hey there its me again

Hiiiiii

guess what I'm still in Palestine. 

Just doin' Palestine stuff. 

Lol it's been a fun month. 

I'm living in a teeny tiny town of 14 000 people, where the phrase 'everyone knows everyone' could not be more literal. Most of the town is related to any of the huge families around here; my one street is comprised solely of the family members of my host family (who come over every Sunday for a Thanksgiving-level feast that sometimes includes lamb intestines). 

So truly, if you go to a cafe, or a sports game, or for a run, you'll run into people who know your family and have heard of you. Lol I went to a basketball game and chatted a little to a random person who was sitting behind me, and I mentioned that I had enjoyed playing a little bit of rugby when in high-school. Later that night while I was walking home, I was approached by a stranger who said to me "You're the guy who used to play rugby! We need you on our rugby team!" Man I swear this guy was not at the basketball game. But now I'm on a rugby team. 

The hospitality is honestly remarkable; I've been offered coffee and food at cafe's for free, and drinks for free from shopkeepers. I've also been invited into peoples houses and have eaten lots of something called Zarp, where you cook chicken in an outdoor oven that you have to seal with mud. Work has been wild and wonderful as I've been caring for 20 Palestinian folks with intellectual disabilities; they've been so immensely welcoming and fun, and the staff there are so incredibly dedicated to supporting them. 

Bahhh what else. I play frisbee. I'm training for a marathon (oh my lord there are so many hills). I'm having a lot of downtime that I'm genuinely loving. I spend evenings watching my host-grandparents play Backgammon while random American movies play on the TV. 

Lol and I've had a couple fairly silly close calls; one night I went for a run to go somewhere and Google Maps took me out of the city. I passed a few stray dogs (one of which started following me then gave up), and as it got darker and darker, I decided to take off my headphones and just heard a huuge ruckus of barking ahead of me. Then I realized there was also barking behind me; turns out there were a lot of stray dogs, and they were getting quite close, so I decided to seek the shelter of someone's driveway, where a family was just pulling in and kindly insisted on giving me a ride into the city. Then shortly after that, while on the Mount of Olives I was chased by ANOTHER dog and lost a sandal. These dogs man. 

What else. Idk. It's getting a bit chillier in the evening. I've started taking arabic classes and I wish I could say how it's going with learning Arabic in Arabic but I can't and that should tell you how it's going with learning Arabic. We have the Olive Harvest soon, which I'll be doing both at work and at home so I'm gonna have some really green fingers. 

There's more to say about the current political situation buuuut that's for another blog. Enjoy all those colorful leaves you're getting you monsters. 

Live long and prosper. 

 

its meeee

What. Is. Up. Guys 

Who knew I'd be going to Palestine eh. 

The answer is me. I did. 

Currently I'm feeling kinda sick (got a good ol cold 🙃) so I'm laying in bed at my host families' house, listening to cars honking outside (probably because of a wedding) and thinking about my first day of work tomorrow (I've been supporting people with disabilities for a long time, so I might know what to expect, but at the same time, who knows what to expect 🤷‍♂️)

What to write in this blog. I'm thinking about something a very knowledgeable and experienced Palestinian man, who runs a very important non-profit organization, said to me this past week: "if you're here for 4 days, you'll write a book. If you're here for 4 years, you'll write an article. If you're here for 40 years, you'll write nothing". 

I've been here for like 10 days, so nothing I can say can give even the narrowest account of what's going on around here. But then again, you all joined a group, so here's...something. 

I've been staying at a boarding school the last 10 days with a team of people who are also here to work for a year, and we've been travelling around to different parts of Palestine and Israel every day, meeting with all kinds of local people. They've all been insanely welcoming and hospitable, and have all had so much to say about the challenges they've overcome, continue to face, and their plans for the future in spite of it all. 

I walked along the illegal border wall that Israel put up 26 years ago (despite the UN telling them to take it down) and saw all the beautiful (and often, appropriately jarring) graffiti put there in protest by Palestinians. I was shown a children's playground that the Israeli army uses as a common test site for teargas, and saw a recorded live feed of the kids running for cover, which gave me the smallest glimpse into the type of resiliency demanded from those who live here. 

I was told several first-hand stories of resiliency. Like the Palestinian farmer who's been fighting for 32 years to not have his land illegally taken away, withstanding intentional fires, mobs and brutal personal violence. Also, of 9-year-old children getting detained and interrogated for up to 9 hours when on their way to school for false claims of rock throwing, and of the children who end up getting months or years of jail time for the same things. I've heard uncountable stories of Palestinians suddenly losing their homes by force, and walked through a Palestinian refugee camp, where 60% of the population have either masters degrees or PHDs, determined to fight back at oppression through education. 

I asked why many Palestinians have their windows boarded up, and heard that it's to prevent something called skunk-water that the Israeli army will spray into random homes at night, which can hardly be washed out and gives a horrible smell that lasts for weeks (while walking along the wall, we saw one of the skunk-water guns above us, and later on saw that it was now pointed at us. "It's so we know they're watching", I was told). 

I walked through Hebron, which is the city with the greatest amount of illegal Israeli settlers, and thus the most amount of violence in the West Bank. The main area used to be a busy Palestinian market street, but if you walk down it now you'll find it eerily quiet, and you'll only see Israeli settlers, who are often carrying automatic weapons. I found out that Israeli soldiers went through the area one night and welded the doors shut of over 1300 Palestinian businesses, whose owners were forced to leave. I learned that ambulances aren't allowed there for Palestinian emergencies, and that soldiers aren't allowed to interfere if a settler is attacking a Palestinian but are allowed to interfere if the Palestinian defends himself.

The remaining 800 Palestinians living in that area are given numbers for tracking purposes, and the remaining 3 businesses (run by incredible men I had the pleasure to meet) often have their only customers refused entry, for no reason, via mandatory Israeli checkpoints. I also learned that the current Palestinian market streets around that area are often bombarded with garbage, urine and acid from settlers living in apartments above. 

This is all a lot. But even more affecting (I'm out of school so maybe that's the wrong word who knows) is that every Palestinian I've heard talk this week has talked about restorative justice and mutual understanding as a way forward. From giving Israeli's tours of their refugee camps to starting a nonprofit based around the two groups having meetings together, I've not heard one word of violence from people who have every right to feel that way. As the man I quoted earlier said, "We want to bring Israel to their senses, not their knees". 

Of course, there's other amazing things to mention, like Israeli centers for non-violence and how leftist Israeli's have made public outcries for Palestinian rights, and how tasty the food is (oh my lord), and how crazy the driving is (oh my loooorrdd), but this blog is long. And I keep sneezing. Goodbye. 

Wound down and Wound up

Heeeeey welcome back (to me) (and also to you). So yeah. I'm in Canada now.

Has it been weird?

Yes

Honestly, idk how much of this will sound cliche, but like - the truth is always cliche, cuz everyone's experienced it already. That sounded cliche. Whatever.

Yeah so, its been a bit weird - eight months is a weird timeframe where, it really isn't that much time at all, while simultaneously being enough time to adjust you to a completely different world. China's pretty intense, and crazy, and noisy, and crowded (fun fact: most of the cars i went in didn't have seatbelts, which i've been telling people is because there's so many people in china that there are no highspeed collisions cuz everyones so close to each other that they dont need them. Which could be true. idk) but like... i adapted. Hard. The people and the constant things to do werrrre invigorating for someone who lives in a town with one stoplight. China's always changing yet always feels the same.
And it was a feeling i got super used to and comfortable with.

There's the people i miss (a lot), and the places, and the memories and stuff, but honestly,
since i moved back to Canada, the thing that gets me most is the space. It's everywhere. Like, seriously there are open fields and crazy stretches of highway everywhere ('maybe for you, you guy from a town where everything is sponsored by 'the tractor club', and yeah fair. But it's like the whole country on a smaller scale). It'sa friggin huge place with not a lot of people, which is honestly super special and incredible. But. I guess I found that my element involves a lot of people - i like being surrounded by people everywhere. I mean, it makes sense - people have always kinda been my thing yknow.

idk whats next for me. I got a good job right now and have more or less settled in well - but theres that darn itch i was told i might get that just makes me wanna go somewhere again. And who knows when that'll be. I should probably graduate - like i will, but i mean, graduate before i go anywhere for a while. It makes sense. But id like to travel somewhere (smaller scale) in the next little while, just to do it again. I got my whole life and anywhere is literally just a plane ride away (it only costs like a few days work and a few hours to go so many places and thats craaaaaaaazy). Idk man. Id like to go back to China at some point maybe too - guess i got a while to decide.

So yeah. That's kind of a summary of some things - there's a general restlessness trying to figure out what i wanna do next. But then again, Canada is a friggin gorgeous place (with insane air omg. Just stepping out of the airport (in Toronto no less) and experiencing the air for the first time in 8 months was insane - the air here is so so great) with incredible things to see and experience, and that makes it a nice place to stay. Until i decide to get goin somewhere again.

Who knows man. But thanks for reading all this time. This has been fun and i appreciate all the views you friggin champs ✌️ till next time (idk if there'll be a next time but we'll waaait and see)

A wild 2 days in New Delhi

Guess who's baaaaack guys. India. Man. What a place.

Seriously though, like, that was a very particular experience. And I was really just thrown into it off the get go, like you might see in a movie. After arriving in late-evening and navigating my way from the airport to the hostel (turning down many an offer from people wanting roughly 8 times the price it was supposed to be), in my first three minutes on the streets trying to find my hostel I witness a group of about 6 small street-children not even 7 years old approaching a middle aged man, then saw him pick up a brick and them scatter. That kind of thing really reminds you you're not in Burford anymore. Anyway, to say the streets were crowded would be an insane understatement; literally everywhere that there wasn't garbage (which there was a sea of) there were nearly-naked young children, or buskers, or street dogs (so so many dogs) or people driving by on scooters consistently missing you by a thread. It wasn't too long a walk from the metro to the hostel though (oh we gonna talk about the metro soon) and the people in my hostel were insanely amazing and instantly welcoming, so i really lucked out there.

The next day i wanted to head out and see what there is to see. I hit the streets early with an itinerary from someone in the hostel of the places to check out around New Delhi. I hopped on the subway (or, somehow managed to squeeze into the subway) to get to the first place, and found that once i entered the subway (and throughout my entire journey India), i was among many stares. That's something about india; in China, people will stare at you, but then once you catch them they look away quickly. In India, they dont look away - they just keep starring. So imagine standing on the subway with your insanely full touristy-backpack and meeting all these eyes that wont stop looking at you. Then try to imagine seeing signs up and routine reminders over the loudspeakers to please check your seats for abandoned items before sitting down. Basically, every subway i used had multiple reminders to watch out for homemade explosives. Both of these factors led to a maaaarginally unnerving trip. But I got to my destination before long.

On my way to the first temple, i couldnt help but get sidetracked and walk down a street full of markets and things to see. There were so many narrow winding streets with good amounts of small animals (like chickens and lizards and many more dogs). There were also small children who kept following me and holding out their hands; this was insanely common. Multiple times there were kids who would flock to me and those i was travelling with, pointing at their bare feet and begging for some money. I was told many times not to give them anything and that it was a scam, though did give in once; that's not the kind of thing you see in burford and, in canadian dollars, it wasnt a big financial loss. Maybe it helped someone, who knows.

Let me further shatter any illusions you may have right now of me having turned into a travel smart non-naive tourist with this next story. So im walking to someplace that i hear is a nifty temple when two highschool aged Indian boys start walking next to me and chatting. We're talking and i tell them where I'm from and they're asking questions and such when a guy in a motor-rickshaw pulls up beside me and says 'hello! Just ten rupee, you get in!" And im like no thanks, and hes like "ok free, you get in! I take you somewhere nice!" and the two indian boys got in (free ride in their direction) and so i was like, sure, why not. The indian boys get out about 5 minutes later and, of course, afterwards he takes me to a shopping mall, wanting me to buy rugs and things. I leave and am just walking aimlessly down the street when another motor-rickshaw comes up and a guy says "Hello! I take you to a wonderful temple! 10 rupee ride!" And im like no. Thanks quite okay. But then we start chatting and i tell him im canadian and he says "Oh, Canadian! My favourite country! Free, free ride!" And he showed me the temple we'd be going to on the map and after a bit i was like "well...okay. Free ride to a cool temple. Why not" and once i got in he said "Just a quick 15 minute stop first" and took off. Of course, shopping mall number 2, where i was made to stay for a while looking at cheap linens and whatnot. The fact that this happened to me 2 times directly in a row is only slightly embarrassing, but the temple (there honestly was a temple) i went to afterwards was actually quite a neat place, so that's something.

One of the best places I went to was a Sikh temple, where I learned that Sikhism was made from the oppressed members of society who wanted to form a religion where everyone was equal. They had to fight their way to being unoppressed, and so, as war is a part of their religion, open weapon carry is permitted for any practicing Sikh in New Delhi. The best thing about the temple was, as they wanted all people to be cared for, over 60 000 people a day were fed there, with people who had nowhere else to go sleeping there as well. We went and participated in a Sikh meal (with me embarrassing myself by sitting to eat on a step, and then everyone looking at me, as apparently since everyone is equal in this temple we all have to sit on the floor at the same level to represent that. My brother Reuben said "you HAD to offend the religion that permits open-carried weapons", which, yeah, thats my bad). In all honesty that was a really amazing experience, and the food was truly good.

Anyway, yeah. In the remainder of my trip I saw cows laying on the street like dogs do, bulls and horses taking people around, goats tethered to poles and nipping at people, insanely crowded markets and extreme class-inequality (which i was warned about before coming but still nearly drove me to tears on an occasion where i saw a family with totally naked children living on a cement island between two highways). It was a nuts trip. Two more instances worth mentioning though: the first is that when i was meandering the streets with my giant backpack and shorts looking as embarrassingly touristy as humanly possible, i decided to buy some food. There were guys at a stand selling food, and so i asked for some soup. They proceed to make the soup and then put it in a bag and hand it to me. I asked if they had a bowl. Or maybe a spoon. They said no. So i was left in the streets of india holding my bag of soup wondering what the heck to do now. Fortunately i decided to buy some bread to dip in my soup, which worked okay. That shows what kind of problem solving is needed for these trips abroad.

So the other story is that it was on my bucket list to see some monkeys, so i went with this guy who said he knew where some monkeys were and voila, monkeys. A lot of monkeys, just hanging out near a highway. They were on buildings and in trees and all over the ground; there were a bunch around the vendors (who would just throw bananas at them which they would catch with their feet like without even looking then devour in seconds it was amazing) and i was cautioned to be very careful with my food here, and strictly warned not to buy a banana. I got some fried potatoes and kept watch, and sure enough as i ate them some monkeys were moving through the trees towards my location. Some locals were watching me and probably wondering if i was gonna get a nasty surprise but fortunately i finished my potatoes in time. I have a video on my facebook wall of a monkey running up and trying to take someones food (which i caught accidentally) and that was super wild.

Yeah, so, that night i went to a buffet with some folks from my hostel before heading to the airport. I left at like 9:30 and got to the airport at around 11, and since my boarding pass said my flight boarded at 00:05, i thought, oh, that means it leaves at 1:05, i have loads of time (yes. yes. yes. i know.) It was about 5 minutes later that i realized...wait, this is the domestic airport. I need the International airport. I'm at the wrong airport.

After running out in a panic and asking a stranger where the international one was, i found out that it was just over 10km away. At that moment a little part of me died, but the stranger happened to be a motor rickshaw driver and proceeded to take me on one of the scariest drives of my life, where i dont think he slowed down once and went right in between so many large vehicles that i thought that this was how i was going to die. I didn't die fortunately, though he did end up getting a lot more money out of me than was reasonable, but since beggars cant be choosers i forked it over and eventually made it to the airport just after 11:30. There were other problems too, like needing a new boarding pass and whatnot that slowed down the process. But eventually i found my way into the waiting area for my plane at around 12:10am. It wasnt too long after that i had a rush of realization that 00:05 did not, in fact, mean 1:05 (how do i make it anywhere) but actually 12:05. I found out though that my flight had been delayed to 12:40, and so was spared the insane headache of being stuck in india in the middle of the night (but yeah. That was insane).

So yeah. That was my trip to India. I can safely say that 2 days, honestly, is so very much not enough, But I'm glad i was actually able to get a true taste of the culture while being overseas.

And i know i just got back, but here's another surprise...I'm going to Thailand next week! Jeez, these trips honestly do come out of nowhere. But my boss said that he's really going to need me for the next 2 months so prefers any more vacations i want to take i take now, and since ive heard cool things about chiang mai, i decided to go for it. There'll probably be another blog post in a while about that and some other stuff, so staaaaaaaaay tuned.

Well. Looks like I’m going to India

So. I kind of recently made a big decision; I'm flying to India today. I'm actually in the airport in Hong Kong on a layover right now, getting ready to head to New Delhi in 2 hours. It might seem random, and it totally is (literally last week I had no idea I’d be doing this), but it’s a place that, since I've started travelling, I’ve really wanted to check out. And I mean, it might be my only real opportunity; I really don’t know if I’ll ever be this close to India again, so I gotta just go for it. I told my boss, he gave me four days off, and now, bam. Tickets were bought, visas were granted, flights were cancelled (then repurchased) and now I’m going to India.

Am I nervous? I mean, yeah, absolutely. It's India. The only thing I know about India (specifically New Delhi) is that the person who told me to go said he saw a pig fighting a monkey on the streets, which might have become a big part of my mental image of India. Going to Malaysia a few months ago really got me appreciating the Southeast Asian culture, and I figure if that was a step in the pool, going to India is kinda just diving headfirst. I was also warned the other day by a friendly Indian woman not to get into cars with people (a little obvious) and not to go out at night (a little more scary). Whether or not it's as crazy as all that, it'll for sure be a time I never forget. 

On a side note, the Hong Kong airport is absolutely beautiful, there are mountains everywhere to be seen. A cool part of travelling a lot is I realized that I actually really like airports; it’s kinda like a mutual intercultural limbo where you can go anywhere from. It’s true what they say about the world getting smaller when you go places. I’ve been to 5 countries in 5 months (I’m counting Canada so I’m kind of cheating, but it’ll be five different countries by the time I go back home) and it’s wild to me that I’m heading back in only three more months; it’s honestly flown by.

Something interesting I’ve been thinking about is that, upon coming to China, I honestly did pretty well at getting accustomed and staying unshocked by the culture. I think I was really just ready to go and spend time somewhere different. But it’s coming back home to a town of 1400 people that makes me wonder, after perusing the world for 8 months, am I gonna be able to just hang out in a small town again without getting insanely restless? Ive gotten kinda comfortable with this wayward lifestyle (though this is all pre-India so let’s hope I’m 5 for 5 with good experiences there). I’ve also met so many cool people from sooo many different places, giving me a reason to keep experiencing different cultures. However, I’m also kind of a homebody when it comes to Canada, and I find myself daydreaming about Tim hortons, so there’s that. 

Man, I guess we’ll see. My flight boards in 20 minutes and I’m honestly hella nervous. If I can conquer India solo (albeit for just 2 full days) then I’ll consider myself a certified nomad (keeping in mind that I now have friends who hitchhike across continents and spend years living through backpacks and spontaneous decisions, but since I never thought I’d ever leave Canada I’ll let myself feel well-traveled with these baby steps). 

I should probably take a quick internet crash course in basic Indian before boarding. See y’all post-New Delhi ✌🏽

Beijing here we come

Soooo looks like I'm taking off to Beijing for a week on my own in a few hours. That's crazy, and my first truly solo trip I've ever embarked on (I met a with a friend in Hong Kong so that doesn't count). And it's for a whole week, like, Tuesday to Tuesday. To be honest, I'm really excited; booking the plane and hostel and getting all the travel plans ready totally by myself gives me a rush of independence. I have an idea of a few things to check out there, namely the Great Wall and a few temples and someplace called the Forbidden City. Though I'm travelling alone, I'm planning on making a few friends at my hostel (as tends to happen) so we'll see what kind of adventure I'm in for.

In regards to my teaching job here in Shanghai, for the last week or so I've been totally alone; all the students and other teachers have left. The teachers finished their terms (I'm the only one staying on until Christmas) and the kids are either heading off to Canada or are heading back to their Chinese schools for the fall term. It's definitely been a wild ride this past four months. I've been working on another blog post describing all the ups and downs of teaching this past little while, and that'll probably be finished at sooooome point (idk)

So yeah, since then, all last week I've had a classroom of six new day students, all requiring preparation for interviews with Canadian schools, to teach all by myself. Though it's been sad to see my fellow teachers leave and having to now face the fears of a foreign country solo, I've honestly kind of reveled in the new independence of having the whole classroom to myself. I suddenly have the whole day to execute ideas and am able to schedule things as I see fit, which I've honestly been so comfortable with. It's also been so cool to get to know these six newer kids and notice the differences in the classroom dynamics with six new voices. They're all great kids and I'm gonna miss em.

Moving forward, work wise things are gonna be different, and apparently less demanding. I'm gonna have pretty early and late teaching hours, having appointments of online teaching in Canada with Chinese kids over there, having to account for the 12 hour difference (it's kind of funny that my dad gets up early in Canada to online-teach Chinese kids in China and I have to get up early in China to online-teach Chinese kids in Canada. Seems like we could of coordinated better). But that also means that my 'weekends' kind of consist of the middle of the day on most weekdays (when I'm not doing busywork getting things ready for next years interview-prep leaders), as my actual weekends will be full of kids coming for more part-time interview training.

I've found out about lots of really cool places to go in Shanghai, and have run into some pretty cool people along the way. Turns out that even when you're on your own, if you go out exploring you'll find some pretty great places and people, including amazing-and-creepy large abandoned cathedrals, bars disguised as book shops with a group of fun American's and conversing with random foreigners who spend 500$ on a plane ticket to Shanghai for the sake of a roof-top pool party, which ends up getting them a business deal with a tech-company (I may not get as ingrained in the spontaneous travel life as that guy, but I'm definitely discovering the joys of living life on the go).

Though I've absolutely appreciated more down-time with the kids gone to read (now on the Diary of Anne Frank), play games and bike around, I can't wait for this crazy trip ahead of me. My bus to the airport leaves in a few hours, so wish me luck in Beijing ✌️

Woork and some other nonsense

So, jeez, things have been busy.

For starters we have like, double the amount of kids now, half of whom I teach on my own in the afternoon. I have to prepare them for interviews with prestigious Canadian private schools, so that means working on confidence, storytelling ability, presentation skills and going over the same interview questions over and ooover. It can get a bit old, but I love my kids. They're all super fun and engaged, and it's been fun teaching them things that I really enjoy. That also means though that we now live with double the amount of kids, which increases the fun but also the difficulty in getting them to their dang beds by lights out. I guarantee not a single one of them falls asleep before midnight though (their whispers carry, but us cool university teachers pretend not to notice).

Also I've been going to some hecka fancy events. Our students have some wealthy parents, which means fancy dinners and meetings, which means our boss buys us tailor made suuits! He likes to keep a good image. His connections are actually quite impressive; he's brought in the youngest ever female Olympic triple-gold-medalist swimmer Donna De-Verona to talk with us and the kids (she was so cool) and also the former Premier of New Brunswick (also cool) and just yesterday we held a panel for 3 very distinguished and successful businessmen, including a high-end lawyer and two CEO's. At that meeting as well, my boss made a point of moving me from the back of the table to closer to the head; that's something I've been noticing too. I always seem to be the one who's brought in to speak with the kids' parents and be present during meetings; he likes to kind of display me as their white-male teacher. It's something we've all kinda noticed and we find it pretty funny.

Also, the clock is ticking; I have to make a solo visa renewal soon. Which is terrifying. I don't quite know where I'd start with a solo-travel trip, but I guess it's been inevitable since I came here. The main goal is just not to get too lost (I've accepted that I'm definitely gonna get at least pretty lost). So i mean we'll see how that goes. I'm thinking about just hopping over to Hong Kong for a day; a bit expensive but I hear it's a place I really need to check out. I'm gonna try to make the trip work so that I don't have to get a hostel and can just hang out in the city for a day, which is a tall order for a probably 30 hour trip, but I'll take it as it comes (yeah mayyybe that's a stupid idea, we'll see how it goes).

What else to talk about. Pretty soon I'll be on my own; the kids are leaving early August and my fellow teachers and other staff are finishing and most of them are heading back to Canada. I'm gonna have a new group of people to work with and new kids to get ready for interview prep. Safe to say I'm pretty nervous about that, and I'm gonna miss my kids and fellow teachers a lot. I'll also have to be a lot more independent, having to show the new people the places around the neighborhood without getting them hopelessly lost, and also taking more of a supervisory role with my job. It's really nerve wracking but also pretty exciting, I'll really have to take a step out of my comfort zone.

So there's lots on the horizon. Hopefully I make it back from Hong Kong so i can tell yall all about it ✌️