Kai Darrell ’24 and Cam Herr ’24, reflect on their days visit to ancient Greek and Roman ruins, while getting to play a soccer match in the oldest hippodrome in the world.
Today we woke up and drove from Kings Academy to Jerash which is north of Amman. We saw the Greek and Roman ruins and played soccer with a group called “Close the Play Gap,” a group made to help try and make equal opportunities for women and men to play soccer. We played them in one of the oldest hippodrome’s in the world. Our team won, Cam scoring the winning goal from a tight angle. We then continued on our walk through the ancient city. The Jerash amphitheater was the next stop on our walk. The theater was so well preserved using its architecture as a means to amplify the voice of the speaker. We then walked the ancient streets and saw the Temple of Artemis where we met some locals who showed us the movement of the columns and how they swayed with the wind.
For lunch we went to a Lebanese Mezzeh restaurant where we ate a large assortment of food. Falafel, beef, lamb, chicken, veggies, and desserts, all prepared in Lebanese style cooking, it all tasted incredible. After an amazing lunch with great conversation we went back to the bus and drove 30 minutes north east to Ajloun, known for one of the only forests in Jordan. We then went and toured the castle on top of the mountain. It was built by Muslims in the 12th century. We learned a lot about the architecture and how the building worked during wartime.
We ate dinner at the restaurant near the cabins and we watched a beautiful sunset. We are planning on making biscuits at a traditional local bakery tomorrow morning.
