Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Israel/Palestine

there's just far too much to say. we have five more days in jerusalem left. I'm tired, but well. I guess really all i can say right now is that this has all been extraordinarily valuable. I'm excited to come home in three weeks, but I will be sad to leave this region. There's so much to learn.

I want to come back to this city, meet more people.

ctrl + v = blogging fun

Right now is mad paper writing mode. We don't have a lot of free time before our travel component kicks up and we take off to turkey, syria, jordan, israel/palestine for a month.

Monday we wrap our Islamic thought and practice with our final/ turning in of research papers. I wrote mine on an Inheritance passage in the Qu'ran. It was assigned, not chosen, 'nuff said.

On tuesday, we get a break and head south to Upper Egypt to Aswan where we hope on a Nile Cruise and take it up to Luxor to check out the valley of the kings and all the gnarly stuff. It's a five day trip. Apparently our cruise is pretty luxurious, so i'm looking forward to relaxing a little inshall'ah.

Once we get back, we head to our week-long homestays and stay with an Egyptian family. Should be quite the experience, I'm pretty stoked for it.

Then, at the end of the month, we finish our Arabic class and turn in three papers for our peoples and cultures class. On the 1st, we head to Istanbul, insha'llah. Cool beans, y'all.


Some of my favorite things about Egypt:
Friendly people on the street staying up really really late (all the action happens like after 10), and using the little Arabic I know.
The cars weaving everywhere, coming up behind you and scaring the shit out of you
The hustle and bustle of Cairo – I’m going to be so bored when I get back to the U.S. – no stimulation
The cheap food – falafel (tamaya in Arabic), foul (kinda like refried beans), kosheri, shwarma, hummus, mcdonald’s delivery
The call to prayers from different mosques going on throughout the day – muslims have five daily prayers, they have a call to prayer (a guy sings over a speaker phone throughout the neighborhood) for each one
The fresh fruit (especially the mangos and guava) and their smell and the juices
Fayrouz – like a sparkling juice drink in apple pear and pineapple flavors
The smell of shisha (hookah) from men smoking it while drinking tea in a clear glass while playing dominoes or backgammon
The cats everywhere…sleeping on car hoods, crawling through restaurants, running around in the streets and on walls, beautiful cats everywhere

A few other Egypt tidbits: we live in the neighborhood of Agouza - which is sweet because it's quintessential Cairo. Ramadan finished today with the holiday of Eid, so I can finally start finding places that'll serve me lunch again.

I think Egyptian culture is really similar to Latin American culture – more laid back, people are always late, super warm and friendly, which is interesting because Islam demands some kinda rigorous practices. It’s kinda cool how an easy-going culture is still committed to a spiritually disciplined religion.

last week....

So last weekend we took a trip into the Sinai peninsula and did a bunch of stuff. Here's an e-mail I sent my mom about it:

Mt. Sinai was really cool. We left at 6:30pm from Cairo in a bus, and we got to the base of the mountain at around 2:30am. We then joined throngs of other tourists in our trek up, though many people took camels up instead. My friends Josh, Katelyn, and I kept a really fast clip and we’re able to easily reach the top before the 5am-ish sunrise. The stars out there were amazing, the best I’ve ever seen. The sunrise and the surrounding area was very pretty as well. Afterwards we went down to st catherine’s monastery at the base and saw the alleged burning bush (good to see its still alive 3500 years later).

Then we drove two hours to Dahab, on the red sea. It was pretty cool, we could see Saudi Arabia across the water. Dahab is very touristy, so we were able to wear shorts and I wore my earings. It was nice to hang out there on the water and go swimming, but the downside was that we didn’t have any access to running fresh water. All the showers in our rooms ran salt water. The red sea is incredibly salty as well, so that was a little uncomfortable. The second day at Dahab (Saturday) we went snorkeling, and saw a very gorgeous coral reef. I remembered some of the times in the keys see really pretty stuff, as well as checking out the empty bottoms of some of the south florida beaches. The only issue at dahab was we had to cross very shallow water on top of dead coral, which was very sharp and unstable, in order to get to some deeper waters.

My classes are going well. The Director teaches “Peoples and Cultures” and “Conflict and Change” which mostly consists of a variety of speakers and several readings. This past week we heard Paul Gordon-Chandler, an Episcopal priest who serves in Egypt and just wrote a book about Mahraz Mahouli, who refers to himself as a “Sufi-Muslim follower of Christ” and was exposed to Christianity through reading about Ghandi. Very interesting and exciting material. We also heard Bill Stewart, a high ranking diplomat from the U.S. Embassy, which was also a very valuable experience. The speakers come and visit us and usually speak to us in the Director’s flat. We’ll be especially focusing on those courses during the travel component in November. Islamic thought and practice is taught by a Muslim Egyptian woman who is a professor at the American University in Cairo, and our Arabic course is likewise though by AUC profs. They’re interesting, but we have a variety of papers.

This weekend we have nothing scheduled, which is a nice opportunity to be able to get some rest, do some homework, and hang out around Cairo. I cannot believe I’ve been hear as long as I was in France. It’s crazy.

blog from egypt? nahhhh

So a month later, I decided to actually blog a little about Egypt. I figure since I'm writing things in e-mails, I might as well copy and paste some of it and post it up here. Here's just a typical, boring ramble I e-mailed julianna about some of the mumkin deeper thoughts I'm thinking and talking about in Egypt. :

So one thing that’s our prof has talked about some and what I’ve discussed a lot with some of the guys here is the “blood on our hands” so to speak being “children of empire”. Basically, I’ve been trying to deal with the fact that I benefit so much from all these injustices (native Americans, blacks, white privilege, us foreign policy, etc). So, I have a responsibility to correct these injustices, to strive for reconciliation, redemption, and justice. Yet, what does that look like? How do I atone for the sins of those before me, of which I benefit? I don’t really know, I just know that I can’t make full amends. I do believe in progress that a little is better than nothing. I think of The Kite Runner as an illustration of this. something is better than nothing.

EDIT: MASSIVE KITE RUNNER SPOILERS DON't READ THIS PARAGRAPH IF YOU WANT TO READ THIS BOOK

The protagonist admits that he doesn’t know if it’s a happy ending, that if Hassan’s son will ever fully recover. Likewise, it is too late to redeem Hassan, he’s gone, he’s dead. But what he can do is something small. There is no doubt that Hassan’s son is better off than he was being abused by the Taliban. There is no doubt there is a chance for happiness and healing, exemplified by the small, subtle smile at the scene at the end with the kite. I guess I’m just optimistic, but at least there’s something to be done, to be achieved, even if it isn’t enough. Something is better than nothing.

SPOILERS OVER

Theme #2: everything I learn makes me realize how stupid I am. I really know nothing. But how will I be able to ever gain knowledge if I’m satisfied with this? I accept my limitations for the most part, I am not brilliant, if I drastically change the world for the better it will only be through the grace of God or sheer luck, I am not really exceedingly exceptional. But I do have some ability, I do have some purpose, I am valuable, I am capable of something, which is better than nothing. Something is worth striving for. I can help a few people, I can make a little impact. I am 19. There is a little potential.

Theme #3: How do I differentiate myself as a Christian from a Muslim or a Jew? I have nothing substantial beyond my own subjective experience which causes me to have faith, faith based on hope and uncertainty (Hebrews 11:1). I will most likely never be able to accept Islam or Judaism as truth, at least absolute truth, based on my socialization, my own cultural conditioning. How can ever expect a Muslim or a Jew (or a Hindu or an atheist, etc) to ever accept Christianity as truth? To convert? It is doubtlessly non-rational, and debatably irrational for someone else who’s received the same religious socialization as me, the only difference being they were born in Iran, and I was born to a Western, Christian family. The only possibility is the miracle of the Holy Spirit. I was handed my religion, they were handed theirs. Only a miracle can change our religion that has become a part of this. I believe in an active God, one who is capable of miracles, and capable of using his unlikely servants to produce these miracles. Conversion and evangelism, as we know it, is exceedingly difficult in most circumstances, including America, though it is I would guess it is less common in countries with less civil liberty, less legal religious freedom. After all, this is a fallen world. I can only have faith and hope, based on uncertainty and irrationality. This doesn’t disturb me as much as you’d think. It used to. Looks like I’m mellow in my old age.

- I wrote all of that the day before our group was visited by Paul-Gordon Chandler, who wrote a book called "Pilgrims of Christ on the Muslim Road". about mahruz malhouli, a sufi-muslim follower of christ. Amazing, check it out - a testimony of how God works beyond sociological, cultural, historical, economic, and political barriers. These miracles of conversion occur, and this is evidence of it - though some worry about the boundaries of faith issue, I'm less concern. But I'm crazy that way....like a compassionate, post-modern fox.

p.s. more practical blog will come letting you know some of the stuff we've been up to and the crazy fun nuances of life, like, say, david's desert diahrea (which one of the greatest experience of my life - i say this sincerely, no sarcasm, i know its hard to believe, but it was cool) or what about those crazy egyptians

much love all

France

It was sweet.

at least i blog more (and look better) than adam...

This'll just be a quickie:

Spring quarter was the academically hardest of my life, but it was definetly a valuable and positive experience. Two poli sci and two philosophy. I narrowed my poli sci major to the international affairs track, and am probably just going to minor in philosophy because I decided I wanted to mix in a little more sociology. I love philosophy, but I view more as a means than an end and more of a hobby or interest than a life pursuit.

Round two, I'm pretty excited to go to France this summer through SPU's poli sci department. I'm there from july 13 til august 13. Then, I leave august 28 to study abroad in the Middle East for fall semester. I'm going through the CCCU so it'll be a mix of 15 or so students from christian colleges and universities in north america. We'll be living in Cairo, but we'll take several trips to other countries like syria, israel, jordan, lebanon, and turkey. I'm pumped but a little apprehensive.

Right now I'm in sun river, oregon with my family sans Sara staying at my aunt's vacation house. It's pretty rad resort town in the woods by mt bachelor and on the Deschutes river. We've just been doing the usual sort of vacation things- a lil hiking, a lil mountain biking, a lil tennis, a lil swimming. It's rad. In a couple days, I'll be shooting up to Gerbs' cabin via seattle and surrey. then from there, i swing through seattle and pick up the lovely julianna and we head to walnut creek, CA to stay with my parents. Sick beans.

In the paraphrased words of Ron Burgundy, "I know its boring, but...it's my life"

p.s. adam sucks

a moment with david's privileged life

It is almost 2:30 AM, I just destroyed a T-Bell grilled 'stuft' burrito, and I'm reading (and enjoying) Friedrich Nietzsche in my dormroom while listening to Explosions in the Sky. This is a college moment to remember. I'd thought I'd share this simple, silent happiness with you.

This blog is long and boring

So for Spring Break, I took the NAFTA tour, hitting up Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. I swung up to Canada for a weekend to see a couple good-looking guys and Michelle Heimowski (who's not a very good-looking guy, but a very pretty girl). From there, I flew to my parents' near the Bay via Sea-Tac where I stayed for a day. After that, I was off to Juarez, Mexico with my parents to see my sister Katia and bro-in-law Micah - who is teaching some classes at Mexican seminary as part of year-long internship in order to complete is tenure at Calvin Seminary. He graduates in May, and then they're off to either Cal-Berkley, Columbia in New York, Yale, Emory in the ATL, or University of Michigan for at least two years as my sister attends grad school to get a Master's in Public Health. She also applied to the U-Dub, U of Washington located 10-15 minutes away from me, but unfortunately was rejected because of a lack of experience in the field of public health. This was disappointing because I'm pretty sure she would've come up here, and it would've been nice to have an incredibly good vegetarian cook nearby. Oh, and I love my sister, blah blah blah. But it's mostly about the food.

Anyways, while it was great to see the fam and it was really fun, its always fairly challenging spiritually for me to spend a significant amount of time around family, particularly my parents. This stems from my inclination to rebel against the way in which I was immersed and saturated in Christianity during my childhood and adolesence, which was always one of the biggest sources for any type of skepticism or rebellion against my Christian faith. So, being around my parents remind me of this and all the Christianese that gets tossed around in pre-dinner prayers and the like kinda bothers me.

In The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins argues that if governments were to intervene and prevent parents from teaching religion to their children and instead let them decide when they were older teenagers, then this would result in a quick end to theism. I think there's a lot of rational soundness to that argument. If I didn't believe in the Holy Spirit and his/her active work on earth (which I do, often earnestly and whole-heartedly), I'd buy this argument in a heartbeat.

So I've been on a little bit of one my regular skeptical kicks, doubting things and whatnot, mainly ignited simply by being around my parents. (My parents are awesome by the way- I know this is a cliche, but in getting older and being away from them a lot more, i even like hanging out with them for short periods of time once in awhile. Crazy.) One of the things I've been playing with and trying to figure out where I stand on is the idea of the infallibility of the Bible, which is kinda a pretty fundamental Christian truth. Lately, I've been less confident in this notion -quite simply, because there's so much humanity involved: Human writers, human readers, humans canonizing and deciding what IS scripture, human historians, human scholars, human translators. There's a lot of context that's involved and makes me question how applicable all this is to us. It leaves a lot of doubt in my mind of how much and how well the present-day Christian church truly understands about..um..well..everything. I have faith that the most important and essential doctrines have been preserved, but other 'filler' questions I'm not completely sold on. What I have been leaning towards, however, is using the examples and teachings set by Jesus as a lens through which to view the rest of Scripture. This has a couple problems (like it assumes the accuracy and infallibility of the Gospels - written decades after Jesus' life), but its the option I like the best.

Anyways, I'm getting kinda tired and bored and this is long, but I have some more thoughts I want to run with related to this.

Go Falcons

The good news: I'm alive.

The bad news: there's nothing to blog about.

Just some quick notes:

I separated my shoulder hitting that bastard to the right.

I listen to rap once in awhile.

My girlfriend plays the harp. 'Nuff said.

The Seattle U Red Hawks suck......go partake in the eucharist, you dirty catholics

We play SU today at SPU's Royal Brougham Pavilion, and I'm honestly considering breaking up with Julianna because she refuses to go. It's our cross-town rival, they crushed us at their place earlier in the year which ended with a half-court shoving match, their fans are into beastiality and incest, it's our homecoming - how do you not get up for this game? Ugh...girls...

Thai food can give you a hangover.

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels are my homies.

Immanual Kant's hott too.

I kinda like school....shhhhhhh

I'm on the greatest Madden losing streak (vs. a human) ever. It's not like I'm being outplayed, I've just been extraordinarily unlucky. Randomly impossibily interceptions, horribly timed fumbles, crucial defensive collapses at big moments....its uncanny.

When I lose in Madden, I'm usually really pissed off and grumpy for like an hour.

I gave up reading and homework months ago.

I think I'm wagering on the Super Bowl because that's the only way I'll really care who wins.

Is it rascist to root for the Bears because Lovie Smith looks more black than Tony Dungy? I wish one of them was white, I love cheering against white people. I say equal opportunity, you say reverse discrimination.

God is really faithful.

SU's center is one of the ugliest people I've ever seen. He looks like a shaved big foot with a head the size of tennis ball.

1 hour 'til game time. I'm ready to explode. Maroon>>>>>>Red; Falcon>>>>>>Hawk; protestant school>>>>>> catholic school