I love this episode because of how chill it is. My friend John came to visit from Cincinnati and so of course we had to go to Petra! Coming back down from the highest point of our hike, just above the Monastery, we happened upon a man selling some souvenirs. He seemed like a really nice guy, and I gathered my courage and asked him if he’d be willing to chat for my project. He obliged, John filmed, and we had a laid back chat above the most beautiful part of Petra. Watching this, I’m amazed by the continuity of the conversation. I remember walking away feeling as though I understood just about everything Saud had said, and also that I had managed to hang the whole time, without getting too frustrated with myself. I’m so grateful to Saud for being up for it, and I still have the little wooden camel I bought from him afterwards.

1:18 – Despite assistance from several native Arabic speakers, I’m not 100% certain what Saud says here. My friend Ahmed had the best theory, which is what I went with in the subtitles. As you can tell in a couple parts of the conversation, Saud uses some English words (a few seconds later, he says “my grandfather from Petra”). I think he’s used to speaking English to tourists there. And it sounds like Saud begins to say the English word for “bedouin”, and so that’s how I translated it.