That New Car Smell

Because we didn't relish the idea of standing outside in the cold and waiting for a taxi with an infant, then riding around in said taxi with no car seat or seat belts, we decided to get a car.  This, of course, has not been an easy task, nor a pleasant one.

First obstacle: the funds.  Jordan's import taxes are so high that cars here cost about twice what they would back in the US.  Add to this the fact that the government here thinks that foreign nationals shouldn't be able to buy cars more than 5 years old, and you come up with a very expensive answer: you need at least $15,000 in order to buy a car!  A small, used, no-frills car.  This is both good and bad: prices are high, but cars keep their value for a very long time.  So we started saving back in March, got most of the way to our goal, and then took a pay advance from work to cap us off.  Whew!

Second obstacle: a drivers licence.  This was a multi-day, multi-office, multi-headache affair.  After getting directions for how expats could get a Jordanian drivers license (without which you can drive, but you will be ticketed if you aren't in a car with rental plates), we headed out, only to find that they had changed the process about 2 weeks earlier.  Here's how it worked for me.  Go to first office, get told to go to another office.  Go to second office (miles away) to fill out papers, get told papers go back to the first office to be signed and won't come back for 2 weeks, or I can personally pick them up after 4 or 5 days.  Take off work to go to first office to pick up papers early, the guy who signs them doesn't come to work, and the day is wasted.  Have a friend pick them up the next day.  Take off work again to go to a third office (miles away from either of the other two) to get the actual license, get there and told one spot wasn't filled out completely and we need to go back.  Go back to first office, get told we should take it to the second office, but then they complete it anyway.  Go back to third office and finally (finally) present my documents, take the eye exam (what a joke!), pay the fee, and get my license printed.  Whew!

Third obstacle: buying the car.  Another multi-day affair.  Went with one friend to look and wasn't very pleased.  Went with another friend from work and found one that we liked; the car was nice, if not the price.  Went back to get the car inspected and work out payment.  However, to buy a car here one must again provide a boat load of paperwork (passport, drivers license, work permit), and our work permits are out of date (our employer is "working on it" currently), so we have to wait to get the official title.  Meanwhile, we paid the down payment, and the car dealer still has insurance on the car, so we are driving it.  Whew!

Our 2012 Kia Rio:

Baby Henke

After 6 years of marriage we decided we had waited long enough. It was time to try to have a family. We found out that I was pregnant when we were traveling in Turkey during the Spring Holy Days 2015.

My pregnancy has been quite smooth so far. In my first trimester, I really didn’t feel like eating but would eat because I knew I needed to. I would take 2 hour naps after work and then be in bed no later than 9pm. Darren found this stage of pregnancy very boring.

As I entered my second trimester, I changed my doctor and made an appointment to see her a week before we were to travel to the states to visit family and friends for the summer. Darren had to work, so I asked Chelsea if she would come with me to my appointment. We got to see the baby and Chelsea was very surprised that I couldn’t feel the baby moving around inside of me yet. The little thing was very active. It wasn’t till I was 18 weeks that I started to feel little bumps and flutters. I didn’t really start to show until 20+ weeks. When we were visiting my family, my little sister threw me a baby shower which supplied me with almost everything I will need for the first few months! My mom also took me shopping for maternity clothes, for which I am very thankful.  I’m just glad it all fit into our suitcases.

Darren and I decided to not find out if Baby will be a boy or a girl. It is funny when people ask what I’m having and I tell them I don’t know. The responses range from very supportive to not understanding why, with all this technology to tell you, you would refuse to know. Almost everyone guesses what I will have after I tell them that I don’t know. The score is even, so I will either have a boy or a girl.  

I just started into my third trimester when we left for the Feast. We traveled to South Africa. My doctor wasn’t very thrilled with such a long flight at this stage, but everything looked good to her, so she gave me permission to fly. We had an amazing time! We spent the 3 days before the Feast on a game reserve and saw lots of amazing animals. Then we traveled down to Margate to spend time with brethren during the Feast of Tabernacles. The only difficult part of traveling is that you can never just check off a country. You almost always have a desire to go back. God willing, someday we will go back to South Africa and see some more of the beautiful country and reconnect with the amazing people that we met.

I am currently at 32 weeks. I haven’t gained much weight, and I don’t look pregnant all over, just in the front (some say this means I’m having a boy). Baby is very active. Almost every day Darren gets to feel the baby move. I get up to use the restroom a few times in the night. I love my pregnant pillow that my cousin Emily gave me. Well, it is just a body pillow, but it has really helped me to sleep these last few weeks. Darren likes my pillow too, so I try to share with him. I have to have snacks in my drawer at work to keep me from becoming cranky or sad. Food at this stage is very important to me.

We only have 2 months left before our baby joins us. My due date is December 14th.

At this stage, I feel quite large, but Darren assures me that I look beautiful. I have enjoyed my pregnancy so far, and I’m very glad that I have had a relatively easy one compared to some stories I have heard.

What You Missed

So...we've been off of the blog for way too long.  And we've got way too much to re-cap in detail, so for those who may not already know, here's the really quick version.

Trip to Jerusalem in June - Pictures are already in the Photo Gallery.

Trip home over the summer - Visited family in MO and WA.

Did some sightseeing in Frankfurt on our way back to Jordan.

New volunteers from FOI. Visit their blogs at:

Crystal:      abradleyabroad.wordpress.com

Elyse:         wanderinginjordan.wordpress.com 

Johnathan: johnathaninjordan.wordpress.com

Zach:          www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/zach.cartwright/1/1439455652/tpod.html

Trip to South Africa for a safari and the Feast of Tabernacles.

And the biggest news of all...Baby Henke comes in December!

Spring Holy Day Tour

This year we were blessed with the opportunity to accompany the volunteers to Turkey for the beginning of the Spring Holy Days. We had a full week of discovery and adventure ahead of us.


Day 1: Athens

We had a 7-hour layover in Athens, which is enough time to get on the metro and do a 3 hour tour of the city. We were able to see the Acropolis and Mars Hill, then grab lunch and gelato and get on the next metro back to the airport!

We made it to Istanbul a few hours before sunset. This gave us enough time to have dinner and then get ready to keep the Passover.


Day 2: Istanbul

We were only able to spend 5 hours in the city.  We drove into the old city, saw some of the sights, and went to the archaeological museum.  We didn't get to stay long, but what we were able to see was beautiful and has left us with a desire to go back.

Hagia Sophia

We then caught a flight to Izmir and rented a van to drive to our condo in Kusadasi. We arrived, with some difficulty, after dark and took a recommendation for a restaurant, all making for a night that will definitely be remembered!


Day 3: Kusadasi

We had a wonderful 1st Day of Unleavened Bread. After services and a snack, we headed down to the water front and took a stroll.  We enjoyed exploring the area and watching the sunset.

We then set off to find a place to eat dinner. The food was fabulous!  We want to go back to Turkey to eat more of their delicious food!


Day 4: Laodicea and Pamukkale

After breakfast, we headed out to our next destination. It took us about 3 hours to reach the historic remains and active excavation sight of Laodicea.

After some time for exploration, we drove over to nearby Pamukkale, which is also called the "cotton castle." Here we enjoyed walking in the hot springs and swimming in the mineral bath. This is also the location of the ancient city of Hieropolis.  We didn't go through much of the ruins because we were having too much fun swimming in the ancient bath house!

Day 5: Ephesus

The ancient city of Ephesus was only 20 minutes from our condo.  This morning we took a trip to see it.  The highlights were the library, some excavated Roman upper-class condos, and the Temple of Artemis, one of the 7 Ancient Wonders (of which nearly nothing is left).

Day 6: Priene and Miletus

Two ancient Greco-Roman cities about an hour south, sister cities to Ephesus, Priene and Miletus were port cities which now lie some ways inland because of the silting up of the bay.  Both were nice in their own ways:  Priene was better preserved and had a great view, and Miletus has one of the largest and complete Roman theaters in Turkey.

Day 7: Travel home

Our time in Kusadasi done, we began our long trek home: drive to the airport, fly to Istanbul, fly to Athens, wait for hours, fly to Amman, taxi to our apartment - about 19 hours altogether.


What a trip: seeing great Ottoman monumental architecture, visiting the same cities in west-central Asia minor as the Apostle Paul, having delicious Turkish food, and receiving spiritual insight during the Days of Unleavened Bread!

An Amazing Weekend in Petra and Dana

We've been planning on getting down to Petra for months, and we were finally able to do it last weekend.  

We were blessed in so many ways.  First, we were able to plan to meet up with a couple we met when we visited Greece in December.  David and Hannah are from the DC area and currently living in Israel; however, they needed to leave the country to get David’s visa renewed, so they came to Jordan to see Petra.  Second, a coworker was going to be out of town for the weekend, so she let us borrow her car.  Woohoo, no rental cost!  And, because we are officially residents in Jordan, entry fees into Petra are only 1JD.  Of course, there were many other wonderful moments throughout the weekend.

David and Hannah

We left Amman with the volunteers really early and arrived at Petra at about 6:30 am.  We made our final preparations and took our packs in at 7.  Then we hiked around for 10 hours, enjoying the great views and the wonderful company along the way.  That evening, after a lovely meal, we said goodbye to David and Hannah and drove an hour north to the Dana Nature Reserve.  The stars were so clear that we pulled over on our way there just to stare. 

We arrived in Dana after dark, so we were surprised the next morning to see the beautiful view from our hotel.  We had a leisurely morning, then prepared for a hike.  We were starting to go down into the canyon when we came around a corner and saw some baby goats.  Upon closer inspection, we realized that they were brand new, just minutes old: still gooey and struggling to stand up!  There were some shepherds there, so we told them mabrook (congratulations) and they invited us for tea and a donkey ride.  After we left them, we made our way down to the bottom of the canyon and found a shady spot for lunch and church services.  What a great day!

Hiking out and driving back to Amman were uneventful, but we will remember our weekend for a long time to come!

The Egypt Post!

After vowing over 4 years ago not to leave the Middle East without first seeing the pyramids, Amber finally got her way!  Over midwinter break, we were able to take a 5-day trip to Egypt.

We made arrangements to have a car pick us up at the airport and drive us around Cairo for the day.  He came highly recommended, and we were glad to have him.  First stop was the train station in order to pick up tickets to Luxor.  After getting tickets, our second stop was the Cairo Museum.  The collection was amazing: hundreds of thousands of artifacts.  The facilities were terrible: bad lighting, confusing layout,  poor labeling.  And, sadly, no cameras allowed inside...  Still, it was pretty cool, and the mummy room was really neat, even if you have to pay more to get into it than to get into the museum itself.

After leaving the museum, we left for Giza.  Driving down the highway, we got our first glimpse of the massive pyramids, despite the light drizzle:

Of course you know they're big, but nothing really prepares you for just how big they are.  

We spent a couple hours on the Giza plateau: looked at the three pyramids, got a lot of photos, saw the sphinx.

Afterwards, we got dropped off in Coptic Cairo to wander around for an hour or so.  This is the old, Christian part of the city.  It has some neat old churches (including one made from an old Roman tower) and Egypt's oldest synagogue.

That night we took a train to Luxor, and let's just say that when they tell you it'll take 10 hours, it's really 13!

Next morning, Luxor!  So much to do, so much to see.  After finding our hotel and checking in, we went to the Karnak Temple complex.  The largest temple complex in Egypt, Karnak was added to by several generations of ancient Egyptian royalty.  This place was so big we didn't even see it all.

Our goal for the next day was to tour the West Bank, where all the tombs are.  After taking the ferry across the river, we got a taxi out to the Valley of the Kings.  The valley itself is nothing special: it's what's hidden in the ground that's amazing.  Dozens of tombs of pharaohs, queens, and other nobles are there, many quite well-preserved.  You get to go into 3 with your basic ticket, and the last one we entered was off the beaten track, making us the only people inside, so the guard let us take a few photos.

Our Lonely Planet guide said you could hike over the ridge to Hatshepsut's temple, so we decided to try.  After talking to an American there on a dig (who told us exactly how to get there, even though it was technically not allowed anymore because of possible security concerns), we took to a trail and went up and over.  Great views along the way and no incidents!

Hatshepsut's temple is one of the most well-preserved places on the West Bank, and we spent another hour or two checking it out.

Next up was the Ramesseum...

...and then the Habu temple.

Luxor was so nice that we decided to stay an extra night there instead of going back to Cairo!  The third day in Luxor was the most relaxing,  We went to the Luxor temple, right down the road from our hotel, then the Luxor museum, then took a felucca ride on the river.

That night we got on a bus back for Cairo (the train being sold out).  Again, when they say 9 hours, count on 11!

On our second day in Cairo, the first stop was the pyramids, which we accomplished by a mix of using the subway and a taxi.  This time we actually went into one of the small pyramids and one of the big ones.

A taxi ride, a subway ride, and a bus ride later we were at the airport, ready to return with one less item on the Bucket List.

Nothing New...Yet

Nothing new to report for January, just getting back in to work and preparing for a new semester at school.  We had a few snow days at the beginning of January and missed 4 days of school, but it wasn't so bad that we lost power or couldn't get to the grocery store.

The next break is coming up in February and we will be travelling again.  We will post after that with lots of photos.  Think giant, ancient triangles.

Greece

Over winter break we were able to get a good deal on round-trip flights to Athens, so we went to Greece for a week.

We arrived in Athens at about 6am on Darren's birthday, December 26th.  We quickly hopped on a train into the city and were in downtown Athens by about 7:30.  We didn't realize that nearly everything would be closed for Boxing Day, so we just walked around most of the day, seeing the sights from afar, browsing the tourist shops, and finally finding our hostel.  The next day we did a bit of sightseeing - the Acropolis and the Agora.

On the morning of the 28th, we took a train to a place in Northwest Thessaly, called Meteora.  We walked a couple miles from the train station to our hotel, which was right under the cliffs.  For the remainder of that day and all the next we hiked around to see the great views and the old monasteries perched on top of the rock spires.

The next stop on our tour was Thessaloniki, where we walked around all day in the freezing cold, looking at Roman ruins and Orthodox churches.

On the way back to Athens for our return flight, we stopped in the city of Larissa.  Larissa was a lot more low-key than the big cities of Athens and Thessaloniki.  Seeing the ancient amphitheater and walking through the weekly street market were highlights.

We arrived back in Athens on the evening of the 31st, and stayed up to see if there would be any fireworks.  We were rewarded for our patience by a brief display over the Acropolis, which we were able to watch from a very windy Mars Hill.  The next day we made our way to the airport and flew home.  Because it was on New Year's Day, they even gave complementary champagne on the plane.  Definitely flying with Aegean Airlines again!