Jordan

We have had a very busy August. not to make a really long post and so I don't completely bore you. I am going to have to break it up a bit and not do everything at once. Aaron had received a state department scholarship to do an advanced arabic study in Jordan. He was gone for about 2 1/2 months. While he was there he learned that the last week there they would give them to tour the country at their leisure. So last minute and after a lot of debating we decided that I would go there to meet him for the last week and we would tour the country together. Thanks again Debbie for convincing me to go because I LOVED IT!!!

Aaron's mom agreed to come out to watch the kids. A BIG THANK YOU TO HER!!! And I left for Jordan!! When arriving in Jordan it was a huge shock to me and once I saw how everyone was dressed and that I didn't know a word that they were speaking I knew I was in for an adventure. I have never ever been outside of the country and moving to Georgia was a big culture shock to me so you can imagine how I felt at this point. At the airport there you have to arrive gain a visa exchange your money into Jordanian Dinars and get your bags and go through another security check before you can go and meet the people waiting for you. So I had to do all this without Aaron and his Arabic speaking abilities. Of course my suitcase didn't come and I had to make a claim and try to explain the color of my bag (next time I get a plain color bag for this very reason) and why I didn't know the address of where I was staying to this person that didn't speak much english...why they put these people in the airport I will never know. So needless to say I left the airport one bag short.

While Aaron was living there he got to know the family that owned the hotel where he had been staying so the brother had been nice enough to give us a ride to and from the airport. The ride home was crazy. They have lines on the road, but I have no idea why they even bother. No one follows the traffic rules and so it was an interesting car ride.

The following day we had planned on going to the Dead Sea, but being no luggage and not wanting to spend my entire vacation with only what I had in my carry on we spent the morning seeing some Roman ruins and going through the markets. then most of the afternoon back at the airport trying to find my bag. And after bugging them long enough they magically produced my suitcase...yea!!! We then drove to Petra. Good times!! The first day was a bit crazy, but the only minor incident so the rest of the trip was AWESOME!!!