Looking back and moving forward

The journey home has begun. It’s still completely incomprehensible that after six days in Sri Lanka we will be home. In total we spent a month in Iran, a week in Kurdistan, a week in London, a month in Egypt and around nine months in Jordan.

So as Brad attempted to write a Master’s assignment on boat people (clearly it will be some of his best stuff… I’m sensing dejavu here) while we waited in Qatar airport, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on our time in Jordan…

Highlights
1. Meeting awesome people who taught us about the culture, society, religion, food and history of Jordan and the Middle East. There’s too many people to mention here but they know who they are
2. Sharing our way of thinking and passion for adventures with our friends through hiking, new foods, new exercises, and ‘Western’ perspectives on life
3. Doing random stuff generally like Christmas carols, hiking through a crazy overgrown canyon without a guide, running 242km in a team relay race, doing the marathon/half marathon, eating a kilo of kanafeh, making stupid home videos when we were bored, learning Arabic dancing, etc.
4. Being unemployed. So you don’t have money coming in, but you have plenty of time to drink sweet Jordanian tea with friends. Somehow we always seemed to be very busy.
5. Learning Arabic. That’s what we set out to do and while we’re not fluent yet, we’ve come a very long way. And somehow we’ve got a better window into Arab society. Something everyone should do if they have the chance
6. Being part of a close knit Christian community, where everyone knows each other and are always happy to take new foreigners in
7. Eating amazing seasonal produce like fresh figs, dates, chickpeas, almonds, watermelons, foul… mmm

Then there’s the things we won’t miss so much like:
1. Being harassed by young boys and teenagers everytime we went outside the house
2. Having to drink copious amounts of sweet tea, coffee and pepsi, and eat large amounts of food laced with oil and salt when visiting friends (although sometimes this was seriously awesome)
3. Not being able to wear whatever I want, even when the temperature was 40 degrees
4. Catching terribly unreliable buses that were often slow and filled with chain smoking men (even though smoking was forbidden)
5. Having to stay inside all day when it rains because the streets flooded, plus there was nothing to do anyway
6. Uninsulated stone houses that become completely freezing in winter, forcing you to sit in from of the gas heater all day until you feel your eyes dry out from the lack of oxygen in the air
7. Hearing “welcome to Jordan” for the seventh million time

Despite these trivial annoyances, we’ve had such an amazing time. We came with no plans or expectations, and now we leave with new ideas, perspectives and friends. I think I’ll always remember this year as the one when we quit our jobs, sold our stuff and headed to the Middle East, where we had no idea where we’d go or what we’d do.

Now let the adventures continue when we get back to Australia…

School’s out!

The level 2 Madaba class

It was the last day of school today for our level 2 class. Very happy indeed. Now the challenge is to not forget everything we’ve learnt…

Eating mansef the Bedouin way

A study about marathon training in Madaba

The study:

In an eight-week period of my marathon training I ran 14.5 hours outside, on the streets of Madaba and its surrounding villages. This is my record of how I was treated.

The data:

Rocks thrown: 9 (one direct hit)

F… your sister: 2

F… your mother: 2

F… you: 8

You’re a dog: 3 

The analysis:

This equates to 1 rock every 96mins or some kind of insult every 58mins, or either a rock or insult every 36mins. I did not record the much more significant amount of insults I received in Arabic/Arabish (eg. f… you in Arabic) or other unwanted behaviours (eg. same gender sexual advances). 

By no means did all people I run past act like this or does it represent every single person in Madaba. Moreover, I accept that by having long, curly, girl-like, hair that bounces a lot while I run, and wearing shoes with yellow laces, and usually wearing shorts, I am somewhat ‘odd’ in these parts. But does this mean that I deserve this?

I find it disappointing that someone performing such a basic human function – trying to stay alive – staying healthy – exercising – running – is seen as so foreign and ‘alien’ that its acceptable to treat people this way. Someone tried to tell me that people throw rocks at you because they like you. Maybe. I think its because they are bored from a underlying general lack of fulfilment and purpose in life. 

I also think its disappointing how easily people will like you when you act just like them or do exactly what they want. The moment you don’t, their tolerance can be… limited at most.

The conclusion:

If anyone is thinking about marathon training in Madaba I would recommend staying outside urban areas. That way you only have the wild dogs to contend with…

Tomorrow, we run

The last day on Brad's training plan - race day

For months we’ve been waiting for this day to come, now we can’t wait for it to be over. Brad will be doing his first marathon and I’ll be doing my first half marathon. Maybe it will be the start of our long-distance running careers, but most likely it will be the end. We’re cheering because by tomorrow afternoon, we’ll have completed one more of our new years resolutions. Let the fun begin.

Once in a lifetime is enough

So the 242km Dead2Red race from the Dead Sea to the Red Sea was total epic-ness. It sounds easy enough to run around 25km over an 18 hour period BUT… the hard part was getting no sleep, having 15 seconds to warm up before each run and then getting straight into a car after you run without cooling down properly. And pretty much running at your max pace each time you run. Towards the end of the race, getting out of the car each time to run was something to dread.

But as sore and tired as we were, when we saw a team behind us in the distance with only 10km until the finish line we somehow had it in us to start sprinting. Each person was doing 100m sprints and we ‘leapfrogged’ like this all the way to the end. We were running red traffic lights and driving like maniacs, but we couldn’t dare let that team pass us after we’d be in front for eight hours.

Despite our mis-mash of runners, we came 11th out of 32 teams with a time of 18hrs and 25mins. The team who came tenth finished a whole hour before us, while the team who can 12th finished only seven mins after us. I’d describe it as an experience to be done once in a lifetime, not something to be repeated regularly.

So now that that’s done it’s on to the next challenge… Brad to run a marathon and me to run a half-marathon!

Upside down, upside down

Brad's maklooba

Came home from the gym one night to a glorious maklooba feast… Maklooba is a traditional Jordanian dish made from meat, veggies and rice, cooked in a pot then turned upside down (‘maklooba’ translates to upside down in Arabic). The only non-traditional element was the lack of oil, fat and salt used.

In our Arabic class one time we learnt the word for ‘frying’ (which really means deep frying). Brad asked if the same word is used for ‘normal – a little oil in a pan – frying’. She said “no, this is not ‘frying’, why are you on a diet?”. Ummmm no, just because we don’t want our dinner deep fried does not mean that we’re on a diet.