Um Qais

We tried to go up to an area that was fairly heavily populated in the 1st and 2nd centuries, but we were prohibited from going up there by the military, they had a bunch of dudes with guns running around up there, so, yeah, sightseeing was a no-go.
but these are some pictures from nearby... still kinda interesting
dudes hold hands in the arab world. it indicates nothing more than a friendly relationship.
this other picture is interesting in a couple of ways. the first being that the body of water behind me is Lake Tiberias. So scope out what happens there in the bible.
Further the land behind me (and behind the lake) is the Israeli occupied lands of the Golan Heights. They officially belong to Syria (and some to lebanon) but they were occupied in Israeli military actions and now are a continuous source of conflict. the road up to where we were was interesting cause there were still remnants of blown up bridges and stuff.

baptism.

next we went to the baptismal site of Jesus. Im sure lots of people will think 'that has to be in Israel,' well, chances are, you're wrong. if you read the bible it says that he was baptized 'beyond jordan' which implies the East bank of the river or beyond. soooooo. we visited the river and the area that was probably the same area where John the Baptist kicked it.
so one of these pictures is me chillin by the river.
the other is a church from around the 1st century AD. many people claim that the river used to have floods that would fill in that area with water, and that this is in reality the baptismal site.
the other is just a dried up patch of dirt which shows the landscape nearby. no wonder john the baptist was rough, that fool and locusts.

Mt. Nebo

the first trip that we went on got around to a few different places.
the first of them was Mt. Nebo. according to the bible this is the place from which Moses identified the Holy Land after the Israelites had wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. i really enjoyed it up there. its got a special feeling to it. at the same time its interesting to think that while moses climbed that mountain and identified that place, he never did cross the jordan river or go into the holy land. nope, he, like i, just kicked it in Jordan.
the body of water over my shoulder is the Dead Sea (which you should visit in your life. i think its awesome) and the other foto is the restored mosaics of a Byzantine Church that still stands on top of Mt. Nebo.

from there...

i got sick and barfed all over the place, but there was a group of nuns from jerusalem that had been visiting italy. they took care of me on the plane. she would make sure that i was tucked in and that i had room to stretch out. she also ensured that i took my medicine when i was supposed to and would wake me up to drink water. she was great (سلام الله عليها).
i then arrived in jordan and though sick, immediately set to discovering my surroundings.
this blog is boring.
oh, and for those of you that were curious, in the First Century A.D. Amman jordan was known as Philadelphia, and was one of ten important greek cities in the region that were known as the Decapolis. So chances are people like the apostle Paul and the other apostles of the primitive Christian were familiar with sites such as these. And now it makes for interesting ruins scattered throughout the city.

Im not sure how im going to do this, so i guess i'll just start into it...

my first stop was a layover in germany where i got to go look around and see some things. it was nice. i liked it. in the future i hope for more time to discover.

A beginning.

I suppose that im going to try to keep up on this blog thing. I dont know what i will write. chances are it will merely consist of my babblings about random things. but initially i will post some photos, and perhaps some stories from my recent trips to the Middle East and Northern Africa. So if you want to frequent, you'll probably begin to have some insight into the workings of my silly mind. or not. i may just give up. that seems to be what im best at.
either way ill still be smiling.