Holy land, Crazy land

and time is flying... most likely b/c it's been so *busy* between Seeds of Peace (SOP) work-- which means focusing on challenging projects/ discussions with amazing palestinian and israeli young adults-- AND Ph.D research-- which means traveling around israel and palestine to speak to really interesting and committed NGO & ex-government folks who are doing progressive peace education/ peace promoting work. not bad.

now if only the military and current government officials would be willing to speak to me! we'll see.... i still haven't used all the "tricks" in the book for arranging that one, so i'm keeping the faith . . . .

this past week, we just completed a 3-day long israeli seminar at neve shalom/ wahat al-salaam (means "oasis of peace," and is a village in b/w jerusalem and tel aviv where arabs & jews live side-by-side . . . it also has its own bi-national, multi-cultural, multi-religious school).

the seminar was run by our older Seeds "alum" (who are now staff-- one of the most positive changes that has occurred in the organization). the Seeds participant responses to this workshop seemed positive... and i was even able to capture some of their voices/ criticisms/ recommendations for SOP in a survey that i had prepared-- both for my own Ph.D research and for the benefit of SOP & its future strategic programming decisions.

this was the second of five workshops that SOP is running this summer. the first two seminars were 'uni-national' seminars (which is a "first ever" in the history of SOP). these seminars evolved in response to many of the kids from each delegation (israeli and palestinian) requesting that they have an opportunity to meet within their own communities first to "iron out" some internal divisions and figure out where they stand with relation to "the Other" in this tense political climate. from here, we now hope that the last three workshops will be even higher-quality/ more productive. insha'allah, b'ezrat hashem, God willing... obviously these are very difficult times . . .

along with this SOP work, my Ph.D research continues to flow-- well, um, "flow" might be a bit of a stretch :) . but in its own choppy and circuitous way, i am learning from my interviewees & my on-site visits to NGOs. one person connects me to another; one person forgets to show up for a pre-scheduled interview; another person unexpectedly makes room for an ad-hoc one... and so the story goes.

these conversations have, of course, been raising ideas that had never before even occurred to me . . . and the veil of ignorance is slowly lifting. with that, comes a greater understanding of just how much work i have cut out for me with this whole process. ("the more you learn, the more you realize you don't know"- yikes!).

i'm waiting for the summer days when i can move like molasses, but it doesn't seem like this will happen until i'm back in the States.

we are now planning for our third seminar, which will begin next week. and the month of august will be mainly SOP-focused & chock-full of travel for me (with a culminating seminar in Cyprus & pre-trips there and to Amman/ Cairo for facilitation training of our older Seeds. exciting!). that means my motto for July is: research (too bad everyone else in the region is on vacation! can't believe they didn't consult me beforehand ;).

outside of SOP & Ph.D-land: i've managed to bumble through a bit of arabic and hebrew phases in my daily market negotiations (for the negotiation nerds out there, "getting to yes" has taken on a whole new meaning) . . . i've learned to always carry my passport ... i've sipped enough arabic coffee and mint tea for the next ten years with my ever-ready hosts in this region. . . i've marveled at the jerusalem morning glows, gleaming sunsets, moon-lit evenings, and starry nights on walks and outdoor hang-outs. . .and i even managed to escape relatively unscathed from a killer jelly fish attack on a Tel Aviv beach (learning to co-exist with all beings in this crazy land!).

o.k., i'm off now to Haifa/ Herzliya/ Tel Aviv/ Jerusalem/ Ramallah/ Bethleham over the next three days... ping-ponging b/w worlds, generations, cultures, religions....

sending my love to each and every one of you... missing you... and looking forward to hearing from you if/ when you get a chance. notes from home make my day here! truly.

big, BIG hug :) ahsiya