(May 1-20, 2005)

I plan to start updating this when I start my trip to Jordan. Hopefully, I'll get into the habit quick.
When I am in Jordan, I will only be able to update this once a week. I'll try to have a entry for each day.

April 26, 2005
Alright it is 8:18 a.m. Mountain time and I'm sitting at the SLC airport. I had to get on a shuttle at 4:30 to get here on time. I am extremely tired. I plan to sleep most of the way to Dallas. From there I'll go to Frankfurt and be able to see my parents for a bit. Then it's off to Jordon, and adventure. I'm not sure when I will be able to get on after that, but hopefully it won't be more than a week.

April 27, 2005
I'm at the Amman Airport waiting to be picked up and thankfully there is free WiFi access and I have the opportunity to update this page. I met Mom, Dad, and Brian earlier today at the Frankfurt Airport. I got to switch out a few things and Mom was able to find a pair of hiking boots(I had trouble getting them right before I left.) We ate at this one restaurant and I ended up ordering this weird cheese thing that didn't taste very good. I didn't know which was worst, it or the airplane food.
On the flight to Frankfurt I got to watch Spanglish and My Big Fat Greek Wedding(German Dub) and also a couple of episodes of CSI. There was a movie on the flight to Jordan but I was too tired to watch it. I got to Amman just right before it got dark. I was able to get in the Visa line before there was a big rush, but then I didn't have the 10 dinar to purchase a tourist visa. I had to go to the robber-baron exchange bank hub which gave 13 dinar for 20 dollars. I then had to get in an exorbitantly long line and wait again. Besides that there doesn't seem to have been any problems.
I found Doctor Johnson and will be heading down to Petra, tomorrow!

April 28, 2005
I got to sleep for a good 6-7 hours at a hotel in Amman. We ate breakfast and then started our ride down to Petra. I got some good video footage of the countryside. In some ways the surroundings remind you of Utah or New Mexico but everything seems older. Petra’s rock formations are really unique. It’s a geologist’s paradise besides an archaeologist’s dream. Meals here usually include pita bread (sort of like thick tortilla), and boiled eggs. I went to sleep before supper and missed it, but to tell the truth I didn’t even notice.

April 29, 2005
I woke up at 4:30. Breakfast was at five. We then went on a field trip to Petra. Fridays are the holy day here in Jordan, so we weren’t allowed to excavate anyway. We had to shuttle everybody to the city in a five passenger car, so it took a few trips. (We are staying in a village on the out skirts called Uhm Sihun.) We waited by a tourist shop called “Indiana Jones Gift Shop” or something like that. When we all had arrived we went down to the Siq (the narrow canyon the leads to Petra.) Just think Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. It was quite a long ways, but we eventually got to the tomb façade that is supposed to be in the movie the place where to holy grail is kept. Dr. Johnson led us up this cliff, where we technically weren’t supposed to climb, to get a better picture to the entrance of the city. I got some more good footage. I actually almost used a whole 60 minute tape up on this trip alone. There were a lot of other tombs and structures to fill it up with. There was this Roman amphitheater that was carved right into rock face. It was very similar to other ancient amphitheaters (Ephesus, Trier, etc.) but it was made out of solid rock. I broke in my hiking boots. They are actually pretty good. I only had one blister on my right big toe and I put the foot care stuff Mom gave my on it afterwards. There was lots of sand, and different colors too. Petra has some amazing sandstone with red, yellow, green and even bluish sand. One tomb called “The Painted Tomb” had a least three different colored swirls. I will hopefully have pictures up on the site eventually, so you can see what I’m talking about. After looking at mainstream Petra we walked over to our sites that we will be excavating for the next 6 weeks. After that we got to hike the rest of the way home. We did all of this before we ate lunch at 2:00 p.m. Around six we had church (a short sacrament meeting.) Around seven we ate dinner, and then I went to bed.

April 30, 2005
Today, I didn’t have to wake up until 5:30. It has been pretty cool the last few days. It is not supposed to get too hot until right before we leave. I was slightly late to breakfast (at 6:00), which consisted of pita bread, a boiled egg, and a miniature banana. I think I will get used to the pita bread and then sick of eggs, but they seem to be the main source of protein. There are lots of camels, donkeys, mules, goats, and chickens, you can see from just looking out the window. We live in a three story building in a small village. A rich Bedouin owns the house and him and his family live on the first floor. We are renting the upper two floors. The women live on the second, and the men live on the third floor. Different members of the Bedouin family cook for us, but for the most part it is one of the daughters Fatima. I share a room with two other girls. My bed is in the middle since I was the last to arrive. Today is an easy day. We talked about what we are going to do tomorrow. I started our reading about Nabatean (the people who used to live in Petra) Gods. Besides that I get to go into Wadi Musa, the biggest town near us, to update this page.
 

May 1, 2005
Today, was our first day excavating. We first cleared all the big rocks and plants from the surface. There were a lot of pot sherds that had washed in, which we got to pick up also. We had a miraculous sprinkle towards the end of the day. The hike to the site and back is quite the exercise. It’s up and down sandstone cliffs with tombs lining the way. Normally, we get up at 5:00, eat at 5:30 and start hiking up there at 6:00. We dig until 12:30, and then hike back. Lunch is at 1:30 and then we are free until 4:00 when we started processing artifacts, which we do to about 6:30. At 7:00 we have supper and after that is when I usually go to bed. I’m still jet lagged and can fall asleep pretty fast. It makes it a lot easier to get up in the morning for now at least. Some Bedouin children came to the site and talked to us for a while. I got some footage of them and a herd of goats. The Bedouin lived in tents and stuff until about 20 years ago. When Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade came out, all of a sudden Petra became a tourist attraction. The government forced the Bedul (the tribe we are staying with) who lived in the area of the ruins to move Uhm Sihun the village where I’m staying. So life here halfway across the world was disrupted by a Steven Spielberg Blockbuster. Our influence goes farther than we know. We had Bedouin stile pizza for supper with French fries.

May 2, 2005
Today, we really got into the gritty stuff. We excavated some neat features. Dr. Johnson has decided that our site might be shrine to the Egyptian god Hippocrates (Horus as a child). We’ll see. It would be an unprecedented find if that is so. It was practically freezing this morning. It made the hike today easier, but we were literally shivering on site. I definitely got the dirtiest today by far. I had sand between my toes even though I was wearing two pairs of socks and hiking boots. I signed up for laundry tomorrow, meaning the Bedouin family we are staying with will take my clothes and wash and dry them and then bring them back. I fell like I just got here, but I guess it was only last Tuesday that I got on the plane. So, I’m reaching the week point. There is a lot I hope we get to do in the next few weeks. It will be sad to leave here, even if I am going to Germany after this.

May 3, 2005
Today, we had our first power outage. It will mostly likely be a weekly occurrence. We got our first trench dug today. We found some nice blades and some decent size broken pottery. There is such an abundance of pot sherds that they are starting to loose their value. Hiking back and forth, I literally see thousands. Our site definitely has ritual significance. They used the site to collect water in what is called a cistern. Digging in the dirt turns out to be lots of fun. My blue jeans almost look like khakis at times. Grandma Bush gave me a very nice hat that I where when the sun is out. So far I have avoided any serious sun burns and gastrointestinal problems. I am getting used to the Bedouin food. We had lamb-burgers last night. In the morning I make hot chocolate with cocoa, sugar and hot goat’s milk. I know my mom is wincing now but the cocoa really masks the goat taste, just like tang masks the iodine in our water. The other day we had fried cauliflower that was excellent and I’m not even a fan of cauliflower. I hope they make it again before I leave. Sand is beginning to get everywhere. Especially on the stuff I take out to the site. I can’t wait to get my “clean” laundry back and see what color my whites are. My hat’s starting to get a red tint to it, as are my hiking boots.

May 4, 2005
Today, we started our second trench, and we found some pretty decent lithics (blades, worked rock, etc.). I tried to take a shower this morning, but the water was ice cold. I think I’ll start waiting until the afternoon. Right now we are having a pretty nasty sandstorm. We are hoping it will be done by tomorrow morning when we excavate. It was a pretty winding day even before the sandstorm came in. I seem to have collected a lot more sand thanks to it. Sometimes it looks like I’m getting a tan, but it really is just the sand. For a while we were out of water, but it is back now. It just happened to cut out right as we were washing our pottery, which made things interesting. All the pot sherds and lithics we collect during the day have to be scrubbed with a toothbrush and washed, that way we can see the painted designs, imprints, etc. I added a web page that shows just the site and the path I have to hike each day. It of course won’t be posted until late Friday. I will definitely be in shape when I leave here. The question is whether I’ll be able to keep it up or not, after I’m back.

May 5, 2005
Today, I guess is a very special Cinco de Mayo, since it is 05/05/05. We finished the second trench. Not bad for a week’s work. Today, I picked up a goat. Two white goats got separated from their herd and decided to give us a hard time. One of them finally decided to climb on our site. When my crew mates were unable to budge it by yanking its horns and hitting it with rocks, I got up from digging, picked up the goat off the edge of cistern A and set it by its friend (the other goat.) The others were wincing because I actually touched it. Contact was for a very brief period only, and I’m not worried about it. It was the best way to resolve the situation and it was a very little goat. The sandstorm blew in a lot of dust into the parts of the site that we had already cleared. So, we swept it out this morning before we started. I really am cut off from the world here. I have no idea what is going on in the news. In some ways it’s nice. In others it’s not. Tomorrow is field trip day. We are going to a place called the Treasury. It is actually where our Bedouin family grew up until they were forced to move here. I will bringing my video camera of course, but I only wish I had some more cash for souvenir shopping, which I haven’t done any of yet. I won’t be able to get more until after we get back from the trip. Oh well, I guess 20 dinar will have to for right now.

May 6, 2005
Today, we got to wake up at 6:00 and eat breakfast at 6:30. The jet lag is wearing off, so I was dragging to get out of bed. In a lot of ways I have tried to keep the jet lag going, but nothing lasts forever. I will soon have trouble getting to bed early and getting up at 5:00. That’s just the way I’m naturally wired. We hiked down and then up to the Monastery. It originally was a tomb and the façade is a lot like the Khazneh and is similar in size and shape to the Khazneh. It was then later converted into a monastery. It of course now is a tourist attraction. I’ll try to have some pictures of it by next week. Stuff here is not cheap. One dinar I think equals $1.50. The son of the Bedouin man we live with owns a shop right next to the monastery. He gave everybody in our group a 25 percent discount. He also took credit cards, so I did quite a bit of souvenir shopping after all. I’m glad I got my tax return back last week. The monastery was also near a high cliff that you could look down and see the Wadi Araba (roughly Arabian Valley). You are really high up and the view is breathtaking. It’s kind of like being in the Alps, except there is no vegetation on the mountains (and yeah it’s not quite that high). Dr. Johnson took our passports earlier in the week to the local police station to get extended visas. The tourist one I got initially only lasts two weeks. I now have another page of Arabic in my passport that I can’t read. I really meant to learn some basic Arabic before I came here, but ran out of time. I am picking up some now, but I still don’t know where to begin with their script. Ancient Nabatean script is actually the precursor to Arabic Script. So if we ever find an inscription on site, which is Dr. Johnson’s greatest hope, it should look a little like the modern Arabic.

May 7, 2005
So yeah, last night was kind of depressing. I didn’t get any emails written at all. I maybe got to read half the emails that were sent to me. I did for the most part get the website updated to the point I wanted. There were a few finishing touches that I couldn’t get to. I feel really bad because I didn’t get to tell my mom happy Mother’s day and email my grandparents and there were also a few friends that my original email got kicked back and I was going to resend it but couldn’t. I’m going to try to write emails ahead of time and cut and paste them in next time. Today, we are only working on lab skills and not excavating, so it is sort of an easy day. So far we have sorted through skeletal remains and some pottery. The other site that I will be transferred to in a couple of weeks is a tomb, so there are skeletal remains. They are secondary burials, which means that this is the second time the bones were reburied and they are all mixed up amongst different individuals, so that’s why they need to be sorted. Besides this journal, I also have to keep a field school journal that crew chiefs collect once a week and read through. It has our thoughts on the sites and artifacts we find, things we learn and article summaries.

May 8, 2005
Today, we began excavating our third trench. I’ll definitely try to have pictures up of our progress on Friday. My day to go into Wadi Musa(the town with the internet café)is Friday, usually at night. We the students are divided into three groups of 6(there are 18 of us in all.) Two of the groups are working at the tomb and my group is working at the cistern site. This is the last week I have at the cistern until my group is rotated over to the tomb. We will have our 5 meter by 5 meter trench of the area around the rock face done by then so the other groups will mostly be doing the large cistern to the north of the site that the Nabateans used to collect water in. It was a lot hotter today. Supposedly it was hot yesterday to, but I didn’t go outside. I usually take two bottles of water, but since I usually only drink one I got lazy and only brought one. Needless to say I was a little thirsty on our hike back. Jennie offered me some water though so I didn’t have to suffer too much. When we got back a filled up my bottle and drank it all up again. I have a nice bottle with a filter in order to take out the iodine taste(We use iodine to purify our water. Dr. Johnson uses a whiskey bottle to pour the iodine in the jugs of water, so it always looks like he is spiking our water supply.) I will be taking more water with me for now on, since it will probably just get hotter.

May 9, 2005
Today we started our fourth trench. There will be five in all when we finish. We were quite industrious for the day and got five whole squares done(1x1m). That is our best record so far. I must have started getting bored because I started watching the Celts, a BBC documentary I have on DVD. It dates back to 1987 so I might of weirded out my roommates a little pit. I am really starting to enjoy the camaraderie that is developing amongst my group. The working atmosphere has been great. I know I’m lucky to be with good people. There are various elephant figures in the sandstone that have been recognized all over Petra. Some think they are just a hoax, but the ancient inhabitants of Petra are known for having a massive elephant strike force. When the Petrans were defeated finally, the elephants were slaughtered in front of the people. There is some evidence that that a lot of these sandstone elephants where also slashed, so that the Petrans would lose heart. It was cooler today than yesterday and not nearly as dusty. I got really dirty yesterday. It’s always nice when the weather’s on your side. I usually walk with Jennie and Julie, since they wait for me to do my processual camera shots that I take at the end of the day. I think I finally know the way back home, but it is still nice to walk with others.

May 10, 2005
Today, I woke up with a bit of a stomach ache and a headache, so I got to sleep in while everyone was out at site. The rest seems to have done the trick, because I feel a lot better. I still helped wash the artifacts at 4:00. Everybody told me that they had seen a blue lizard. I learned last Friday that they were quite rare and a sort of symbol of good luck here in Petra. They sell postcards with the blue lizard on them, etc. Julie supposedly got a nice picture, so I will hopefully post it on the site before long. They made the fried cauliflower again. I wasn’t quite as good as the first time, but it was still nice.

May 11, 2005
Well, today our crew chief Julie wasn’t up to par and stayed behind, which meant that Dr. Johnson was in charge of us today. He still had to spend quite a bit of time over at the other site, which gave us a certain atmosphere of independence. There is a cave near our site that we store our equipment during the night. Someone decided to stable their donkey in the cave and the donkey’s braying gave us quite the fright. I don’t think donkey knew we were there until it look up and saw us(already in the cave gathering the equipment) and vice versa. The donkey was with us for the rest of the day. We also had a very persistent dust devil around the strainer(where we screen dirt for artifacts we might of missed in the digging process.) We take turns digging, straining and carrying the guffahs full of dirt back and forth. Tomorrow will be our last day at Julie’s site, which is definitely sad, but I will get some good experience in the tomb.

May 12, 2005
Today was quite the successful day. We finished our 5x5 meter trench and found a partial inscription. It was on a cap stone to the canal. Since Dr. Johnson greatest hope is to find an inscription, we could hardly hold our excitement in. I will get a picture of it up eventually. We made him repeat his promise of buying ice cream for whoever found an inscription, before we let him see it. It turns out that the other site found the head of a little statuette, so Dr. Johnson owes everybody ice cream. Dr. Johnson was only able to translate the last line so far, which says “and this.” I get to go into town tomorrow and update the webpage and hopefully send out a few emails. I really hope everybody is having their own good time like I am. Every once in a while I have to remember that I am in a potentially dangerous Arab world, but for the most part I’m having the time of my life. So, I guess what I saying is you don’t have to worry about me. It is also fun to be around people that enjoy archaeology(and I dare say Indiana Jones) as much as I do.

May 13, 2005
Today, we went up to what is called the high place. The Nabateans used the site to sacrifice white camels to their god Dushara. They weren’t joking when they named it the high place. It was probably the most strenuous hike yet. The view was great and I guess therefore worth it. Sara and Jean Marie made origami camels out of white paper to sacrifice at the altar and quite a few people got into it and posed for a mock ceremony (See Picture). Well today I guess is Friday the 13th, but about the only thing we had happen to us was that we had a couple of starving stray cats follow us from the Garden Tomb to the Lion Fountain. We stop in a shop afterwards and got free drinks because the owner knew Dr. Johnson. I bought a brass coffee pot while I was there that was made in Saudi Arabia. I am almost done with my souvenir shopping, but not quite. Today Dr. Johnson promised everyone pizza because we were under budget. He decided to go to Wadi Musa around six to get pizza a let my group email. We also had to go to the post office, so we did that first. They surprisingly were still open. Right after that we ran into a friend of Dr. Johnson’s that recommended that we try the Marriot Hotel for pizza. It was more American and cost the same price. Well after the internet café, we went to the Marriot to pick up the pizza. It was very nice and they had a crystal blue swimming pool. I of course just had to gawk at it from afar. We get to shower about every other day, which is better than Utah field school, where they shower once a week. In a place where water is so scarce, it made the swimming pool all the more desirable. Well, the pizza we got was interesting to say the least. There were little doilies in each box. There was one kind with a lot of interesting meat, and another kind with olives, peppers, and what we figured were anchovies, or at least fairly similar. We bought some orange drink to go with it. It was nice break from our Bedouin diet, but still far from what we eat normally in the good old U.S. of A.

May 14, 2005
Today was Saturday, the easy day. I got to sleep in until 8, when we started lab work. Breakfast was still out on the table for some reason, so I got to eat even though I slept in. For lab we described all the lithics, we had gathered thus far at Julie’s site. We measured the rocks, described their color and material, and specified whether or not they had a “face” carved into them. Dr. Johnson has a theory that the Nabateans liked to carve faces into worked rocks, blades, cores, etc. Out of about 17 lithics, Dr. Johnson saw 16 faces. We sometimes like to make “face” jokes. When Dr. Johnson was excavating with Dr. Hammond, they found this really big face that everybody recognizes. Its name is Karl after somebody the Dr. Hammond didn’t like. You can also buy Bedouin jewelry with Karl’s face on it if you like. It’s kind of interesting to see how archaeology has affected the area. A group of us watched Lorna Doone today. From what I could tell everybody enjoyed it. Watching movies on laptops is one our best means of entertainment around here. That and rumors about former Presidents Bush and Clinton, Tony Blair coming to Petra. Sharom and King Abdullah II are having some kind of peace conference and they are cleaning up the streets and securing certain places. We may not be able to work on 18th when they come.

May 15, 2005
Well, today was my first day working in the tomb. We have two groups of six working on this site. Three or four people work inside with crew chief Deb, while the rest work outside under the supervision of Holly. People are rotated from the different positions throughout the day. There is a lot more pottery at this site, but there are twice as many people to wash it, so it’s not so bad. We spent a good bit of the day knocking about 2 weeks worth of sifting dirt down a cliff. I don’t mind calling it a mountain of dirt. It made us not feel sorry for our replacements that had to go through our rock pile looking for the other half of the inscription we found last Thursday. The tomb is basically a cave with 4 cists (or holes) full with human remains for the most part. Sometimes there are bronze bells, pottery and interesting shaped plaster, but for the most part it is really fragile bone. Work in the tomb is very slow and tedious. Outside work is a lot like what we did at Julie’s site. We were down two whole people today. Heike and Megan were sick and stayed behind. We tried to play the Kevin Bacon game (the game where you try to connect two actors through other actors that have played in the same movie) without Heike and didn’t get so far. I hope they’ll both be back tomorrow. At my old site they found 4 lizard eggs that they originally figured were snake eggs. After they smashed them and saw that the embryos had legs, they figured that they were some kind of lizard instead. Sad, but I guess that’s life. About 40 students from the Jordanian University of Tourism and Archaeology came and looked at us today. It’s a funny feeling being watched like that. Last time I felt like that when some Japanese tourists took pictures of me in Utah. I’m starting to enjoy the food a little less here since, we are getting a lot of repeats and I must not be nearly as hungry as I was the first couple of weeks here.

May 16, 2005
Well, today my allergies were really killing me. I also managed to get a mosquito bite on the bottom of my foot. We have a lot scorpion grubs at my new site. They are harmless little worm like things. We see them a lot when we strain dirt looking for missed artifacts. I have actually strained a baby scorpion, but it really wasn’t that big of a deal. Today, we had a tourist come by and look at our site. He was a little too clean cut amongst other things and asked a lot intelligent questions, which led us to speculate whether or not he was in fact an agent of some sort. With the president’s and Tony Blair coming, it could happen. We also saw a couple of Jordanian Security guards walk by and there have been plenty of helicopters whizzing around. Today, we all got snickers, because on Holly’s site (outside the tomb) there was an upside down cup that Dr. Johnson didn’t think was going to be complete. So a deal was struck that if it was he’d buy us all candy bars today. It was, to our delight, complete with not even a chip, so during pottery washing, Dr. Johnson passed out snickers. It was a nice treat. The wrappers have Arabic on them and well as English, which is always cool. Oh yeah, according to Alvin, Sharom isn’t coming after all, to the peace conference that is.

May 17, 2005
My allergies were really bad today, so I stayed behind with Jennie, whose back went out. It was nice to rest and sleep in, even if I had trouble breathing. Jennie and I watched all 4 hours of Dinotopia today which was fun. Jennie also had a lot of great snacks, including a nice chocolate Skor bar. Part of me can’t wait to get back to Germany and eat all the chocolate I want. A couple of professors and grad students came with us to work on a Natufian site. The Natufians were another culture that lived in Petra around the Neolithic period. They’ve just about finished up and will be leaving today, which means more space for the rest of our stay, and more food too. Dr. Finlayson is bringing in a few art history students to stay with us until the weekend so are reprieve will be short lived. A lot of the girls’ rooms are kind of cramped here. I am actually lucky to be in one of the more spacious rooms. After dinner we did a little spying from the roof. We could see lit cars in Petra which is usually dark at night. I used the infrared feature on my video camera and we had a little fun spying. We attribute the strange lights to our famous guests that coming into Petra tomorrow.

May 18, 2005
Today is the anniversary of when Mt. St. Helens erupted. It is also “Presidents day” as we like to call it. There were once again plenty of helicopters. Supposedly the Presidents are actually coming tomorrow but all we ever hear are rumors any way. We saw some more tourists/agents. Heike told me that yesterday when I stayed behind I also was branded a spy. I was supposedly taking the opportunity to search everyone’s stuff. Well, even if we don’t get close enough to see these important figure heads, we’ve been able to entertain ourselves with all the speculation. Well, Mom don’t freak, but we actually strained a real scorpion today. It was a creepy black one and Dr. Johnson killed it with Krissy’s trowel. It was kind of funny because it tried to sting the trowel with its tail, while it was being smashed. Today, I started out working inside the tomb and got to brush tediously at a grave for a couple of hours. We were also excited because yesterday in the other grave we’re excavating they found an articulated skeleton, meaning the whole individual was intact with all the bones in the right place, which is a rare thing. We rotate people in and out of the tomb to working outside. For the next three days we aren’t aloud to drive equipment down into the park, etc, because they want to control traffic into Petra for our special guests. We finally got our badges that we are supposed to where while we are working. Our pictures are kind of stretched and a lot of our names are spelled wrong. Like I’m Cara Mecain. I guess mine isn’t so bad. They found the remains of a camel in the cistern at Julie’s site. There was also a live frog, which earned Dan ice cream. Dr. Johnson told Dan before he climbed down there that wasn’t anything alive, and if there was then he’d buy him ice cream. After dinner we watched the King and important people drive by from the roof. They were all in cars, so we couldn’t see them, but it was still interesting to watch the security measures.

May 19, 2005
Today was a long day. We basically excavated in a sandstorm. The day started out just windy, but then we had a full out sandstorm. It was not fun getting sand in our eyes, etc. I had some most dirt blown on my face that I looked like I had a tan. I was so dirty that I took a shower right after we got back. Even after I washed my hair, there was still sand in it. I’ve resigned to the fact that I never going to be clean until I leave here. I guess it’s okay since everybody else is just as dirty, but still it’s not something I’m going to miss about being here. Tomorrow we are going to see Bayda and Little Petra. It is where, get this, Jimmy Carter and all the Nobel Peace Price winners went to go meet King Abdullah yesterday. So no Clinton or Bush. I guess I could look up on some press site when I get back and see what really happened. The rumors have been less than reliable. Tonight a couple of us are going to watch this really old movie called 300 Spartans. Dad, you should check it out if you haven’t already watched it. Dr. Johnson is even going to watch it, so it should be at least entertaining to watch it with him.

May 20, 2005
Today was our field trip to Bayda or Little Petra. We got to look around at a Neolithic Village and see the area where Jimmy Carter dined with King Abdullah and other Nobel prize winners. They built wooden platforms and carpet laid out and everything. They also probably had extensive lighting equipment, etc. They were taking down as we explored the area. The area is the home of the Amarine, who are another Bedouin tribe. They are much poorer then the Bedul tribe which we stay with. We also got to visit a very large cistern that was full of water. The water was in very poor sanitary condition. It was hard to believe that it was some of the Amarine’s drinking water. I got to go into Wadi Musa. The webserver I was using was incredibly slow, and I was lucky to upload mostly everything in time. I didn’t have time to see if everything was working, so I hope it is and I guess everyone understands the time crunch I have to deal with. I finally got my reward ice cream for the inscription we found a couple of weeks back. I chose blackberry flavored and it was great. I seem to be extra allergic to the mosquitoes here. Every time I pick a bite, it swells up to at least an inch in diameter. Needless to say, that is one thing I won’t miss about here.