A three day visit to Israel, March 2013

As part of our trip to Jordan, we returned to the Haifa/Akka area where we served at the Bahá’í World Centre for 5 years from 2006 to 2011. It really was returning home, as you always take a part of a special place where you lived with you when you leave, and leave something behind. 

We had one particularly clear day where we could see across the bay of Haifa to the plains of Akka (believe me, this is a very clear day in Haifa)

 and further to the snow covered peaks of Mount Hermon on the border with Lebanon.

 Thankfully, there had been a lot of winter rain and snow in this part of the world, and the peaks, dimly shown above, were the most snow covered we had ever seen.
  
We visited the old city of Akka and saw the familiar stalls and shops.

 These sail boats had a great view of the walls of this ancient city.

We saw so many friends we had previously served with, 

 as well as some new ones, like Shana (daughter of Christine Krug) and her husband; 

 and the brother of Romina – a sweet lass from Argentina who came to serve at the same time as us.

 We spent some time in the Wadi (Christian Arab market place in downtown Haifa) and Talpiot fruit and vege market – places we had frequented on a weekly basis.

This is the bakery where we used to get donuts for just 2-3 weeks each year - during Hanuka. Sweet memories.

We had some time to play tourist as well. The old Roman aqueduct at Caesarea.

was a site I had not visited during our previous stay,

 and it was good to see that so much of it is still in good condition after more than 2000 years.

But the highlight of our short stay was to revisit some of the Bahá’í Holy places.

 Such a wonderful blessing to be able to visit.

We have many posts of trips we made around Israel - see the 2006 to 2010 blog posts for details.

Jordan family visit, March 2013

After two years it was so nice to be back visiting the family in Jordan – Allan loves it as he is so well looked after (spoiled) by the (very large and extended) family. Muna’s two brothers live in the suburb of Marj Al Hamam,

south west of downtown Amman, and it has really grown in the past few years. The Dead Sea and the river Jordan are close – less than 30km away.

The family gets together regularly, especially for meals

 This one was at Usama and Majid's home for brunch.

 We went to a really nice Lebanese restaurant to thank Muna's brothers and their families for all their hospitality,

 and had some yummy food - Munib would have loved this mutabal with fresh pomegranate seeds.

 Huda has grown and is now a primary school teacher.

 and Majid does a wonderful service of translating Baha'i history books from English into Arabic. This is his office!!

Muna has thrived on the many opportunities to speak Arabic - Allan still only knows the names of the foods he likes!!!

All around Amman there was a lot of construction projects

  - infrastructure,

commercial - whether new towering corporate towers or smaller shops in neighbourhoods

     and new residential apartments are sprouting up everywhere. 

Some have very nice entrances, 

and most buildings, both commercial and residential, make extensive use of stone. 

You see some traditional forms of transport

as well as traditional Arab style dress - usually only older men

and with traditional stores in the downtown market area.

We went to the centre of Amman, which is a valley at the foot of steep mountains, and parked next to the original offices of Britain's famous Lieutenant-General Sir John Bagot Glubb KCB, CMG, DSO, OBE, MC, better known as Glubb Pasha - British soldier, scholar and author, who led and trained Transjordan's Arab Legion between 1939 and 1956 as its commanding general.
Muna and Nabil thoroughly enjoyed exploring the places of their childhood - schools, cinemas, shops.
Amman is an ancient city - this Roman amphitheatre is one of the best preserved in the Middle East and the original columns still stand, unlike the ones at Beit Shean which fell in earthquakes.

 Jawad, a dear friend, accompanied us

 and of course Allan climbed right to the top.

On the top of another hill overlooking the amphitheatre stand more Roman structures:

After our sightseeing walk around downtown. we went to a very traditional eating place called the Jerusalem restaurant, and had Bedouin style food - in this case (Allison and Munib don't look) some sheep had lost their necks!

 Around Marj Al Hamam, 

 areas are left for grazing sheep

 and growing olive trees. 

 You can also learn and practice horse riding nearby.

And driving around you can still see quite a number of Jordanians living a somewhat traditional lifestyle, with their large tents camel herd - these camels are grazing close to a major road.

Although Jordan is considered to be a relatively poor country with few natural resources, there are houses that can only be described as mansions. 

 This owner likes his privacy, 

and has security to match.

You see  some lovely design and ornamentation work.

 Even though there is high unemployment, many labourers are guest workers, whether as housemaids, apartment security, farm work, or for building construction

and brave unsafe working environments. 

And having just completed a “testing and tagging” course for electrical appliances, Allan thinks that this wiring example would be a "fail".

A couple of large supermarket chains have extensive ranges of anything you could ever want to purchase, but the local storekeeper is still the most popular place to shop, whether selling meat,

 

fruit and vegetables,

 or general produce.

I have always found the storekeepers to be extremely polite and friendly, help as much as possible in English, and are very proud of their stores. A pleasure to shop local.

Until recently, street names have not been widely used except for main thoroughfares. Now they are clear for all to see. Most names are long compared to what we are used to; 

 and some have a different meaning in English.

This pedestrian crossing is not for the faint-of-heart, as it is about 50m over the crest of a hill where cars are zooming by at 90-100 kmph.

Traffic in Jordan is fierce, and road rules only seem to be a suggestion - especially pedestrian crossings and stop signs. Parking is at a premium, and footpaths provide a handy opportunity. 

 Surprisingly, I did not see many actual accidents – this was one

– but observed dozens of "near misses" every time we drove somewhere. It appears that everyone seems to know when the other person will do something unexpectedly stupid, and compensate accordingly. Which to me seems most of the time.

In the morning and evening dozens of yellow buses take students to and from local schools and universities

It is very popular to buy fresh produce from makeshift roadside stalls 

 

 even on the hard shoulder of a 3 lane highway you can buy strawberries,

 as well as literally “off the back of the truck”. 

And trucks patrol the streets with loudspeakers blaring, seeking customers, and selling anything from tomatoes, gas cylinders, and bottled water as well as collecting scrap metal such as old fridges and old furniture.

This is a most unusual sight in Amman, a man walking his dog. There are very few dogs in Jordan - usually only guard dogs for security purposes - as they are considered ritually "unclean" by Muslims.

In such a different environment as the suburbs of Amman, Allan likes to walk around and photograph everyday scenes. 

This fruit and vegetable shop is called "Tuti Fruti" and the family buy most of their fresh produce from here. While in the shop the TV was on and showed prayers at a big mosque which was full. The chanting was amazing, but not while selecting tomatoes and bananas.

 Muna particularly liked the green (unripe) almonds which she eats skin and all, and the strawberries were fabulous.

This shop was most incongruous – it was selling (very fancy) ladies underwear you are unlikely to find in Esperance (not that I have looked). 

 Amazingly, the owner of the shop was an older lady dressed in full black Arabic clothing – covered head to foot!

The Jordanian population is largely Sunni Muslim (around 90%) and Mosques dominate the landscape. The "call to prayer" is raised from loudspeakers of every mosque five times a day, and the first starts just after 5am. The final reminder is about an hour and a half after sunset. I love it. It is such a resonating sound, but not if you are a very light sleeper.

There is a very large mosque built in memory of King Hussein, 

 which is really beautiful and has lovely gardens for the public.

 There is a sizable Christian community, making up about 8% of the population. This is evident from these 2 churches in Marj-al-Haman alone, 

 as well as this bumper sticker.

 The traditional national dish is mansaf - lamb cooked in a broth made with a fermented then dried yogurt-like product, and served on a large platter with a layer of flat bread topped with rice and then meat, garnished with almonds and pine nuts, and then a sauce is poured over all. A local Jordanian variation called "kabseh" was made by my dear sister-in-law Usama. Yummy. 

 Muna knew she would be called upon to make her famous Cornish pastries, 

 and you will not believe it, but we actually brought fresh parsnips in our hand luggage from Australia for this purpose. Humus is also a widely eaten food; 

indeed the average Jordanian has a diet high in bread, olives, dairy products (cheese and yogurts) and beans. You can buy dozens of different types of white cheeses, some for cooking, others for eating fresh with mint and bread.

Litter is a big problem everywhere in the world, and plastic bags are a curse. 

If a cash-based recycling program could be introduced, these scenes would change, as enterprising young Arabs would quickly return the streets and fields to a more pristine look.

Rubbish is placed in street based bins, rather than households having their own; some are the worst for wear, 

 and many harbour feral cats – the bane of civilisation.

 Still, nature pushes through and some warm weather saw the wild flowers emerge.

There were a lot of birthdays while we were away, Allan, Usama (seen here on the right with her mum Bahiyyih and Muna's sister-in-law Nuha on the left) and Rami, Nuha and Nabil's son.

Jordan is one of the driest countries in the world, and so every opportunity is taken to have greenery. Most sidewalk pavements have trees growing in them - olives are popular - but they eventually grow large,

 and so most people walk on the sides of the streets. The capital Amman is very hilly, so you get a good workout walking anywhere.

To see photos of our previous visit to Jordan, including Amazing Petra, Wadi Rum, and eating out,  look at the March 2011 blog posts.

http://allanmuna.blogspot.com/2011/03/amazing-petra.html

http://allanmuna.blogspot.com/2011/03/eating-in-and-out-in-jordan.html

http://allanmuna.blogspot.com/2011/03/amazing-wadi-rum-and-aqaba.html