BYU Jerusalem: O: Jabbok, Jerash, & Royal Auto Museum

Today we started out in Amman visiting the Citadel of Amman which was ruins and a museum. The ruins were on from later time periods but some of them were from the Old Testament. This site was where David did not go fight with Joab and tarried back in Jerusalem. It was a cool site, we had a really nice devotional then we went into the museum. The museum was pretty sweet; there were the first depictions of human bodies on display that dated back to 7 century. We then left and drove to the Jabbok River. The devotional was great there, this was the sight also called Penuel where Jacob wrestled with an angel and had his name changed to Israel. We then had a great lunch with huge pita-like bread with some really good hummus, chicken, and beef. We then went to the biggest and most preserved roman site in Jordan, Jerash. Jerash was massive and miraculous. It had a hippodrome, two theatres, a temple to Zeus, a temple to Artemis, a huge colonnade oval forum, long main street, etc. It was phenomenal. Next, we went to the Royal Automobile Museum, which as a lover of old classic cars was more than enjoyable. After dinner at the hotel Rachel, Lizzy, Sophie, and I went out into the city to find our friends we met from the night before. I got my first straight razor shave at a barber shop from a really awesome guy named Abu-Hamza. We then spent the next hour hanging out with the Jordanian guys we met the night before. It was a good time, broken English and really broken Arabic exchanges with tons of laughter. I met a huge white Syrian guy who was really nice. We started walking back to the hotel when we passed two guys playing the guitars, one of them was shredding. I watched for a song and then Rachel Hughes asked him if I could play and I nodded and asked as well, they were keen. So we ended up jamming a few American songs that he knew. The first got me way stoked; we played “Another Brick in the Wall” by Pink Floyd. We continued to play “Hotel California” by The Eagles, “No woman no cry” by Bob Marley (as requested by my newly made Syrian friend), then ended with “Wish you were here” by Pink Floyd. I regret to say I have since forgot his name, but he invited me to a party and I had to decline, then he continued and invited me to hang out with him and his friends the next day, but we were leaving so I had to say no. He was a really nice guy. I was floating after that experience; these are the experiences that I wanted on my study abroad which are harder to have when we cannot go outside at night in Jerusalem. It was cool to see how music brought me and a random guy together; we were singing and looking at each other smiling. We couldn’t communicate that well with each other, but at the same time we did through music. I loved that night in Amman Jordan and will never forget it.