Today marks our final real day in Jordan. It is nearly impossible to believe that our trip is almost to an end already!!
After a later breakfast, we separated into two vans to drive into the heart of Amman. Our first stop was scheduled to be The Royal Automobile Museum, however the parking lot was full of children on a field trip. We popped over to the King Hussein Mosque where we had a slight dilemma. Although we all now have scarves, most of us did not bring them with us. As customary, all women who enter into the grounds of the Mosque (and further inside) must have their legs, arms, hands, and heads covered. We did some makeshift head covers with jackets and vests for our quick view into the museum on the grounds. We then diverted to The Royal Automobile Museum, which houses some of the MANY cars and motorcycles of the late King Hussein. This was to let us be closer to the time to go back into the Mosque during the time of prayer. Once the time was close, we again drove to the King Hussein Mosque, where we covered ourselves before entering. As with the Wailing Wall of a few days ago, it was important for the genders to be separated. The men were able to access where we left them, while us women climbed a few flights of stairs to a small landing area. In that area we were required to take off our shoes before entering the chamber. The floor was entirely covered in rugs, and there were several wooden "portal" areas. When we first arrived, we kneeled by the small wooden table holding the Qur'an in front of the wooden doors. After listening to the chanting for a bit, a woman came and opened up the small wooden doors for us, which allowed us to crouch into a small (maybe 1 foot in width and 5 feet in length) cubby between wooden portal chinks. This allowed us to be able to peer into the main area of prayer downstairs. The men were able to take their shoes off and come into the main prayer room. This stop made me realize that I am woefully ignorant of not only Mosques, but of Islam in general. I know that I will definitely be researching more about both once we get back home! Next, we were driven up to the Citadel, which has the best views down on the city and houses a museum, Roman artifacts, and an Umayyad palace. K mentioned that it was interesting here that museum artifacts were just lying in simple cases or on stands around a shabby room verses the same type of artifacts in Europe would be in fancy display cases with full lighting. We stopped in the city for a "surprise treat." We walked the streets of Amman and were able to get a better flavor of what it is like in the more "day-to-day" lives of Jordanians, verses just the more tourist-y places. Our path ended at a TINY hole in the wall area with a huge line of people. Inside, cooks were creating Knafeh--a famous Middle-Eastern dessert. (Here is a recipe link if you are interested in seeing what's in it!) . Let's just say it was the PERFECT way to end our last sightseeing of Jordan. It also gave us all slight sugar crashes about an hour after eating it! Our vans took us back to our hotel where we were given free time and a "day room." Most of us got last minute gifts, repacked our luggage (not that any of us had accumulated TONS! of things on this trip of course...), ate a snack from downstairs, and relaxed. I may add one more page after this to depict our debriefing, but that will not be for a few days at least. Our flight will leave around 2:15 AM from Amman, and with our several stops will be getting back home around 6:15 PM. We will all be jet-lagged and exhausted, but finally back home knowing we have taken a huge step towards better understanding another culture and expanding our horizons. What a life changing experience we will all never forget...
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