what i did on my winter vacation...

well, it's week 1 of spring semester, but i'd be a complete loser if i didn't mention a word or two about what i've been up to for the past month. had myself a little gallavant around jordan and syria! spent three and a half weeks wandering from cairo to the sinai, across the gulf of aqaba to jordan, north through wadi rum, petra and amman, across the syrian border and way up north to aleppo, then back south to the mediterranean coast town of latakia, further south to damascus, and then back through jordan, sinai, and... home! i find myself overwhelmed by the prospect of describing the experience, so i think i'll leave it to some snapshots and random impressions. suffice it to say we encountered gorgeous scenery, ate delectable food, met extraordinarily generous people, spent countless hours wandering in marketplaces, laughed heartily, and froze our asses off in the damascus rain (three years living in the tropics and now cairo have officially turned me into a winter lightweight. embarrassing for this syracuse girl to admit, but...). so, here goes...

my traveling buddies, meghan and erin. we were 1 1/2 canadians and 1 1/2 americans, owing to meghan's status as a half breed. more often than not when people asked where we were from, i'd get a grin and an "Obama!", while the other half had to suffer through "Celine!" lucky ladies! ;) more to come...