My trip to Jordan, part 1: I see the sights

I recently took a wonderful trip to Jordan with my friends Kyle and Arbella. Jordan is a country in the Middle East that borders Israel, the West Bank, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. Can you find it on a map? It might be difficult to find, since it isn't a very big country. It's in a very dry place, and much of the country is covered by desert.

Jordan is an Arab country in which people speak Arabic. Do you remember which other Arab country I have visited before? That country was Tunisia, where I went with my friend Aisha. The people of Jordan and the people of Tunisia share a common language (Arabic) and a common majority religion (Islam). Even so, because these two countries are quite far apart, there are a lot of differences between them.

The capital of Jordan is a city called Amman. Like most cities in the Middle East, Amman has ancient heritage dating back many thousands of years. Since it was once part of the Roman Empire, you can see a Roman amphitheater in the city. One of the things I have learned from traveling is that you can pretty much always expect to find a Roman amphitheater in any country you visit that is close to the Mediterranean Sea. There are also generally a lot of columns. A LOT of columns.

Here I am looking down on Amman's giant Roman amphitheater at night.

Here I am in front of some columns that once made up the Romans' Temple of Hercules on the Amman Citadel.

Despite its Roman heritage, however, Amman was just a tiny town until relatively recently. When Jordan became a country after World War I, the British chose to make Amman its capital. Immediately, lots of people started moving there. Today, it is a huge metropolis of almost 3 million people.

Here is a typical view of Amman with the Jordanian flag flying in the background.

One of the reasons Amman has grown so fast is that a lot of refugees have moved there from other countries. Half of Jordan's population is comprised of Palestinian refugees who have moved to the country since 1948. Another half a million or so moved to Jordan from Iraq after the American invasion in 2003. In just the past year, perhaps as many as 200,000 people have fled fighting in Syria to move to Jordan. Having all of these people move to a small country in the desert is very, very hard on the Jordanian economy, environment, and political system.

I actually got a chance to meet some refugees from Syria when I shared a car with them going to the city of Irbid. Irbid is located in the northernmost part of Jordan, pretty close to Syria, so it has a lot of Syrians living there now. Normally one would not go to Irbid as a tourist, but my friends wanted to go there because they had once studied Arabic at the University of Yarmouk in Irbid.

My friend Kyle and I pose in front of a statue on the campus of the University of Yarmouk.

Here is a close-up of us at the statue.

One of the wonderful things about traveling in the Middle East is that you often get to stroll along in the shade of beautiful olive trees. Even though we think of Jordan and other Middle Eastern countries as having a lot of desert, they also grow a lot of fruit, especially olives. I think olive trees are particularly beautiful.

I stand under an olive tree in Irbid.

Even though I only visited two big cities while I was in Jordan, I did get a brief taste of the culture of Jordanian rural areas. For thousands of years, some Arabs have lived as nomads in the desert areas of Jordan and other countries that border it. These nomads are called "Bedouin." Often times, they ride on camels. I would have tried to get a picture of myself with a camel, but I'm actually really terrified of them because they are kind of mean. And they spit. Instead, I got a picture of myself reclining on cushions made with some traditional Bedouin designs. I'm just relaxing and enjoying the hot Jordanian sun!

I sit on some Bedouin cushions.

Of course, I didn't just sit and relax on the Bedouin cushions – I also ate a lot! In my next post, I'm going to tell you all about the food that I ate in Jordan.

--Benny