A Week in Kyiv, Ukraine

I would like to welcome my mother Carole Lieberman, to write a guest blog about the week we spent together in Kyiv, Ukraine with my dad Lucien and his Ukrainian cousins. 

Travelling is always interesting and full of new experiences but our recent trip to  Kiev was very special and meaningful. We were warmly welcomed by close family that we had never met.

History has an interesting way of unfolding. My husband Lucien’s father was born in Russia and was 1 of ten children who all reached adulthood. The oldest daughter Sophie immigrated to Canada in 1912, married a homesteader, lived in Rumsey, Alberta and had 5 young children when she was widowed in 1927.

In 1923 Lucien’s grandparents, along with 4 of their children, including Lucien’s father Leo, arrived in Canada and worked as farm labourers in Rumsey where they lived for several years.  Sadly, in 1927, their daughter Lucy, who Lucien was named for, ended her life there at age 25. Shortly after this loss, their other daughter Manya returned to Russia on her own.  And in 1928 the grandparents were determined to return to Russia as well and since they were in their 60’s, they were considered “too old” to travel on their own. Either Lucien’s father Leo or his brother Sam had to accompany them back on the ship to Russia.  Sam travelled with them with every intention of returning to Canada but unfortunately never did.

Since he had a very good command of English, Sam and his sister Manya worked as translators in an international trade organization in Moscow for thiteen years. The war broke out, Sam fought in the Red army, was injured and after the war was considered to be “bourgeois” with western connections and was exiled to the Gulag near the Arctic Circle for 10 years where he was forced to do slave labour.  Sam eventually married, and at the age of 57, he fathered his only son Grisha.  

We always knew about Uncle Sam and cousin Grisha and were told that Grisha lived in Madigan which is closer to Anchorage than to Moscow - it is a 12 hour flight to Kiev.  Years went by without connection and finally in 2016 we learned that Grisha and his wife Svetlana and their 2 children were living in Kiev.  We had our first contact by phone when we were in NY visiting with other Russian relatives and “met” our new cousins on Skype shortly after.  

Their son Stanislaus Lieberman is married, has a 2 year old daughter and is a criminal lawyer in Kiev with a good command of English. 

Tina Karol, their daughter, born Tatiana Lieberman, and affectionately called Tinotchka by family, is a renowned Ukrainian singer and lives nearby in Kiev.  Tina represented Ukraine as Ukraine’s Eurovision candidate in 2006 and has an illustrious career singing and performing around the world in Ukrainian, English and Hebrew.  She is the “face of Ukraine” with billboard ads @ the airport for Huwaei, and many ads for cosmetic companies and more.  Her 10 year old son Veniamin attends school in England but is very close to his beautiful mother and returns to Kiev frequently.  Tragically Tina’s devoted husband Eugeny Ogir, who was her producer, died at age 33 shortly after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer.  

We came to feel very close to our cousins after getting to know them on Skype and plans were quickly made to visit Kiev.  There was no discussion - they insisted that we stay with them in their apartment so that we’d really get to know one another.  It was certainly not our custom to stay with people whom we had never met  in their 2 bedroom apartment for 8 nights!

Grisha speaks a little English and Svetlana would email regularly and thanks to google translate we communicated well.  Days before our departure Svetlana wrote that “they were trembling with anticipation,” as were we.  

Leanne also joined us so that she could share this memorable experience and document the family history.

We were welcomed at the airport with a “Lieberman” sign and the warmest hugs and happiest tears.  Several times everyday Grisha would grab Lucien and kiss him - saying “you are my cousin”.  Since Grisha was born to his father late in life there is an 18 year difference in their ages, but a very strong family connection.  They opened their home to us, made us feel so welcome and fed us traditional Ukrainian food that is so reminiscent of the food that Lucien’s mother served when he was growing up in Calgary.

Our whole week was planned in advance and included not only family visits and meals, but a visit to a wonderful Ukrainian folk dance show in a huge theatre where we were seated in the presidents box, welcomed with a champagne reception, presented with traditional Ukrainian outfits for Vishivanka, a special holiday - all hosted by Tina. Tina’s  private driver drove us to Lavra - a 26 acre monastery where we were taken on a private tour with an English guide.  Lunch was at a fine restaurant where we were taught to make verenikes with the assistance of a restaurant chef in a private cooking class.   

We were welcomed by Tina in her stunning private home and garden, viewed her studio and got a sense of her personal life.  Her fans in Ukraine adore her and surround her when they see her out in public.  Her son was away at school but sent us several videos that he made for us.

With Tina and Grisha waearing traditional Vishivanka shirts for Vishivanka Day.

Kiev is a stunning city with the river Dneiper running through it from one end to the other.  It has beautiful “Kashtana” (chestnut), Acacia & Lilac trees and a number of impressive bridges and view points.  There are many parks, huge squares, interesting architecture, an excellent subway system with the longest escalators imaginable and far too much traffic (propka).  

We also toured Babi Yar, where a famous massacre took place in 1941 and is now a huge memorial park.  

Babi Yar Memorial

Together we watched the inauguration of President Volodymyrska Zelenskiy , a 41 year old Jewish former comedian and watched as Svetlana proudly sang the national anthem.

We visited the Euromaidan, the central square of the city where significant protests took place in 2014 which changed the political orientation westward.  We saw the parliament buildings and Marinsky park that surrounds it.   We toured a fascinating military museum, an old synagogue and were taken to the famous opera house where we thoroughly enjoyed seeing the ballet.

We celebrated our last night with the family at a beautiful restaurant overlooking the river - very fine dining with an excellent playroom where active little 2 year old Vesta played while we dined.  Apparently all fine dining restaurants have complimentary playrooms.  After dinner we had a wonderful heart to heart visit with Tina. 

The climate is warm in Spring but not too hot and the air is often beautifully fragrant  with the scent of Acacia trees, stronger in the morning and in the evening when we all strolled along the river.

We all laughed together when we were offered “BBQ’d Kitchen” and when Grisha confuses the words “us” and “ass”.

Every  moment of every day has been memorable.  We spent several evenings sharing family photos -  photos of them that we brought from home and it was fascinating to see photos of us with our young children, our niece Jill Weinstein and her brothers and other Canadian and American family members in their photo albums that were mailed to them by my in-laws and others before we lost contact.  We laughed, hugged, cried and shared stories often, always with “Grishinke” grabbing and kissing “Lucienke” and proudly  saying “you are my cousin”.   

Svetlana prepared delicious meals daily for us and we would awaken to the smell of kreplach, borscht, haluptsi, cheese latkes, potato pancakes or verenikes cooking and enjoyed eating forshmuk - a chopped white fish salad and more!  

Together Grisha and Lucien sat and ate “shemiskes” aka sunflower seeds that only people who were raised by siblings would enjoy the same way.

We arrived with gifts for our new family and expected to have extra room in our luggage but they sent us off with many Ukrainian gifts and tried to give us a bottle of their delicious Vodka which we had enjoyed drinking with them.

The visit has exceeded our expectations and it is our hope and our dream that we will enjoy many more reunions with our new family.  When we hugged Grisha goodbye and thanked him for everything, he responded - “I am the son of Sam.” 

Israel Part 3: People Instead of Places

Our second week in Israel was about people more than places. We spent Shabbat with my best friend from growing up in Vancouver, Robbie Stocki and her husband Daniel and their kids. Robbie and I have spent time together in Vancouver and Toronto, but I had never seen her house in Modiin, or spent time with her kids. It's amazing to walk into someone's house that you know so well, but live so far apart from, and find out that you have the same cookbooks, wear the same outfits, and have the same gift for each other: a scarf. Our children also instantly started playing together despite not 'getting' each others names. We spent a relaxing Shabbat with the Stockis, and also Robbie's parents, Carol and Peter Oreck who were visiting from Vancouver. Other than my immediate family Carol and Peter have known me longer than anyone, except Robbie. Growing up I spent a lot of time at their house on 37th Avenue, and a trip to Vancouver isn't complete for me without a least a quick hello from Carol. On this visit Carol and Peter also enjoyed getting to know my kids a little better.

 When your kids crash your selfie.

  

Birthday scarves.

 

Yair, Makaio, Dassa and Eden

Leanne, Makaio, Robbie, Yair, Carol, Peter, Daniel and Caramel

The only downside to our Stocki visit is that once Dassa remembered that he could be playing with other kids rather than traveling with his parents, he lost most of his interest in going anywhere or exploring anything. This meant our visit to Tel Aviv had to be more child-friendly than some of our other travels, including lots of beach and park time. Despite this, we saw some lovely parts of Tel Aviv, including the Jaffa area and port, and the gentrifying area of Neve Tzedek. Our trusted guides and host were my cousin Michael Goldberg and his partner Ruth Ish-Horowicz. I hadn't seem Michael since I was last in Israel twenty years ago, but we had been in contact recently because Michael gives excellent

Michael, Ruth and I at Shuk Harcarmel

travel advice. He had suggestions about car rentals,
bus routes, tour sites and even booked our bus  tickets to Jerusalem for us. Ruth kept all entertained with her excellent sense of humour and informed of the royal birth of Archie. She also let Dassa and I play endless renditions of "Hallelujah" on her mother's piano.

In Jaffa with Michael

At Michael and Ruth's I was also able to visit with Michael's sister Karen and my cousin Gilad and his gifrfriend Brit. Michael also took us to visit my grandmother's cousin Libbie at her retirement home. Libbie is 106 years old and moved to Israel at age 99, because she was bored with her Montreal retirement home. (Also her nieces and nephews were

all in Israel). I hadn't seen Libbie since I was child (and I thought she was really old then) but I've been hearing about her for years through my mom and my Israeli cousins. She was thrilled that we came to visit and happily reminisced about my grandparents (who died more than 35 years ago). We also talked about my beloved Bubbie Sophie who  was so kind to me when I was at McGill, and who I used to later visit with my kids when she lived in Vancouver towards the end of her life. 

Now Libbie is mainly blind so she didn't see that Rob had brought his guitar on the off chance that she would like a concert, but other residents did, and they asked that Rob play in their common area. Rob played a few old songs for them, which the residents enjoyed. And Rob once again won the Best Husband Ever award. 


We were also in the Tel Aviv/Modiin area for Yom Hazikaron (Israeli Remembrance Day) and Yom Ha'atmaot (Israeli Indpendence Day). On Yom Hazikaron the country mourns all the Israeli soldiers who have died in the service of Israel. I watched the ceremony on TV and found it heartbreaking to the point where I had to turn away. However Dassa did offer a moment of levity (as he does) by popping out of his bedroom during one of the songs, and asking if we were watching the Eurovision contest. Israel is

Watching Indepence fireworks

hosting Eurovision this year and we've heard all about it, and how much everyone loves to hate it. Dassa did get his share of  Eurovision at the Independence Day celebration we went to in Rabin Square the next night in Tel Aviv. After a day of mourning, the country turns to celebration with concerts, fireworks,plastic toys and lots of bbq. We were treated to a program of dancing and Eurovision hits throughout the ages. Although my family didn't know most of the music (except for the one French song) it was fun to be surrounded by happy people singing along to Dana International and Netta, among others. 


Our final Shabbat was spent back with the Stockis, where we ate some more, walked the dog, and then ate some more. Actually we went on one tiul

Eating blue and white marshmallows

(field trip) with Robbie and her family to The Ayalon Institute, a munitions factory. That's right, a munitions factory. I was highly suspect of this idea at first, and wondered what the heck Robbie was thinking, but it turned out to be a fascinating piece of history. So, it's a museum where bullets were secretly produced during the period leading up to the War of Independence in 1948 when the Jews in British Palestine weren't allowed to manufacture weapons. I know a lot of you are thinking that this still doesn't sound like the kind of place I'd be into, but I was fascinated by the story of a group of young Zionists who were asked to put their lives on the line and secretly work in this cleverly engineered underground factory. This was shortly after the Holocaust, when Jews weren't welcome in many other countries. It's also before the Nakhba (what the Palestinians call the creation of the state of the Israel) and the complicated fallout of creating a Jewish state on a place that was also important to other cultural groups. Perhaps I'm being a bit romantic, but I was moved by these young idealists willing to put themselves in danger for their beliefs. 

In other news we are coming home soon: June 4th! How do we feel about this? Rob and Makaio would be happy to keep traveling forever, I'm looking forward to the final leg of our trip in France, but also to coming home. And Dassa, he was ready to go home about three weeks ago!

Adventures at the Dead Sea: the good, the bad and the smelly

Sometimes its difficult to go back to a place you really love after a long time. When we first arrived in Israel I found Jerusalem so different and modern that I wasn't sure I would enjoy being there. Then Rob started telling people what to do, or perhaps what not to do on the train, and I thought, oh yeah, I know this place. 

For better or worse, but mainly worse, The Dead Sea is greatly changed since I last visited 20+ years ago. To put our visit in perspective, let me first descrbibe my visit to the area in 1994. 

After only a few weeks in Israel I took the bus myself into the desert, while the rest of the my Hebrew University fellow students were on a noisy group trip. I started by hiking at the Ein Gedi Nature Reserve, which is across the highway from the Dead Sea. At the entrance gate I met a fellow hiker who wore only short-shorts and leather sandals. The only thing covering his chest was his waist-length thick curly hair and a tiny water bottle over his shoulder. He greeted me by saying, "We meet in the desert - it is a beautiful thing! Come, we go together." And so I followed this strange (and very beautiful) Israeli man through the hottest hiking conditions I'd ever experienced along a stream to a waterfall. 

After I said good-bye to the half-naked Israeli I crossed the road and entered the Dead Sea. I'm sure you all know how the high salt content makes you super buoyant. What you may not know is that if you swim in the summer it feels like bathing in hot salad dressing. It also stings terribly if you have any cuts, and I had tripped while jogging on French Hill the day before and couldn't put my hands in the water. 

By sunset that day I had a raging sunstroke-related headache. Luckily I met another traveler at my hostel, a German man, who gave me oral rehydration salts. When I asked about the pictures of babies on the package, he replied that the salts "were for Egyptian babies, but they would work on Canadian babes too." 

Fast forward 25 years and the Dead Sea is a bold example of human mismanagement of the environment. The Dead Sea has been shrinking five to eight meters per year for the past 100 years ever since the British started measuring the water levels a hundred years ago. The main reason is because the waters of the Jordan River that feeds it are diverted for agriculture. While I expected it to be smaller than it used to be, but I didn't know that the land surrounding the sea is mined with sink holes. Much of the shoreline is both dangerous and closed. There is no more beach at Ein Gedi, and there are only two areas for swimming, one where you have to pay, and another surrounded by large hotels. I don't think I've ever returned to somewhere I enjoyed and found it so destroyed. 

I think it was good thing that we had seen the sea on our way to Jerusalem, so we knew what to expect during our two days there because despite the degradations, the Dead Sea is still an amazing place. The hills on the Jordanian side are a misty pink and purple and the water glimmers unlike other bodies of water. 

For our current visit to the sea The Liebersmiths all agreed that we did not want to pay to bathe in the sea, nor were we keen on big hotel resorts. So we found a place to park along the highway, saw where some other people were navigating the pits, and headed about a kilometre through a garbage-strewn landscape down to the sea. The beach at this point was unlike anything we'd seen in Jerusalem. There were naked people coating themselves in mud, people playing guitars in makeshift tents, and nudies floating in the sea. (The nudity was startling because there are so many religious people in Jerusalem who dress very modestly. The nudies must have been from Tel Aviv ;).  The mud of the Dead Sea is supposed to be really good for your skin and and the nudies were coating ALL of themselves. Since we're obsessed with skin protection and all wear swim shirts we didn't have much skin to coat.

So what did the boys think of The Dead Sea? Makaio thought it was boring and smelly. Dassa liked it, but wanted to shower off the second he got out. And Rob? He was ecstatic. Apparently he doesn't float in regular water, and being buoyant was a first for him.  I was happy that since it was still spring the water wasn't hot. I was also happy that Rob enjoyed himself so much, but I'd say given the garbage and hot weather our family mud bath back in Vietnam was preferable. (And this is saying something!)

The following day we went to Masada, the biggest tourist attraction in Israel. Masada is an ancient fortification on top of a mesa-like rock plateau in the middle of the Judean Desert. It's famous because it was the last stronghold of the Jews during the Roman era when the second temple fell. A last group of rebel Jews hid up on this mountain, and when it became clear the Romans would breach their stronghold, they preferred to commit suicide rather than be taken slaves. Masada is an amazing archeological site, and a huge symbol of Jewish freedom in Israel. Every school child is taken there at some point and every Jewish tourist usually gets there too. Somehow I had never been during the 18 months I lived in Israel in the 90's, so I was excited to go. 

I didn't take this picture, but I've included to give an idea of this amazing structure.

Alas, Masada for the Liebersmiths was not a great cultural or archeological moment, but the site of The Great LieberSmith Family Meltdown. For three months prior to this we had enjoyed almost every moment of constant family togetherness. There had been moments of unbrotherly love, parental discordance, and pleasestopthatnow, but mostly we hiked, snuggled and enjoyed each other's company while piling into tiny tuktuks in Sri Lanka, or eating amazing food in Vietnam. However, Masada was hot, the kids were done with museums, archeological sites and anything educational, plus we were all getting over our virus. (Actually this was the day I was most sick.) A child decided to imagine fighting off the Romans by dropping small pebbles over the side of Masada. A brother thought this was very funny, resulting in a  parent who rarely gets upset (obviously not me) getting VERY angry. This parent decided he needed to be away from his children for a little while and explored on his own for awhile. The kids were unused to the parent being angry with them, and were miserable. Unfortunately the parent also accidentally took all our water with him, and left me to tour with two very unhappy and thirsty children. 


When we regrouped, we had a very quiet lunch in the underground parking lot - not the most scenic of spots.
 
 This is us pre Family Meltdown.

And here are some unhappy children

checking out the view post meltdown. The square bit in the distance is the remains of one of the Roman camps. 

 This is me pretending to feel great!

Lastly, here is the incredible view from Masada. You can see the cable car lines that lead to the top of the mountain. The cable car is itself an engineering marvel.

Our afternoon was much more successful. We bribed the kids into hiking at Ein Gedi with promises of waterfalls. Once they got going, the loved hiking through the streams and swimming in their clothes at the waterfall. Ein Gedi has been kept as beautiful as it was twenty years ago, and we passed numerous oryx on our way through the rocks. Makaio felt, unsurprisingly, as freaked out about the oryx as he was about donkeys, but the rest of us liked seeing them. 

The following are pictures of the hike. You start in this incredibly dry valley and it looks like there couldn't possibly be water. 

Then you find yourself walking beside a stream that seems to have etched itself into the rocks. You can either walk on the path or through the water. 

 

Then you arrive at this beautiful waterfall where you get to really cool off. We are actually sitting on the bottom of the pool in this picture, but pretending we were floating like we did at the Dead Sea. Not pictured in this shot is some of the other people who were hiking: a young couple from Florida taking pin-up photos, and a large religious family bathing fully dressed, even wearing their leather dress shoes. Israel is a place for ALL kinds.  

 This is me post waterfall dip. You can see the beautiful plants that cling to the oasis, as well as my very flushed face. I'm happy to report that I did not get heat stroke this visit.

Jerusalem

Yesterday a man I met at our guesthouse explained that Israel is so new and modern because they are building the country for the Moshiach. This was a bit of a conversation stopper. Moshiach, for those of you not familiar with this term, means the Messiah. And this pretty much sums up Israel for me: the country has greatly modernized in the twenty years since I was last here with super highways, gentrified neighbourhoods, and lots of very religious people. I swear, I was the only woman under fifty in Jerusalem without five children under the age of five and a massive stroller.

 It was with great excitement that we arrived in Jerusalem (more than a few weeks ago.) I had lived here as a student in 1994, and then again in 1999. Despite many complicated political feelings about Israel, I was also besieged with nostalgia to be back. Last time I was here I was a student, first at Hebrew University, and then at Pardes, a Jewish learning institute. Then, I was uncertain how my life was going to turn out, especially in 1998 when I was a yeshiva wannabe in love with non-Jewish Rob. Coming back twenty years later, I was excited to show the kids the city, and to have them experience a Jewish country. 

Alas, our week in Jerusalem was not without minor mishap. We all had a flu-like virus during the week which affected us on different days. Rob missed our initial visit to the Old City and the Tower of David Museum. He also looks miserable in all pictures from the shuk. Dassa was too sick to go to the Israel Museum and missed out on the cool synagogues from around the world, the sculpture garden and The Dead Sea Scrolls. Makaio fell apart in the middle of the Old City, surrounded by Christian tourists, somewhere near the Via Dolorosa. I succumbed last, and was mostly miserable during our time at the Dead Sea. (More on that in another post.) Suddenly, my very gung-ho group of travelers, eager to see the sites and climb another mountain, really just wanted to be at home and watch whatever was on TV. Luckily, "home" in Jerusalem was a lovely small apartment conveniently located close to the shuk (the market), the Old City, and the Ben Yehuda and Jaffa shopping areas. We had two coffee shops right outside our front door, and one morning there was even an art market on our pedestrian-only street. Everyone was very happy to eat at home after more than two months of eating in restaurants, especially for breakfast.

Despite various people feeling sick on different days, Jerusalem was still amazing. I have traveled to many different countries, and I firmly believe that Jerusalem is the most interesting place to visit. I love the archeological history, the Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites, the beautiful Jerusalem stone, and the cross section of population that lives there.

 We spent a lot of time exploring the Old City, and went on two archeological tours. I was particularly interested in our tour of the tunnels that go under the Arab quarter of the Old City. Those of you who have been to Israel will be familiar with the following description, but for readers who aren't familiar with Jerusalem, I shall explain. 
 

View of the plaza in front of the Kotel from the sky bridge that leads to the Temple Mount

The beautiful Dome of the Rock, on the Temple Mount. Unfortunately non-Muslims can no longer enter to see the rock where Mohammed ascended to heaven.

The most holy site in Jerusalem is the Kotel, with is part of the Western wall that surrounded the Temple Mount where Jews went to offer sacrifices to God back in the day before the temple was destroyed in 70CE. The Kotel, or The Western Wall, is where many Jews go to pray, and where some people also put prayers in the cracks of the walls. Only part of the Kotel is exposed, as much of the temple mount extends into the Arab Quarter. In the 20 years since I've been to Israel, they've excavated under the Arab quarter, exposing the wall and other architecture such as pools, cisterns and a market place from the Roman period. (In case you are wondering, this excavation was not a popular political move with Muslims.)

Dassa falling apart at Jaffa Gate, Jerusalmen

 

In the City of David, near Robinson Arch. Dassa was falling apart, but the other two had mostly recovered by this point.

Another highlight of our trip to Jerusalem was seeing my Israeli family. When I was a student in the 90's, I was warmly welcomed by Steven and Ahuva, and I even lived with them for a short time on my second visit. I had seen Steve on several of his visits to Canada in recent years, but I hadn't seen Ahuva in a very long time. We were invited to their house for the end of Passover and Shabbat meals, which was really lovely. Their kids, who were pre-teens last time I visited, are now all grown up. It was also the first time for them to meet my kids.

Noa, Steve, Ahuva, me, Anat and Dassa

A lot of our time in Jerusalem was during either the end of the Passover holiday, or Shabbat. This made for a very quiet, peaceful time, which we all enjoyed, especially after some of the chaos and busy-ness of Vietnam and Sri Lanka. Many, many people in Jerusalem don't drive on the holidays or Shabbat and the streets cleared of traffic. Everyone was dressed in their holidays clothes, either walking to see family and friends, going to and from shul, or enjoying the park. I went back to the shul I used to go to when I was a student Pardes, and despite all the changes in Jerusalem, a lot of things were the same. I was still in synagogue alone (the rest of my family was under the weather) there were the same Carlebach tunes I both love and struggle with (Carlebach has a mixed reputation) and as a bartender put it, "the situation (referring to the political situation) is the same."

There was some shopping done in Jerusalem, including a bar mitzvah tallit for a child who despite studying diligently throughout our whole trip, refused to even enter the store, let alone try on the tallis. (This is a prayer shawl that the child will wear at his bar mitzvah, and as an adult.) Luckily, I am married to the greatest non-Jewish husband, who not only is happy to visit Israel, but will even try on the tallis for me. 

  Here are some pics from a walk we took through Jerusalem, outside of the old city. 

Jordan

After twenty years Rob and I are excited to be back in the Middle East! 

We began this next leg of our journey last week in Amman, Jordan. Although I'd only visited Jordan briefly many years ago, the climate and geography was similar enough to Israel that I was instantly swamped with a sense of nostalgia. I remembered the cypress and olive trees, the hilliness of Amman and Jerusalem and the particular quality of daylight of Israel in the early spring after the winter rains and before the really hot weather. It was lovely to be back in a more temperate climate after the heat wave of Sri Lanka. 

We spent our first day in Jordan in Jerash, a Roman ruin an hour north of Amman. The kids and I had watched a few videos about the wide reach and amazing building skills of the Romans before we left Sri Lanka and were exciting to actually see Roman ruins. Jerash is an amazing site, and much more vastly excavated than when I visited twenty years ago. Rob's favourite place was the hippodrome, but the kids and I were fascinated with the theaters, the giant meeting circle, and the cardo, which is a colonnaded road that stretches for more than 800 meters. You can also see the remains of baths, churches, fountains and many statues. The most amazing part of the cardo is that you can still see the wheel ruts on the stones from where the carts ran and manhole covers over the sewer system. The cardo road also had sidewalks,which is much more sophisticated than many places I've traveled recently. 

 

One other lovely part of Jerash that the entire site was covered with beautiful wild flowers, including poppies.

As you might imagine, we did a lot of walking that day, and a lot of climbing of stairs. Jerash is the kind of place you don't realize how much walking you are doing, until you wake up with sore legs the next day. According to my phone we walked 12.5 km and climbed 34 flights of stairs. 

Our second day in Jordan we attempted to explore Amman, but hail and heavy rain made this challenging. We briefly saw the Citadel, a Roman ruin, but spent most of our time in the museum. This was interesting (and dry). The kids were fascinated and horrified by the engraving on this 8th century brazier (to the right). A brazier is a kind of holder for coals or fire to cook over and the kids were perplexed as to why naked people would be on a cooking device. One of the MANY questions I don't have an answer for yet. Makaio added photos of the brazier, and of other naked statues from the museum, to his folder of 'naked people statutes' on his phone. 

The remainder of our day was spent traveling to Petra three hours south. It was a a windy, cold and rainy, afternoon, and we were happy not to be exploring. We arrived in Petra to the news of the bombings in Sri Lanka, and many emails from friends and family inquiring about our safety. We were extremely saddened that Sri Lanka, after ten years of peace, should experience this kind of senseless violence. Luckily no one we knew was directly harmed by the bombings, but it was hard to get the images of places we had visited just days before being subject to such violence. We are also still trying to understand the anti-religious violence that seems to be unfolding around the world. 

Our third day in Jordan was spent in Petra. In 1994 when I visited it actually snowed in Jordan and Petra closed the second day we visited due to flood warnings. I remember huddling in my hostel room with my roommate Rachel and some other friends for warmth. This visit, even though it was April, it was a frosty 3 degrees Celsuis when we woke up and the kids were happy to wear the long underwear they've been carting in their packs for the last 2.5 months. They were also amused to see their breaths in the air. (Our hotel, although not much fancier than my 90's hostel, was heated.) 

In 1994 there were maybe a couple hundred people exploring Petra on the day I visited. Not so now! I was told 14,000 people visit everyday and there is no low season. This is A LOT of people. (This seems to be the trend of our travels- the world is a lot more crowded than it used to be, and a lot more people travel.) Crowded or not, it was still thrilling to walk the downhill slope into Petra through the narrow canyon called the Siq and see the first views of the treasury. 

The Treasure- with tourists in the way of my shot

Petra is a fantastic archaeological site, with Nabatean carvings cut into the red rock. It is vastly more excavated than it was 20+ years ago, with many later sites from the Roman and Byzantine era. The boys had watched a National Geographic documentary back in Kingston before we left (I think I watched it too, but possibly I was sleeping, or frantically booking flights and buying insurance), and they had much to tell us about the ancient Nabateans, and especially their use of water that enabled them to create their desert oasis. They also had lots to say about the different styles of carvings,and took great joy in being able to differentiate between Greek, Roman and Nabatean carvings. 

View from somewhere up high that we climbed- a lot of steps! 

Petra is an enormous site and not only did we walk from one amazing carved site to another, we also climbed up many sets of stairs, wandered up different rock formations, and explored for hours. Makaio and I didn't last as long as Rob and Dassa who hiked up to the farthest point- the monastery. 

Oh yeah, Petra was also memorable because we discovered that Makaio is oddly scared of donkeys, of which there were many in Petra. (He's also not fond of camels, especially their lips which flap when they run.) Apparently this is part of a larger fear of barnyard animals, which I am blown away by because for years (literally years!) I've listened to him monologue about barnyard characters he's made up, and been forced to listen to songs about Moo-moo and Buck-Buck-Chicken. Dassa took great joy in making hee-haw noises for days after finding out about this fear, and I can't say anyone stopped him.  

Our final day in Jordan was spent exploring Wadi Rum by jeep safari. I was a little uncertain about this, but it was more fun than anticipated. Wadi means valley, and for two hours we zipped around to various sites in the beautiful desert. We stopped to admire a red sand area where The Martian and other films were shot, ran up and down sand dunes, saw ancient hieroglyphics, drank sweet tea in a Bedouin tent, checked out some tourist camels and visited the site where Lawrence of Arabia fought in the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Turks. It's also where the movie Lawrence of Arabia was filmed.  

Those are camel behinds in the background.

The little people on the rocks are the kids. 

Our final afternoon was spent in Aqaba, which is on the Red Sea. The beach isn't particularly nice there, but the kids were fascinated that you could see Eilat so clearly from Jordan. We spent a lot of time looking at maps and showing them how short the Jordanian coastline is compared to the Egyptian one, and where Israel was. We also ate some excellent food in Aqaba, which after the ruins, and the lovely people we met, was one of the best parts of our quick trip to Jordan. 


In Amman we ate in a local restaurant and enjoyed matabal, (eggplant salad), fattoush (a cucumber and tomato salad with baked pita chips), mansaf which is a kind of upside down casserole of lamb, potatoes and tomato sauce, and chicken with pitas and onions. It was all delicious! Although we enjoyed Sri Lankan food, the end of our stay was during the Sri Lankan new year and all restaurants, except at our hotel were closed, and we ate a lot of tourist fare: pizza, spaghetti, and chicken sandwiches. So, it was with great excitement that we had falafel for breakfast (with french fries!) and pita and hommis and mixed grill for dinner. Rob and I also had amazing Turkish coffee with cardamon and very sweet mint tea, plus my absolute favourite: za'atar on pita. Makaio was excited about a giant bag of dates we purchased (and are still working our way through), and everyone enjoyed baklava as well as hareeseh, a cake made of semolina. 

There was only one aspect to Jordan that I didn't enjoy. Every hotel we booked was close to a mosque that blasted the 4:30 am call to prayer with great gusto. This made for a lot of very early mornings and not a a lot of sleep. It was with some exhaustion, but also excitement that we arrived in Israel last week. I have lots to share about our week in Jerusalem in a future post.