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Published: December 1st 2005
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Cappadocia
Scott on the left and Lewis on the right Shalom,
I know I whine a lot about pricing, largely in the internet form, so to keep with tradition, its expensive and so this might be a little brief. However, we also know I tend to get carried away when story telling, so who really knows where this will go!
So, quick thing back in Cappadocia. It snowed! And, if we all remember our scriptures books we will remember the passage, "And the Snow God said, 'wherever 2 or more canadians are gathered, there, snowball fights will be.'" Now, me being the pacifist that I am, I naturally had nothing to do with all the youthful shananigans of my fellow travelers and...well...ok, i did a little. I'm sorry dad. But it was all in good fun. There was 4 canadians (aren, Scott , me and Lewis ) and a german who learned the ways of the cold white north quite fast, and we were all on a day tour that took us many places. One such place was the Ihlara gorge which was absolutely beautiful...or so they say. We were conversely much more concerned with where the next
Camil front and center
the generosity was amazing from this guy. ball of snow was to be thrown from and such. What can I say, we had fun.
Oh, and also in turkey, I had heard much about a turkish shave (Iain be very jealous) and so I got one. But it wasn't just a shave, oh no! Also included in the delightful 1 dollar package was a head, back, and hand massage...delightful indeed! It was really nice...just thought I'd gloat.
On to Syria which was fabulous. Maybe I'll write more another time, but for now I'll just share 2 things.
1) Before our bus left from Aleppo to Hama, Aren sat down in (what he thought was) his seat which was next to a guy named Camil. Camil is a nice, plump, elderly syrian who spoke a little english and naturally said what he could to aren before aren got kicked out of his seat and sent somewhere else. Now, normally one would not think much of such an encouter, BUT, upon arriving in Hama, Camil came to us and 1)offered us a ride in his cab (which, I don't exactly know how kind it was of him seeing as how there were 4 large fellows - yes i'm
considered large - aren, me, Peter (6'6 tall swede, you remember him right?) and Camil and Deborah all in a geo metro...anyways) 2)gave us food and tea and 3)a place to sleep at his house! We knew nothing about him and vice versa and yet he invited us into his house and put us up for the night...it was amazing!
2)In Damascus, Peter, Aren, Deb, and I, were finishing up our dinner at a restaraunt when the guy at the next table over engaged small talk with us, that, within maybe 2 minutes, resulted in him inviting us to go with him to meet some of his friends and go to a Hammam-ish sort of thing. This chance encouter resulted in a ridiculously expensive spa treatment all payed for, food, tea...basically a nights festivities, and all for no better reason than they are a generous people group...again, it was amazing!
More things happened in Syria, but those stories will have to wait. As for now, Aren, Deb and I said goodbye to Peter after 3 and half weeks of traveling with him (always a sad occasion. One would think that after meeting the amount of incredible people that I have and resultingly, had to say goodbye to, I would be getting good at the whole scenario, but no) and said hello to the home of the three monotheistic religions, Jerusalem! Its really strange but I'm actually experiencing a little culture shock here after being in Turkey and then Syria. Its a little hard to explain except that it feels almost like home and after being where I've been, its just completely different.
Anyways, I've rambled for long enough.
I hope all is well on this first of December and you all remember to save a little eggnog for a weary traveler come the 22.
Much love and affection,
Jordan
PS We had to pass through Jordan to get to Israel, and I just have to say that, nowhere have I received such a warm welcome from the customs agents
"Jordan"
"yes, thats me"
"...Jordan! Welcome to Jordan!! *hehehehehheheheheheh*"
it happened like 6 times in a course of minutes.
thank you and goodnight
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