Day 1: Arrival

We made it. I don't really know how I got here in one piece, but I did. The flight from Chicago to Amman contained around 20 babies and small children. Luckily though, most of them slept through most of the 12 hour flight. Still, though, there were a few that kept me awake for the flight's duration. But enough about the flight.

We arrived at Amman's airport in one piece and customs was a breeze to pass through. I was supposed to meet a group from Canada who would be participating on the same dig as us once I got my bag from the carousel, but after looking for about 20 minutes, I couldn't find them. I started to get a litte nervous and decided to buy a Jordanian SIM card for my phone so I could call our directors. The man who sold me the SIM card not only sold it to me, but he activated it and also changed the help prompts from Arabic to English. After explaining the calling plan and how phones worked in Jordan, he helped me call the dig leaders. Luckily, they were already at the airport, I just had not yet seen them.

I loaded up with Robert Darby, one of the leaders, and a student / professor combo from Elon. We made our way to the downtown district in Amman where we will be staying for the week. On our ride, we passed by ancient Roman and Nabatean ruins almost on a mile-ly (not a word, but I'm a bit jet-lagged, so it will work for now) basis. also along the road were Bedouin tents, camels and olive tree farms. It was amazing.

Tomorrow we head to Jerash, one of the most (if not the most) pristinely preserved Roman archaeological sites in the world. I will try to write more interesting things tomorrow. We will see.

Brad