pathetic attempt at day 3 and eventual submission to laziness

Day 3:

So it's official that i won't finish all of these days... but luckily Day 3 is what i would consider a normal enough day that within these three days one could get a general sense of my time in Wadi Rum.

So I woke around the same time, for about the same reasons... the rustling of goats and the rising of the sun. The morning functioned in about the same way as the last, except i was able to make myself more useful in washing the glasses that we would drink tea/milk from, putting away the blankets and mattresses that we slept on, and gathering my belongings without being confused. But before i get to that part, i of course made my way out into the open around the corner to go to the bathroom. Only thing different about this trip was that just as i was finishing up i would get to see a new truck fly by just in the distance, coming from where our camp was. Later i would find out that it was actually Um F's husband who stopped by for a short morning visit (she is one of 4 wives, the other 3 of which are Syrian). When i returned things were working as normal though, Um F collected the milk, people were rising, using the bathroom, praying. I sat and drank tea with milk. I eat some bread and olives with Reeadh and Um R. Um R and Um F are urgent this morning to get a move on with the goats as they have already headed out into the valley and weren't making any hint of waiting.

So I headed out with Um R and Um F, but today was different for the boys. Um R and Um F would let me know that the boys were heading off to "duuwam" (work hours) today, and that they wouldn't be back until sunset. We were to have the whole day by ourselves. So we headed out. First interesting work of the day: watching Um R pick up goat poop and apply it copiously to the utters of a mother goat. She would explain that it was so the baby goats wouldn't drink it and that we could in turn milk the goat in the morning and drink it ourselves. Why hadn't i thought of such an ingenious strategy. Since i was caring the water jug at the time, I was blessed with the role of pouring the water on her hands as she used the sand as her soap. She called the sand the "bedouin soap," something that reminded me of my own camping experiences, using sand as dishwasher detergent for dirty plates and such when all else was amiss. She also praised me for knowing how to pour the right amount of water on her hands in cycles as she would scrub at the remaining feces. Although my initial reaction to such a comment in my mind was "what type of idiot wouldn't know how to conserve water while in the desert by intervalling water dispension" [note i realize that those aren't real words...i have my own vocabulary] it also got me thinking about the expectations Um R had of me. Was i simply a western accustomed to washing my hands under bountiful amounts of rushing water (which i am) or perhaps just the ignorant one? Both would be warranted of course, because i hadn't given them any reason to believe that i knew anything about camping, living in a desert, or living with limited supplies. And the more that i got to know Um R and realized the limited expectations/understanding of the world i came from, i don't feel that it was less of an expectation that a westerner wouldn't understand, but simply that someone who hadn't lived in the desert wouldn't understand. To a large extent i don't think Um R really cared what type of life i lived, what i knew of camping, or how my life compared, I was just someone who had apparently come to learn the "bedouin lifestyle" (as she would explain to her guests) and that was what she was going to show me. So please... dispense accordingly.

We marched along the sand, and conversation between the Um's continued as it had before. Jokes, arguments about where to go, gossip. I noticed Um R's habit of picking up a certain weed that grew, collecting as much as possible and then feeding it to the goats... it's amazing how much food you can make out of what seems like barren land. Conversation also started around the "gula3". As soon as we past the first corner the Um's were explaining to me this place that i could vaguely see out in the distance. They named it the "gula3" (which means fortress/castle i believe) and explained out it was a tourist camp. I was at first confused about them naming it the "gula3," assuming that they had some fantastical notion about how the tourists lived there, and that although just a mere camp, they named is a "gula3" because of the extravagance of the camp in general. Only later once we climbed a nearby mountain side and i got a better view of the camp did i realize that it actually was a fortress... Although i never got close enough to make out what was really going on with that structure, it appeared a newly built castle with an essence of roman/crusader influences in the architecture. Something wretched inside me when i saw it, but then again, i knew that the difference between myself and those tourists i would see off in the distance was only miniscule and probably non-existent to the family i was staying with.... plus i knew that the fortress was locally owned, so how could i really complain about someone getting his daily bread? Obviously the topic needs more discussion than this small paragraph does justice, but just as Um R and Um F left it as a source of enjoyment to joke about, I'll leave it there in the distance.

So we walked over to the next closest mountain. At around 9 we made a brief stop, I laid down in the warmth of the sun that just poked through the clouds (it was cold and cloudy that day... which was made clear to me by the quick and lively comments of "Bared!" (cold!) by Um F that would intiate conversation between us). After a bit Um R prayed. I dozed off momentarily. Then we were up again for a bit, exploring the "fura3" of the mountains (the indentation/cliff things...). Soon enough we made another stop for tea. We had carried two things on this trip, a bag and a water jug. In the bag were the supplies necessary for making tea... bowl for washing dishes, 3 glasses, the pot, the tea, the sugar. Made a quick fire and drank. Then as soon as we were done we were up again and moving around the side of the mountain. After a while, it was decidedly time to go back and make lunch. Um R and I were to walk back together on our own and make lunch while Um F stayed with the goats and made her way over later. Only half way through our 20 minute walk back to camp did Um R venture to ask me (as i was carrying the bag of supplies) "do we have the lighter." The answer was no of course, because Um F keeps it in her bra/ miracle carrier of all random objects. We marched on with the hope that there was the second one around camp, but there wasn't. So we gathered all supplies for making lunch (foods/larger pans/the "markub" (base to place things on over the fire), and of course tea supplies) and headed right back. It was another one of those moments that i was amazed at Um R's strength and stubbornness. She always walked with a limp from the pained right knee she had, but never changed due course because of it. Ultimately she could have waited for Um F to return with the goats and make the lunch then, but i guess that just would've been wasted time. When we returned, Um F was yelling at us asking why we had returned and Um R just shouted back that we didn't have a lighter. There was a brief argument about where the other lighter was when we finally got close enough to have a real conversation, but it was settled quickly, and we sat together to make lunch. I believe it was tomatoes, potatoes, and some salsa made in a stew with some oil/garlic/salt and then eaten with bread. hearty and good. We started to make tea afterwards, but then for some reason decided to move... so I carried the pot full of hot tea to the next location, where we poured the tea out, sat and drank quickly before we started off again. At this time we also stopped carrying our supplies and simply left them next to a bush to be picked up on the way home.

The rest of the afternoon was filled with climbing the side of this mountain. A large proportion also concerned Um F chasing after the goats as they headed aimlessly up one particular branch out of site and stubbornly didn't return to the calls of the Um's. While Um F chased, Um R and i explored a second branch. She was picking up an herb called "SheeH" which they would put in tea or eat straight. I don't know what type of herb it was, but it was tasty, especially in tea, and supposed to be healthy. This was the time at which I also got to have a good real look at the "gula3" that i explained earlier. It was also the same time we saw about 40-60 tourists cross the path we had taken heading to the fortress. Um R had a fun time yelling out at them "suuwaHH!" (tourists!) i think just for the fun of it/ also to point them out to Um F. They were too far away to notice. I thought back to the way that my friends and i viewed tourists at home (living on the outer banks of North Carolina and vehemently hating tourists particularly for their poor driving abilities and presumed general ignorance). Um R seemed to be reveling in the situation at the moment.

After finally rallying the goats, the Um's and I started heading back to camp. It was probably around 5 at this time. We went back to pick up our things and then started the march back. The boys hadn't returned by the time we got back, so we sat around a new fire and drank tea. When the boys came, it was just Reeadh and Ghalib, and only they would remain with us for that night. They brought veggies, food, filtered water for me to drink, and other small supplies. We could a dinner of spinach, veggies, potatoes in a stew and then ate them with bread. Afterwards was followed with time of tea, singing, and gossip. Then setting out of the mattresses... i was still between the Um's and the boys were on the other side of the camp fire.

About the other days:

The other days followed in a very similar manner to this one with one major change to the schedule. The um's and i would take out the goats for the very earliest shift, just for an hour or so. Eventually Reeadh and Ghalib would come up in the truck with things to make lunch, upon which Ghalib would take Um R and I to a second location were we would waste a little time and then start making lunch waiting for Um F and Reeadh to bring the goats at lunch time. Waiting for the herders was filled with napping in the sun, tea drinking, picking herbs, climbing rocks, making lunch, praying, etc.
After lunch i would walk again with the Um's and the goats, while the boys went off in the truck to visit family, go to town, set up camp (or move camp as what happened the last day) and then would reconvene at the campsite for dinner. on the fourth day Um R's children (3 of the 5) came to visit from the town. Her oldest daughter Fatima was engaged and brought her fiance with her... who i also think was her cousin. I had conversations with her about marriage, and Um R made her ask me about my facial creams and also the green liquid that i used at night for my teeth (mouth wash)... all of which she would inspect and reiterate that they could be found here in Jordan as well.

There are many other conversations that were worth note during this trip, but it's time for me to move back into writing about my time here in Amman.