Madaba

A couple of days ago, Abouna Imad took Marlise, Caroline and I to Madaba. His family is originally from Madaba, and so he knows everyone in town. Abouna took us to see the Orthodox Church. On the floor of the Church rests the remnants of a mosaic map of the Holy Land. Abouna gave us a brief history of the map, and identified key cities and details. Decorating the walls of the sanctuary are many beautiful mosaics, all made locally in a room no bigger than 14 square feet. The mosaic-making process is actually fairly simple. There are Italian soft stones that have been cut into long rectangles. The artist selects the proper shade, and with a pair of strong clippers separates a small rough square from the stone stick and begins to make small adjustments on the square's shape and size. The square is then ready to be laid in the appropriate spot on the mosaic. The artist uses an original picture or painting in order to determine the proper stone coloring of the mosaic.

Among our several visits to different family members, we visited the local Abouna. The Madaba Abouna is the pastor of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, named so because of the proximity of the location of John the Baptist's beheading (about 30km away). Madaba Abouna was very genial and invited us into the rectory for cookies and strong Turkish coffee (quickly becoming my favorite coffee style - thick and strong, without cream or sugar). Pictured at left is the courtyard of St. John the Baptist. Abouna Imad joking accused the Madaba Abouna of stealing the Roman-style pillars. The Madaba Abouna denied the accusation, saying, "they were Christian to begin with! I just took what was ours!"

We found out that Abouna Imad was baptized in St. John the Baptist. He seemed very happy to be in his hometown - he kept stopping the car and getting out, saying in his heavy Arab-Gallic accent, "I must show you something." We were able to see his house in Madaba, which is full of many old Jordanian artifacts that he has collected over the years. We got to meet several of his brothers, and got to meet one of his brothers' wife and little daughter. She and I had a reading contest to see who was the better reader in Arabic. I got smoked by a 6-year-old. In my defense, she's really smart. Yeah, I'm reaching.