Umm Qais, Madaba and Dhiban

I went north last weekend to the ruins of Umm Qais, which overlook the Sea of Galilee. With its fantastic views, the site is a popular spot for Palestinians to look westward longingly. Seriously, several large families were there at the bluffs to gaze out and remember from whence they came.

But, of course, I was more interested in the Roman ruins. The site is in need of some clean up, but there were plenty very neat things for me to geek out about. The theatre and its surrounding columns were crafted from dark basalt, something I had never seen before, which gave the structures an imposing look. The stones of roads were worn and warped from years of chariots and carts going over them. Toppled columns bore markings (see the Delta-2 below) from ancient engineers detailing how to assemble them. 1800 years later, archaeologists are using these same markings to reassemble them. The columns were also used to form the walls of later homes, which must put archaeologists in a dilemma. Which age do you restore the site to? The site was also littered with bunkers, gun turrets and foxholes from the 67 war. Towers still man soldiers. With high ground and access to water, the location was as key in Roman times as it is in present day.

Later in th eday, I headed sound of Amman to the Christian city of Madaba. Besides for pork, the city is famous for mosaics, namely a map that was constructed on the floor of a church after the Islamic revolution. A Rosseta Stone of sorts, it told where ancient cities lay while revealing that powerful Christians lasted longer than expected in the Middle East.

I lastly dropped off my sister in Dhiban, the grand capital of the Moabite kingdom (ancient rivals of the Israelites). It is mostly yet to be unearthed. In fact, its basically a back water village with mountain of dirt next to it, but maybe, just maybe, in ten years, there will be a reason to come to Dhiban.

Leaving Iraq for home sweet Amman

Iraq was a an isolating experience.  I would wake up,  go to work, get lunch, go to work, go to dinner, go running and go to sleep.  In between, there would be walking in a 115 degree dust storm.  There were a few moments of interest.  Hugh, my co-worker, and I ventured out of the Embassy for lunch once to Freedom Chinese Restaurant across the street.  A dusty Chinese restaurant in a trailer, Freedom employed two Chinese waitresses who came to Iraq on year-long contracts.  They hated it there, but their Iraqi employer took their passports so they couldn't run away.  They called Hugh who speak Chinese once a week, but otherwise had no contact with anyone who spoke their language.

I got to tour the old stadium where Saddam would make his speeches.  The entrance has a memorial to the "victory" over the Iranians in the Iran-Iraq War.  The monument is in disrepair and one of the hands fell or was torn off.  Its a brutal memorial with hundreds of Iranian helmets at the base of the monument.  Speed bumps in are made with the helmets as

 well.  We then went through the dust storm to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a very modern and now spooky place, especially in the fog of a dust storm.  We then went to the Tigris to the see the 10 feet grass.

Getting out of Iraq, though, was fairly exciting.  I took a helicopter for the first time, spent the night at Sully Air Force Base and then took one of those military planes where we're all strapped in sideways back to Amman.  The safety instruction was literally screamed in 5 seconds.  "In these bags are the air masks.  Use them if we lose pressure!"  It was all very surreal.

Back in sweet Amman with its cool evenings and blue skies.  I can't say I'll miss Iraq, a land of T-walls and dust.  Sadly, I have to go back in a little over a month.

Iraq

My MilAir flight was cancelled due to a sandstorm, but I was able to get myself booked on a UN flight the next day.  From 6 pm, I sat at the airport with some very tough, but jocular chain-smoking Norwegians.  A couple hours and a couple packs later, we were off for Baghdad.  The sunset over Amman from the air was unreal.  They’ve been so striking that I wonder if sunsets will always remind me of Jordan.

And then it was surreal.  Just surreal.  We landed at Sully air force base and were released so freely into what seemed like wartime action from an army flick.  Helicopters roared from all sides.  Seas of fully armored and fully armed soldiers headed…somewhere…back and forth at double time.  And it was sandy.  Horribly and hellishly sandy.  You could feel it in the air, on your skin and in your lungs.  It was a fine and dry sand that I can only compare to baby powder.  It covered everything like dust on the furniture in a century old house.

A jolly and plump chain-smoking man in a trailer fitted us for armor and helmets and soon we were quickly off for the Stryker compound where we would wait.  This speed greatly disappointed one the Norwegians who was looking forward to hitting the Taco Bell, as we had all skipped dinner.  We made it to Stryker around 11, where some soldiers played Monopoly and others slept in impossibly upright positions.  I helped myself to an MRE ration and awaited the arrival of the Rhino.  The MRE’s spaghetti and cherry cobbler weren’t horrible, but I don’t have to eat them every day.

The legendary Rhino comes at unexpected times in the night to take good little boys and girls to the Green Zone.  Sometime between midnight and dawn, it is scheduled to make its trip (this is for security reasons).  And at 2:45 am, it came.  I suppose I should count my blessings.

The Rhino was like that armored van from Dawn of the Dead or that other armored van from Land of the Dead (for some reason my mind is on zombie movies).  We slowly made our way down horribly bumpy roads to Baghdad’s downtown.  I was so tired, I couldn’t make out anything.  I think I too was gaining the ability to sleep upright.  I just saw trees, sand and checkpoints.  At 4:30 am, I made it to my room.  Next time, I need to take the helo.