Separation Wall

Bethlehem – Palestine

Jackie in Jordan

 

Jackie has graced Jordan with her presence for a month…

She ate at Jafra, Al Quds, Habibeh, and Hashems, visited Petra and Wadi Rum, floated in the Dead Sea, taught a Language Club at the OWA summer camp, experienced long Ramadan days, broke fast with the OWA students, spent a long weekend in Palestine, and ate 5 servings of Maqlubeh at Wael’s house.

Needless to say, she did it all.

Yet.. I STILL WISH SHE STAYED!!!

Closer Together

Megan came to visit me in Jordan.

Two best friends, reunited, on an adventure.

It was actually the best week, ever.

“May your adventures bring you closer together,

even as they take you far away from home.”

 

 

Now I’m left missing Megan and looking towards a new countdown…

Jackie arrives July 31st!

Amman better get ready for a set of Whittaker sisters to hit the town!

Brewing for Peace

“An unusual occupation in an occupied land”

My roommate Nadine has done it again. Check out her mini-documentary below, “Brewing for Peace.” It is the story of a small, Christian village in the West Bank and its famous beer brewery that puts a different face on Palestinian resistance.

Brewing for Peace from Nadine Ajaka on Vimeo.

 

“Brewing for Peace” gives voice to a beautiful story, a story that we (read: Americans) can relate to and understand. Its a layered story: its about a family – its about the first beer brewery in the Middle East – its about the last exclusively Christian village in Palestine – and its about peaceful resistance to occupation.

I think its an important story to tell, for a lot of reasons. To start, Palestine is something pretty unrelatable to most Americans. Its a charged word, a political word, that invites fierce opinions and debate. Palestinians are people who are different from us – Arab, Muslim, conservative, you name it. Even if we don’t hold outright stereotypes, Palestine still feels like a very different place – literally and culturally.

This story turns that upside down.. because its about Palestinian Christians doing what we love best – drinking good beer. It seems like a silly thing, but it actually means a lot. “I can imagine sitting having a beer with him” really does lead to a feeling of connection – feeling of shared culture or similar daily lives.

 

Its also an important story because it gives a new face to Palestinian resistance. Peaceful resistance never seems to get enough coverage in the media, which tires out the audience with stories of political standstills, hate, and violence. Yet there is a strong non-violent resistance movement in Palestine, and the Khoury family looks at their beer brewery as a contribution to it. In their microcosm, one sees the detrimental effects of the occupation on normal people, trying to live normal lives and run a normal business. As Medees says, “We just want to live like everyone else.”

 

I hope the Khoury family is right… and that someday soon we will “Cheers” to peace with Taybeh beer.

 

 

PS. This is also a “MUST SEE” place to visit while in the region and hosts an amazing Oktoberfest. Highly recommended.

 

 

You got a fast car

You got a fast car,

I want a ticket to anywhere

My first time driving a rental car: 4 hours along the coast of Oman

Muscat to Ras al Hadd — January 2013

“Oh, Life, I am yours.

Whatever it is you want of me,

I am ready to give.”

Muscat, Oman

I loved Eastern Europe.

Needless to say, my blog is being much to slow to provide a detailed entry of my trip.. but I just wanted to share.. it was amazing!

Here are some quick photos with an overview :)

The journey:

Flew into Vienna, Austria –> Budapest, Hungary –> Bratislava, Slovakia –> Prague, Czech Republic –> then returned to fly out of Vienna back to Amman, Jordan :)

The crew:

I went with my friend, Vicki, who is also an English Teaching Assistant here!

This is our one photo from Vienna… because unfortunately, we did not have any time there. Just one night and one morning… enough for a beer and a strudel!

 

Three general things to know about our trip:

1) We did a lot of travelling. Most of our sleeping was done on some form of transportation.

(Train to Bratislava —>)

 

 

2) We ate a LOT of good food. Vicki is kind of obsessed.. and I was happy to join in. So, I tried a lot of stuff… check me out here, with a roasted goose leg in Budapest :)

 

 

 

 

3) We drank a lot of good beer! Of course. Only in Eastern Europe (Bratislava to be specific) would I believe my eyes when seeing a middle aged man having breakfast with a giant glass of beer AND a shot of liqour…. at 11 am.

 

 

The trip was full of castles, communism, bars, potatoes/cabbage, graffiti, music, new friends, memorials, revolution, goose/duck/pork, quotes, beer, trains, jewish quarters, changing colors (fall), learning languages, changing currency, asking questions coffee, architecture, writing on walls, history, and adventure.

Two things I did in each city:

1) Learned the basic words of the local language (hello, please, thank you)

German: guten tag — bitte — danke

Magyar (Hungarian): yo napot — care-ek — kuhsuhnuhm (or kuhsee!)

Slovak: dobry-den — prosem — dakujem

Czech: ahoj — prosem — dek-oui

Its shocking how useful these three words were!

Also, it was a great learning experience to be on the other side of the language barrier. Aka, a receptionist trying to explain directions to me – in Hungarian… just like we do in English, he would speak in Hungarian while gesturing the directions. (“then you turn here, then left, then right”)… but of course, I understood NONE of the words (“blahblahblahblah”) aiding his gestures.

2) I also had a conversation with at least one local friend, asking…

“What is your favorite thing about living here — what is your least favorite thing about living here — what is one thing you want foreigners to know about ______ (country)”

Everyone I asked giggled at (with?) me but answered honestly and we had a good conversation. They all also knew right away a little about me… “What a Teacher Question that is, huh!” 

But it made me feel better that, even though we spent only a whirlwind touching down in each city, I had at least one opinion from the ground that gave me some insight….

— these stories will be coming soon, when I am less sleepy and frustrated with internet :)

“We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next to find ourselves…”

“We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate. We travel to bring what little we can, in our ignorance and knowledge, to those parts of the globe whose riches are differently dispersed. And we travel, in essence, to become young fools again- to slow time down and get taken in, and fall in love once more.”

― Pico Iyer

I was happy to see this quote on a friends wall… just as Vicki and I booked our tickets to go to Austria-Czech Republic-Slovakia-Hungary over Eid al-Adha break at the end of the month! Let the wandering begin…

One Week..

 
 
 
“Not all who wander are lost”
 
– JRR Tolkien

 
 
 

29 days til departure…

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the things you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sail. Explore. DREAM. Discover.”


— Mark Twain