Today, one of the experiences I've been looking forward to was manifested--picking olives! Olives, or zeitoon, are a big crop here in Jordan, especially because they yield the almighty olive oil, a must for every meal (or, at least breakfast and dinner, but usually lunch, too). Abu Sohaib (our host's father) invited Tom and I to join him at his farm and pick some olives for the evening. It was awesome. Just being outside and doing some earthy work was really nice since most of PST has been studying, teaching, and sleeping. Also, we worked right until sunset, so we got to see the sun slip behind the horizon out on Abu Sohaib's beautiful land. Here are a few pictures from the day (no shots of the sunset, though...sorry!):
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| 'Brahim with a bucket o' zeitoon! (Incidentally, he only worked with us for about 10 minutes before deciding that playing with the neighborhood kids was more fun). |
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| Abu Sohaib, Tom, and Mowia (behind the tree) set up the tarp to collect the olives as we pick them off. |
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| A view of the olive pile mid-picking |
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| An aisle of olive trees |
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| Lots of zeitoon! It was a good picking session! |
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| The view was so jameel (beautiful)! |
Well, that's all for now--we have to get up early tomorrow to hit the zeitoon again. I'm psyched! Also, Abu Sohaib said he might take us to the mosque tomorrow, so that would be another interesting experience. When all is said and done with the zeitoon (after we take them to the olive press, which inshallah I will get to see), Abu Sohaib wants Tom and I to take some olive oil for ourselves to send home. So fam, be on the lookout for some fresh Jordanian olive oil...in the mail? Can I even send it via mail? Hm...I'll look into it. In any case, I'll have some made from olives I picked--so cool!
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