{"id":3516,"date":"2018-08-12T00:42:01","date_gmt":"2018-08-12T04:42:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/?p=3516"},"modified":"2018-08-12T00:42:22","modified_gmt":"2018-08-12T04:42:22","slug":"week-8-the-story-of-an-american-at-the-jeweler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/2018\/08\/12\/week-8-the-story-of-an-american-at-the-jeweler\/","title":{"rendered":"Week 8: The Story of an American at the Jeweler"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good early morning from Dubai International Airport! My nine incredible weeks in Jordan have come to a close and I aced my finals. Now is not the time for closing remarks quite yet \u2013 that will be in a day or two. However, while I sit slightly sleep deprived bracing for a 15 hour flight to Chicago, I figured I should share some final adventures from my last week.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, I went with some friends back to Hashem Restaurant in Wasta al-Balad for lunch (spot week 1 for a full run down). While there, I was really hoping to find my mother a specific gift. I went to the Gold Souq (\u0633\u0648\u0642 \u0627\u0644\u0630\u0647\u0628), a conglomeration of different jewelry stores. I will not reveal what I bought my mother for the off chance she reads this before I present the gift, but it was quite lovely and required me to go back a few days later. After conversing with the jeweler, he claimed he would get me mansef \u2013 the Jordanian national dish \u2013 after I picked up the piece.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday evening, crunched with finals and presentations (my last ones were Thursday), I went back to Wasta al-Balad to pick up the gift. To my dismay (after I called to ask if it would be ready) they said they needed another hour. I ended up heading to the nearby Bekdesh store for booza (Syrian-style ice cream) and waited while studying. I came back and finally received the beautiful piece. I paid and was on my way. But while in a taxi on my way to my apartment, I received a call from the original jeweler who was not present that evening. He asked if I liked the piece, and after telling him that I did, he said that there had been an issue: his associates had forgotten to get me mansef. He promptly told me to come the next day for mansef, although I rescheduled for Saturday as I was hosting my class for dinner on Thursday. We\u2019ll come back to the jeweler in a sec.<\/p>\n

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Yes its cheating I couldn’t bring a camera into Wadi Mujib so heres a professional picture so you get the idea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the interim, I decided to tap into my wild side on Friday and go to Wadi Mujib Nature Reserve. Wadi Mujib\u2019s siq is a river running inside a cliff formation that you can hike (or more accurately go canyoning). You cannot bring your phone as the whitewater currents will sweep it away, so unfortunately I am posting a professional photo to help illustrate it. That said, it was such an incredible experience. It was a physical challenge to move against the waves will climbing cliffs, swimming through deep parts, and pulling ropes to move forward. It was even more challenging going back to make sure the current did not sweep you up. That said, I was astounded by the red hues of the canyon, and the incredible waterfalls, and the tiny caverns formed along the way. Wadi Mujib was not for the faint of heart, but it certainly was an outdoors experience only possible in Jordan.<\/p>\n

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A view out into the Dead Sea – and across the mountains of Israel\/Palestine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Afterwards, we made a brief stop at the Dead Sea right across the street. While I had been to the Dead Sea on \u201cthe other side\u201d, it was my first time in Jrodan. Because we were a little scraped up from Wadi Mujib, we did not stay long \u2013 the saltiest body of water in the world is not the best place\u00a0to go with fresh cuts and scrapes. But while literally rubbing salt into our wounds, I enjoyed getting a quick \u201cfloat\u201d in (you float in the Dead Sea, not swim). My favorite part of Dead Sea floating is finding a nearby mud pit and covering yourself. After floating and washing off the mud, your skin feels refreshed, smooth, and pretty damn great. I really enjoyed the view from the float. Seeing the mountains of Palestine and Israel filled my heart with so much joy. I truly cannot wait to go back.<\/p>\n

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A pretty sweet view from the Jordanian National Art Gallery’s coffee shop<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The next day, Saturday, was my last day in Amman. Since I did not have to leave my apartment until 10:30 PM, I hit the sites of the city. I started at the King Abdullah Mosque \u2013 the only mosque in Amman that actively welcomes non-Mulsims. I then walked to the Jordanian National Art Gallery, an impressive little museum in the same neighborhood focusing on modern art from Islamic countries. The highlight was its coffee shop \u2013 oddly named Jungle Fever (we will never know why) \u2013 but home to a beautiful terrace and view over the Abdali neighborhood. Seeing the King Abdullah mosque juxtaposed next to the few skyscrapers of Amman was incredible.<\/p>\n

I proceeded to go back down to Wasta al-Balad and meet up (again) with my jeweler. He was ardently waiting for me and proceeded to bring me \u201cbackstage\u201d. Inside, I found about $100,000 worth of gold, some in blocks being flattened out, some being molded, others being elaborately printed on a 3D printer. I got to talk with the man who crafted my mother\u2019s present, and he showed me the process from calligraphy on paper, to digital design, to 3D printing onto gold. After a little while, I was brought upstairs and we ate mansef.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was a little funny I was invited for mansef, as I had told the man I was a vegetarian. Mansef is Jordan\u2019s national dish, consisting of rice with boiled-ish lamb, almonds, a thin bread, and a yogurt sauce. While I clearly am not big on the meat, I find the yogurt, almond, rice combo to be pretty tasty. It was a fun meal, as the whole place seemed to be excited to be hosting an American. We talked about a lot of the differences between Jordan and the west, and the workers seemed really interested on how the West (and how I) viewed Muslims and the Islamic faith \u2013 especially after I mentioned I was Christian. After a wonderful meal, I thanked the owners for their hospitality and great craftsmanship on my mother\u2019s gift. Never in the United States would I find that level of hospitality!<\/p>\n

Expect some final summary thoughts in the next few days, but I certainly will miss being in Amman, a place that grew to be a sort of home for me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Good early morning from Dubai International Airport! My nine incredible weeks in Jordan have come to a close and I aced my finals. Now is not the time for closing remarks quite yet \u2013 that will be in a day or two. However, while I sit slightly sleep deprived bracing for a 15 hour flight … Continue reading Week 8: The Story of an American at the Jeweler<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2997,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[290963],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sla-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2997"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3516"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3521,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3516\/revisions\/3521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}