Gaza

I can't let this challenge go without a mention of my first trip abroad (well, not counting Canada!).  In the summer of 1998, I participated in a mission trip to the Gaza Strip.  A lot of people think of it as a really dangerous place to go, but at that time there was a bit of a lull in the cycles of violence that have enveloped the region for many decades now. 

My team

Our home during the trip, Dair Latin (the Latin School)

While there, we participated in a couple of different projects:

At Atfaluna, we helped out with the summer camp

Pete and I volunteered at the hospital-
the only private hospital in the Gaza strip that would treat those wounded in the intifada

We also hosted a summer English camp.  Although this wasn't my project,
I got to know a few of the kids.  I'm pictured here with one of them, Shima

This trip was really instrumental in opening my eyes to injustice around the world and in my own country. 

***************************

Blogs to visit : The M Half of the M-n-J Show, Learn Tamil with me, Woman Never Sleeps, Solo Travel Girl

F is for 'Frisco

It's been a crazy week, so I'm a little behind on my days.  Luckily tomorrow is an 'off' day, so I can hopefully finish catching up then.

While searching through the pictures for my Delhi post, I came across a few more 'oldie-but-goodie pictures 'of my trip to San Francisco that I thought I'd share... 

The Golden Gate Bridge

My uncle's Harley

It was my request to take a ride down Highway 1 on the Harley

The cable car picture

The Japanese tea garden

Celebrating Heather's birthday!



****************************

Other blogs to visit: Fancy Mabel's Fancy Fitness, Jo On Food, My Travels and a Scent of Chocolate, We need the Funk..., Mark Brassington, Storyteller, The Last Word, Valerie Sloan, YA Writer

Egypt

When you look back on your life, you'll regret the things you didn't do

more than the ones you did.                 

 -H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

One of things that I regret the most happened (or, more accurately, didn't happen) in 1998.  I was on a summer mission trip to the Gaza Strip, Israel.  One of my cohorts and I were volunteering at the Ali Arab Hospital in Gaza City-he was working in the Emergency Room and I was helping the office staff do the inventory in English.  [Interesting: now that I think about it-he's doing his MA in Public Health and I'm teaching English as a Second Language.  Maybe that's where we both got our starts???]  One of the nurses there asked us to visit his home in the Rafah refugee camp. 

As you can see, Rafah is right on the border with Egypt.  In fact, you could see the border from his rooftop-slightly further off than this photo:

Our host tried several times to convince us to take a short trip across the border.  Though we had good reasons for refusing (I think we didn't have our passports with us, for one!) it has always been a regret for both of us that we weren't more adventurous (or more prepared!) to go. 

The problem is that Egypt has continued to elude me over the years.  About three years ago, a company I worked for in India opened up a branch in Egypt.  I investigated the possibility of going there, but it didn't work out.  Part of the reason I decided to try Tunisia was to have a foot in the door in North Africa, so that I could move to Egypt when an opportunity arose.  But Tunisia didn't work out nearly long enough for that.  Plus, with the political climate there these days, I think that it may not be the best time to explore the country...

So Egypt still remains on my list of places I want to visit.  Hopefully, someday soon, it will be the right time for me to visit and I'll be prepared to make the trip.  Until then, it will live on as 'the one that got away.'

****************************************

One of the things I haven't been keeping up with is visiting other bloggers during the challenge.  But recently I took the time to visit a few.  Here are some that I enjoyed: Kristen Marble-Passionate About Hope, Write Where I Am, The Lumberjack's Wife, Writing from the dark places, The Best of Everything, Purrpause

Delhi

What would this challenge be without a reference to my first trip to India-the country that captured my heart and mind for so many years?

I went for the wedding of my friends, Chaitanya and Divya

Though I tried to tie my own sari here, I had a lot of trouble and had to get help from the hotel staff.
I just have to shake my head when I think of how much I didn't understand about India!

I didn't see a lot of sites in Delhi on that trip-most of the time was taken with the wedding festivities.  However, I did see a few things:

The Lotus Temple

The Raj Ghat-a memorial to Gandhi

My first ride on an elephant!
(which taught me a valuable lesson:
don't ride an elephant when you have a hangover!)

I also tried to capture how tightly the traffic is packed together

....as well as the great variety of vehicles that share the road

...as well as an obligatory picture of a cow in the road.
This one definitely felt it could make itself comfortable wherever it felt like
(it's behind the side bar of the autorickshaw!)

Carrick

View Larger Map

I'm currently teaching in Carrick, a city neighborhood in Pittsburgh, PA.  Most people in the northern suburbs of the city (where I live) only have a vague idea of where Carrick actually is, but are more familiar with nearby neighborhoods and boroughs such as Brookline or Baldwin.  While researching more about this area for this post, I came across this video from the Overbrook/Carrick Historical Society.  It's a little long, but interesting if you want to know a bit about the history of the neighborhood.



My students all live locally.  Why is Carrick an attractive location for this recent refugee population?  According to one site, it has access to public transportation and several business districts, many within walking distance for the refugee population.  Local churches and charity organizations have been active in helping the refugees adjust to life in America and integrate into the community here.  My students say they enjoy it here-especially the weather and the access to good health care.  They are determined to make a success of their time here in Pittsburgh-by finding jobs, raising their families and learning to adapt to American culture. 

Bhutan

Located between India and China, Bhutan is a small country in Asia.  I first became aware of it by reading the book "The Geography of Bliss" by Eric Weiner.  Weiner visits Bhutan because he is intrigued by the idea that the king has made the Gross National Happiness (GNH) of his country a national priority.  Can you objectively measure happiness? The government of Bhutan claims you can:

"Bhutan seeks to establish a happy society, where people are safe, where everyone is guaranteed a decent livelihood, and where people enjoy universal access to good education and health care. It is a society where there is no pollution and violation of the environment, where there is no aggression and war, where inequalities do not exist, and where cultural values get strengthened every day. (…) A happy society is one where people enjoy freedoms, where there is no oppression, where art, music, dance, drama and culture flourish."

While this might make Bhutan sound like the mythical Shangri-La, the reality for some people has been quite different.  My students are Bhutanese refugees.  Culturally Nepali, their ancestors settled in the southern part of Bhutan.  In the 1980s, the king of Bhutan enacted several policies aimed at homogenizing the many ethnic groups present in the country.  When this group protested the enforced acculturation, the government retaliated, forcing them to flee the country.  Most of the refugees fled through India and ended up living in refugee camps in Nepal.  Though the governments of Nepal and Bhutan met to discuss the refugee issue many, many times, they could not agree on a repatriation program.  As the years dragged on, it became apparent for most of the refugees that the only option was a third party resettlement. 

The resettlement of Bhutanese refugees in the US has been happening for about 5 years now.  Tomorrow I'll tell you more about what's happening with this group here.

A is for....

One hour to go until Day 1 of the challenge is over and I'm still trying to compose this post.  Yesterday I was pretty excited to get started, but today I'm having difficulty trying to find something to write about.  I suppose I could write about the places I've been:

Stone Mountain in Atlanta, GA

Or,

Agra, home of the Taj Mahal

Or maybe I should write about the places I'd like to go:

Alaska?  No, too cold

Antarctica? Ditto

But what I really thought might shock people would be if I chose 'A is for America.' 

When it comes right down to it, it's really not as strange as you might think.  Though, yes, I do like to travel and/or live abroad, I also find it important to come back and reconnect with people here.  So, yes, I think I will make A stand for America.