My first impression of today had nothing to do with cities or the Bible or really much of anything related to historical geography. It was much more of an impression of current political realities. I was reminded of the annoyance and hassle of border crossings. Having started at 6am and thus being a bit tired probably did not help to make me less annoyed with the system either. All in all we made pretty good time fo an international border crossing, so I really could not be upset about that, but just spending so much time in lines and waiting for processing is always annoying.
Perhaps the thing that made the particular border crossing annoying was all of the Jordanian regulations. I have done enough international travel to be pretty used to the process by now, but some of the Jordanian stuff just made me frustrated. First, I still cannot figure out what the purpose of the tourist police officer is. I know we are required to have one on our bus, but I just don't understand it. Overall, it really does not affect me much at all, it just seems kind of weird to me. Second, I can't say as I am a big fan of the requirement of having a Jordanian tour guide. Besides just seeming unnecessary, I feel like it kind of takes away from the experience a bit as well. Dr. Wright, if you were trying to make us appreciate your teaching more, you can consider your mission accomplished.
I discovered on this trip that I really like the system of teaching that draws on our foundations as well as connecting to places in the Bible and then just having free time to wander. Once I have the knowledge in my head, I learn a lot just by letting my feet feel the ground, my eyes see the stones (or mud bricks) and surrounding country, my ears hear the noises, and just taking in the general experience of the place. It was a bit hard to get that today when James (the Jordanian tour guide) would talk about a place and then just start walking to the next spot. It felt a lot more like a museum tour and a lot less like just experiencing the land.
Frustrations aside, there was a lot to be interested in today. Our first stop at Deir Alla made me realize several things. First, in many ways the land in Jordan looks a lot like the land in Israel. While the alluvial fields of the Jordan Valley more closely resemble the Coastal Plain, all together the land looks a lot like the other side of the Jordan. Second, Israel does a much better job at keeping up their sites. Third, I had never thought about the Philistines having any other motivation for taking Judah than just the country itself. It makes a lot of sense that they might have been interested in the metallugy going on beyond the Jordan. Fourth, the Balaam was really cool. It is fascinating and encouraging to see and study text like that which throw more light on and corroborate biblical stories. Last, I was reminded that we have certainly entered an Islamic country when I started seeing the women in full burkas everywhere and the men wearing gallibeahs and kaifas.
Moving on to Gedara, I was really impressed by the columns and architecture there. The view was beautiful as well. Also interesting was the mix of white limestone and black basalt. Normally we only see one or the other. As usual, I felt pretty impressed by Rome.
Ending the day at Ramoth-Gilead, I was yet again reminded of how little Jordan values their ancient biblical sites compared to Israel. It was certainly helpful to stand on the tel and see its close proximity to Syria as well as to feel its distance from Israel. However, beyond that, little at the tel actually displayed much. As a random point of interest, I very much enjoyed the camels at Ramoth-Gilead. I've certainly seen plenty of them before, but never so many of them never all together like that. I was reminded that I get to ride one in another month or so. Also, I got to try camel's milk tonight. It wasn't my favorite, but it certainly wasn't awful either.
All together, today held a lot of new experiences and a lot of new sights and new ideas. It was certainly frustrating at times, but a good day of field study, all things considered.
The tourist police officer is a requirement in Syria and Egypt too. Well, it used to be in Egypt at least :) It's funny because I didn't think that was strange, but you've obviously done more travel prior to this semester than I had prior to MESP. I was like, "hey, this guy with the gun is here to protect us. That's better than running into a guy with a gun seeking to kill us" :) We had 2 Egyptian police vehicles in front and behind our bus going through the Sinai after our return to Egypt from Israel because there were threats from Hamas that weekend they would kidnap Israelis in the Sinai. It's just a different world in the Middle East.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you can guess who this is :)