A very special day

Ahoy! A few of ye clever landlubbers may know that every September 19 is International Talk Like a Pirate Day! Ar! So in honor of this occasion, I be fabricatin' this 'ere blog just like a pirate! So me hearties, listen up!

We just recently come back from the land of Jordan, a remote location like none I seen before. Believe it or not, this old sea dog hasn't been to many nations before, and Jordan is much more foreign and much more Middle Easterrn than Israel. We encountered many Bedouin people (Bedouin are Arab nomads, meaning they live in tents and travel from place to place) trying to sell us things at Petra. And Petra! You have probably seen pictures of it or seen it in Indiana Jones. It's a city nestled in between two cliffs, and carved into the rock are hundreds of ornate, elaborate tombs. And the sandstone they're carved into is just filled with swirls of bright, bright colors.

Ahoy, I seem to have forgotten to talk piratically in the last paragraph, so moved was I by the beauty o' Petra. More beauteous, I wager, than the sea around Cape San Domingo in the calm following a strong typhoon! Ar, Jordan was a land I'll never forget. The most interesting place, though, wasn't Petra, but the modern city of Amman, Jordan's capital. We walked through the downtown area one night, and believe me: it's much more crowded, loud, busy, fast-moving, dirty, and energetic than any city in America. Jordan was just an incredible cultural experience. It was something completely new.

Avast, there I go again, forgetting me sea-dog voice like some scurvy landlubber! Well, shipmates, I must be leavin' ye fer now, byt stay tuned! I'll be back for more swashbucklin' adventures on the high seas faster'n you can say "Keel-haul the plank!"