On Wednesday, my friends David, Wylie, and I went across town to Abdoun to watch the Champions League semi-final between Real Madrid and Barcelona (pronounced by Jordanians as Bar-she-lona) with one of our professors and his friends, and about 1/3 of the people living in Amman. It was great. I have never seen the city so alive. The game itself was beautiful. I will spare you the full play be play here, but I will say that Messi scored two goals late in the game to give Barcelona a 2-0 victory and prevent the whole city of Amman from going to sleep until late into the night.
The taxi ride home was one of the crazier things I have experienced in the last three months. The whole town rang with car horns, teenagers waving flags sat out the windows of speeding cars, and I smiled from ear to ear. It was great! Contrary to my fears, the World Cup in 2022 in Qatar will be just fine.
The second lovely adventure was my trip this weekend to Dana Nature Reserve. I can be kind of a snob when it comes to wilderness but I came to really appreciate Dana. At first, I wasn't entirely sold on the place. The reserve is run by the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature and is therefore expensive. It takes a long time to get there, and one is required to hire a guide for most of the really cool hiking routes (a prohibitively expensive requirement). But once I got over the fact that Jordanians HATE walking and cannot begin to understand 6 American college students who wish to forego the shuttle and walk half a mile downhill to the campsite, let alone hike for several hours, then I started to appreciate Dana for what is is. A truly beautiful canyon land, filled with Joshua-tree-like rock formations to play on.
Highlights of the trip:
-Having a great time in Nature with cool people
-Sleeping outside
-Nothing going wrong even when my friend Greg and I did some reckless rock climbing
-Watching storm clouds roll by from atop incredible rock formations
-Laughing at the silliness of Jordan
-Riding home in the back of a minibus to the sounds of Radio Lab, This American Life, and The Tallest Man on Earth and feeling like I was in a really great montage.
-Taking the time to be thankful for what I am experiencing
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