“Adventure is worthwhile in itself.” Amelia Earhart
After playing for your sympathy about how busy my day would be in the office today, all I needed to do this morning was to complete the Day 3 lesson plan, make arrangements to go to the Dead Sea tomorrow, and meet with Cassie for coaching on how to complete the invoice and expense reports for this trip. At 9:30 or so, almost everyone left the office on a bus to go to a World Water Day conference. So the office has been very very quiet- what a change! It certainly made creating a lesson plan a lot easier!
I am planning to go to the Dead Sea tomorrow. Omar, Abu Rashad’s nephew, will pick me up at the hotel at 10 a.m. He is charging me 50 JD for the round trip.
We’ll get to the Dead Sea by 11 and I’ll stay until 3 or so. Mona had suggested that I consider spending the night or at least getting a day room at one of the hotels, to save money and to ensure I had somewhere to shower and rest.
However, Mamoud told me all I need to do is get a voucher at the Marriott Hotel (for 40 JD) that will give me access to the beach, shower, lunch, changing room, beach chair and towel, etc.
I had been thinking I might not go, because, to tell you the truth, I’m very tired. But Mona assured me that the Dead Sea was a perfect place to go, because it is very restful to float in the water and then sit on the beach. She advised me not to stay in the Sea more than 10 minutes and several people have cautioned me NOT to put my face in the water. So I won’t.
She also suggested that I use the Marriott spa and take advantage of their services. For example, to get a massage (just not from the Korean masseur that Richard goes to, because he really pounds your body!) I’ve only been to a spa once in my life and, to tell you the truth, I could take it or leave it.
A massage sounds very appealing, but since I have some degeneration in my neck, the wrong move could easily end up hurting a nerve. So clearly I’ve already decided against a massage! Now, if they do a foot massage, I think that might be terrific (having never had one before). I’ll go and I’ll see what’s what. Or I’ll simply stay by the water and go for a walk.
She discussed the fact that, due to the decrease in tourism, the hotels at the Dead Sea have really hiked their rates. When her husband, Richard, went there to go bicycling and wanted to simply leave his car in their parking lot, he had to pay 50 JD.
She was surprised when I told her that Abu Rashad was charging me 50 JD for the trip, because she remembered it as being 25 JD. However, since the government took away whatever kept the gas prices low, gas has almost doubled in price. So the increase in the taxi fare makes perfect sense.
To show you how gracious folks are, when I tried to call Abu Rashad back to schedule the trip to the Dead Sea, I inadvertently called Mohammad, our office driver. He was perfectly willing to come in his own car and drive me there- until I realized, when he said: “It makes me happy to do it, Madame Deborah” that I had reached him rather than Abu. What a sweetheart! And no, obviously I’m not going to take advantage of his generosity. He has two little girls at home, plus a pregnant wife, and he needs all of the weekend time he can get!
May your learning be sweet.
Deborah
