra is a bone-dry, desolate desert. However, after a 30-minute walk through a dry river bed (Siq), you arrive at a hidden city carved into the mountain sides. The Nabateans not only built the famous Treasury, but also hundreds of other facades, an aqueduct system, an amphitheater, and hundreds of other buildings/caves.

On Friday (our first day in Petra) we took an hour hike up a series of stair cases carved into a steep mountain. At the top of the mountain we found a rock that had been carved into a one bedroom house.

Gaby and I counted and were offered 32 times, "Donkey ride? Good price for you my friend" Finally, at the end of the day we gave in and let the kids ride donkeys. They deserved the rest after hiking a full day with minimal whining.

On our second day, we hiked up to the "Monastery" - an impressive relief carved into the sandstone high up on a mountain top. The hike took us about an hour up and about 20 minutes down. The views from the top of the mountain are well worth the hike even though I had to carry Colin most of the way up.

Botched Oud Lessons

From several experiences I’ve concluded that the teacher/student relationship is one that exposes the most differences between cultures. Case in point: for Christmas Shelley gave me an Egyptian Oud - a decorative, twelve string instrument. The day after Christmas, Shelley and I found a small, cigarette smoke-filled music store that offered oud lessons.

On the first visit, the music teacher, Tawfeeh, seemed warm and welcoming. He even offered to restring my oud and have it ready for me the next day. We agreed on a price for lessons ($10/hour lesson) and arranged for me to come back the next day for the first lesson - so far, so good.

I returned the next evening. Before starting the lesson he stated, “it will be $200.” A bit flabbergasted, I asked him to explain. He said I needed to pay upfront for 20 lessons. “You pay for lessons upfront because I commit my time to you,” he said in his broken English. Since just the night before I had seen him sitting with his buddies smoking with no customers in the shop, I suspected he was bluffing and that he wasn’t as popular as he wanted me to think. Having fallen for this “pay upfront” trap before, I told him that I needed at least two lessons before I was ready to commit. The conversation went back and forth several times until he saw that I was ready to leave. He then agreed that I would only pay for that evening’s lesson.

He took me in a back room filled with pictures and posters of himself at the height of his career. From the bellbottom pants and Saturday Night Fever-style shirt that exposed his hairy chest, it seemed like he was a popular musician back in the 70s.

As the lesson began, he was noticeably offended when I asked him why he removed three strings from the oud and later when I asked him to explain the way he was tuning the oud. After a few choppy, incomplete explanations, he played a 15-note scale once and then asked me to repeat it. Again, he was noticeably upset when I could only recall 5-6 of the first notes. He showed them to my twice again, told me to practice, and then left the room for close to 20 minutes. He returned reeking like cigarette smoke, turned to a page in the middle of the book written in Arabic. Without any instruction, he asked me to play it. Again, he wrinkled up his face when I could not play a song 20-minutes into my first lesson. The rest of the hour was no different. Needless to say, I left with no intention of returning.

Happy Birthday Papa!