I'm Deliriously Tired. So, Brad and I both puked on what was a 15 hour bus journey, with three transfers, back from the Mediterranean to Istanbul. Turns out we got a little too cocky- four days of drinking random spring water in the middle of nowhere, no problem, but drinking tap water back in what seemed to be civilization (STORES? Tourists? where the hell are we?!) got us both relatively ill. We are both back in relatively fighting form, we're back in Istanbul, we just made the most delicious dinner anyone has ever eaten so cheaply in Istanbul, and I'm feeling [View Full Entry]

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Brad and Sally, on their adventure in Hebron (while I had my adventure of finding my passport), met probably the coolest guy I've ever even heard of in my travels. He was Italian, and his name was Phillipo. Brad asked him: "So, what do you do for a living?" His answer: "I walk." Dude apparently is a pilgrim. A Pilgrim. And that's what he does for a living- he just chills, and walks from place to place. With next to nothing. And yet looks more put together after 2 years of just Walking than we do after a day backpacking. In [View Full Entry]

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Observations by day three in Turkey: 1) My brother and I know next to nothing about this country. This is good, yet horrible, as we are bopping around pretty much blind on what there is to see, what there is to do, and how far everything is from one another. 2) We are in Europe. Turkish people consider themselves European. Brad and I couldn't stop staring at the trams. 'Trains, fully functioning, in the middle of a city?" "STARBUCKS?" The closest thing I've seen to Starbucks in the last 9 weeks was the "Star & Bucks" men's coffee shop in Ramallah. [View Full Entry]

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Oh good lord. I am getting so behind on this I hardly know what to do with myself. This trip is especially emphasizing what I already knew: on the road, a day feels like a week, and a week feels like a month! SO. I might just have to cut my losses and write about what happened since Sally, Bub and I parted ways. So I spent a ridiculously delirious night, involving mooching off of a giant greekman's shower and couch, and sleeping on the beach. Now, I love the beach, but I will tell you right now, beaches are for [View Full Entry]

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I haven't posted in ages, as my mom has pointed out, and it's because I have been on a veritable traveling marathon, and literally, this is the second time in 10 days I've been able to go on the internet. It's been a crazy, ridiculous, amazing adventure. The themes of the trip, we decided, are: "We love to wait at areas of transport, without actually going anywhere" and "GOOD WORD" It involves doing roundabouts with picking up Sally at the airport (and with the Israeli security), playing with our food, my addiction to hummous and felafel, befriending bedouins, walking for 8 [View Full Entry]

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I’m looking back on my past two months here in Nablus, and I am simply stunned by how quickly time passed. I look back on former doubts- I almost stayed in Canada, and then I almost got sent Back to Canada when I arrived- I have a hard time believing that I almost threw it all out the window. The minute I arrived in Nablus, I was completely embraced by the locals. The minute I arrived at the center, I was completely embraced by the staff. How to phrase this without going cliché or cheesy? I’m taking with me at [View Full Entry]

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So I woke up this morning, and took a service to work, as per the norm. The routine kind of subconsciously sinks in, making you feel incredibly settled and content. However, one should realize: Routine can be boring. Nablus, and the CSC for that matter, is far from boring. Thus, routine cannot exist in Nablus. To elaborate: I get into the center, and I’m met by the director’s daughter Fayrouz, who asks me if I ‘am coming, or not.’ Uh, I’m sorry, what? Well, I have learned that being completely unaware of what is happening sometimes leads to the [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday was MADNESS. Literally, the most dangerous event that has occurred to me thus far in Palestine. And it had nothing to do with anything political, economic… not about human rights or civil society. It had to do with Dessert. Nablus is famous for its Kunafa, a ridiculously rich dish that, as my roommate and I have determined, is both sweet and savoury; insanely delicious but also kind of disgusting. It is vermicelli, with goat cheese, with sugar sauce; and I wouldn’t doubt if they slip some crack into these addictive bad boys. In any case, I have heard faint bu [View Full Entry]

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I don't have time for a comprehensive entry right now, but let's leave it at the following: 1) I was in a parade. 2) my brother got here, and I'm realizing that the level of ridiculousness of our conversations has increased. or is, at least, well outside the norm 3) we have been massively busy 4) we went to Ramallah and went to a bar with a swimming pool in it 5) we picked up my friend from Cairo and came back for an event of gladiatorial proportions 6) I was on Palestinian National TV. and not in a flattering light. [View Full Entry]

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I was talking to Samah, one of the program coordinators, about the image people have of the West Bank. “The rest of the world considers us a Third World Country. But, I mean, look around you. Does this seem like dire poverty to you?” And sure enough, it doesn’t. I must admit, I had an image of Nablus that involved a much more rural landscape. Far from the ‘camping in caves with Osama bin Laden’ image that some people have worriedly expressed. But Nablus itself has infrastructure, building, streets, even pedestrian walk lights (now and forever my indi [View Full Entry]

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