Borderless

only seven hours away

2009-01-03T16:51:00.000-08:00

I'm initially at a loss on how to respond or comment on the recent events in the Israel-Palestine Gaza conflict. It is a land of homes and families where the sun rises about seven hours ahead of our daily morning routine. If we wanted to, we could see the same day's sunset with our own eyes after a thirteen hour plane ride. No one is too far away.

News media also brings our shared human experience a little closer. Please, take some time to read and watch CNN, BBC World News, etc. The photos and accounts of the suffering there have risen to the top of headlines. There are also two main news agencies in Israel that report in English. Jpost leans pro-Israel and Haaretz tends to balance the former's perspective by showing more of the Palestinian and Arab-Israeli story.

It's my belief and experience that most just want a safe place to raise a family in a safe environment and see their children do the same. We aren't so different ourselves.

the world watched

2008-11-05T10:43:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning to learn that I certainly wasn't alone last night in watching the election results come in hour by hour. Already, statements of support from political leaders both stateside and overseas are pouring in on day-one for the new president-elect. People and leaders of the world are hungry for an era of constructive dialogue and it is most encouraging.

In the past, I've often felt set-back internationally when trying to share my beliefs and worldview. I was all to often overshadowed by a reputation that preceded me via short news sound bytes of political leaders, headlines concerning foreign policy endeavors, and even music videos.

With more international conversation and dialogue from our very own president, it is my hope that we'll have a more positive and considerate reputation of collaboration that precedes us in the years to come.

from Salt City

2008-10-30T18:54:00.000-07:00

Tonight I heard the stories of seven; all current residents of Syracuse but from many walks of life and stories between here and Cambodia, Macedonia, Mexico, Onondaga Nation, Cuba, and Sudan. The stage was taken not by actors, but by real neighbors in an interview-based stage production, Tales from the Salt City.

It was a narrative of heritage, adjustment, hardship, joy, and humor which brought warmth to the late-October night with their honesty. I too am settling into life in Syracuse, welcomed by the local voices that "carry us around the globe and bring us home with a more complete understanding of how the world out there is the world right here."

mornings and jajah

2008-10-17T09:24:00.000-07:00

On a personal note, this comic is entirely too true:

It was sent to me this morning from one of my past roommates at 6:47 am. He now beats my morning routine by about 30-min and I'm sure he doesn't miss my repeated use of the snooze button before step 1.

For those of you looking for cheap international calls to stay in touch with friends around the world, someone told of this one: jajah.com
It uses existing cell and phone lines; calling both phones and then connecting you. It's a fraction of the cost and sometimes free depending on the paired countries.

kite festival

2008-10-12T17:41:00.001-07:00

Never turn down the opportunity to go to a kite festival. There was one in Lowville this weekend, a perfect destination during my 3-day break from studies.

Some things just make one happy; perhaps it's simply the bright colors, the sun, the green grass, the autumn leaves and the blue sky. The only downside was that there wasn't enough wind to fly the larger house-sized kites. However, it didn't stop kids from making their own wind by sprinting up and down the field.

Sand Dams (part II)

2008-10-09T21:36:00.000-07:00

I stumbled upon some amazing photos tonight! Within 3-months of visiting my friend Josh and the village communities in Dodoma, Tanzania, they've already constructed multiple sand dams to provide a more stable water supply for the upcoming year!

The dams are constructed and owned by the nearby villages with the help of MCC. Village water committees take ownership and contribute resources needed for construction. The design of the dams which hold back wet sludgy sand into the dry season originated in Kenya.

Check out more photos of the construction (and Josh's new puppy).

food of the market (part II)

2008-09-12T12:14:00.000-07:00

I'm continuing to find the food I grew to love this past summer in Israel within walking distance of my apartment here in Syracuse, NY. Yesterday I ate at King David's with Stefan and Anjuli. Light food flavored with olives and cheese certainly hit the spot for the study-break.

Munjed's Middle Eastern Cafe is just up the street in the laid-back Westcott neighborhood niche. It'll be nice to go there some night for tabouleh and tea, especially once the Westcott Theater reopens later this month. It's currently being restored to its grandeur and will soon be showing independent and classic films.

My refrigerator is once again stocked with humus and whole olives. Sadly, I'm unable to get fresh pita daily from Afife's bakery, resorting to stocking up at Wegman's and freezing it for continued snacking.
Most importantly, I stumbled upon Samir's Imported Food's an hour ago, finding a store packed with zataar spices, sopping salty buckets of olives, and arab coffee with the scent of cardamom. Yes my friends, it's time to get my bling-bling coffee pot from Nazareth down from the shelf.

Intricate Relations of Anatomy

2008-09-07T20:18:00.000-07:00

My instructor introduced the course as the study of "the intricate relations that lie just beneath the skin." Agreed. Knowing and seeing the physical structure alone opens up understanding of our body's ability to sustain, repair and grow. Many things are suddenly intuitive when one considers what lies beneath the skin
With much of the body understood via its construct, where to we place the inexplicable? I'm wary to separate it completely along with a non-physical mind.

Instead, I appreciate more now the awe of communicating with body language, novels becoming page turners, empathy causing our hearts to ache, political passion of candidates, and rhythm inclining us to dance. We don't need to understand the 'how' to realize their importance in our lives and get out there and enjoy the day.

numbers

2008-08-29T08:53:00.000-07:00

It's been 4 months since I moved out of my place in Goshen, IN. Settled now in Syracuse, NY, to attend medical school at SUNY Upstate, summer experiences play daily into my current life as a student.

The countless thoughtless hours of sipping nescafe on the Nazarene rooftop balcony prepped my mind for the onslaught of knowledge uptake and studying. The days spent on planes and buses throughout Israel and Africa has indeed increased my sitting tolerance. Dave's sage leaf tea is an excellent evening memory drink. Lastly, even though I haven't undergone a language switch in weeks, I'm learning daily the vocab and semantics of science, medicine and especially anatomy.

No longer living out of bags and luggage, I reflect quantitatively on the journey...

Goshen house number: 1601
Syracuse house number: 418
days between the two locations: 121

countries lived: 4
languages used: 7

airline miles: 21,847
in-flight movies: 4
the above movies worth watching: 2

nights payed for bed: 0
nights outside: 3
nights in airport: 1

Israeli Shekels in a dollar: 3.2
Tanzanian shillings in a dollar: 1,163
French C.F.A. in a dollar: 444

Afife's pizza: 6 shekels
chicken and chips: ask Josh. he payed.
cup of cafe tuba: 100 CFA
bottle of Ale-8-One: 0.95 USD

jetta road miles: 5,683
gallons of diesel fuel: 137

hours of med school lectures: 22
days until first exam: 20

cups of coffee: countless

stateside

2008-08-02T13:45:00.000-07:00

Nothing says 'welcome home' like getting picked up from the airport in an open air jeep, cruising back on North Temple street to your sisters house in the Salt Lake City avenues.

Of course, we stopped at Red Iguana for lunch and later to get my car and meet the huskies. Dirk and I also immersed ourselves in American luxuries such as bluegrass, movie theaters, and desserts. (no more deserts)

Rained Dakar

2008-07-30T09:12:00.000-07:00

With the trip to the beach canceled, my last day in Senegal has me rained-in and left solely to packing and napping for the upcoming final flights of my summer. It's a treat to be flying with Air France and Delta at this point in the game, giving me many luxuries and the ability to choose my exact seat online beforehand.

After an 11-hour direct flight from Paris to SLC, I look forward to taking in the Yonder Mountain String Band and Keller Williams tomorrow night in downtown Salt Lake City. Echoing the good times and great oldies from summer '07, quality americana bluegrass and acoustic tones will welcome me home along with my sister's two huskies, Evie and Leroy.

Indeed, it's been a long summer with many nights in many places. Assuredly, travelling will not stop for me once back in the states. From Salt Lake to Lowville, I look forward to seeing many of you soon. (huskies included)

chez-nous est chez-vous

2008-07-26T14:11:00.000-07:00

Parting words from my host family two years ago included and emphasized that 'our house is your house.' This past week I found out that it was indeed true. Descending the taxi and walking through the village streets by memory was a treat. As usual, I ignored all heckling and hissing until one time my name was included. I was rounding the corner to my house where my Mom met me at the corner where she was sitting and passing the afternoon. We greeted with a hug and 3x kisses on the sides of the cheeks. Once inside it was a slew of "ca va?'s" and energetic greeting from all brothers and myself involved.

There was a little remodeling to the house, but all of the memories were still there. We dug a few up in the evenings or afternoons, certainly not in the morning for that's when we all sit around and silently eat our bread and Nescafe to get the mind moving. Ca va's and questions about one's night sleep are mumbled, but thats about it.

Bebe is still a clinger and all over you. Five minutes into the dot-game and he was already anxious to cheat, somethings don't change. Petie was in good spirits after getting the highest score in the city on his Baccalaureate diploma. Mama and Pops were certainly in good spirits having guests and family together once again.

Rice Patties

2008-07-25T07:14:00.001-07:00

I went with Neil and Thomas to the rice fields north of the city along the Senegal River. The government has been implementing a system of canals and irrigation pumps there to expand rice patties and agriculture. It was encouraging to see such development and a well operating system in a country where you often feel the opposite.

We passed the day with a farming family that has taken in Neil and Thomas for the past 6 weeks. No harvesting was to be done so much of the day was spend in the shade of the family compound drinking ataaya and attempting to speak wolof. Malik took us for once last walk (which was also my first) through the patties and extensive canal system which is aiming to make Senegal self-sufficient in rice production by 2015.

re-entry in Senegal

2008-07-22T11:19:00.000-07:00

It's been 2 days in Senegal and I've already been tested negative for malaria, bargained for numerous taxis, and enjoyed once again the taste of bissap juice.

After resting in Dakar from the previous days of flights and buses, I took a taxi to Thies to find Jon. His directions were excellent, finding his house on the first try, "across from the empty lot of bricks and stuff."

Jon, Paul, and I played a rousing game of uno with their host-siblings after dinner that night then retired to another night beneath the mosquito net and fan, two essentials. We woke in the morning for baguettes and coffee before walking 30-min to their work, an air-conditioned office with transcription and translation assignments. We went out mid-day to visit Erin at the hospital where she tested us for malaria.

I'm now in the dorm of a technical university on the outskirts of Thies. My past host-brother, Djibi, is a student here and preparing for his exams in hydro-engineering at the end of the week. We chat during his study breaks, pulling up songs on his iTunes that he loved 2 years ago, impossible to forget from their past repetition. Lifehouse is still one of his favorite groups; perhaps in the same way that I will always like Hootie and the Blowfish.

The Terminal

2008-07-20T15:43:00.000-07:00

The bus ride to Arusha arrived later than scheduled. I decided I had better chances of catching my flight if I'd head to the airport that evening instead of at 4am the next morning. It also eliminated the search and cost of finding a hotel room.

Apparently you can't spend the night at the Kilimanjaro Airport anymore. It's quite a small operation and it shuts down to a one security guard staff from 11pm to 4:30am. I learned this from Jane, a security officer during the day. She took pity on my story of the bus and relying on the airport for lodging. After all, I only had 3,500 shillings on my person (just under $3). I just wasn't the typical tourist with my visit only including the Dodoma region and a 15-hr bus ride earlier that day, far from any safari.

In the end, I was introduced to the night security guard and promised not to tell anyone that you can sleep at the airport. I made a nice bed of seat cushions in the 2nd floor restaurant/bar and soon was camping-in with my sleeping bag and all. The guard kindly woke me at 5 the next morning, smoked a cigarette while I packed up my things, and took me downstairs to the front of the check-in line.

Hamnashida Tanzania.

15 hours of Shabiby

2008-07-20T15:08:00.000-07:00

It's difficult to summarize 15 hours on an bus from Dodoma to Arusha.

-"drive thru" shopping, all transactions made through bus windows
-potatoes, corn, citrus, and other goods bought all along the way from villagers
-driving 101: blast horn, rev engine, leave. who makes it back to the bus isn't your problem
-unlike Dodoma, Tanzania is quite green and lush
-hazy mountain ridge lines behind fields of pineapple, aloe, corn, rice, citrus, and more
-driver's sticker that reads "better late in this life than early in the next. I love Tanzania"
-a little girl wearing a white dress and princess veil walking on a path between villages
-electricity to villages is not a given
-mud houses and thatched roofs

Like I said, it's not easy sharing my experience with the Shabiby Bus Company. I will note that I spent all but 10-minutes of the 15 hours sitting on the bus due to the third item on the above list. Getting left behind in a village wasn't on my list of things to do that day.

Kiswahili Sign Language

2008-07-20T13:18:00.000-07:00

Jo, Josh, and I went out to visit a school for the deaf on the outskirts of Dodoma. Once there, I learned a few signs, all different from American Sign Language, from one of their teachers. What opened up soon after was a "cloud nine" of communication, interacting and learning many more signs from the kids as our conversations jumped and bridged quickly from one thing to another.

Early on, they proved to be handy with the cameras, directing their subjects like professional photographers. Jo and I gave the cameras over in full faith and were amazed at the results. We left not only with uplifted spirits, but over 50 photos taken from their eyes. I've put many of them in my Tanzania Photo Album.

The headmaster shared a story of his star student making it all the way through the H.S. levels before Tanzanian Gov't limited his goal of being a doctor and helping deaf children in the country, something not uncommon due to overdoses of malaria medication or untreated ear infections. The student is now one of the school's multiple deaf teachers, a faculty not many schools in the states can claim.

Sand Dams

2008-07-16T00:12:00.001-07:00

I went with Josh and Shamari to the neighboring village of Mkonze to walk the riverbed there and see where the sand dams are going to be built. This is Josh’s main project since central Tanzania has a severe shortage of water. Commonly at their extremes, the rivers are either dry sandy beds or raging with water, washing soil promptly to the ocean.

Josh gave us a quick summary of the sand dams, designed by a Kenyan who has implemented several successfully there. Placed on rock beds along the river, the wall holds back some water while still allowing it to flow through. As the name suggests, its goal is to hold back soggy sand and silt, keeping the water around longer.

1,000 words

2008-07-15T00:20:00.000-07:00

Dodoma, Tanzania

onward to Africa

2008-07-13T09:55:00.000-07:00

I am once again where I was exactly two months ago, hosted at Maoz's house in Binyamina. The peacefulness of my three-hour nap is still upon me, making hard to believe the upcoming plunge into air-travel and another continent.

Booked months ago, my flights still exist and I'll be flying tonight to Tanzania. I'll make my way inland to Dodoma to stay with Josh for a week. He arrived recently on a three-year committment with MCC.

Thank you, Israel, for the hospitality you've shown me for the past months. I will remember you and hope to see you again, God willing.

Until next time.

Bahá'í Symmetry

2008-07-11T09:04:00.000-07:00

Today I visited the holiest site of the Bahá'í Faith, located in Haifa on the Mediterranean coast. The gardens surround the Shrine of the Báb, not a place of worship but a homage to one of the faith's co-founders.

The gardens scaling Mt Carmel were immaculate thanks to the 170 gardeners that work each night and early morning to beat the heat of the day. Recycled water from the sea flowed gently down a side gutter on all stairs, quelling the sounds of the city.

The sole symbol in the garden design is symmetry. It highlights the over arching theme of equality stressed in the Bahá'í faith.

deja vu

2008-07-03T15:13:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks in Israel have been especially enjoyable. Nothing particularly exceptional or outrageous has happened. However, I've learned that such times carry great significance.

I'm glad of my choice to settle down and stay in one place for 2 months during my summer travels. I quickly remember and resonate with my thoughts from 2006 on my Senegal Blog:

"... Everything seems 'normal' now. Walking the streets, living with my family, communicating in French, greeting everyone and their neighbor with 'salam alakum,' eating rice and fish while sitting on the floor, bucket showers, crappy taxis, etc. Whatever has been odd, different, or flat out bizzare in the past is now 'normal.' It feels good and I don't especially want to leave it. In the next two weeks I'll make my way back in to Western and American culture and likely be reminded about alot of forgotten things and definelty notice things for the first time."
-July 19, 2006

my new friend

2008-07-02T02:00:00.000-07:00

Evenings often involve our neighbor friend and his all too common game of closing and opening our big wooden doors and metal gates. He hasn't told me his name yet, but we communicate effectively enough via body language. Sometimes I join in on his fun, eventually progressing into some version of crouching and peeking around corners at each other.

The other night he made progress, comfortable enough to pose an attack; first when I was shielded behind a cushion and later after I surprised him from behind the door.

We've since mastered high fives, complete with "up-high, down-low, on-the-side, too-slow."

Nazareth Nightsounds

2008-06-30T14:08:00.000-07:00

9:30pm :: Fauzi Azar Inn Balcony :: June 30, 2008
nazarethnightsounds.mp3

food of the market

2008-06-23T15:17:00.000-07:00

"salam alaikum. wahead pizza, arba hobez"
"ma'salam. alhamdulillah. We say praise God, why? because were are alive. we are working."
"ma'salam Afife. shukran"

Look down the street from Afife's pizza and pita bread bakery and you'll see the fruit and vegetable market. Buckets of olives marinate in their oil. They also have with the best peppers here, bright orange and tasting of sugar. Today's treat was five fresh tomatoes for 1 shekel, sliced with sugar and balsamic vinegar on top.

A short walk from the market brings you to a basement filled with bags of spices and dry goods. Every color and smell imaginable overwhelms you as you descend the cement steps. I've only purchased za'atar and pistachios so far. Place the former in a bowl next to some olive oil. Dip first your pita in the oil, followed by the spice for a tasty bite. Double dipping is allowed.