umm qais

first of all, when it rains in amman, it pours. despite my raincoat, umbrella, and the cover of trees, the small windows of time i spent outside in amman yesterday between the door of my house and the bus to umm qais were more than sufficient to leave me resembling a wet rat. this is mostly due to a) the excessive width/depth of the river of water running along the gutter between me and the taxi which made jumping across impossible and thus the submergence of my entire right leg below the knee into said river; b) my forgetting that this large puddle of water existed long enough to receive a tsunami in the face when i was standing too close as a car drove by; and c) my leaving the aforementioned umbrella on the bus making it of no use whatsoever.
however, luckily it was not pouring in umm qais that afternoon. umm qais is an out-of-the-way site in the northwest corner of jordan that is home to the ruins of the roman city of gadara. it was interesting to see the many structures made out of black basalt rock, the colorful mosaic floors that still survive in various buildings, and the beautiful greenery and wildflowers that cover the site.





umm qais also has a very cool view, as it overlooks israel's sea of galilee as well as the golan heights territory.


and lastly, here's some ancient roman love from me to you :)