i've been to the mountaintop

I would have written about this yesterday, but I was sooo tired from my adventures...This desert heat really is NO JOKE, y'all!

I finally was able to do a bit of sightseeing and I am so excited about what I saw.  Yesterday, I went with a girl who lives in my apartment building--Lama--to her university.  Lama goes to school right outside of Madaba at Zaytouneh University and she was so excited to show me her school and her classes.  Lama studies English and although she doesn't think so, she speaks English quite well.  I went with her to three classes and it was really interesting to see the differences between collegians in the States and here in Jordan.  For instance, if you say "school" here, they don't take that to mean university-level like we do in the States.  I have become very conscious of my diction in this sense and have started to use lots of words that are "British" English.  (If I don't sound Southern when I get home, forgive me...My southernness will come back haha!)

In Lama's first class, legal translation, her professor (which they call doctor instead--all of their professors, that is), Dr. Salah, knew I was observing, so invited me to come up and speak about the United States Congress and its structure.  And when I say invite, I mean I had to go up and speak...I'm not sure this was the type of invitation we talked about in Arvind's class last semester, but it was totally fine.  I was honored to speak as an American.  Thankfully I always made good grades in civics courses and I actually happen to be a bit fascinated by how our government is structured, so I think it went well.  I talked about the two chambers of Congress, their nomenclature and my talk even extended to questions from students like how I found Jordan and what my favorite food here is.  For the record, my favorite food here is grape leaves (shoutout to the best one StephanieSimon!), but in Arabic they are called waraq dawali.  Yummmmmy!

After my quick stint as a speaker (y'all know I get freaked out talking in front of others!!), we went to two other classes and then headed off to Madaba (for real)!  There was a group of five of us, Lama, me, another new friend Rahaf and two other new friends, whose names I cannot remember (I may not remember their names, but I will always remember their hospitality!) and we rode a university bus to Madaba.  When we got off the bus, we were only a few short steps from a famous church with the world's oldest mosaic map!

This was St. George's Greek Orthodox Church.  (Check out Flat jMed in front of the church to the left).  There were guides outside giving quick histories of the map and how to read it.  This church was absolutely breathtaking.  It was small, but because of its history and all the wonderful icons inside, I felt a bit overwhelmed...In a good way, of course.  There were mosaic icons of the Bible's prophets, the Twelve and of course Christ all over the place.  I got many pictures, but there are too many to put here...You'll have to wait until I get home to see them haha!

In short, the church was amazing!  After that, we were all pretty tired, so we stopped to get food.  It was kinda funny because we went to a little place called Mystic Pizza (another shoutout to the best one StephanieSimon!).  I'm sure this Mystic Pizza wasn't like the one in the movie, buuuuut you go with what you've got!  The pizza was good, the water was really refreshing (and desparately needed in all this heat) but the company was the best.  I am so blessed to be around people who are willing to go out of their way and show some of their country, even though they don't know me well at all.  Jordan oozes hospitality!

At the end of our lunch, two of the girls had to leave and head back for the university.  Before they left, however, they helped to make taxi arrangements to the place I'd been yearning to get to since I got to Jordan--Mt. Nebo, or Jabal Nebo, as it is called in Arabic.  Apparently if the taxi drivers know a tourist wants to go up to Jabal Nebo, they hike up their rates.  My friends (Alhamdulillah for them!) made sure that we would not pay an arm and a leg to get to the Mount and back.  They made a deal with the taxi driver that he would wait for the three of us going to the Mount for 30 minutes while we looked around then we would leave for ten Jordanian dinars (about 14 dollars) for the three of us!  That's a great price and we accepted it!  I thanked my new friends and then they were on their way back...We were on our way to the Mount.

The drive to Jabal Nebo was stunning, as we went through winding roads and higher and higher in the hills of Jordan.  It was surreal for me to be heading to a place I'd only read about in my Bible.  I felt really emotional about going to this hallowed place, but I held it all in.  We got to the Mount and there was a group tour going on.  They were frankly annoying and in my way, but I didn't let their presense snap me from my good place.

How great is this bright blue sky?!  The above pictured monument was erected in 2000, the year His Holiness the Pope John Paul II celebrated his Jubilee year (I think, so don't quote me please, lest you know I'm right).  There is a spot on the Mount from where Pope John Paul II gave the homily in 2000 and now they are building a church in that spot.  It is absolutely wonderful.  Although I was hot as blazes, I still felt a sense of peace there that is indescribable.  I walked around for a little while, took pictures then headed to the part of the Mount that I knew I wanted to see before I got to Jordan.

This is what I had been so eager to see!  This is a cross, but it is made from wire.  The cross piece symbolizes the staff Moses used to sway Pharaoh and the winding piece that ascends the structure is the serpent into which the staff changed.  I immediately flashed back to those many times growing up watching The Ten Commandments with my Mama during the Passover/Easter season...I was almost more enthralled by this cross than I was by the view (which was ridiculously pretty)...I just could not believe that I was actually standing on the place that I believe is where Moses stood...still can't!

The trees obscure the view just a bit, but it's amazing, nonetheless.  Beyond those trees to the left is the Dead Sea, and over to the rightt is Israel.  I couldn't do anything but check to make sure my heart was still beating and that I was really here.  This was one of the most surreal moments I've ever experienced.  What a blessing to be in this special place...

And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho.  And the LORD shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan.  And all Naphtali and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea, And the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar.  And the LORD said unto him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed:  I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes...

Deuteronomy 34:1-5a