Finally some pictures

Hey everyone. Thank you to all the people who have posted comments, or sent emails. You don't know how much something that simple means to me. Most of the time I don't feel homesick, mostly because I manage to stay exceptionally busy. But nevertheless it is very comforting and encouraging just to hear from my friends.
I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. As it turns out I got to go camping Friday. My roommate and a friend of mine went up north to a place called Umm Quais. It is an ancient Roman city. At the time of Christ it was one of the cities of the Decapolis. It was almost completely destroyed (as were most of the ancient sites in this area) by a major earthquake in the middle ages. After seeing the ancient ruins we took the packs and headed into the hills to try and find a nice camp site. My roommate has never been camping in the mountains/forest, so I figured I better teach him. We had a great time and got to see some really neat stuff (we also almost got in trouble with the army, because we were 'trespassing' on military land, which was only an issue because Umm Quais is only about 2 km from the border with Israel).

This is picture of the main Roman road that used to run through the middle of Umm Quais. The original name of the city was called Gadara. If that name sounds familiar, it should.

This is a picture of the ancient city center. Originally the was a large state building and courtyard with a giant statue on this site.

This my friend Dylan, my roommate, Ihab, and me at the campsite. We walked about two hours across the mountains/hills to find a nice little grove of pine trees where we set up camp.

This final picture is a view looking north west towards Israel. The valley in the forefront of the picture is the border with Israel. To the North East (not in the picture) about 15 km is the Golan Heights. The lake is called the lake of Tiberias, but better known to us as the Sea of Galilee. Nearly 2000 years ago there was a village called Gadara built here, and somewhere near the shores of this lake lived a madman, who spent his days in torment and anguish. He had no home, save the graveyard in which he resided. No friends, save the cold, silent tombs. Many nights he spent in chains of iron, which eventually he would break. But never could he break the chains with which Satan had bound him. He lived a life of hopelessness.
But one day, a day which seemed like every other day, a man came to the shore and entered the deserted graveyard. He was a man like he had never seen before...perhaps he was more than just a man. When the possessed saw this Man he ran towards and fell at his feet, and the devil within cried out, "What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high?". Then something happened to this man who had been a slave to Satan longer than he could remember...he felt the spiritual chains come off and for the first time he felt freedom, true freedom. As he lifted up his eyes from the dusty ground he saw only Jesus. And realizing who is was who set him free he requested only that he might be allowed to stay with him, but Jesus responded '"Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done unto thee". And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him.'

I wonder how we react when we look into the eyes of the One who set us free?

Its Thanksgiving???

Hey everyone, Happy Thanksgiving...eventhough I had forgotten about thanksgiving until about four days ago, when Mike sent me an email asking if I was doing any special. I didn't even know that today was Thanksgiving, cause I never keep track of which is the 4th Thursday in Novemeber. In the states everyone knows, and you don't have to keep track. Also, I still confuse Thursday and Friday here. Thursday is the last work/school day and Friday/Saturday are the days off. So if you count presenting your research proposal as something special, then yes, I am doing something special for Thanksgiving. Oh, and I had a chicken sandwich for lunch...chicken is kind of like turkey, right? unfortunately though, pie does not exist in this country. However, all in all, it does not bother me that I am not celebrating the holiday (I know, how cold and un-American of me). I prefer to just live here and try to be as much of a Jordanian as I can...although I don't do a very good job of it most the time.
Anyway, I hope everyone back in the States has a wonderful Thanksgiving. Feel free to eat my share of pie, I know that is a tough task, but I am sure some one will step up the challenge (if no one else does, it is Dave's job...you have to eat the ice cream too...it will help your guns grow). Hopefully it was not too cold for the traditional hockey game. By the way it dropped all the way down to 45-50 yesterday. I got a good laugh looking at people wearing more winter clothes than we do when it is -20...I wore a T-shirt, and got lots of strange looks. OK, I have to go to my meeting. take care everyone,

Noah (sorry the internet is still not cooperating with pictures...)

a little of history

Last weekend was the first time I have had a chance to really get out of Amman and see some other parts of Jordan. I went with my roommate and another friend (whom I studied with in Wisconsin) to Jerash, where my roommates uncles owns a small olive orchard. We stayed there the night and then went to the ancient city of Jerash. It was originally an old roman city, and it still one of the most complete roman sites in the world. It was quite amazing.
Sorry this is the only picture I had time to upload. I'll post more later...I hope

a great poem

I don't really have any new news...but the other day I rediscovered this great poem by Longfellow. He says so eloquently what I feel so often.

Tell me not in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou are, to dust thou returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each tomorrow
Find us farther than today.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act, - act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o'erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sand of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solenm main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us then be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

A Psalm of Life – Longfellow

Some Quotes

These are a few of my favorite (secular) quotes. I limited myself to only 20, but there are so many good ones out there. Enjoy

The best thing to do with the best things in life is to give them up.
- Dorothy Day

Compromise is never anything but an ignoble truce between the duty of a man and the terror of a coward.
- Reginald W. Kaufman

Nothing great will ever be achieved without great men, and men are great only if they are determined to be so.
-Charles De Gaulle

He who lives without discipline dies without honor.
-Icelandic Proverb

Loyalty means nothing unless it has at its heart the absolute principle of self-sacrifice.
-Woodrow Wilson

Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul.
-General Macarthur

People do not lack strength; they lack will.
-Hugo

A man can do what he ought to do; and when he says he cannot, it is because he will not.
-Fichte

Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love
- Charles Shulz(this I like just for its reverent reference to PB)

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.
-Leo Tolstoy

Verily, the lust for comfort murders the passion of the soul, and then walks grinning in the funeral
- Kahlil Gibran from the Prophet

I have seen the freest among you wear their freedom as a yoke and a handcuff
- Kahlil Gibran from the Prophet

“The Roots of Violence: Wealth without work, Pleasure without conscience, Knowledge without character, Commerce without morality, Science without humanity, Worship without sacrifice, Politics without principles”
- Mahatma Ghandi

Hammer the iron that lies on your anvil instead of daydreaming about working silver.
- Robert Jordan…in memory of his work
(you’ll only understand this one if you know the books…can you guess what character said it?)

In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends
- Martin Luther King Jr.

"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both."
-Dwight D. Eisenhower

"Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right."
- Henry Ford

"If you are going through hell, keep going."
- Sir Winston Churchill

There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness.
- Josh Billings

"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog." - Mark Twain