Blogs from Middle East - page 1003

Just to prove to Jeremy that I do put embarrasing photos of myself out there in the public world as well. He snapped this of me when I was asleep one night. ... read more

Saabumine oli suhteliselt valutu. Peale ristküsitlust eelmise aasta Iraanis käigu kohta ja kolmandat korda üle küsimist:'' Kas sa tõesti tahad ikka Süüriasse minna?'', lõi piirivalvur templi passi, hüüdes tagantjärgi: ''Eks sa ise tead!''. Kuna viisa ankeedile mul küllakutsuja/hotellibroneeringu kohale midagi kirjutada ei olnud, siis õnneks kell kolm öösel unise peaga ei pannud ta tähele, et olin sinna suvalised tähed ritta pannud. Millegipärast pääsesin ka 40$-sest mitmekordse sisenemisega viisamaksust... Püsimatu nagu ma olen, võtsin kohe öösel suuna pealinna Beirutisse, mis ööpäeva ringselt on täidetud sõdurite ja erinevate sõjatehnikaga. Tänavad olid surmvaiksed ja nagu järjekordset läbiotsimist läbiviinud sõduri jutust välja võis lugeda, siis veedavad enamjaolt kohalikud elanikud ööd oma perekonna seltsis, kartes tänavale tulles eluga riskida. Pildistada siiamaani kahjuks väga p... read more

Merhaba, Türkçe Biliyormusun? This has been a common question we have been answering since the beginning of our Turkish classes. Hello, do you speak Turkish? The answer usually being a despondent "Çok Az, Türkçe Biiyorum". We have finished with our crash course in Turkish, and now get to stumble through a language, that we otherwise wouldn't have to worry about. It makes ordering much more interesting though. We have been able to explore Istanbul much more thoroughly over this past week. Our classes begin at nine everyday, and are about a half-hour walk from our Hotel, so we have generally eaten breakfast and are out of the hotel by a quarter after. Class ends at four thirty, and we have the rest of the day for leisure. Generally trips to the grocery store, Akmerkez (the large ... read more

Hey Guys just a quick Update before I leave on Vacation. Ulpan ended Wednesday after 6 weeks. It was an experience, but it was very tough trying to learn a year of hebrew in 6 weeks. We had our exam which went very well. That night we had an end of ulpan party at the Beer Avraham. Which in Hebrew means Abrahams well. Bascially, when Abraham was in Israel people would dig wells because there was very little water in the desert. The one Abraham built just happens to be in Beer Sheva. There was a very nice authentic Israeli dinner with a cool band. This upcoming week we have 10 days off. Starting tomorrow I am spending 3 days in the northern city of Haifa and 3 days in Jerusalem. I am going with 3 ... read more

I'm a little surprised to find that I'm uneasy (a bit frightened really). I feel all alone (family doesn't count) in a big, strange city where the residents don't speak our language. We have no food in the house. It's Shabbat, so the stores are closed. It's really disconcerting. I'm sure things will work out--I'll get more familiar as we stay here longer. But right now, 11 months sounds awfully long. (Didn't we say we'd have a harder time than Kate?) That said, Haifa really is a beautiful city. Very hilly--we're told no one bikes here. The apartment is large by the Jerusalem standards we're used to. We have a pleasant, grassy backyard with a southern exposure. On the flight over, we had an 11 hour layover, so we opted to leave Heathrow for a quick ... read more