Walking the Old City Walls

 This is just outside the Qalandia, the main checkpoint between the West Bank and Jerusalem (Al-Quds in Arabic). Most spots on the wall are just random script graffiti but this section has some really beautiful murals on it.

 It is impossible to understand the scale of the wall and no picture I take could ever would truly illuminate it to those who have not experienced it first hand. It is like a stationary Dementor from Harry Potter, you just feel it's ominous presence sucking the happiness out of the area adjacent to it. The barrier seems to go on forever in this picture, which was also right at the checkpoint. The saddest part is that it really doesn't serve that much of a security purpose (there are still places where you can sneak through and no suicide bombings have occurred in 7 years I believe) and it just scars the land and pains the eye.

 This is the Jaffa Gate entrance to the Old City, on the Israeli side of Jerusalem. The reason I busted out the camera for this picture though is because if you look at the mass of people headed in to the gate, they are all Israeli soldiers in full uniform (many were also armed). I'm trying to think of a fair comparison for the folks back in Washington, but its not as simply as an analogy to "imagine squads of armed soldiers in Seattle/ Spokane/ etc" It would also be more similar to armed soldiers patrolling something like Chinatown in Seattle- A densely packed business and residential area with defined borders. The militant culture that is so deeply entwined with what most consider the holiest place on Earth is a bizarre mixture.

 Anyways on to a more enjoyable topic: a visual tour of the Old City (and outlying area) from the ramparts that surround it. The city of Jerusalem for the overwhelming majority of history, was contained within the high stone walls of the Old City. Until as late as the 1860's there were no people living outside of the walls, though as you can see in the pictures it has since developed through massive growth on the surrounding hills. For a measly 16 shekels (four dollars), you can climb up to the ramparts and tour the walls of the city for about half their total length. These walls were built in the 1500's by the Ottoman Empire's Suleiman and lie directly over the ruins of some of the originals foundations and many rebuilds that occurred in the thousands of years the city has been here. This is a picture from when you first arrive at the top of the spiral staircase to begin the tour, adjacent to the Jaffa Gate from the previous picture. On the right of the rampart is the Sultan's pool (an ampitheatre area) and to the left lies the Old City.

 This is a the Tower of David, though most certainly not the biblical one. This was built to strengthen a weak point in the wall and has been rebuilt over and over again pretty much each time the city has changed hands. Apparently there is a great archeological museum below/ within it along with an excavation site, but since I never carry a map because looking like a tourist is for suckers, I don't actually know how to get to it. In other words, I should probably show some humility and bring a map to the city next time.

 I really like this picture for a few reasons.  First of all, it really gives you an idea of the scale of the Old City's walls in some areas. I'd say in this shot, it has to be pushing 14 or 15 meters in height. This picture also contains some ruins from the older walls (though I could not tell you which ones) directly at the base of the current ramparts as well as the ruins towards the bottom right of the picture. I also was really happy I got this picture when there was a pack of small children below playing soccer. Not that I'm artistic at all, and most certainly not to sound pretentiously artsy, but I really enjoyed the contrast of the timelessness of the inanimate walls with the youthful exuberance of little kids. Damn, still sounds really pretentious.

 Here is another picture that shows some ruins of the older walls to the city. Build on top of the rocky bluff, there are two distinguishable sets of cut stone. Since I'm a terrible archeologist though, I could not tell you whether there where from the same wall construction or even the same period.

After you take a 90-degree right turn on the rampart (moving along a new side of the city now) this is one of the main features for the better part of this area outside the city. I took 10 pictures of this monastery, trying to get the perfect angle that incorporated all the features I liked about it and this was one of the better ones. A little research has told me that this is Mount Zion, and the building in the picture is the Abbey of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, built s in 1900 but it lies on top of the Haga Sion, a much older church from the Byzantine empire. The cemetery is also beautiful, and I know that at least the section closest to me is the Armenian cemetery.

 This is just another picture of the Dormition, but from a little closer along the wall. The structure is massive and I think next time I get to Jerusalem I might just have to try and find the entrance.

 I just really enjoyed the wood lattice work that was being used for this refurbishing next to the Dormition. If you ignore the occasion piece of rebar sticking out of the top, I think you get a good idea for historical construction techniques. I was happy not to see massive modern construction equipment.

 This is the only stone I saw on my whole walk (a few miles I think) that was covered in moss. I just liked the contrast between white mortar and sandstone and an overtly green one. The little plant at the top is a nice touch as well.

And here we are near the end of the rampart walk, the Haram Al-Sharif, or as most of us call it, the Dome of the Rock. I'm also very close to the Western (Wailing) Wall, but I already have enough pictures of that. The inherent problem for me trying to get close to the mosque is that my holidays fall on Muslim holidays, and on Muslim holidays the entire complex is closed to non-Muslims. When I go to Al-Quds on weekends, I have similar problems: Friday prayers in Islam mean that the Mosque is closed to be, while Saturday is Jewish Shabbat, so pretty much everything else in Israel is closed. I had a day off on Tuesday in commemoration of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) which is when I took all these pictures, but this is about as close as I could get to the Mosque and still get a good picture. Still turned out pretty good though, and I couldn't complain about the weather for the middle of February.

That's all for today! Sorry they are few and far between, but I hope some of you out there are still enjoying the blog

It's been awhile

Once gain I have to apologize for the long delay between posts, life has been both hectic and monotonous at the same time. Some how that results in complacency towards writing things down, but I'll do my best to write two blogs tonight- one on my personal life and the other on whats been going on in the region lately from a firsthand perspective.

First on the personal side, things have been challenging lately here. Work fluctuates frequently between boring and infuriating. The bureaucracy here is unlike anything I've experienced before (and I spent 4 years in the Navy!) and I usually find myself wondering how anything can expect to operate under these conditions. The worst Dilbert strip looks like a well-oiled machine compared to the runaround you get just to get a simple thing done. Weeks pass waiting for a signature or a memo to be received and while waiting, opportunities or deadlines from the western world pass by with little concern. The university often seems to get as excited as possible, forming committees and investigative teams to determine a course of action for applying for a grant from a European or American institution, only to have the application deadline pass because no one could get organized enough to do anything. It's not just grants and complicated documents, e-mails to foreign professors go unanswered for weeks (essentially burning bridges) because I can't get a straight answer from someone else in the university or I can't get a meeting. I do my best to adapt to the situation at hand, but I also become concerned that the university is just bleeding itself out, slowly but surely, and refuses to admit or acknowledge this because it would mean a hard look would need to be taken at the way it does business and educates students.

I try to keep my thoughts about most of this to myself, after all its not my place to do or say anything.
Except it is.

I was not flown across the planet to sit and answer phone calls and emails alone. Yes I will do that happily, and that is in my job description, but that is not all my job requires of me. I am supposed to assist the office in any manner necessary. If I only had a ever worked as a secretary or specialized in communications then I could understand just keeping quiet. Instead, I was hired on a recommendation from a professor who once told me "You have the ability to succeed in anything you want to do" and therefore I think that lends to a little more than emails. My CV indicates that I have experience in organizational structures in general, and years working in higher education so, as bad as it may sound, I WANT TO BE USED. I can write well, I can read too, but my real potential is in critical thinking and problem-solving. I have a work ethic that took years to build and now I feel it waning due to lack of use. This job only looks good on my future resume if I develop (or at least maintain) the skills needed to help the university improve its international profile.

The other day someone told me that I "just don't understand the culture here." He was a Vice President at the University trying to tell me what skills students need to succeed in the Western World after they graduate from  the university. I found it laughable for a few reasons that I'll keep to myself, but one that really bothers me. The university seems to think that it can play the game of western higher education but that it can play by its own rules. You can't ignore emails from western doctorates for weeks at a time, or try to submit something to the EU after a deadline or ignore consulates who want to visit your university and chalk it up to "well thats our culture" IF you want to the play, you have to play by the rules- and when it comes to higher education that means if you want to take money from the EU or work with American universities you don't just piss on them. I understand the culture here, I've given up queing and operating on a timeline and pretty much everything else I would call  being organized or time management. But you are not going to get the western world to do that, because A. its their world  and money (like it or not)  and B. they have no patience to deal with anything that doesn't fall in line with their methods and finally C. because they don't have to. Unfortunately for the university and Palestine, the world can get by without you. So if you want to be a part of it, fall in line (at least with your affairs that deal in the west) and play the game. If you don't want to be a part of it, then thats fine too really. Develop your own model, free from western funding and academia and go for it and I will support that just as much as the joining the west- but you can't have it both ways and trying to do so just hurts the students and the university. Thats the most infuriating part for me, I just really want to students to get the best education possible and I know they are not, and this wishywashy position and bureaucracy is one of the fundamental problems that must be addressed. Not just for the university, but for the future of Palestine as well.

But I digress, tomorrow is a new day. If I'm lucky, I'll have some work to do. If I'm real lucky, I'll have less bureaucracy to deal with as I do my work. If I'm truly blessed though, someone will just listen to me or even my ideas.

This might have seemed like a rant, and to an extent it was. But this blog is a record of my observations in Palestine and it is not objective. If  no ones acknowledges these flaws and discusses them, can we ever really move forward? Can we ever have a good dialogue? I want the best for Palestine, the university, and the students. These are some of the issues I see as constraining improvement on all fronts. I hope that the university can someday address these and become the beacon of higher ed in the region that it truly wants to be.

Pictures of the new flat

I am really far behind on blogging and to my few loyal readers I apologize for that. Teaching eliminated any free time I had for two weeks and I need to post the stories from that experience up here soon. The opportunity to move to a new apartment presented itself and I have just moved and so far really enjoy it. The whole apartment swap is a give and take according to my personal tastes for amenities, but I definitely prefer this setup to the one I had. While my old apartment was very nice, it was really far away from everything- this one is in downtown. I gave up a microwave for an oven, and I gave up a private bath for a balcony. It's smaller and older and quite a bit dingier, but I like a cozy place with some character and I can always clean it up myself! I also live across the hall from a few women who work for the university who are really nice and I'm looking forward to increasing my number of international friends and co-workers

Here are some pictures from my private balcony,

down the street here is the central taxi station to go to the rest of Palestine and to Israel, a two minute walk!

the opposite direction leads to the central roundabout, less than five minutes away

While the view is not as scenic, its still so nice to hear the city and the people. I'll post more pictures soon as well as updating the blog with more stories from the past few weeks!

Christmas in Bethlehem (in Pictures)

Into the Sea

As soon as I woke up in the morning I noticed I had gathered a few mosquito bites. Not that this was anything new though, because I am always having to be out the look out for them back at my apartment anyways and feel like I am in a perpetual state of camping without bug spray. I climbed out of bed and threw my book (Tom Sawyer & Huck Finn) towel and headphones in my backpack and my sandals and board shorts on for a trip to the beach for some snorkeling around the reef. I opened my door and was literally blinded by the sun. Probably not the bed idea to go from near complete darkness to opening an eastward door in the middle of the desert first thing in the morning. I ducked back in and traded my normal specs for some sunglasses and grabbed some complimentary breakfast from the Camp kitchen (fruit, rolls and yogurt) and met the folks staying in the cabin next to me, A nice German lady was staying for five weeks with her son for the some time together since she was teaching at a university in Cairo and he was going to school in the UK. Throughout my three and a half days there I realized that this kind of vacation Dahab was the norm, anything less than a month and you were just kind of passing through.

I rented a set of snorkel gear from a shop I passed for about 2 dollars and grabbed a bed at the beach from a restaurant and sprawled out for an hour or so just reading and listening to some music. I'll warn you now that I'm about to make a stereotype or two: Next to me were a few russians and I can say that over the course of the weekend I met a few more. These are the least friendly people you'll ever meet on a vacation. They are rude to the wait the wait staff and everyone else they encounter and are just kind of a cold people in general from what I observed both here and in Israel. I snapped a few pictures of the beach and the water while I was out there and the mountains you may be able to see in the distance are Saudi Arabia across the Red Sea

I got after some tea and reading and decided to head into the water where I was seeing some other people gather at just a hundred yards away. As soon as I threw on my snorkel gear and ducked under water I realized I was just a few feet away from the coral reef. I don't have the words to express how beautiful the reef was, from the giant urchins to the various kinds of coral and the fish that were a rainbow of neon colors, it was truly a unique experience to just be a few feet from shore and surrounded by such a magnificent jungle of life compared to the arid desert surrounding the Red Sea. Sadly I didn't have a digital camera, but Jeri once told me that sometimes its best to put the camera away and just live in the moment. I spent a total of four hours in the water that day and each time saw new species of fish and explored farther and deeper reaches of the reef. I came to Palestine for a life-changing experience and I have gotten one every day, but this was it's own special treat- to find this beautiful wildlife in such a harsh landscape.

Once again thats it for tonight. I'll do my best to cover the rest of the trip tomorrow night. On Friday it's off to Bethlehem for the holiday and back the next day for Christmas dinner!

Dahab

After about a two hour taxi trip heading south from the Egyptian border we arrived in Dahab and the scuba diver pointed me down the boardwalk towards where he though the Bedouin Camp I was going to be staying in was located. The Bedouin are a group of nomadic Arabs that live a pretty archaic lifestyle. These are the people you see sitting around in large colorful tents in films like Lawrence of Arabia. In Dahab and along the Sinai coast they have found tourism to be a marketable trade and have built small hotels/hostels that they call camps and I had booked a room in a well reviewed such camp for about 10 dollars a night- a private room no less in a small bamboo walled bungalow and I was excited to see just what I had got myself into.

Well after walking the full length of the beach I still hadn't located the camp and everyone I asked for directions offered the opposite directions of the last person I had talked to. If I was headed south, apparently it was north and vice versa. Eventually I got really close to where it was and finally turned a corner to see a small sign pointing down an unassuming alley for "Dolphin Camp." Slightly apprehensive I headed down the path and it opened after about 50 meters to reveal beautiful while buildings surrounding a courtyard with covered sitting areas and a few small huts. It was beautiful and peaceful and for the price I doubt I could ever find comparable accommodations.My hut was pretty nice and head two beds, a fan, a single outlet and a single light inside it and really reminded me of the old cabins I spent my entire summers in while working at Camp Parsons. There were no plants to be found, but the dirt had been raked in nice patterns across the grounds and I really can't express the rustic beauty of the place. Completely the opposite of a resorty tourist town or lodgings. Here's the only picture I snapped of the camp (which I really regret):

I stayed in one of those little cabins!

Dahab itself was a really pleasant little town and I can't recommend it enough. Particularly for people who like to get away from the hustle and bustle and just want to experience a quiet seaside resort town. It was almost like something off the Oregon coast, just with more of a Tropical feel to it. There were a lot of small stores lining the side of the street opposite to the beach, but there was no pushy sales pitches to come look at their wares, and even if there were to have been some I think besides the occasionally t-shirt vendors, they all sold authentic spices and Egyptian arts and crafts. The ones that did invite me to their shops were always very kind and responded to my "La Shokran" (no thank you) with wishing me a good day. It was just a feel good kind of place to be. The beach side of the board walk was lined with restaurants- and I mean lined with them. Dahab doesn't have a sandy beachfront anyways so there really wasn't a good place to just throw down a towel, but if you wanted a view with the water you had to go into a restaurant and buy at least a coffee or something. The same applied for if you wanted to snorkel, there was a bed rate of 20 pounds Egyptian (about 4 dollars) for the day to sprawl out on the decks and sun yourself or get into the water from the restaurants.

The Boardwalk across the flash flood drainage bridge

I spent my first night just wandering around and getting my bearings on the town. It's crazy being in a place with bars so I took the opportunity to sit and have a beer by the seaside. I can honestly say a beer has never tasted so good and the sound of the ocean has never been more relaxing. After spending the last three months hardly drinking except the periodic glass of wine, I was really feeling it after three beers and walked back to the cabin. After all, I had been traveling since 5 AM and was looking forward to a nice night's sleep.

Heading South

The night before I headed to the Sinai I spent in Jerusalem in a hostel in the Old City. It was a beautiful stoned-walled place down a side street and was located above a small cafe. The dorm room was pretty cheap, 50 shekels and was in large room with a domed ceiling. After I dropped my bag off, I headed off on foot just after nightfall to locate the Jerusalem Central Bus Station, which I knew was located along Jaffa street a few miles outside the Old City. I knew Jaffa street well enough because it was the street that the central post office was on. It felt like a pretty long walk, somewhere around an hour, but I got a chance to really see one of the main arterials in the city. Many of the municipality offices and upscale markets are located on the street and the weather was nice so I enjoyed the trip. The demographics on the walk were interesting to say the least. The most common thing that I saw was orthodox Jews in their long black suit coats and beards and large hats, followed by IDF members. It's odd seeing IDF members in Jerusalem because they are not really "on-duty" but they are still wandering around in their uniform with their rifles. It's way more than anything you would even see on a marine base in the US, but like I said, this is in the middle of Jerusalem. Anyone who talks about America having a military or a gun culture hasn't seen anything compared to Israel.

Anyways, I got to the bus station okay and bought my ticket for the next morning and headed back towards the old city. I was lucky enough to run into my french co-worker in the lobby of the hostel who was on her way home for the holidays and we went out to the only open cafe at night in the old city for some tea and talking before heading to bed for an early morning. I was up at 5:30 and got to the bus station and loaded up on the bus for the five hour trip south. In between naps I caught glimpses of the Dead Sea and the Negev, the vast desert area that constitutes the southern region of Israel. At the one resting point we got off the bus for a few minutes to stretch our legs and very nice young Jewish man went out of his way to introduce himself and ask me about my trip. This was an especially nice moment for me because until this point all the Israeli's I had met had been less than friendly, and I was happy for a chance to break the stereotype that had been forming in my head that these must be rude people. Back on the bus, we continued south until we arrived in Eilat, the southern most city in Israel, where I grabbed a quick bite to eat and waited for the bus to the border with Egypt.

 Pictures of the trip thus far:

 In the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea

 The Dead Sea

 The Negev Desert

The mountains of Jordan as seen from Eilat

The border crossing was easy enough. I passed through Israeli Security quickly and Egypt was also a breeze. My passport is finally starting to get some character to it with various visa stamps! At the border I met a British dive instructor who was returning to Egypt doing essentially the exact same thing I was but in reverse- renewing his Egyptian visa by coming to Israel for a few days. He was a nice guy who had been living in Dahab for the last year or so, ever since he got laid off in England and decided to seek out a new occupation. It's interesting to see that other people in the developed world are looking away from home for work and finding new adventures along the way. We partnered up with some other English kids and got a cab down to Dahab. I wish I could tell you about the trip and the Red Sea at this point but we were all too busy talking. I didn't even get a chance to take a picture along the two hour trip south!

I'll write more tonight while it's still fresh but for now I need dinner and to work on my lesson plans for teaching english next week!