All We Need Is Love…and maybe some equality
25 January 2015 Good evening from Beit Sahour! On Monday, we spent the morning at the MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) headquarters where we heard from Shareen, a lawyer that works often with abused women, share about her life and work. And never have I ever been so thankful for my father and opportunities as a....
Beit Sahour
25 January 2015 Entering into Israel and Palestine has brought a whole new mixture of challenges, emotions, and incredible experiences. After a very smooth border crossing into Israel we headed towards our new homes for the next weeks in a small Palestinian city in the West Bank right outside of Bethlehem. Our group was separated....
Exploring immigration on the border lands
20 January 2015 Our group arrived in Tucson, Arizona on January 8th shortly after midnight, and we spent several days in a hotel there while beginning our study of immigration issues at the US/Mexico border. Our first activity on the morning of the 8th was crossing the border to visit El Comedor (a soup kitchen....
Into the desert
19 January 2015 Marhaban – Hello from the Middle East 2015 group! This week has been a whirlwind of new sights and experiences, smells and sounds. From the Bedouins calling out to us, encouraging us to buy their wares, to the enticing dishes at each meal, we have arrived in a new world. Over the....
Synergy
13 November 2014 She stomped onto the bus, long, loose red curls swinging from side to side, framing her weathered face. With a gruff expression, she brought us to attention with a shout of “hello.” She leaned against the side of a seat, resting momentarily. After gathering herself, she stood up straighter, emboldened, and shouted....
Learning Bulgarian time
5 October 2014聽 Time flies. Our first assignment once we had settled into Bansko was to head out into town, find a cafe, order a drink, and sit for at least 2 hours. Andrew stressed the importance of this assignment: in the Balkans, afternoons are leisurely and time is understood relatively. Here, productivity was not....
Relationship beyond language
3 October 2014 Yana, my beautiful Bulgarian host, is a typical Bulgarian grandmother through and through. Two things I have come to realize throughout the past week and a half of living with her is that 1) She notices everything, and 2) slippers are key to success in life. When I was first dropped into....
A beautiful beginning
Leaving Goodbyes and hellos Well wishes and bus rides Excitement Finally getting there Jet lag Gazing out bus windows, Picturesque landscapes. Flashbacks to past travels Tight, cobbled streets Breathtakingly beautiful Babas and stray cats Greeted with bread and the salt of life Settling in and finding ground Traditional architecture, Romantic stone walls holding histories Red....
Sevilla
It鈥檚 true. The sun does shine here in Sevilla. A聽lot. It shines until it is 100 degrees (10 second pity party- my house has no AC and no fan. Also, this is my second attempt at this post because I聽somehow messed up after writing for a solid 35 minutes…I’m all smiles right now). The transition....
Immersed in the Babel
The Tower of Babel-Genesis 11: “So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel鈥攂ecause there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.” Since coming to....