Our Stories

I intended to start a potato soup in the crock pot this morning or by 12:00 at the latest and we'd all sit down for soup and a salad together before Harry left for Scouts at 5:45.

Instead I :

• ran a PTO meeting on this year's Jogathon (9-11 ish)

• chatted with a friend about well, stuff (11:30-12ish)
• had lunch with another friend and our respective sophomore boys (1-2)
• dropped said boy off at a friend's house (can't wait until he can drive)
• ran into Target (who knows, time loses all meaning inside of a Target)
• picked up three kids, two of whom were actually mine (2:40)
• dropped kid that wasn't mine off, waited at the school to pick my other one up (2:40-3:15)
• realized that potato soup wasn't in the cards, wished we could just eat out this evening (3:17)
• realized that if we ate out every time I wished we did we'd have no money to live on (3:18)
• wished we could just eat out this evening anyway and started thinking of jobs I could get so we can (3:19)
• wondered when in the world my CA Certification would get to me so we can start eating out all of the time (3:19:50)
• attempted to call the Helpline (3:20)
• didn't get any actual help (3:20-3:30)
• got home (I used the bluetooth in my car and yes, I have the number memorized, so don't freak out anyone) (3:31)
• negotiated the after-school rush for snacks, supervised the backpack, shoe, lunchbox, jacket, and clothes shedding that always takes place when we get home (3:31-4:00)
• realized Harry has Scouts at 6:00 and since the soup didn't magically make itself, I'd really need to do something about dinner but didn't want to and sat on the couch typing out the PTO meeting notes to send to the missing committee members (note to self: the same people that volunteer for PTO also volunteer to chaperone the 2nd-grade field trip. Do not schedule them against each other.) (4:00-4:40)
• gasped at the time and decided to make spaghetti. In five minutes once I sent the one last (haha) GS email. (4:40-4:55)
• got a text from Harry asking to be picked up (from across town) at 5:00 instead of 5:30 like we'd arranged. (4:56)
• stared glumly at the stove where the pot of not-boiling water was sitting not making dinner (4:57)
• got Harry (5:10)
• got back home, turned the stove on to boil water and make a quick tomato sauce (5:20-5:30)
• realized that Harry had to be at Scouts in 30 minutes, yelled at him to please get dressed, grab his book, and wrap the white-elephant gift all while getting the spaghetti sauce going and the water boiling (5:30-5:42)
• ran upstairs to let Jason know the status of the noodles and sauce and that he'd have to take them off the stove in about 5-6 minutes and maybe even feed the other kids (5:42-5:45)
• watched Harry grab a Pop-Tart and a Clif Bar because he's a teenage boy and can do that kind of thing while silently screaming inside that I used to be better at this but then there were four kids and they all started in different activities and what do you people want from me anyway?! (5:45-5:46)
• drove Harry to Scouts, dropped him off, and drove home (5:46-6:10)
• got inside to see Emma shoving the last of her noodles and sauce into her mouth and no one else in sight because apparently dinner happened while I was driving
• thought about crying but decided that dinner happening in the minutes while I was driving wasn't too horrible and I'd save my tears for another day. (current)

If I were still the mom that I was when I first started this blog, I'd be ashamed of myself. Thankfully as the kids have grown up, so have I. It's not perfect but people got fed, they got where they needed to be, they did their chores, and they felt loved. It's all good--both the plan and the reality.

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Our time in Jordan was at an end. We were leaving the resort that in almost any other place we couldn't afford and heading to one of the brokest countries in Europe, Greece.

We were ready and waiting downstairs for the bus to take us to the airport in plenty of time. Well, right on time if you are from the US but with about 20 minutes to spare if you are Jordanian. Which was fine. We got to hang out and drink a soda from the refrigerator and get some breakfast so it worked out.

One thing you should know about me is that I always get picked for secondary screenings when we travel. I intentionally wear slip-on shoes with no metal, I layer my shirts, and wear leggings so I have no pockets or zippers. Yet every single time the metal detector buzzes and I have to either be patted down or wanded. Jason who usually has change in his pockets and jeans on never does.

It took me five tries to get through screening at the Aqaba airport. Five tries. Jason went through before me with no problem and stood on the other side laughing at me. Or at least he would have if it's a bad idea to laugh at security protocols in airports. In any case, he smiled a lot in my general direction. Luckily we had time before our flight to Amman.

The airport in Amman is like any big city airport. We had to get our luggage to recheck it to Athens, Greece and then find the international departures wing. That took a while.

They rescreened both of us as well, Jason going first. Me getting beeped twice and then having them search my carry-bag because it kept beeping. I couldn't figure out why--I'd taken out my kindle and phone so there wasn't anything else in the bag of concern.

Except for the six cans of soda.

The sodas made it through the screening in Aqaba but they took them all away in Amman. I was so sad. And a little dehydrated after that. But at least I made it through screening.

On the way to the gate we bought Cadbury bars and water. The Cadbury bars were very tasty and didn't last as long as the water did.

We had about 3 hours before the flight so I took advantage of some free wifi and charging stations to check facebook and get everything at 100%  before landing in Greece. It's something I learned to do--use wifi when you can because who knows if the next place is going to have a decent signal. I didn't just check facebook either. I messaged Harry on Instagram to see how he was doing and checked my email for anything vital. And to see what the book deal of the day was. Hey, we were going to sit on a beach, I needed reading material.

But first, Athens.

The next morning we got up early-ish with the intention of going right out and getting a jump on all the other tourists. Our hotel though had a different idea. We needed a few things--breakfast, to check-out since we weren't sure we would be back in time, and a packed lunch. Breakfast was fairly easy except for the Chinese tourists that kept cutting into the omlet line in front of me. That was really annoying. Checking out was easy and they stored our stuff. It was lunch that took forever or so it felt. They had two lunches you could buy--the large and small. The large lunch had a sandwich, three pieces of fruit, chips, a dessert, and I think something else. The small one had only two pieces of fruit and a half a sandwich. So still plenty of food. We ordered two small meals thinking that we probably could get away with only one meal but that way we had food for later.

They gave us two large meals. We had fruit for days, especially since our room came complete with a complimentary fruit basket. I ended up taking some back to Aqaba after we checked out.

Anyway, back to Petra. We ended up getting into the gates a little later than we had planned but still before most of the tourists. And many of the carriage and donkey guys weren't up either, so it was all a lot calmer than the day before. We headed back through the Siq, passed the hike to the High Place of Sacrifice and into Petra itself, which opened up to us and was beautiful.

I  like the desert--camping there is easier than camping in a rainy place, but I don't love the desert. Some of the vistas made me almost love the desert. Unfortunately I didn't take a lot of pictures that morning. Jason took them all but they are on his computer so I don't have access right now since I want to get this published. So you'll just have to take my word for it.


The guide book said that there are 800 steps up to the Monastery. And there are. But they aren't like 800 steps leading up to the Lincoln Memorial. They are mostly worn away by the thousands of feet of people like us. Unless they are tall and I had to almost double myself to get over them. But there are views to see and birds to watch along the way. Not that it isn't difficult, it is. Very worth it. Also along the way are people selling souvenirs. It's very easy to buy souvenirs in this area. Women were opening their tea houses which is a fancy way of saying a tent with a tea pot. The further along we got the more tea houses there were. Across from the Monastery there was a cafe with wifi. I'm wishing now that I had taken more pictures of those.

We made it up the 800 steps, turned a corner and found the Monastery. It's so tall I couldn't get it into one frame. This one is missing the basket-shape on the very top. 


That's Jason in front of the door. The rubble and sand come about half way up the door way. If we were to go in, we would have fallen at least 6 feet.


There was more walking to do to get to the tippy top.


Another view of the Monastery.


More goats. They were hilarious. 


This is a tomb on the way down. If you look really closely and enlarge it, you can see Medusa.


The columns were really round wheels stacked on top of each other and plastered over. The have holes on the top and a tab on the bottom to make sure they would stack correctly and stay up. That was fascinating to me.


An example of how they were stacked and a finial on top. Fancy


There is a Byzantine Church on the site, obviously built much later than most of Petra. They are still doing research on it and the area is currently a dig site. That's what the tent is for.


The church is protected by the sail thing. It was also nice to get into some shade for a while. It may have been 20 degrees cooler than Aqaba but 20 degrees from 107 is still hot.


There were some beautifully preserved mosaics on the floor. Again the EU helped pay for the restoration. 


The well not just for the church but for the Byzantine town around it.


Very pretty.


We ended up back at the hotel by about 1:00 and our cab was scheduled to come about 3:00. We asked if we could have our room back and they were good with that, so we got our luggage and went back for the middle of the day.

The cab was able to take us the entire way to the same hotel/resort in Aqaba we started at, where we got the same room. On the way the driver extolled the virtues of camel's milk, being single, and his car. He was kind but it was a long 90 minutes. We didn't stop at any shops this time, but we did stop at the highest point of the trip so we could get out and feel the wind. It was really windy and cold. Surprisingly cold.

But we made it back to the hotel where we did not eat at the buffet but instead finished off our large lunches. Oh, and! I almost forgot this. When we were in the hotel before I found a complimentary bottle of water, which was nice. I thought it a little strange that a room so large would only have one bottle, but didn't think too much of it. This time I read the little card next to the water that said there were more complimentary drinks in the refrigerator! I was so excited and felt a little dumb that I didn't see it before. I drank both bottles and grabbed the sodas (there were probably 5 or 6) to have the next few days. No big deal, it was awesome. Nothing could possibly go wrong there.

We asked for a wake-up call and a ride to the airport early the next morning and went to bed. (We're so exciting in the evenings. But really, the chance to be quiet and read a book without any other worries is great.)

As I've mentioned we went to Egypt and Israel about sixteen years ago. Luckily Jason's brother was living there and we were able to stay with him for some of the trip and use his inside knowledge for all of it. We also traveled around as much as we could, going to Luxor, Alexandria, the Dead Sea, and Masada, among other places. One place we weren't able to go that Jason really wanted to see was Petra.

And that brings us to today. As you may know, Jason travels quite a bit for work, going to conferences in places like Germany, Australia, and Hong Kong. (He also goes to Rancho Santa Fe, which is beautiful I'm sure, but not as exciting as the other places.) When the conference in Tel Aviv came up, he volunteered for it and we organized it so that we could see Petra together.

Petra is an ancient Nabatean city in the mountains of what is now Jordan. It was inhabited by traders who build dams and cisterns to hold water and ceramic pipes to get the water into their town. The Nabateans were incredible engineers and built not only the water system in the middle of the desert but they carved temples and tombs out of  the rock faces.

It's really cool. And remember how panicked I was about the heat? It's in the mountains so it's actually about 20 degrees cooler than Aqaba. Thank goodness.

So the next morning our cab driver picked us up at the hotel and we started on our 90 minute drive out to Wadi Musa, the town that encompasses Petra. He was nice and we chatted for some of the drive and rested for some. (Hey, traveling is exhausting!) There are a couple of things about traveling in the Middle East that everyone should know. You will pay baksheesh, basically money to get things going, not really a bribe but kind of one at the same time. And everyone has a plan to get money from you, which is kind of related to baksheesh. In Egypt all of the cab drivers know someone with a rug or alabaster shop and will take you there. Or at least ask you if you want to go. You have to protest mightily if you don't want to go and they will think you are either cheap or insane In Jordan there are tourist shops that sell rugs, plates, and lots of other touristy stuff. Of course our cab driver stopped. And of course I bought a plate. (That I saw later for half the price I paid. Such is life.)

We bought a plate, the driver had a smoke and we continued on. It was a nice drive through the desert--nothing real remarkable but I think when people picture the middle east it's all camels and Bedouins. We were on a modern highway with modern cars and trucks around us. There were also watermelons sellers along the road. We did not partake. Watermelons are made mostly of water and a good rule of thumb is to not drink the water there.

As we got closer to Wadi Musa, the cab driver got on the phone and started talking rapidly, ending the call in a very annoyed tone. He turned to us and said that when we got to Wadi Musa we would need to switch cabs to a local driver. Apparently there were some men stoning cars from other places because they were angry about a man from their own town embezzling money from a group of people there. So occasionally they decided to stone out-of-area cars. It was a little odd but what are you going to do?

We switched cabs for the last few miles and made arrangements for that cab to meet us the next day and drive us back to Aqaba. Then we got settled into our room for the night. It was very purple.


Our hotel is right at the entrance to Petra. This is the plaza, parking  lot, and entrance all right here. I think we got to the hotel around 2:00 or maybe 3:00 so we decided to go ahead and get our tickets and go in that afternoon.


 USAID helped build the Petra Visitor Center and Museum. We wandered the Museum for a bit after getting the tickets. Jordan really wants people to visit and spend the night in the country. A lot of people do day trips from Israel and don't spend any real time in Jordan, which is a shame to me. Jordan is beautiful and cheaper! But the tourist council decided to make the tickets to Petra about half the normal price if you can prove that you've spent at least one night in Jordan. It worked for us and we had a really nice time there.


 In case you want to translate anything in Petra. I thought it was cool but haven't quite learned Nabatean or Arabic yet.


Goats on the hills. They were everywhere for the last part of our trip.


We went through the gates and started walking down the path to the Siq and the Treasury. There were still so many people around. This is the first tomb we came to, carved into the rock and just a taste of what's coming.

Along the route is a path for people walking and another for people riding donkeys or in carriages. All along the path the drivers ask, "donkey ride?" "carriage ride?" and you have to tell each one, no. Or yes, if you want a ride. We didn't, so we stuck with no. As you get further in there are kids selling postcards, bracelets, water, anything you can think of.


Jason and another tomb just a few feet later.


Jason looking up at the hills surrounding the Siq. The Siq is the path leading to the rest of the tombs and the city. It is built in a slot canyon and was used to protect the city and to give the merchants time to prepare for the city itself. Some of the first buildings were sacred and they didn't want just anyone walking in easily.


 This is one of the dams used for holding the water--kind of a cistern and dam all at once. There are many of these all along the path and in the Siq itself.

 


The Siq is fairly narrow but widens in some parts. But you keep walking with walls so high you have no chance to see and at a great disadvantage if anyone wanted to attack. It gets real narrow, turns a corner, and:


The Treasury. (You might be singing the Indiana Jones theme right now. Go ahead. I understand.)


You can't go  in it or  climb the steps. But it's impressive and almost impossible to get a good picture.

There were also a lot of people there. It widens into something of a plaza and across from the Treasury is a tea house (there were lots of them) and a souvenir stand. Which I would imagine is very handy. People (kids) are there asking if you want a camel ride and feeding the camels the sodas they had just bought at the tea house.

We went a little further to see what we could see that afternoon before things closed and ended up hiking to the High Place of Sacrifice. It's not a long hike, but as it sounds, it's a High Place.


 This is another tomb. There are no names or anything, but it's interesting because you can see how high the sand has drifted. It's at least halfway up the door of this tomb. It's like that all over and this is after restoration. The Swiss and European Union have both donated lots of money to restore the area.  To me, it was money well spent.


Jason on the trail to the High Place of Sacrifice.


At the top of the High Place of Sacrifice. Somewhere there's a picture of me sitting on the edge. I want to find it so I can prove that I actually did something so brave.



Random shot of the hike. I like how the rocks are kind of swirly.



This is the actual sacrificial rock. See the channel for the blood to run out?



Flowers.

Looking down into Petra. These are all royal tombs.


Wall of rocks.


More flowers back at the hotel.


It was getting later and the park was going to close so we headed back to the hotel. The walk seemed a lot longer after the hike to the High Place. We got back, had some decent but not exceptional mint lemonade and just went to bed. We were planning to get up early the next morning to beat the heat of the day and hopefully a lot of the tourists on our longer trek to the Monastery the next morning. 

The next morning we packed up and flew out of Israel into Jordan, sort of.

You can't actually fly straight into Jordan from Israel so we flew into the Red Sea city of Eilat, Israel, caught a taxi and took the taxi to the border. At the border we got out, walked through Israeli passport control, the place where you pay the exit fee, and the gates. Then we walked across hundred yards of no-man's land into Jordan. We went through their passport control and tried to find a bank machine. You see, Israel and Jordan border each other but have no diplomatic relationship.

So we realized that we had no Jordanian Dinars to actually pay the taxi from the Jordanian border into Aqaba but there had to be a place to get money because there just had to be. I saw a sign that said 'Information,' went in and asked where to get money. Turns out that the Information place was really a police station. They laughed at me. And then they said I could hang out with them while Jason ran over to the bank machine for money.

The first thing they asked is "what is up with Trump?" We had a little discussion about him and why so many Americans are taken by his words. Then came the trickier question once they found I'm from California--do I know what the song Hotel California is all about. It's a trickier question since I can't stand that song. There are few songs that just make me cringe and that's one of them. Luckily Jason came back with the money and we were able to leave without me having to explain why I can't stand Hotel California.

Now, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem were warm, bordering on hot. I had to wear sunscreen, a hat, and make sure I was drinking water, but I was okay. Aqaba was HOT. I could feel my skin burning under the sunscreen. I couldn't stand to be outside for more than about three minutes because I was sure I was getting burned. And I really was--the one-hundred yards between Israel and Jordan that I had to walk across? I got a small sunburn. It was starting to freak me out.

We caught a cab--not hard since they are waiting just outside the border area that took us into Aqaba proper. Aqaba reminded me of Las Vegas--not that there were strip clubs and casinos but because it's a city in the middle of the desert that seems to be growing by leaps and bounds. It was interesting to drive through. Eilat, in the Israeli side is huge compared to Aqaba--it's more accessible and people have been visiting there for many years. Aqaba just started to build out and become a resort area when ISIS became a thing and people got scared away from going to a more Middle Eastern country like Jordan. Very unfortunately since Jordan is amazing and very safe. I felt safer in Jordan than I did in Israel.

We pulled up to the hotel, which was actually a resort--people come and spend the summer or at least a couple of weeks. There are several pools and most of the rooms have kichens in them. A lot of the families we saw had huge amounts of luggage which made our couple of bags look hilarious. They have porters and concierges--it's not a place we could have afforded if we hadn't been in Jordan. As it was I felt a little like I was faking my way through. (It actually reminded me of when Jason and I were in Egypt before kids and we had to get back to Cairo from Luxor to catch our plane home. The trains had been commandeered for the king of Sudan and there was only one more going north. We ended up paying for a ticket and then baksheesh to the conductor for letting us use his cabin. They called us the Clintons the whole trip since we were obviously rich. We so weren't--things were just incredibly cheap in Egypt.)

Anyway. We went to find food in Aqaba and ended up wandering through the whole city, hoping our sunscreen was really doing it's job. It was the first time I had really felt like eating since our trip started so fortunately we found an amazing place. I have no pictures, but I had half a chicken, grilled (and I think I ate the whole thing), more hummus, and the best mint lemonade on the entire trip.

Eventually the sun started to go down and we went to the beach to hang out (still under umbrellas of course).

This was our view:

Eilat is directly below where the sun is setting.

  Eventually we got hungry again and tried the buffet. They seriously had every type of food I've even heard of. They had American barbeque, Chinese food, and an amazing amount of breads. I wish I had better pictures of the buffet. This was my plate.


Some of the deserts. There were four more tables to the right of this. I think there were five different types of baklava. I tried them all, in the interest of science of course. Pistachio was my favorite. 



My dessert plate. (The first one.)


The view from the elevators. Not my view at all, but that's the Red Sea. Isn't that so cool?!


The next morning we got up, had some breakfast and went for a quick swim in the Red Sea. I know! The Red Sea. There weren't a lot of fish--it's not real clean in the area but we saw some urchins and pipe fish. We spent about an hour out there and it was nice to be in the water. Even at 8am, it was hot.

 We then showered and left for Petra. I was so worried about going--if it was so hot in Aqaba by the coast, how was I going to survive the desert where there is no water or shade?

I'll tell you in the next post...Coming later today. (I hope.)

While I was wandering around Tel Aviv, eating gelato, and seeing great art, Jason was in his conference. It was a very good conference, but he hadn't seen anything yet. So the next day he decided to leave after lunch and we'd go see Tel Aviv and maybe Jerusalem.

And since I hadn't seen anything of Rehovot, I walked him over to his conference and then wandered around the University area. It was mostly houses and not all of them boxes but I came across this and couldn't figure out what it was. There is a plaza inside and you can go inside, it's open air. When I was peeked inside there was what looked like a class. But no signage in English at all.



Just this topiary:


This is the outside wall


I've spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out what it is/was and am getting no answers. It's irritating. I want answers google, answers!


Looking back over the bridge at our hotel--it's the tower.

So Jason finished at noonish and we took the train back into Tel Aviv. This time I took the bus into Jaffa.

And found some friendly snails I missed the first time.


We stopped for lunch and had the first of many delicious mint lemonades. Seriously the best stuff on earth. (Although they made it better in Jordan than Tel Aviv.)


Our lunch view



Our actual lunch. Hummus with purple onion and lox on top. Delicious but too much hummus (can you see the other bowls? We kind of went overboard.).


The special of the day--little breaded fish. Heads and all. Amazingly good--everything was at this restaurant. Hard to eat though. 


We took a bus back to the bus station which is also a mall with no signs. It took us about fifteen minutes to even find the buses.

Then we rode into Jerusalem. I had mixed feelings about Jerusalem. We'd actually been there before, sixteen years ago and I didn't love it. It felt crowded and not real nice to me. But we were there and wanted to see it again. My feelings didn't change--I feel like the years and years of hatred have infected the city.

But the fun stuff. This is the hostel we stayed in sixteen years ago. Right off of the main street and has beautiful views from the roof.



Apparently they don't allow people on the roof anymore but we asked nicely (and paid handsomely) so the man let us. It didn't disappoint. I really wanted to go see the Dome of the Rock but we weren't able to.



One of the walls surrounding the city. People were allowed to walk on them the last time we were there, but we couldn't this time.



Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This is supposed to be the place Jesus Christ was crucified and buried. There was a long line to see the shrine, which I waited in of course.






 They have a festival of lights and music where they project lights onto the walls outside the city. It was pretty cool. It was nice to see people out and having fun--we hadn't been out at night since we got there because of jet lag. There were different themes on different walls. The kids were so funny to watch. And we saw a couple almost fall into traffic trying to take a selfie.




But it was time for us to go--the bus ride back into Rehovot was about an hour and it was getting late. Again we had to search for the bus part of the station but once we got on things seemed fine. Unfortunately the bus didn't stop at a station like we thought it did. Instead there were stops along the way and we didn't realize that we'd passed the last one in Rehovot. We had asked a lady but she didn't know so a man said that it was behind us. The bus driver was going to continue to the next stop which was who knows where until the lady yelled at him enough that he decided to just stop on the side of the road on the bridge you saw in the picture of the hotel and let us off. Thankfully. It was an adventure.