This morning, Tim and I joined our Jordanian friend Annes for a swim downtown. Due to the incredible hot weather, Annes wanted to beat the crowds and the heat and hit the water early. We brought tea and water and meet down at the downtown flagpole in a area called "The Gondor." It is a pretty worn dock with missing planks and boats often drive through the swimming area. However, between laughing and attempting high dives into shallow water, it was a morning worth waking up early for. And after we feasted on my favorite Jordanian meal, the falafel sandwich from Muhandes.
Next, Tim and I went with a student from class to Wadi Rum. Wadi Rum is a Jordanian National Park and is known for its incredible colors, especially at dawn and dusk. Our student is an engineer for the Aqaba Water Company and we joined him on a few site visits to broken wells. Tim earned his bachelors in mechanical engineering and is invested into the subject and I went along for the ride. However, as water is a critical issue, especially in this part of the world it was a great experience to learn about how the well systems operate. However, the "work day" left some to be desired.
After a lighting tour of the Wadi Rum area, we arrived at the work site to watch 8 guys ineffectively attempt to screw in a massive pipe into the ground. Our friend told the guys that we were specialists from America, but I am sure they soon found out that I was far from knowledgeable in the area of water irrigation and filtration. We ended up sitting in the cool car, listening to Egyptian music while the guys worked which did not fell so good. Honestly, I felt pretty lazy. Lunch followed soon after, after which Tim and I explored the nearby Bedouin camp and desert hillside. Shortly after, we left to find some shade. Seriously, it was ridiculous in that we had not do anything and were resorting to shade. However, we did go off-roading and found this incredible cavern that overlooked the desert and camel racing course. Thats right, a camel racing course.
Needless to say, we did not do all that much work but mostly performed observational work that like any good white collar worker. In fact, after hours of hard work in the blistering sun, the project that the workers were putting together ended up not working. After this, we headed off the wedding of a local Bedouin guy that is a colleague of our students. Upon our arrival, the groom approached the three of us and greeted both Layth and I with a kiss, but left Tim out in the cold. Honestly, I totally messed up the traditional kiss and felt totally uncomfortable, but know I have finally been initiated into Bedouin society. After I exhausted my limited knowledge of Arabic, the groom quick realized I was not an Arab and after our short visit, I did not depart to the kiss. However, it was an incredible experience, sitting beneath a hand-knit Camel hair tent, drinking Bedouin Coffee and sitting with the native nomads of the Arab Lands.
On our way home, we decided to take the car deep into the desert. As we started to pick up speed, the sand kept getting deeper. As we ventured farther from the road, we often needed to stop and reverse to maneuver out of the deep sand in our path. After about ten minutes of driving deep into the desert, we stopped to take some pictures of the complete isolation that surrounded us. After taking so snapshots, we realized that we were completely stuck in a foot of sand. As we tried to engage the tires, the wheels kept getting lodged deeper into the sand. As Tim and I started to let out the pressure of the tires, Layth walked to find a local Bedouin that might be dwelling in the nearby camps. Luckily, a Bedouin guy came to our rescue with his pickup and we found ourselves back on the road again. After we refilled the tires with air, we ran back to the original work site to pick up a worker who needed a ride to Aqaba. The Tim and I were soothed to sleep by the foreign sounds of Arabic being spoken loudly the whole way home. What an adventure.
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