Homestretch

We're hitting that time when "last" and "final" are going to start defining a lot of things in my future posts. I'm not ready. But, there they are anyway, unwelcome adjectives– I went on my final Physical Settings field study last week.

Wrapping up my studies on the land of Israel in Jordan!

Having a field study in Jordan shifted the rhythm of our studies a little bit. We spent a significant amount of time on the bus, accompanied by both a police officer and a Jordanian tour guide, as required by Jordanian law.

I decided immediately I did not like our tour guide, James. He was dismissive of Dr. Wright. The first and final strike for Emily. It worked out well for me, I happily spent more time exploring the ruins than I did with my listening ears tuned into the details.

Jordan has some incredible ruins. They surprised me– all along I'd been envisioning Jordan as a glorified beach, except no ocean. And camels instead of whales. When I actually stepped across the border, it looked just like!!!!!! Israel.

No a big difference, at all. Maybe more burkas. And a significant Roman footprint. Our first day there we stopped at the ruins of Umm Qais. The Sea of Galilee was just visible in the background.

Lunch time view

The Theater

Andrew demonstrating just how cozy those seats were at the top. (He's not exaggerating either, they were quality- original LA-Z-BOY.)

We wrapped up the day on the Tel of Ramoth Gildead. Not much to see-- except Camels! In their natural habitat (shout out to my dad.)

We stayed in Amman the first night. Exploring the city was so much fun. The guys were jazzed to find Mountain Dew in a grocery store near our hotel. I was excited to be in a Jordanian grocery store. I wandered around the aisles, pretending I could read arabic thinking "Oh dang. I'm in a grocery store. In Amman. Real life is such a great place!"

Walking back to the hotel, Matt T. (now a legend in my mind, after this moment) spotted a Planet Donut from a distance. It takes a keen eye to scope out these opportunities. We all, like moths to a flame, walked towards that neon sign. We got there just in time, or maybe the man behind the counter just knows college kids well– we got a free box of donuts! And that's how I fell in love with Amman.

The next day we spent a little time in the Roman ruins of the city.

Spotted these at a museum in Amman: my next project when I get behind the wheel again. I can see it now: spinning up some of these, arm them with baking soda and vinegar. Prime equipment for 9- 11 year old boys...

Recipe for a great summer.

Our next stop was Jaresh: City of 1000 pillars. It was a Roman decapolis city... basically it had a lot of architectural fluff to impress the bedouins. (If only I could major in oversimplifying...)

Hippodrome at Jaresh

Tops of the pillars at Zeus’ temple

Theater

Running SloMo through 1/16 of the pillar population

After Jaresh, we peered from a scenic overlook of the Jabbok River into the landscape of some biblical sibling rivalry. It was the general area of where Jacob was afraid Esau was going to wipe him out (Gen 32 and 33 tells the story– it has a happy ending unlike many sibling rivalry stories. Just ask my sister.)

The Jabbok river.

Transjordan is Esau territory– he inherited the southern region of Edom. Petra-land!

For some reason, I didn’t take traditional photos of Petra. The camels.... The treasury... they didn’t make it on my memory card. All is not lost, if you want to see that stuff, watch Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Meanwhile, I did get a photo of this guy.

My hiking buddies for the day!

Dr. Suess landscape.

Petra was beautiful, but in a different way than the Adirondack scene. The whole southern region reminded me of the states in the south-west. It was like being in Arizona with a bedouin twist. There was no greenery– no trees or grass. No rivers or streams. Just rocks and sand and lots of dust in your teeth at the end of the day. The sandstone at Petra though... what a color palette.

We spent the last night right next to a Nabatean castle– the largest one in Jordan. We started off our last day there. It was a rainy morning and the whole castle was shrouded in fog.

Prime exploring environment.

We began our way towards our final stop at Mt. Nebo.

Stopped to look into the Arnon Wadi along the way.

Mt. Nebo, where Moses had his glimpse into the promise land– the land he was forbidden to enter.

We wrapped up our final day of our final field study with his view.

Looking towards Gilead

The tip of the Dead Sea, with Judean Hills in the background.

We had our last lecture in the field on Mt. Nebo. Dr. Wright brought us back over the months we’d spent exploring Ancient Israel, from Dan to Be’er Sheba. Then he turned our minds towards plane tickets and summer plans. Pointed us towards home.

I wasn’t ready for that. I forgot that I still had a month left to say goodbye as I listened to Dr. Wright speak, feeling uprooted– like I was hopping on a plane tomorrow. After we took the last of our notes, I walked around the edge of the lookout, sick to my stomach.

I'm thankful now for that time to look back over the places I’d been– to think back on all the things this semester has held... what an incredible time to have tucked away. It’s been a good, good season. I’ll miss this so, so much. But it’s been worth it, I am willing to bear the goodbye pinch. And these next few weeks I have left is a good time to start saying goodbye and slowly swinging my mind into United States mode.

I'm gearing my mind towards Upstate New York. It's the homestretch.