Thank you State Department and American Taxpayers!

In a recent attempt to update my blog, I came across a post that I never completed. This is almost a year late, but better late than never! Here are some pictures from my trip to Jordan last summer (2007) I was there from June-August. While I was there I traveled all around Jordan, the bank cities of Bethlehem and Rumallah, Jerusalem in Israel proper, and Damascus, Syria. I may post pictures from my trip another time, but here are some from the old post I never published.

I am currently working as an Intern in Washington DC for a company called Pal-Tech. I am loving it so far, hopefully I'll post more about that later.

Here are some pictures from our 5 day trip to southern Jordan.




Here I am with some of the other people from my program. We stayed in an amazing "campground" in wadi rum. It was the first campground I ever stayed at that had a full dance floor, swimming pool, restaurant and bar. We did sleep comfortably in twin beds in tents, so it is considered camping.

This is one of many facades found on the sides of mountains in Petra, Jordan. This is called "the monstary." although it looks quite large, it only contains one small chamber inside. Petra was recently named one of the new 7 wonders of the world!

Here is Flannery and I on the red sea. Part of our itinerary was to take a boat out on the red sea for a bbq and party, so we did. Thank you again, american tax payers. It was really fun and the food was great. We stayed in a 5 star hotel in a city called Aquba. Many countries have ports in the gulf of Aquba (where this picture was taken). From where we were we could see Egyptian, Israeli, Jordanian, and Saudi Arabian ports. It was quite amazing.

I took this picture on our bus ride up to the castle of Karak. This castle was one of many existing fortresses modified by the crusaders in the 13th century.

Here is our group learning about the Nabateans who once inhibited Petra.

Here I am waiting for others to gather to go on our boat ride out to the red sea. This is in the lobby of our hotel, the movenpick, which use to be owned by the bin-laden family.

Here I am with Flannery (right) and Christine (left). These girls were probably my best friends in Jordan this summer, they are awesome. We are in a place called Wadi Rum. Several movies have been filmed here. And the sand is really that red!

Here i am waiting to go snorkeling in the red sea. it was so beautiful! I've never seen such beautiful corals in my life! i wasn't aware the red sea was a big snorkeling and diving destination, but i guess it is!

This is probably the most famous facade in Petra, called "the treasury."

After walking through narrow canyon walls for nearly a mile, this is the first glimpse you see of the city of Petra. wow, it was breathtaking!

Camels for rent! You can rent these camels to take you in and out of Petra. If you look closely at this picture, you can see the facades of small dwellings in the foreground.

this is the narrow "siqh" you walk through to get to Petra.

This is our group in wadi rum. the Bedouins, which are local tribal men, hosted us for tea and coffee. I can't imagine how people can drink that stuff in such hot weather! cold water was fine for me.

this is a picture i took out of our hotel window in Aquba.

Our caravan driving through wadi rum.

The sunset at wadi rum

Our trip to the south was great. I really love Jordan. It is so rich in culture, history and there are so many beautiful sights to see. But despite staying in five-star hotels, cruising in the red sea, and staying in, what i would consider, a five-star campground, all at the expense of American tax payers, we are learning a lot out here.