On the Road to Damascus/Jordan

After a visit to Ataturk’s tomb/ memorial and a visit to the Turkish Foreign Ministry, we left Ankara last Thursday and flew closer to the Syrian border which we crossed by bus. It took awhile to cross as they had to fingerprint us all and go through our passports, but we got in and stayed the night in Hama (which has a very sad history that you should look up). The next day we went to the largest and best-preserved Crusader’s Castle in the world—Krak des Chevaliers. It was amazing. I think I was living out every kid’s fantasy of having free-reign to explore a castle. We then ate a wonderful Syrian meal and visited a monastery in the Aramaic-speaking village of Maalouia. From there we drove to Damascus, the oldest city in the world, where we stayed three nights in a monastery guest house. During our first day in Damascus, we got to tour and then experience the Hamam (bathhouse). That was quite the experience…but surprisingly enjoyable :). I loved walking the quiet streets of Damascus (included Strait Street!) and visiting all the shops. Sunday we got to experience Palm Sunday! The nearby church was too crowded to actually go inside, but I got to observe the parade of adorable children dressed up in fancy white outfits and a marching band going through the street celebrating. Monday we made a visit to a US Console and then headed to Jordan which is where I am now. I swam in the Dead Sea today! Well, in actuality I floated. It was great fun. I also exfoliated myself with Dead-Sea mud :). Between that the bathhouse in Damascus, my skin is becoming very soft! Traveling has been great so far, and as I predicted the time is travelling fast! We leave Jordan tomorrow and head to Jerusalem where we will begin to dive into depth on the Arab-Israeli conflict. The next two weeks will be intense and challenging in ways, but I am too filled with excitement to be anxious. I expect the next two weeks to be some the most life-changing weeks of my life thus far. I will let you know…