Tuesday, August 21, 2007

As promised... Silly signs from Jerash

As I promised in a previous post, El 3atal and I went to Jerash recently and I found much fodder for my silly misspellings and grammar challenges. We hadn't been to Jerash in, well, 11 years. We last went just before our wedding. It's a nice drive up there and we made a spur of the moment trip. We dropped the kids off at school, decided to ditch work, picked up our fabulous helper and set out. (No, we didn't stop and get her so she could schlepp our belongings... I want her to enjoy seeing the sights of Jordan while she's here. Haram, these poor girls who get stuck in the house seeing nothing but the adjoining buildings.)

So, here's a selection of the signs I found particularly amusing. I had a nice one of the sign on the way in (I thought) and came to find out that since it was bright and I wouldn't see where my camera phone was pointing (of COURSE I didn't remember my real phone), I took a nice picture of the ground under the sign :).

So, first, on your way in make sure you stop and let them check your ticket at the "Tickets Check." Note the period. I'm sure what grammatical function it could possibly serve, but... Oh, and if you only bought one ticket, go back and get the others. Clearly since it's a tickets check you need many. Actually, when I first read this, it almost seemed like a conversation with oneself. Okay, so let me see if I've got everything. Tickets, check! Water, check! And so on...


Then we came upon this one proclaiming the Jerash Museum with "Free Entry All Days". Not everyday, mind you - all days.


And, last but most certainly not least, when visiting the Amphitheater, they had this very nice box for donations (likely to do with the festival). As you will note, although they are not GRATEFUL for your donations, they will accept them gracefully. I always hate when someone is clumsy in accepting my donations. In fact, I determine which charity to give to based on its level of gracefulness in acceptance of monies. :) While we can all use a bit of grace, I'd hope they would be grateful as well. Teehee. In fact, I rather think they meant to be.


All in all, it was a very nice day. And, as a bonus, El 3atal and I managed to snag paintings for the office. So, we rather did do work after all. We got a large painting and a series of 3 nice paintings for about 30JDs. All original works of art. The three small ones were gold, yellow, and orange paint on a black velveteen type of "canvas." I was quite pleased with our finds. Okay, to leave you with one nice shot, we went to see the church with the fine mosaics in the floor. So, I'll share those pics. I was actually wishing for a service. They could put a thick Plexiglas covering over the lovely mosaics and have very nice services there. But, they didn't ask me...

I hope you all enjoy my trip vicariously... Visit Jerash and support the local economy.
Happy Romans!

9 Comments:

At 4:21 AM , Blogger Dave said...

I've noticed those signs before. The "gracefully accepted" box is available "all days" and helps support the bag pipers that play for crowds in the theater.

 
At 4:44 AM , Blogger MommaBean said...

Oooh nice. But there weren't any bagpipers when we were there. Maybe they were hoping for gratuities in absentia :).

 
At 9:22 AM , Blogger UmmFarouq said...

I wonder if the bag pipers would have any pipe cleaners. Hard to find those in Amman.

The next time anyone gives me anything--a gift, a compliment, a suggestion...I hope I can accept them all gracefully, all the days of my life.

 
At 10:28 AM , Blogger joladies said...

Did you see the sign about the chariots? Wonder if it is still there. By the way (everyone will be fed up with me for this one) there are NO amphitheatres in Jordan. Only theatres. An amphitheatre is in the round (like the Coliseum in Rome) or nearly round. Jerash is just wonderful in March/April when the wild flowers are all over. Glad you had a good time! T

 
At 10:36 AM , Blogger kinzi said...

"T". when I saw MB used 'Amphi..." I thought, "Wonder if T will help us out here". Not fed up at all, just another giggle:). What would us newbies do w/o your help?

MB, Tee-Hee-Tayn!Or talaata! Very amusing portrait of Jerash. You inspired some delightful comments as well.

 
At 6:01 PM , Blogger Maher said...

Glad you enjoyed the trip, me and my friend may visit Jerash soon

 
At 9:22 PM , Blogger MommaBean said...

Maher, I would recommend it, for sure.

T, didn't see any funny signs about the chariots (may be because I was ut off by the 5JD! entry fee they wanted to see the races or whatever it was they were doing). And, I happily accept your correction. I've always called them amphitheaters so I wish someone had corrected me sooner!

Umm Farouq, no doubt I hope for gracefully acceptance of gifts as well.

Kinz, Glad you enjoyed it.

 
At 10:20 PM , Blogger Maria said...

SAlam Mommabean,
yyou should visit China... there are crackers there too... now that you mention, there are plenty in Malaysia... like "this shop is not open because it is closed."

 
At 10:15 AM , Blogger MommaBean said...

That is an excellent sign, I mean such valuable infromation it provides, we're not open because we're closed. I'll have to remember to suggest that one.

 

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