That was definitely a Roman column! (Also: Mr. Artichoke Thunderbolt Taterpants, commonly known as Mr. Tots)

It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fiiiiiiine.
Today was our first day of survey!!! We are doing work again!! It feels pretty good, actually. I was concerned for a few reasons, primarily that we are on the team that doesn't have a faculty supervisor and is working within the bounds of the Syrian border (Jordan makes a little corner shape that is surrounded by Syria, and that is where we're surveying) so there was a little concern about getting shot and/or bothered by soldiers. But our fears were allayed when we saw that, rather than the expected enormous guard towers and many guards with guns, all we can see is a gravel road. There are some Jordanian guard towers, and a Jordanian soldier came over at one point to see what we were doing there, but luckily we had a professor from Yarmouk with us to explain things.
We found some things, like a cistern and an Ottoman(?) pipe bowl, but mostly just pottery sherds and metal bits. Oh, and a Roman column (a metal pole lying on the ground). And when Melanie and I wandered a bit for some shade, two men in a car drove past, turned around, and drove up to us.
"Hello," the driver said.
I gave him the thousand-yard stare. "Um, hi?"
"Do you need any help--?" he asks, smiling hopefully.
I cock my head, gesture to the rest of our group- SIX humans, twenty feet away- and say, "NO." ... "THANKS."
"Okay," he says sadly, and they drive off.
I hate that I have to be so distrustful of men here, but seriously... leave us alone, dudes. Wanna be helpful? Then GTFO and let me do my job, even if at the moment my job was sitting in the shade of a building, eating Pringles.

Anyway, aside from that the surveying went really well today and then tomorrow is the last day of our work week. Friday is free and Saturday we travel to Umm Qais, Umm Jamal?, and Hartha?.

Last time I blogged, we had just gotten here and I was cranky as all hell. I am still sort of uncomfortable, but it's much better than it was. The hotel is err... under extreme construction. Which is okay, I guess, but not ideal OR what we were promised. It's fine though. Irbid is weird, too. It's a college town, so we see some americans and some unveiled women, but the men are even more strange about women it seems. That might just be because of the one adolescent who chased us around a few days ago, but I don't think so. No one else has actually touched us (the boy in question pushed himself in between Melanie and I while we were walking and then grabbed Alex) but they look, and they do it in an unsavory way.

I really don't get or particularly like the dichotomies in Jordanian culture. They are all about helping people and giving directions and doing whatever they can to make you comfortable-- but only if there are men with you... American women are like aliens.

I am really ready to come back and wear shorts and go places alone and drive my car and eat whatever I want to cook that night.

Anyway, we've been trying to acquaint ourselves with Irbid for the last few days and there is one good thing about it being a college town: it seems much smaller and more condensed, so it's easier to find what we are looking for. One guy is getting his hair cut at a barber right now, since it's just a few doors down from our hotel. I've gotten my pants dry cleaned and I'm going to take in some shirts tomorrow or Friday. We've communally enjoyed pasta, mac and cheese, and breakfast for dinner. Things have thus been okay.

End note: I saw this and thought it was entirely prescient. I asked my roommates if one of them posted it!
From the dirt again, finally,
Rachel :)