We're all okay.

Just sending a "hello". We are all okay here. More later...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4628412.stm

Longer and longer

Well as some of you may or may not know, I figure I should give an official update on my plans. I have committed to a two year position here. This means that I will come home for March and April, and then return for two years. I am really excited about this. It took a long time of analyzing agonizing and anguishing to come to this decision, but I am confident that it is the right one. It is an amazing opportunity that I have to make a real difference in a place where there is so much good that I can do. I am amazed at the opportunities that have opened up for me. I will be able to talk to you about them more when I return home. Please email me and let me know your thoughts.

We are off to Turkey tomorrow for a week. We will be visiting the seven churches there in a moving classroom. That's code for big smelly bus. Then I will return and will be in Tel Aviv for the next seven weeks. Then three more weeks, and the class is over. Wahoo!!

I learned how to play No Woman No Cry by Bob Marley this week.

Since I have committed to a longer time here, I am in the process of trying to raise funds. I will be sending an email out, describing my vision and plans and the need. If you are interested in contributing to my cause, please send me an email and I can give you more info. Yes, you will get a receipt for a tax break.

I love you and miss you,
Michael

Happy Thanksgiving

I want to wish you a very happy Thanksgiving. The importants of Thanksgiving really hit me the other day while I was in a refugee camp talking to a young man. Refugee camps are a political statement here. Refugees don't want to leave the camps because they will loose their refugee status. This would mean that they would never have any chance to return to their original pre-war home. This young man is a fourth generation refugee, he speaks of returning to a home that he has never seen and that doesn't exist anymore. The unemployment rate in his town is 80 percent. Education is too expensive. There is little hope for him. It is pointless for him to try and go to school, because he only has a 20 percent chance of landing a job. Probably less because most jobs come from inside the family. For lack of a better option, he turns to anger and rebelion to fill his time.

This gets me to thinking. I come from a place where people freak out when the unemployment rate hits 8 percent. I have had six cars, a good job, a house, and traveled the world. I have always had enough and even grown a little fat because of all of the relaxing and eating in all my spare time. I did all of this without really trying that hard. Take a minute and think about how lucky you are.

I miss you guys. I love you. Eat so much Turkey and other good stuff too that you feel a little sick and uncomfortable. Have lots of gas and sleep in the next day for me.

It happened!

I have been here so long, I have gone to great lengths to try and fit in and not look like a foreigner. I am having a reverse Michael Jackson treatment. Just kidding. Actually, this picture is taken at the Dead See. We went there last weekend for some relaxation time. Here are some tips if you ever go to the Dead Sea.

Do smear mud all over yourself. It's great.
Do go with some people that know what their doing. It helps.
Do spend the entire day there. It's relaxing.

Don't open your eyes in the water. It hurts.
Don't take one of you favorite towels. It will stink.
Don't drink the water. It's gross.

I have never been one to care about or even notice the softness of my skin. And I still don't. Let me make that really clear. But it was amazing, for three days after going and swimming, my skin was really soft. I mean really soft.

So what really happened was that I was homesick for the first time in seven months. I have missed family and friends and stuff like that before. This was different. I was really, really homesick. Some family and friends had gone to New York to be there for my sister's surprise engagement. My dad called me from the Brooklyn Tabernacle which is a really famous church in Brooklyn Yes, it's in Brooklyn. Hi, my name is captain obvious. What's yours?. He left his phone going and let me listen to the singing. The choir there is world renown. As I was sitting there listening, it really hit me how far away I was. My sister's engagement is one of the things that I really missed being able to be a part of. Anyway. Just so that you know, I miss you all very much.

Let it rain...

My dearest cousin sent me an email reminding me that I haven't been that good in keeping in contact. I am sorry. I will give you a little background why. I have been working about 70 hour weeks. I am absolutely loving it, but it has seriously impacted my time for personal stuff. I am actually writing this right now while the class is having a time of discussion in between teachings. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining. It's just the way that it is.

Yesterday we got our first rain. It is interesting to be in the Middle East and experience rain. The smell most of all, reminded me of home. It wasn't all nostalgic though. Imagine a place that is extremely dirty and dusty, where there aren't things like 'street cleaners' and the 'hygiene' okay.. it's not that bad. The stone sidewalks are literally black with dirt. Then imagine what happens when it rains. Gross. Some of the students were standing musing at the rivers of water flowing down the sidewalk when a car drove and maybe by accident, probably not, totally soaked them with what smelled like raw sewage water. Gross. That raw sewage smell is not what reminds me of home, by the way. It is the smell of rain.

Last night I got in a fight with one of the students. Not in a bad way. In a brother way. I was sitting in a plastic chair there in the kitchen after a long day playing a small toy drum. One of the students that I really like came up and sat down next to me and said, 'Hey, lemme see that drum.' So, of course, I hold it up and ask him what color it is. After he responds, I tell him that he has seen it and begin playing it again. Ignoring him. So he play pushes me, and restates his desire to play the drum. Now, I am not sure if you have ever had this kind of helpless feeling or not, but I felt myself falling over, and could do nothing about it but wait for the ground to come up and meet me. The cheap plastic leg of the chair folded under me and I went down. Then in all his compassion the student jumps on me and starts punching me. I punch back and then grab a wet towel and a towel fight ensued. I won of, of course. I ended up with a gash on his foot and another on his leg. I have but a mere welt on my arm which is already gone.

As you can probably tell from what I have written, my life is pretty consumed by the students. I want to communicate more, so please follow the example of my dearest cousin and remind me if I start to slack off. Thanks.

I think I broke my coffee.

Okay, I just broke my coffee maker.

It is a sad sad day. I woke up early in the morning. A teacher visiting from South Africa that had taken a liking to me just left me a half kilo of South African coffee. Now this coffee is a rich creamy blend. Absolutely wonderful. I went to go grab the little one cup French press that I was using to make my morning coffee. Then, horror upon horrors, I knocked it over and broke it. Well, not to make this a long story, because it is actually pretty insignificant, but I was very sad. But it's okay. Luckily, there are some other coffee freaks here and somebody already bought another one. Happy day.

All of the students are here and everybody made it in fine with no problems. That was really great. It isn't always that way. I am extremely happy about the group that we have. We are about half American and then the rest are from all over the world. Europe mostly with a South African and a South American thrown in for spice.

I am dead tired. I have been having an absolute blast, but I am really tired. We are in the process of transferring a lot of the responsibilities to the students but for now, we have had to do all the work. I can't keep up at this pace. I am really looking forward to the weekend. I am going to sleep. A lot.

I miss you all.

I hate trying to come up with titles.

It kinda feels like I never left. I have been here getting back into the swing of things. The first two days I spent here where sleeping. Seriously. I barely got out of bed. I am really excited to be able to be involved in this course. My class was five students, this one is going to be twenty four, a whole different animal. We just spent the last week trying to figure out things like work duties, who will clean what toilets and so in. It is amazing to me how much work has to go into this. I really have a brand new respect for those that set up our school. I would like to be more eloquent but it's Friday night, and I am going to go find a nice glass of wine.