Week Without Walls Trip to Jordan

I (Melanie) got back last Friday from a six night school trip to Jordan. Marc and his group got in late on Saturday from Bhutan and and I tried to post my trip photos before he did but was foiled by some error. Although I could not publish this entry first, being second has some advantages - now my entry is on top!

I had been to Jordan before (with Marc in 1997) but only to Petra (the site with the temple from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) and as it turns out there is so much more to Jordan than Petra! I actually did not get to see Petra this time as I stayed back to care for a sick student but it did not matter as there was so much other history and culture to absorb. The trip was part of CAC's annual high school Week Without Walls event. CAC has 24 trips and activities for 500 students and groups went all over the world including Bhutan (Marc's group), Indonesia, Western Australia, Bali, South Africa, Russia, Spain, London, Tanzania, Ghana etc. For our trip we had 15 students with myself and another chaperon. I was asked to go at the last minute to replace a teacher who was sick. Our trip was cultural and historical with a focus on the students making a photographic journal of the week.

It was a fun week but started out with surprisingly, and unseasonably cold weather. For the first few days it was wet and cold and that turned to snow, sleet and fog ! Besides being rained on and cold, we had trouble with the roads being closed due to ice and snow and only just got to Petra in terrible weather conditions. Luckily (most of us) took hats, gloves, rain gear and scarves! We saw the ruined Roman city of Jerash in the rain. The crusader castle at Shobek was more exciting in several inches of snow and with sleet falling. But that made it all the more fun since we all live in Cairo where it only rains a few times in the year and never gets to freezing. The kids from Europe and US were very nostalgic. They all made the most of it and threw snowballs and stood around in the snow. Unfortunately it was below 10C and raining steadily on the day we went to the Dead Sea. Four brave souls (I was not one of them) braved the conditions to float in the salty water! It was raining too hard to get any photos and I had to protect the towels from getting wet.Once we got to Petra it warmed up. The sun even came out for the last few days (luckily) when were staying in a desert camp (permanent camp with bathrooms and hot showers - which disappointingly did not work).We went on a jeep safari, had tea with Bedouins, camel rides, and several hikes into the surrounding desert.

It was fantastic desert weather, being sunny and cool in the day. However, it was cold once the sun went down and we all enjoyed the campfire and our warm beds (although some had trouble getting their bedding sorted out battling sand and blankets falling off).By the end we all had gotten to know each other quite well and were having fun together but were none the less ready to get home to our families, houses, beds and a hot shower in Cairo!