I’m sorry I didn’t publish any news for a long time, but I was somehow really busy with my first tasks for my courses. But about that more another time… For now let me tell you about the last weekend, when we drove to the north!
So I told you about Hashem, he lives in Kufrassad which is close to Irbid in the North of Jordan and he invited me to visit him one day. An offer you should never make to a curious person like me if you don’t mean it. So when we knew that there was a long weekend to come (because our Arabic course was cancelled), we (as in Nora, Henna and Lisa) asked if we could really come and visit. He agreed right away and recommended to ask Ghassan to help us find a car rental which is cheap. So that’s what we did and we were set to go Thursday at 1pm. We met Ghassan at his office, where we were (of course) offered tea and also got a falafel sandwich as a snack before leaving and then went to “luxury for car rental”. To get our brand new car (I forgot the brand even, never ask me about cars…)
And then we were ready to go… most of my friends and family know that I am pretty good at navigating so Henna drove at first. Rush hour out of Amman. (No pictures because we were too concentrated) and we even had to fill the tank… But as soon as the houses around us became fewer and the scenery around us greener we started to relax and were super happy to get out of Amman. =) On the way we made a stop in Jerash and walked around the Sights which you can see pretty well from outside. We decided to stay outside because we all knew we would come back with our visitors from abroad. And soon we were back on the road looking for the way to Kufrassad. It was really funny we called Hashem and he tried to figure out where we were and he described a million times how we should drive (even if we had navigation and there were signs) just to make sure we were ok. When we finally reached it was dark and we were “picked up” by his brother who drives a “gas car” (trucks that make a funny sound so you know they are around and you can buy your gas from them). So when we reached we (of course) were served tea and were asked what we wanted to eat right away. We told them to decide and Ayat (Hashem’s wife) made a traditional dish for us. We had to go and buy Salad, which ended up in a tour through the whole area (in the dark): a visit to one brother, a sister, the olive plantation, the border to Israel and so on. Unfortunately we were late for dinner, but it was still warm and really tasty: rice with eggplant, potatoes, carrots and chicken on top (which I didn’t eat).
So the next morning we slept pretty long and had a lazy breakfast, with a special dish: tomatoes and onions fried. OMG sooooo good. And then we were good to go. Hashem wanted to show us around so we drove with the car to Umm Qais, where they are having excavations. Which we didn’t visit because we were told that they were boring and anyways we wanted to see the area. So we drove on through a lot of check points passing by the upper and the lower “hamman” (natural hot springs which are really healthy) and ended up right next to the border to Israel, which is a pretty deep valley formed by the Yarmouk River. We continued along the border and then went up to a mountain from where we could see the Sea of Galilee. Unfortunately the sight was not so good because it was a little dusty, so we continued and ended up close to the Wadi Arab Dam from were we started our hike straight up towards the mountain peak. We didn’t go all the way because it was already late and we wanted to see the sunset from a certain point. Down again we ran into the son of Hashem’s cousin who is working as shepherd and were (of course 😉 ) invited for a tea, so we sat in his tent drinking it while watching the sun go down. I met two donkeys outside who were super sweet but unfortunately too shy to be cuddle. After finishing our tea we moved on to our sunset point and made a short stop there to take a picture. Soon we continued home to get ready because we had an invitation to Irbid meeting one of Hashem’s friends at a restaurant called Al Haram (yes I was a bit confused as well, but written in Arabic they are using another “A” so it’s fine), we had really nice western food and a good time! I was practising my Arabic trying to write our names which caused a lot of laughter when i was using the wrong letters. Full and happy we returned back home and went to bed pretty quickly (I think our lungs were having something like a “fresh air shock”).
After another long breakfast – with fresh orange and grapefruit juice – we left to see Hashem’s plantation during daylight. Many old olive trees and an awesome spot for a new house he is planning to build overlooking a valley until the border to Israel. We continued to the press where his oil is produced to see how the press the stuff left over after extracting the oil into bricks which can be used for heating. Unfortunately the material was still to wet so they hadn’t started yet. We once more drove back to Hashem’s place to say goodbye to his wife and their children… Guess what (of course) we were invited for a cup of tea. This time with oregano. Tasted really interesting. And then it was my turn to drive. Even if I usually prefer a manual car I was quite happy I could just focus on the traffic. Equipped with lemon water and falafel sandwiches we left Kufrassad. On the way we decided to pay As-Salt a visit. It’s a very nice city, but by the catcalling and staring obviously not as used to tourists as Amman. Many old houses and a street which took me back to the Medina of Fes, a very small street stuffed with shops for everything. We had our sandwiches and some sweets at a square in front of the mosque. I loved it to sit there, relax and watch the everyday life of the people. After strolling around and buying vegetables we headed back to Amman. OMG a huge challenge for me – it was rush hour again – , but we got back to the car safe and sound. They offered tea but we were too tired to accept it and ordered and uber, to get back home and sleep.
The weekend was exactly what I needed – leaving the city, into the green with fresh air. I could have stayed there…
eyerish is travelling 