Hello,
I am just chilling today and catching up on my blog. I ran the 20th Annual Dead Sea Marathon with my Host mom and host sister today. It was really a good time. I woke up around 4am this morning to get dressed and pumped up. After a breakfast of an eclair (my family always has breakfast for dessert on Fridays) I hopped in the car and was off.
We arrived at King Hussein bin Talel Park to meet the bus that would take us to the dead sea. Upon our arrival, I was kind of creeped out. There were hundreds of high school, Jordanian boys. Where were the women? After walking for a bit, my host mom found that the women were standing separately from the boys. Feww...we stood with the women and waited.
Finally the bus came around 7:30 and we drove for an hour to the beach. I feel asleep on the bus keeping up with my tradition of falling asleep on public transportation in foreign countries. When I woke up, we were there. We stood for a while on a side walk. I noticed that the photographer of the event kept taking pictures of me. Great, I thought. He had found his token American. I kept looking away because I found this akward. Eventually he came up to my host mom and asked her if he could ask me what brought me to the marathon. He wanted me to say in on camera and in English. I said I came because I wanted to have fun with friends while also supporting cancer research. At 7:30 in the morning, that is all you get. He also asked my host sister as well and took a picture of both of us.
After a few minutes, I bumped into two SIT kids from my Arabic class. I ran over and gave them hugs. I totally forgot I was in public, and I think my host mom was a bit taken back when I gave a boy, John, a hug. Opps! I was doing pretty well though and was wearing appropriate clothing. I was just excited to see native English speakers, plus I really bonded with the group during our Southern Excursion. Plus, John is hysterical. He has a mullet right now that a Jordanian barber gave him. Great story.
I forget when, but the race started. My host sister and I ran maybe 2KM out of the 10KM. My host mom walked somewhere behind us. I really liked this marathon because it allowed me to revisit and look at one of my favorite places in Jordan, the Dead Sea. I love the contrast between dessert and sea. It is amazing and there is so much color! I believe SIT is taking our group back to the Dead Sea for an overnight before we leave Jordan (That's such a sad thought right now!). This is because we have been well behaved and did better than every other previous group in Arabic. The staff is impressed with us, so they are planning additional activities. I'm really excited.
Upon walking over the finish line, I received a metal. This is adorable and something I will keep forever. Hey, participation counts! I also received a free bottle of Tropicana Lemon Mint juice. IT WAS AWESOME! I highly recommend trying it. Go to the grocery store and see if you can find it. It is way more refreshing than just lemonade.
I am just chilling today and catching up on my blog. I ran the 20th Annual Dead Sea Marathon with my Host mom and host sister today. It was really a good time. I woke up around 4am this morning to get dressed and pumped up. After a breakfast of an eclair (my family always has breakfast for dessert on Fridays) I hopped in the car and was off.
We arrived at King Hussein bin Talel Park to meet the bus that would take us to the dead sea. Upon our arrival, I was kind of creeped out. There were hundreds of high school, Jordanian boys. Where were the women? After walking for a bit, my host mom found that the women were standing separately from the boys. Feww...we stood with the women and waited.
Finally the bus came around 7:30 and we drove for an hour to the beach. I feel asleep on the bus keeping up with my tradition of falling asleep on public transportation in foreign countries. When I woke up, we were there. We stood for a while on a side walk. I noticed that the photographer of the event kept taking pictures of me. Great, I thought. He had found his token American. I kept looking away because I found this akward. Eventually he came up to my host mom and asked her if he could ask me what brought me to the marathon. He wanted me to say in on camera and in English. I said I came because I wanted to have fun with friends while also supporting cancer research. At 7:30 in the morning, that is all you get. He also asked my host sister as well and took a picture of both of us.
After a few minutes, I bumped into two SIT kids from my Arabic class. I ran over and gave them hugs. I totally forgot I was in public, and I think my host mom was a bit taken back when I gave a boy, John, a hug. Opps! I was doing pretty well though and was wearing appropriate clothing. I was just excited to see native English speakers, plus I really bonded with the group during our Southern Excursion. Plus, John is hysterical. He has a mullet right now that a Jordanian barber gave him. Great story.
I forget when, but the race started. My host sister and I ran maybe 2KM out of the 10KM. My host mom walked somewhere behind us. I really liked this marathon because it allowed me to revisit and look at one of my favorite places in Jordan, the Dead Sea. I love the contrast between dessert and sea. It is amazing and there is so much color! I believe SIT is taking our group back to the Dead Sea for an overnight before we leave Jordan (That's such a sad thought right now!). This is because we have been well behaved and did better than every other previous group in Arabic. The staff is impressed with us, so they are planning additional activities. I'm really excited.
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| Running with a view like this is wonderful |
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| Mayas and I preparing for our run. |
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| Host mom and I. |
Upon walking over the finish line, I received a metal. This is adorable and something I will keep forever. Hey, participation counts! I also received a free bottle of Tropicana Lemon Mint juice. IT WAS AWESOME! I highly recommend trying it. Go to the grocery store and see if you can find it. It is way more refreshing than just lemonade.
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| I'm a winner, Mommy! |
My host mom, sister and I walked down to the beach to listen to the music while eating our chicken sandwiches. This was very relaxing and I just love the view of the Dead Sea. I heard the Jordanian police force playing bagpipes and I also heard some Michael Jackson music.
After this, we went home. I took a shower than passed out and took a nap.
Good Day. Very Good Day.
Talk to you later,
Natalie
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