Getting ready to leave Nablus and into the big, wide unknown my computer keeps telling me that the startup disc is full, whatever that means. I guess I'll have to figure out how to use the external hard drive I've been carrying around now. Today we finished off the last day of summer school with a water fight with our school's 200 darling Palestinian kids. The intended festivities quickly deteriorated into mass chaos and a stampede in which one kid fell over, hit his head on the stairs splitting it open and requiring 15 stitches. This was a sad continuation of [View Full Entry]

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A borrowed copy of Lonely Planet says that the Arabic name Nablus comes from the Latin Neopolis or "New City" which was the name Romans gave the city they rebuilt at the site of the historical city of Shechem. Nablus is a somewhat feared name in Israel as a hotbed of Palestinian nationalism and is known inside of Palestine for being more traditional (less westernized) and most importantly for kenafa (a cheese dessert) as well as olive soap. People in Nablus are friendly and seem curious about the local American teachers. Everyone greets us with "Welcome!" everywhere in town. Getting by [View Full Entry]

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Back in Nablus after two weeks of computer-free travel in Israel, I am learning to find my way to and from the important points in town, such as the Al Jasmeen Hotel which is a local hangout for foreigners, I've been told, and has great coffee and free wifi. Now that I've found my way here I can write a little about my recent travels. There has been a lot of contrast during these last two weeks between Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Deisha, a refugee camp outside of Bethlehem in the West Bank. After staffing a Shambhala Training level in T [View Full Entry]

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As I write this I am watching a live performance of orchestral Arabic music on television in a large, well-furnished living room on the 7th floor of a new apartment building perched on top of a hill at the northern end of Nablus in the West Bank of Palestine. The apartment is occupied by four English teachers who work at a local bilingual Arabic/English school that is about to let out for summer break. Some of the teachers are staying on to teach at the school's summer camp and the next school year and one or two will be leaving Palestine [View Full Entry]

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Folks, this is the real deal. Greetings again from Busan! This entry is leaving a lot out but I promised cherry blossom pictures so I am posting one (more to come soon on my picassaweb page) and also a few pics of some places I've visited in the last 6 weeks. Since it would be a full-time job to document all the stuff that strikes me as funny, weird and/or annoying here I am not going to. But this is a little thimble full... Since I arrived in Busan on the first day of spring I got here just as the [View Full Entry]

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Even though the domestic qualities of my cancer sun sign are supposed to be muted by all the leo and sag in my chart, true to my cancerean roots, I am kicking off my new blog with a tour of my Korean pad. Home sweet home. Enjoy! Welcome- when you come in please take off your shoes. But don't worry about getting cold feet (figuratively or literally) even though I don't have a pair of guest slippers (yet). The floor is heated! So, we can hang on the straw mats and rugs that I intend to buy to adorn the wall-to-wall [View Full Entry]

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