January 5, 2002 — Mudeif Productions

We spent the morning at Jerash, the Roman ruins in one of the old cities of the Decapolis, Gerase. The Jordanian government is working to restore much of the place, and have done an incredible job. The triumphal arch of Hadrian, the Hippodrome (seating 15,000), the central plaza and streetway (which had a sewer system running below it!), the Coliseum (seating 3,000)...Marthame had been here before in 1993, but it was Elizabeth's first time. It'll warrant a return visit, since there's simply too much to see in one sweep - can't wait to go to Petra, too.

We then headed up north, our soundtrack a mixed tape of Christmas songs - everything from a cover of the Chipmunks' Christmas Song to hymns sung by the famous Lebanese singer Fairuz. Our destination was the region around 'Ajloun and the magnificent 'Ajloun Castle. It was built as a defense against the Crusaders, and is quite the forbodeing structure overlooking the valley around. Like our earlier visit to Khirbet al-Wahadni, we could look in the distance over to the West Bank.

Our late lunch was our now familiar favorite, maqlube. We joined our hosts for Mass at one of Amman's Latin parishes for worship. Since the majority of society is Muslim, the work week is molded around the Muslim week. Sunday, thus, is a work day, and so Saturday night Mass often is the major worship service of the week for the community.

We spent the evening visiting more of the Zababdeh diaspora before we picked up our (now) healthy computer. Il-hamdulillah! Many are predicting snow (!) tonight.