If you want to invade Iran, don't check out this link...

http://capwiz.com/fconl/issues/alert/?alertid=10478416

Streets of Cairo

Al Qahira... how I miss thee.
So... I found this video on You Tube and it just... well... lets just say I could almost smell Cairo. I thought you should all see it too!! I love you habibis!!
:) Kara Joy

http://youtube.com/watch?v=UhgXCPXGZ50


Ah... Corneesh, Taxis, Pyramids...

Death and Peace

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7064104.stm

Just a good article about people moving past violence. It's not necessarily a sign for much hope, but a reminder that it is out there.

Props to Idaho

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-09-26-Idaho_N.htm

Okay, so according to usatoday, Idaho is the best, and I'm just impressed they made the news (go aimee, woot!). But really, can the potato market really sustain long-term economic growth? Whatever, I guess we'll never have enough french fries, potato chips, and even homemade potato guns. Go spuds...

my habibis!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hey guys! i hope everything is going well with everybody. sorry i havent stayed in touch...so i figured i will post something =) im glad to hear that everyone is doing great....well im back at school and things are going pretty good. i know u guys are dying to know about chris lol...well i told my mom =) but not my dad =( so i will keep everyone posted about what happens with that situation lol. and about this whole taylor university meeting thing, i definitely think that you should come to cali because im here lol. seriously though whoever wants to come out here let me know and we can party with the arabs =) i miss you guys very much!

~the coolest arab you know (i hope lol)
Iman

Check this out...

So I heard this pretty interesting story on NPR...priest both Muslim and Christian...what do you think?

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14348264

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003751274_redding17m.html

PS Is it just me, or is school not as cool as Egypt? I miss habibis, kosheri w Al-Qahira!

سالم
امى

i'm home

old friends and lovers (habibs)

i'm currently sitting in a coffee shop in philadelphia with josiah (ruthie's brother and my new roomate). i got here around 1am last night and am slowing down and sitting still after a summer of constant motion. i don't really know what i'm doing in the cosmic sense of things, but on a smaller scale i'm biking, talking music, and drinking coffee (really? yes really). i think that's all i'll say for now. live well and sleep often/live often and sleep well, salaam

http://www.myspace.com/autumnleafmusic (listen carefully, you just might fall in love)

What I did this summer

Some of you might have heard a little about my trip to Lebanon. It was always hard to explain exactly what I did there. Well, the two older people in the picture above are Donna, my grandmother and Phil, her friend and client. The dark looking arab in the picture is Eddy, a friend and business partner of Phil's. Before I had ever met Eddy, he heard from my grandma that I was going on MESP, and he wanted his relatives (his two nephews Alfred and Philip) to meet me if I went to Lebanon. While on MESP, I planned my travel there with the idea that I would kinda cater to these people's wishes of making another American connection. Well it turned out that I couldn't tear myself away from them. Alfred and Philip hosted and fed me when I needed it and showed me around their country quite a bit. After coming back, I decided to finally meet and greet the mastermind behind the whole operation (BTW, I think he ran guns for the christians during the civil war...) I invited this classy and successful lebanese businessman over for some Kosheri! (He'd never had it) My mom made taboulah, flatbread and hommos, and Eddy brought some Lebanese wine. To make a long story short, we are real chums nowadays!

Damn, I miss kosheri for 20 cents a pound! Does anyone recognize the tablecloth?



Ladies and gentlemen, my Grandmother...


Hope you are all alive n' cookin... ma'a salams!

life outside the empire...

i'm sitting on a new leather office chair in my own office next to my new computer (provided by the university) in south korea. true story.

sometimes i think it's all just a dream. the people have been incredible here, and my buddy adam and i are getting pretty good at tying ties, using chopsticks, and bowing when we meet people. nevertheless, i'm sure i'm a walking cultural blunder. i'd love to tell you all more about it, but i have to go to a faculty meeting here in a bit (yes, i'm a full faculty member, and my students call me professor van zee. crazy!).

in the meantime, you can check out my personal blog at justinvanzee.blogspot.com or my friend's at adamvangelder.blogspot.com.

oh, you'll notice that the sub-heading of this blog has been changed to a quote by walter brueggemann. i read "the prophetic imagination" on the way over here, and he's got some good insight on the nature of the prophetic voice. a great read--and a short one too.

The daddy of all conspiracy theories

If you follow the link below, you might experience a slight rush.. its a completely time-consuming thrill for anyone who hasn't started classes yet. What I love about conspiracy theories is the split second at the end when I think "whoa, now I get it!" and feel like I can proceed through the rest of my life knowing the real truth. But it's when I start to develop theories about the theorists that the real torture starts... You start to realize that they are more bent on brainwashing you into believing them than the people they are trying to accuse of starting hoaxes in the first place.

Only one question remains then: Which came first, the conspiracy or the conspiracy theorist? So without further ado... http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/

here's to stephen...

hanging out in the mall of america, drinking coffee from starbucks, talking on his cell phone. what a guy.

On Dave's News

http://www.leeuniversity.edu/first-year/info/suzanne-hamid.asp

Wow. Unbelievable. Who else didn't see that one coming?

CPT in Hebron

So here's something to put a damper on your day. Justin, Stephen, Ruthie, Jami, Bryce and I visited CPT (Christian Peacemaking Teams) in Hebron and here's what happened recently there. Oh yeah, and the guy who attacked CPT with a stick was release a few hours after his arrest (no charges filed) because it was Shabbat. So if I beat someone on Sunday, do I get to go free?

http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/07/28/tel-rumeida-violent-settler-attacks-human-rights-workers/

Meanwhile in Iraq...

this was in the Guardian today.

Children Hardest hit by humanitarian crisis in Iraq
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2138058,00.html

Steve Byers showed a movie at Gordon a couple years back called 'Paying the Price: Killing the Children of Iraq' by John Pilger. it narrates a similar account of the situation in Iraq before the war, during the economic sanctions. should watch it if you can, i think he borrowed it from the MCC library online.

Rapture Ready: The Unauthorized Christians United for Israel Tour

I found this video while checking out CAIR--the Council on American-Islamic Relations. It is kinda scary but also sort of inspiring. It seems that now, maybe more than ever, experiences like ours in Egypt are needed and opportunities abound in the Church to promote understanding. So, before you watch this, decide to get inspired instead of just pissed.
http://vimeo.com/251385

what are we doing?!

here's an idea: let's increase military aid to israel by 25%. oh, and let's sell big guns to the saudis too.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6920988.stm

unexpectedly employed

a year ago, i was telling everyone that i was going to be studying in the netherlands for my last college semester. well, that theory didn't make it too far into the fall semester. when i was approaching the deadline for off-campus study programs, i was restless; the idea of going to the netherlands wasn't sitting too well with me. so, i started talking to a few friends, and soon i made the call home to my parents to tell them i was going to egypt instead--one of the best decisions i've ever made. i relied on my gut feeling, and i ended up meeting all of you beautiful people and getting more than shwaya MESPed up.

i've found myself in a bit of a similar situation again. when i was in DC over the 4th, i met with someone from the ONE campaign about a potential job with the new ONE Vote '08 initiative focused on making poverty an issue in the next election. the meeting went very well, and i came home thinking that i could likely be moving to DC in about a month from then. however, i soon became a bit frustrated with this prospect. my contact had told me to call her the next week, but i kept having to leave voicemails for her since she was out of the office so much. i continued to wait to hear back from her, and in fact, i'm still waiting.

then, about a week ago i got an email from my favorite professor, a brilliant little korean man. he asked me if i'd be interested in teaching english in south korea for a year at a christian university. i checked into it a bit more and liked what i was hearing. i admit that it doesn't make a lot of sense. the opportunity has little to do with my knowledge of the middle east, and i'd even considered the whole english teaching gig before and sort of already dismissed it in my mind. but, this just felt right in that gut-feeling sort of way, and even though i don't know much about korea, this will give me a chance to explore further something i'm quite interested in, christian theology in a non-american/european setting. the bonus is that the school had not just one but two spots open, and a good friend of mine is going too.

so, that's my news. i'm moving to pusan, south korea in exactly four weeks from today. visitors are welcome.

This Just in from FOX News (a couple days ago...)

What do you all think of this new video game?

All I can say is WTF?!? (I haven't had time to try the demo or anything though....)

http://www.peacemakergame.com/

Two Weeks and Counting....

Well I thought I'd update you all on my life at the moment... it's not that exciting, but thought you'd all like to know. We've got 12 days left, and it seems like so far away and so close at the same time. The more I sign my name "Sarah Boyd" the more I think about signing it differently in the future. Man, I worked so hard on my "b" signature for 21 years! Oh well, I've always liked "k"s too. So we're doing a catered bbq, which will be fun since it's at a park. We've had about 200 people rsvp, so hopefully it'll stay there!

We spent a couple weeks in California, looking for a place to live and a job for Will... and found neither. So hopefully we have a place to live before we move out there! We're considering renting a house with my sister and her husband. Knowing my personality, you all should know how much better I'd feel with something nailed down! It's a learning process.

I'm so excited to see Laura and Stephen in a few weeks! I miss you all like Kara misses kamel humps.

God wills it!!!!!
Sarah

West - Muslim relations

Hey, what do you guys make of this? In this order.

1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peFQWuk4nuo

2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcOKzcPQkGY

3) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3_ZqeR27Mg

a little message from kara...

HEY MESPERS!!!

So... I'm at camp and I don't have a lot of time to write each of you back, but I just wanted to let all of you know that I've gotten and read through all of your emails and I'm getting really excited for all of you this week as you head to DC... AND!! I'm getting excited about those of you that are headed to Ohio to hang out with me a night... just so you all know... you are invited if you can make it... to my house this Saturday evening to spend the night and hang out Sunday morning and have lunch with me. My family and I have to leave for another camp on Sunday at 3, but you're welcome to stay until then. I emailed Justin directions... so anybody not coming with him that wants to show up, just shoot him and email or a phone call and he'll hook you up (Well, Mumkin Insha'allah!)

I also just want each of you to know: Stephen, Aimee, Todd, Stacy, Tabitha, Justin, Courtney, Esther, Emily, Steve, Tim, Bryce, Ruthie, Addi, Sarah Boyd, Sarah Gordon, Christina, Beth, Jami, Tiffany, Iman, Owen, Laura, Dena and Steve: I am praying for each of you and missing you so much. Sorry that I suck at returning messages and keeping in contact with all of you... I would love to, but these camps get in my way. But know that if I could I would write each of you a message just so you know I love you! So... have an incredible day... I'm praying for you and hoping to see you again real soon!!

In Christ's mighty Grip,
Kara Joy

Gaza

So I don't want to start working yet, and I just happened to be reading on the BBC and wow, there's kinda a lot going on in the Middle East the last few days...

So what do y'all think about what's happening in Gaza? Are the Palestinians there screwed, or will the Hamas takeover be beneficial for them, despite the international isolation? It seems like Hamas gets stuff done in Gaza, so will they stop fighting and do the government thing in Gaza or will it just all go to hell? And how about Mahmoud Abbas' new emergency government? They seem are the ones working for a peace agreement with Israel, but can they do it without Hamas? Especially since Hamas now controls all of Gaza

But Fatah is the one who is working with the rest of the world to try and get peace. Although, I really don't think that'll happen without Hamas. It seems to me that peace will be impossible without the leadership from both Hamas and Fatah in the talks. And so I think that despite the undemocratic nature of Abbas' emergency cabinet, it is for the best. Hopefully, they'll take the opportunity of the world's support and get some stuff done for Palestinians.

And the US lifted the embargo on the Palestinian government, so they'll be getting money. Do you think that Fatah will do good with it, or will they fall back into the trap and the cycle of corruption and not do anything with the millions and millions of dollars they're supposed to be getting?

Anyway, what are you guy's thoughts on everything??

Mumkin, let's all remember to pray for the people of Palestine, Egypt, Iraq (the US just launched a massive offensive that I suspect will have a large number of civilian casualties), Israel (for peace and wisdom) and everyone else in the Middle East, eh?

The 4th is coming up soon and I can't wait to see all of you who are coming!!!!

Salaama y'all,

Aimee

Does anyone recognize this?

Quote of the Day

U.S. options are limited in part because its role has been limited, with the President George W. Bush's administration pursuing what for the most part has been a hands-off policy toward the Palestinians. In public comments Wednesday, Tony Snow, the White House spokesman, said that the hope of averting a wider civil war remained largely in the Palestinians' hands.

"Palestinians are going to have to sort out their politics and figure out which pathway they want to pursue - the pathway toward two states living peaceably side by side or whether this sort of chaos is going to become a problem," Snow said.


Thank you Snow. (and the International Herald Tribune)

Habibis, greetings from the golden coast of Michigan. Hope all of y'alls summers are warm, sunny, relaxing, and fantastic. I've finally been able to get my fill of fishing once again and have mostly been dividing my time between that worthy pursuit, work, and time with old friends. I was wondering about this weekend in Dearborn--are any non-Michiganders planning to visit the Arab festival? Also, I have been wondering about the book club as well. I've finished Beirut to Jerusalem and it was a fantastic book and have now moved on to Company C which is quite good as well. But, I have to admit, I have never been part of a book club before and am not terribly familiar with what it entails and how that would look over the internet. But it seems like a good way to stay motivated and in touch and I want to try it out. So, two questions: 1) did you have any idea that Beirut / Lebanon was so insane (especially in the 80's, I guess)? After reading the first half of the book I was very disappointed that we weren't able to visit. And 2) What do you think about Freidman's suggested solutions at the end of the book? I know that he is much more familiar with the region but those were suggested before the second intifada. Are any of them still possible today?
Peace like a river.
Kool.

questions...

So I've got two questions:
Number one-book club? dead, alive, what?
Number two-4th of July. I think its like a wednesday, so are people planning on going before or after? Cause if i come...i need to buy a plan ticket...so i need to know, so I won't be 100% broke. Awesome.

R.I.P. Mumkin Shwayya

Mumkin died. She was really sick with parvo virus that only puppies get and she just couldn't handle it. Sorry, I guess "mumkin" will have to be put to use someplace else

Hello from the Home of Green Chile

Oh man, it was so great to hear from some of you about what your lives are like right now! Kara I'm so impressed about how your attitude is still up despite your brother not being in the band, and I hope things turn out great. I'm sure they will. How are things now? Emily, I feel like I had an actual substantial conversation with someone just from reading your post. I loved hearing how you are thinking and what changes have happened in that mind of yours. I'd love to hear more.

Well I guess I should tell "ya'll" what I'm up to here in the "Land of Enchantment" aka New Mexico. I'M PLANNING A STINKEN WEDDING! I don't think there's much more explanation needed. Man this stuff is harder than it looks. I don't know, do I want a cake topper with a "K" on top or just fresh flowers? Well then what kind of flowers do I want? Holy cow the list can go on. If you're an indecisive person, do yourself a favor and don't ever get married. Elope. Seriously. Anyhow, we just got all of our wedding invitations out a few days ago (hurray!!!!!) - about 315 at the moment. We got them printed in Ecuador, Will designed them and they're so sweet. I'll try and get a picture up soon. Oh yeah Ecuador. It was great! The jungle tour was amazing, four days just chillen in the jungle, getting bit, gliding down quiet brown waters in canoes, eating plants (seriously, one of them made our tongues feel like they had thousands of tiny needles pricking them, which apparently the Quechua natives eat to kill hunger. Don't see much of a future market for that in America..). The rest of the time was really sweet too, we took a salsa lesson one night in downtown Quito, went to some hot springs (where I got massively burnt because I guess the sun's a little closer at 11,000 feet), went to "Mitad del Mundo", the equator (not Ecuador) line, although they measured it before the invention of GPS, so the huge monument is about 100 yards off the "true" line. Well, what can ya do. They had these big signs like "N" for north, etc, and so Will and I had the BRILLIANT idea of me taking a picture next to the "S" and him taking a picture next to the "W"est, only to walk over and realize that Spanish cleverly named west "oeste", so there was a huge "O", which didn't help us much :) I'm sure you all really wanted to hear that story!

So now I'm on my way out to California (SoCal!) for two or three weeks to get my groove on! Ok, not really, actually Will and I will be looking for a place to live in August and a job for him. And he's working for the boss he had last year for some of the time. What a crazy experience, being engaged and thinking about all of these things that one has in life suddenly sharing them with another person. I'll keep ya'll updated on how things progress :) Anyhow, those in the SoCal region: WE SHOULD HANG OUT! I'm in need of some serious falafel. Speaking of which, I helped my sister drive out to Florida last week, and so I went to a Middle Eastern Cafe for some falafel and babaganoug, and it cost me like 8 bucks!! I was kinda pissed, but the guys was Lebanese and we had a great convo (not in Arabic, sorry Christina).

I love you all mucho, and it warmed my heart to hear "mumkin shwaya" being put to some good use.

Anyone else watch the Democratic Debates last night? Richardson definitely does not have my vote (even though he's my governor) as the "first thing he would do in office in the first 100 days" would be the work on the education system here. Foreign affairs has my current attention.

Not that exciting; but still...

Aimee here. So like I said it's not that exciting, but my family just got a new basset hound puppy, and I've convinced them to name her "Mumkin Shwayya". And so, mumkin will forever remain in the vocabulary of my family! Not that they remember what it means, but still. Hope y'all are doing well!

Ma'a Salaama!

hooray for Dearborn!

So, yesterday Stephen and I made a trip to Dearborn. Most of you have probably heard about this city so many times, but for those who haven’t it is a Detroit suburb that is known for having the highest concentration of Arabs outside of the Middle East. We had a really good time. While it is obviously American, it still has a Middle Eastern flavor. Where we explored all the shops had Arabic signs and everyone inside them spoke English and Arabic. We found some great Baklava and rice that looked just like Kareema’s. Also there are some grocery stores with some authentic Arab brands, like Lipton’s Yellow Label, which Steve Byers said he has never found in America; it was the powder tea. One weird thing we noticed was that every woman in a higab seemed to be driving an SUV, whether a Jeep Cherokee or even a Hummer.

The most exciting thing is that on June 15-17, there is going to be an Arab Festival. According to the website there will be over 300,000 people there. It seems like it will be really fun and mumkin a good excuse for people to visit Michigan. Stephen and I were thinking that everyone and anyone that can make it should come to Dearborn. I live a little over an hour from the festival and my house is open for people to come stay at. This was our idea, go hang out at the festival and then come to my house and hang out on the lake(swimming, fishing, mumkin jet skiing) and then camp out in the fields/woods or something like that. Stephen and I are pretty much for sure going to the festival so anyone who wants to join us, you are welcome. Just get a hold of one of us and we’ll figure it out.
-Jami



http://www.americanarab.com/ - festival website

News from the Heartland...of Christian Zionism

Hey ya'll
Now I know Oklahoma is not a fabulous far-off country, but, as it does hold the cherished title of the heart of Christian Zionism, I thought I would keep you abreast of recent developments. First, 2007 is the centennial for Oklahoma, so we are full of patriotic state songs full of Oklahoma pride. Don’t get me wrong, Oklahoma is home and I see many of its good qualities despite is lack of natural beauty, resources, or strategic location. Basically, most Oklahomans are campaigning for the greatness of the state and America despite themselves, due to the overwhelming saturation of cheesy songs and posters.
My church held the “Prophecy Conference” this past weekend. Complete with Tim Lahaye as the keynote speaker (I thought the Left Behind books were supposed to be a joke…) I heard a sermon this morning where he mourned the recent death of Jerry Falwell, and claimed that he is the most influential Christian (greater than Billy Graham he specifically noted) and that Christ himself will walk out of the gates of heaven to welcome Jerry Falwell into heaven. Now, I am not questioning his salvation, all I am saying is that those where some pretty strong words. Furthermore, he claimed Regan (who is the greatest president of the last century in case you were wondering) would not have been elected without Falwell, and the Holy Land would not be secure without Regan. The majority of his sermon was focused on the importance of prophecy (if it could be said there was a focus besides praising Falwell) and how the knowledge of Christ returning changed how we live. I am not saying it doesn’t, or that prophecy is valueless, but we all know the problems with the church’s obsession with preparing the way for the messiah.
Luckily, I think his style and over-politicization of the sermon (he even urged us to register and vote!) was a bit too much for the congregation, despite our dedication to the end times. I had most of my friends at the back of the church wanting to see if I would spew. I didn’t, I just laughed. But my brother made some unkind comment about Jerry Falwell and that really pissed my mom off to see that he too was going down a wayward path of non-bible-believing-damn-liberals! Haha…she didn’t talk all of lunch. My brother’s thoughts are totally his own from his school-no influence of mine!
One other side note. The major Christian book store in these parts is Mardel. I was in there the other say trying to help my mom find a devotion book for her junior girls (there is a sweet one on girl advice by ReliantK and one in the style of Napoleon Dynamite—I wish I had such skills to write such quality literature) . I turned the corner and there was a whole wall of books entitled “Apocalypto Code” and “Armageddon on the Rise” and so on. You get the jist. One of the subtitles listed as a major subject of the book “Why it is useless to negotiate with Islamic Fundamentalists.” They all dealt with the problem of Islam, its violence, and its association with the rapidly approaching end of the world. Of course Islamic Fundamentalists using violence are a problem, and I don’t know if these authors dealt fairly and seriously with different groups, but I am pessimistic due to the general attitude of the wall of books.
I was once in the same camp most of my fellow Oklahomans. I consider myself to have lucked out due to my education and various professors. But it is really hard for me to see any way to get through to my friends and community around me what Christ really is. Obsession with the Messiah is good as long as it leads to Christ-like life…and hate and fear that lies in their eyes seems impenetrable.

But besides all that, being home is actually far better than I could have ever anticipated, and some of my best friends from high school are at similar places in life and in thought and in Christianity as I am, so I have been totally blessed honestly, to have them around.
Can’t wait to see any and all of you on the fourth!
emilyevans

Hey Family!

Hey Guys!
Kara Here... I just spent the past, well I don't know how long, facebooking most of you... but then I realized it was 10:30 and my life was being eaten away by facebook and I thought I'd write here so all of you would get it collectively.

A little update on my life...
Currently I am in the good old Bourbonnais, Illinois at Olivet near Chi-town. I just moved back in last night and I start all the band stuff Sunday. If you missed the memo, I am in a band this summer with 5 other guys traveling around Olivet's region (Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin) leading worship at junior and senior high church camps. I was really excited about the band especially because my brother, Jonathan, was going to be traveling with me. However, these past few weeks have been rather rough and I've lost a lot of my excitement which I think has a lot to do with the re-entry to the great land of the US of A that many of you also are feeling, and also my brother has quit the band in order to be committed to his church as a worship pastor. That's kewl and I support him 100% and think he made the right decision, but at the same time it really sucks and I've been having a hard time with him not being there. He'll be around all summer, but I don't know, it's just not the same. I think the real deal is that I was anticipating this for so long that now that it's not going to work out, well I just can't get past it. I am however traveling with 5 awesome guys still... Tyler who was in my band last year, and 3 new guys, and just got word today that Tim, another guy from my band last year, is jumping on board and gonna play bass to kinda fill in for Jonathan. So it's still gonna be a solid team. And it's still gonna be hot and if y'all are in any of those four states, or Ohio this summer totally shoot me an email or give me a call... I'd LOVE to see you and you're more than welcome to come to church camp for a day or so. :)

I love reading the emails, posts and stories that you all are sharing. It's really hard to be so far away from y'all. So many times a day I think of each of you, especially whenever I see something that was in that bag of America so long ago (Swedish fish will never taste quite the same)... a tear comes to my eye and I just want to hug you. Will you do me a favor? Will you wrap your arms around yourself and hug you for me? I know, that's awkward and cheesy but it'll feel good and the person next to you will think you're a fruitcake or smoking hashish, so hey, it'll totally be worth it!!

I love you all so much and can't wait to hear more about where you're at right now.
You're in my thoughts and prayers!
-Kara Joy

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.
-Psalm 20:7-8
"When you fall off the horse, ya gotta get back on!" -Aimee

Quick Hi from Bryce

Hey fellow MESPers'
it pains me to still be roaming around the Middle East without some of my so lovable travel companions...

I don't have much time (I have to go referee a girls soccer tourniment in the blazing hot sun of Saudi Arabia -an experience few young American lads have had without a doubt. haha), but I wanted to at least give people a chance to share in a few recent experiences.

- A DAY AND NIGHT IN NABLUS -
An appropriate place is to start a couple weeks back giving the abbreviated version of my encounters with the "wanted" freedom fighters in Nablus. As was stated in a previous blog, the girls left me in the afternoon to return to J'salem. I strained my brain trying to remain diplomatic to all the people gathered around me peppering me with questions and swearing they had a good place for me to stay the night. I ended leaving with a 12 year old boy on a bike...
I soon realized that my life was in his hands... we wondered around the ancient old city that had bullet holes, martyr posters, and even old blood stains everywhere.

A guy on a motorcycle came roaring down the stairs and almost ran me over!
He jumped off his bike and moved in close to examine me, (I convinced him, with the help of the little kid that I was not an Israeli spy). I learned later he was the leader of the armed resistance (terrorist opperations?). he was a pretty scary dude, but later it was hard for me not to humanize even the likes of him, because he (machine gun and all) was playing with 3 little children in the street when I saw him again 2 hours later.

My housing option looked like it was falling through (not good when there are no hotels in the city) and it was getting darker (closer to the gun battles that take place during curfew), I met another leader of the resistance who stared at me and blew smoke in my face... He made it clear that he wanted me to stay with him that night. I cordially said I had already made plans but thanked him for his hospitality anyway (which would have led to who knows what!).

i ended up staying with a side-kick of the main terrorist dudes (he had a smaller gun after all).
But, due to the sensitivity of the issue, I won't go into detail about the events that followed.
All I can say is that I didn't sleep much (with the sporadic gun-fire at night), and I never felt luckier to be alive in the morning...

Well, I'll talk more about the Tel Aviv, Sinai on the beach with Jami & Ruthie, Cairo with Tim and the gang (he and I WALKED FROM THE CITADEL all the way to Agouza!), and my adventures in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Hope you all are still kick'n it with a tasty groove!
much love.

What happend to Aimee, Jami, Bryce and Ruthie after Justin and Stephen left (about which I'm still pretty sad :( )

So I (Aimee, that is) was inspired by Stephen's amazing recount of our time together in the WB, to write a little somethin' somethin' about what happen in the time between when he and Justin ripped out our hearts with their departure, and when Ruthie, Jami and Bryce left me all alone in the crazy city of Jerusalem (Al-Quds) :) Just kidding Ruthie, Jami and Bryce, I was totally fine by myself and enjoyed the day I had to mentally prepare myself for my mom's arrival.
P.S. Jami and Ruthie and Bryce should add to this because I have a bad memory and an even worse journaling skills.

Okay, so the first memorable event after Justin and Stephen left was when we were sitting on the grass outside of what I gather is City Hall. We were talking about what we were going to do for the remaining week or so that we were all going to be together. This huge group of Israeli soldiers walked by and started talking to us in Hebrew. I though they were yelling at us to get off the grass, but as it turns out, they just wanted to give us a ton of extra food. Sweet! We gave a bunch away, but lived on the rest for about a week. We were on a pretty tight budget, so all that akl was really appreciated. And I think we all needed to get a better view of Israeli soldiers and that gave it to us.

And now because I'm lazy and running out of time on my overly expensive internet cafe, I am posting what was already written in an email. It serves the purpose well, however.

Wednesday: We went to Nablus. Saw Belatta refugee camp. Got our pictures taken with Palestinian rebels and their guns (big guns too). Their brother was in Hizbollah and was killed and while we were looking at the grave of these guy's father, brother and friend, they get this call saying "the enemy" (Israel my guess) was near and they ran off to (hopefully) hide. Bryce stayed behind, but you should ask him about that.On the way back, us girls flirted, and acted dumb our way through two checkpoints (not my proudest moment, but hey, I'm a Christian pilgrim wanting to see the Samaritans!)

Thursday: Ruthie and I relaxed while jami and bryce went and explored Ramallah. jami can tell you more about that.

I think from here on its Jami's words...

Friday: Two words. Political Protest. More tear gas, rubber bullets etc. Jami and I were arrested. Well not really, but should've been. Truly, I've never ever thought I was going to be arrested more in my life. (btw, Bryce wasn't there. Important note) Okay, this story really needs to be told in as much detail as possible. Okay, we get to Bil'in, and see that our friend Taka (from the Hebron Hostel, where we've been staying, he's the Japanese reception dude) is there. this is important. the protest starts. We're marching through the village towards the wall, and this adorable little kid is leading the chants with a bull horn on his dad's shouldars. anyway, we get to the path leading to the wall (which is actually a fence at this point--that's what the protest is protesting, the wall) the israeli soldiers had set up this coil of razor wire blocking the path. but you just had to walk two feet off the path to go around it. So Jami, Ruthie and I are on the other side of the wire taking pictures of the Palestinians stopped at the wire. Them and the soldiers are shouting back and forth at each other and they begin to pull the wire out of the way. Promptly, tear gas is fired. We're all hit pretty bad and they fired about 15 canisters all in the middle of a crowd of only about 75 people. Where we're at is in the middle of a field of olive trees, by the way. (I'm going to let Jami take it over for now) We all scatter, the tear gas was ridiculous, istant pain in the eyes and I couldn't see anything. Aimee and I took off in one direction and completely lost Ruthie, I was all cunfuddled and Aimee kept her head and called for me to head up hill to get away from the gas...running through a pot hilly field when you can't see is really hard...after we all spent some time hiding in the trees it was announced that we were going to pull back and regroup to go at the fence form a different direction.

We found Ruthie and she had had a similar experience and we started walking back, it looked like we were leaving all together to the soldiers. We headed down into another valley, really we were walking on the side of a steep hill toward a more intense portion of the fence. Ruthie fell behind Aimee and I but we didn't realize it. This is where Taka is important, we saw him up ahead of us and believed that he wouldn't do anything crazy so he was safe to follow. Aimee and I kept going, believing that we were going to the wall and chant and then leave. Before we knew it we were seperated from the main group, we were with only about 15 others heading down the side of the fence. The fence was on top of a hill, we were below, pressed up against a rock wall with the valley falling below us on the other side. At one point Aimee slipped and almost fell down but about 3 palestinian men grabbed her and kept her from falling the 10 ft, she only lost her water bottle. We couldn't turn back at this point because being alone would be dangerous, so we had to keep following the group. We got down to the valley floor and reached the fence. The men had piled branches on top of the coil and we hopped over to get up in to the fence, which was reached after climbing a small hill. The fence had two sections, on our left next to the valley was a wire roll. On our right was a chain link fence, tall, with wire on the top. At this point we were freaking out, we shouldn't have come this far and we realize that this whole thing was completely stupid. We were also concerned about Ruthie and how angry she must be at us. We thought that we were going to stand there and protest, but instead the Palestinians start walking towards the soldiers who are at the top of the hill shooting tear gas at ruthie's group. They didn't even see our group until we were about 20 ft away, also as we walked we all had to keep our hands up so they wouldn't think we had any weapons. When they saw us they shot some tear gas and Aimee and I took off running instantly trying to get out of the fence at the bottom of the hill. A few people were with us and the soldiers forced us to stop. We all crouched down on the ground for awhile and the men kinda protected us, but we were also protecting them in the fact that we are internationals and they can't hurt the palestinians as much with us there. We are told to stand up and walk forward towards the big group of soldiers, through this fence with no exit where they can do whatever they want to the group of us. We have our hands up and walk for 1/2 mile to the next gate. On this walk Aimee and I realize that, although we have our passports, we shouldn't show them because they have no visas. After awhile things loosen up a bit and the group we are with starts chanting "No, No Wall!" When we reach the gate there is a line of soldiers on either side of the exit. Up ahead of us it looks like they are just letting all the palestinians go.

Aimee and I walk, still crazy nervous. A soldier calls out to us "Hey, come here." First he said something in Hebrew that we didnt understand. We walk over and he asked "What are you doing with them?" Aimee: they are our friends Soldier: come with me, we can be friends. As we walked away, realizing he was just flurting he told us to be careful with them. Ruthie was fine too, she just got a lot of tear gas. Probably one of the most stupid things I have ever done, if Bryce had been there he would have stopped us, which is saying something. The fact that we all got out without any trouble is so suprising. That night we slept with Sarah again.

Okay y'all, this is Aimee again, no need to tell us these was stupid; we know and we regret the actions taken by us that day and rest assured that I don't think that I'll do that again any time soon. PS don't tell any mothers about this, okay?
The "intership in human shield work" was interesting but we're morons.

Saturday: after talking to some friends in Ramallah, and making an unsuccessful journey to Bethlehem we went to Tel-Aviv to stay with Bryce's Uncle. They were really nice and gave us good food and did our laundry.Sunday: hung out at the beach(just us girls) and relaxed at the diplomats house. We had corn on the cob for dinner and went to sleep at a different house, friends of the Bohne's. Monday/Today: Us 3, no Bryce, came back to Jerusalem and went to meet with IBDA, a Palestinian cultural center in a refugee camp in Bethlehem. It was awesome taling to these people, they are doing so much in the community with what little they are given. This camp has 11000 people on a kilometer square piece of land.

And Aimee again

We stayed the last two nights with Ruthie's roommate's mom just outside of Jerusalem. Packed a last noother together on Tuesday (?, I might be wrong) (I discovered that my favorite noother is Diet Coke, I'm wild aren't I? :)) and on Wednesday, after doing some stuff in the Old City, Jami, Ruthie and Bryce left. Sad.

Now my mom's here and we're leaving for Dahab in about half an hour. Boo ya. So ready to be back in Egypt, and out of the Holy Land.

Peace Out y'all

Miss you tons,

--Aimee

PS Jami, Ruthie and Bryce: If I left details out tell me, and if you didn't want our protest story told, I'm sorry and I'll take it off :)

Thank You Stephen

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Stephen for his great recounting of the traversing through Palestine that I'm so amazingly jealous of. Seriously, sleeping on the beach and getting tear gased? I'm wishing I'd traded in my Ecuador ticket for an opportunity to hang out with you all for a little while longer. Although I did have a great time in Ecuador :) Love and miss you all!

Sarah Boyd