Jess in Jerusalem

JORDAN - January 2013

A few weeks ago we spent four days in Jordan. {If you haven't seen my last post go look at the video I made!}. It was such a blast. I wish I could upload all the photos I took but here are just a few of some of the good times I had.

Me and my roommate Lindsey at Amman Citadel. We felt pretty epic! This was such a good morning. It was our second day in Jordan and I was just so happy to be out and about and exploring so many new things!

Me and Susanna riding camels. No big deal. 

I had ridden a camel earlier that morning for 3 dinars (Jordan money) just to ride in front of Petra. Then later in the day we were making the trek back from the end of the park at the Monastery to the beginning at the Treasury when we passed two camels. Susanna said she hadn't ridden one yet. Of course it is acceptable to not ride a camel in Petra, and seeing as we were on our way out, I insisted that we did it. So within 2 minutes we were cruising through the dirt roads of Petra on camels. I could not stop laughing. I took a video and it's hilarious. Camels are the most fun animals in the world. Such a blast.

We stayed in Amman, Jordan for two nights on our trip. It was a big, nice city. We decided to hit the town running the first night. It was slightly raining, so we threw on our rain blazers and explored the city of Amman. We ended up on "Rainbow Street". We got ice cream and ended up in a Nestle Cookie Shop (In Amman? Whaaaaat?). I hardly took any photos on our night adventures but in the spirit of my life philosophy "If you don't have a picture, it didn't happen" I snapped this shot.

I HAD ARRIVED AT PETRA!!!! The thing so cool about this park is you wander through cave-like things forever at first. It was freezing and wet in the morning because it had poured the night before. But then you finally see the end, and you walk out and there is the Treasury. It was amazing. I ran ahead and had someone snap this shot of me being completely ecstatic to be in PETRA!

Another one of the highlights of the trip was our stop at Jerash. I have never seen somewhere so green and stunningly beautiful. I've never actually been to Ireland but I felt like I was in Ireland the whole time. Ever seen the movie Leap Year? Yeah. Could have been filmed here. GORGEOUS. This is just a fun picture we took on the ruins (which were AMAZING - I wish I could post more. There was an ancient amphitheater which was huge! They had Jordanian bagpipe players - whaaaat? They performed for us, then a group of us sang (not me personally though - I chose to be the audience), and then we got to explore it all on our own.

We stopped at the Jordan River, where Christ was baptized, on our way back to Jerusalem. This river separates Israel and Jordan so I'm standing in Jordan but those palm trees are in Israel. We had a spiritual devotional and sang a few hymns. There was a man who got baptized while we were there so that was neat to see.

CAMEL!!!!

Looking epic & loving life in Jerash!

This photo is of me and the group I explored Petra with in the morning. Behind us is a cave with awesome acoustics. Our friend Tyler was on Vocal Point (yes, he was on the TV show "The Sing Off") so of course it sounded amazing when we sang!

Lounging & laughing on a camel in Petra!

Outside an ancient church in Jordan. Here they found a map of the Holy Land during the Byzantine era. It was a cool stop.

Well that's that! If you want a better sense of the adventures we had check out the video!!! Life is good and it's just getting better!

PS. MY MISSION CALL HAS BEEN ASSIGNED!!!!! I repeat. MY MISSION CALL HAS BEEN ASSIGNED!!!! I should know where I will be spending 18 months of my life in like 2 weeks. Hooray!