Michael J
Michael J. Sharp Joined: September 26th 2007
Logged in: May 19th 2008
Logged in: May 19th 2008
My name is MJ, but in Costa Rica my name is Miguel, and in Germany my name is Michael. I'm scared to go to another country where I might lose my identity again.
Actually I love to travel, and hitchhiking is the preferred mode of transportation. You have to be a little bit crazy to hitchhike, but you also have to be a little bit crazy to pick up a hitchhiker. So, I end up meeting some really interesting people.
So far, I've covered quite a bit of ground, but I've still got about 150 countries to go.
Travel Blog Posts
Iraqi Airlines
Iraq Report: 3-14 November 2007 I went to northern Iraq to help out at a mental health clinic in Duhok. I was specifically brought along to do lectures on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for the counselors in the clinic and possibly to see some patients. If I had only been able to accomplish these two things during my 10 days in the country, I would have been happy, but it ended up being much, much more. The following is a report on some of the highlights of the trip and an attempt to get out on “paper” what I learned. Preceding the Turkish Invasion? There had been some serious escalation to the conflict between Turkey and the PKK on the Iraqi border in the weeks leading up to my trip. The PKK is a Kurdish group ... read more
Our Group
In going to Afghanistan, I wanted to do several things, such as: better understand Afghan culture; learn some Dari; and show Afghans that Westerners (and Americans specifically) are capable of visiting other countries in capacities other than in the military. While I did all of these things to at least a certain extent, the thing that sticks out in my mind was how crazy the security situation got the day we arrived. Security Situation Before we even got out of Europe, we heard on the news at the airport that two Germans had been kidnapped in central Afghanistan (read: Kabul). This was naturally irksome to the other three travelers with me, as they are all German citizens, and to me as well for more subtle reasons. Afghanis tend to look very favorably on Germans, since ... read more
Bamyan
When people hear that I’m going to spend a month in Afghanistan, they usually have a bunch of questions, namely: Why? Because I’ve answered this question about a dozen times already (and never really to anyone’s satisfaction), I’ve decided to try to explain it here. So, here in the form of a FAQs page, is all the information I think anyone could want on the topic and my reasoning. Feel free to respond, denouncing my hippy logic, if you feel the urge. Question #1: You’re doing what? I’m going to Afghanistan. I will flying out of Germany on July 17 and arrive in Islamabad, Pakistan via Dubai on July 19. I will stay overnight there and hopefully have a few hours to explore the city a bit before the first really interesting leg of the trip. ... read more
Places I've Lived 
Places I've Been 
