Waiting in the Istanbul Airport

My flight from Istanbul to Chicago has been delayed 1.5 hours. I am hopeful that I will still be able to get my connecting flight in Chicago.

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays to all of you!

This picture was taken in front of the Hariri Mosque in downtown Beirut.

I had been meaning to get over there to take a picture of the large Christmas tree in front of the mosque but the rain delayed me. Thankfully, my assistant principal, Robert Easton shared his photo!

First Day of My Trip to Jordan

Madaba, Mount Nebo, Bethany - Beyond the Jordan, and The Dead Sea

Our first day in Jordan was jam packed! We started the morning early with sight seeing in Madaba. Madaba, known as "The City of Mosaics" has a 6th century map of Jerusalem. The mosaic map is an index map of the region of the of Jerusalem in the floor of a Greek Orthodox church. It was made out of more than 2 million pieces of colored stone. This mosaic contains the earliest representation of Byzantine Jerusalem. This map has been very helpful for scholars trying to learn more about the characteristics of, "The Holy Land."

After Madaba we ventured up to Mount Nebo. "Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in Moab, as the Lord had said. He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day on one knows where his grave is. Deuteronomy 34: 1- 6

After the visit to Mount Nebo we headed over to another biblical site,

Bethany - Beyond the Jordan is one of the

newest/most significant

sites to be uncovered. A few years ago the pope and other religious officials declared this as the

official site where Jesus was baptized by John the

Baptist. Israel still claims

their side of the Jordan as

the site of the

baptism. Which if you look at the pictures below you can see why they claim it - the river is roughly 10 feet wide. Whose to say

which side of the river

Jesus was on. There are many passages in the bible that quote Bethany - Beyond the

Jordan (too many to write here).

Visiting the Jordan River was very

interesting. It is an occupied

military zone so you need to stay in groups and at one point you are looking across at Israel (see

photo).

Our final

sightseeing adventure was a dip in The Dead Sea. The three of us were not that excited about jumping in but figured we had better do it since we were in Jordan. We ended up having a great time in The Dead Sea and it ended up being one of the highlights of the trip. It is a really strange feeling to float without effort. Even if you tried you would not be able to dive under. Make sure to look at the photo below of the "swimsuits" you can buy!

After The Dead Sea we drove the Dead Sea Highway all the way to the Southern tip of Jordan and spent the night in Aqaba (on the Red Sea). Yes, that is a picture of me pretending to be like Moses and part the Red Sea.

Wadi Rum Camping Adventure - Jordan

WADI RUM

"One of the world’s outstanding desert landscapes… situated in the friendly and peaceful nation of Jordan … truly breathtaking scenery and a chance to experience desert life and Bedouin culture"

Taken from http://www.wadirum.jo/

Upon arrival to Wadi Rum, I was mesmerized by the overall beauty - my pictures do not do it justice. Imagine a desert - now imagine a beautiful desert rich in colors and land features. Imagine silence - now imagine silence with a backdrop of Bedouins (desert dwellers) riding camels in the distance.

Visiting Wadi Rum was more than just a desert trek... it was a way to experience a different way of life. We signed up for our adventure with Sunset Camp (www.wadirumsunset.com) and were not disappointed. Our adventure started with Bedouin tea in a Bedouin house. Bedouin tea is a sweet, sage tea - very delicious! Then we met with Mohammed, owner of Sunset Camp, to plan our desert trek.

We started with a 2 hour tour of Wadi Rum. While on the tour we saw many sights from the movie, "Lawrence of Arabia." In case you didn't know, Wadi Rum desert is where historical hero, T. E. Lawrence united the Bedouin tribes to fight against the invading Ottomans (I think I got that right).

At sunset we arrived at our Bedouin camp. Watching the sunset over Wadi Rum was amazing. During the evening we hung out in the central tent, where we listened to music around a fire (it was really cold outside!), ate a feast prepared by a Sudanese cook, and went to bed in our traditional Bedouin tents.

The next morning, we woke up early to take in the beautiful sunrise. Then we took off on a 2.5 hour camel trek. If you have never ridden a camel, I highly recommend it. However, they are much taller then they seem and are unbearably uncomfortable. About 2 hours into the camel trek, Adam's camel decided it was sick of lugging him around and sat down - allowing Adam to do a nice tuck and roll in order to get off! Adam decided to walk the rest of the way. Watch the video of me getting off my camel - it is not very easy.

Jordanians

During our travels in Jordan Fabio and I were able to capture some great shots of Jordanians