Hope

In my Current World Movement class, we have to read The Los Angeles Times a few times every week. While reading it earlier tonight, I felt deeply saddened. There is so much going on in the world that pushs me to lose hope. Sitting there reading though, I forced myself to remember what I believe and how I cannot lose hope. Hope is a firm foundation which I must uphold. I have to remind myself that no matter how bad things are or will get that everything will get better. I know how the story ends.

May you, this week, dig deep inside and know that hope is not worth giving up. It is one of the only things that keeps us going.

Elementary Hits

We just finished watching an hour long flashback of music we listened to in 6th-9th grade. Thank you YouTube. Our list consisted of:

Limp Bizkit- Faith
Limp Bizkit- Nookie
Papa Roach- Resort (Uncensored of course)
Papa Roach- Between Angels and Insects (Uncensored)
Alien Ant Farm- These Days
New Found Glory- My Friends Over You
Sum 41- In Too Deep
Sum 41- Fat Lip//my favorite part, by far, in this song is when the drummer sings "my mom should have had an abortion, abortion, abortion, abortion, abortion"
The Offspring- Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)
Harvey Danger- Flagpole Sitta
Rage Against the Machine- Guerilla Radio


Tonight has been one of the best I've had in a long time. You know you want to go look them up. Go ahead. Enjoy.

MLK Day

I just finished listening to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. Inspiring. It reminds you that no matter how crappy your day was today, that it will probably never be as bad as the days he had. And mine was pretty crappy. And no matter what the mouse says, its not the happiest place on earth. Liar.

And yes, I think its funny that I called a large headed, talking mouse a liar.

Hello 2008

I wasn't able to usher her in properly, due to traveling and such, but I welcome her now.

I'm about 10 days tardy also. Sorry. You will need to wait a little longer though. I will soon be back in action.

Middle Eastern Winter: Day, I Don't Care

It is interesting going overseas for a short period of time. Three weeks first looks as it will last forever, but at the end of those three weeks, the time spent felt so short. The same goes for my time last May in India. Time is an interesting thing. No matter how it felt or how it was first perceived to be, I'm at that point where I'm looking back and wondering where the time went. I feel sometimes that I did not allow myself to experience the culture has much as I should have. I know, however, that I have gained much more insight and understanding than what I think sometimes and that there is no better way, which I could see, that I could have spent my winter break. It was the first Christmas that I've celebrated without my family and I'm sure it won't be my last to do so either. I thank them they allowed me the chance to come and experience this place. It must have been hard to do.

Though Sam's parent's apartment, is far from resembling anything that is my home, I have realized how much of a home it has become. After returning from Egypt and Israel, it was one of the most relieving feelings to be back in their aparment. His parents have given so much for us to be here, and for that I'm very thankful and grateful. It is something that I believe I will never be able to repay, though I hope I would someday.

Through all this, I've also realized how comforting my true home is. Though I have been fully enjoying my time here, it will be a huge relief to be back home. To be able to spend time with friends and family. I can't quite seem to remember what "normal life" looks like though, but I'll soon find remember.

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I can assure you that I did not get a gift for you. However, if you would like to treat me to dinner/bake me cookies/buy me coffee during the week of my return, I would be pleased to accept. I also will accept Chipotle gift cards. Speaking of Chipotle, I haven't had it in over a month, which is awful and probably a crime. For the past few days, when food has been brought up, I've been faithful to mention Chipotle as an option. Rest assured, I will be having Chipotle on Tuesday sometime. I'm wondering what it will do to my stomach, but I'm not worried enough to not have it.

I'm not sure what else to talk about. We went to Jerusalem. There are beautiful girls there. By far the highest concentration of beautiful girls I've ever seen in one city. And that will definitely be one of the reasons I miss it. Jerusalem is a pretty cool city though. We went to the Holocaust Museum. I hope to write out a few thoughts on that sometime relatively soon. Wish we had more time, but that is not always possible. Not much else to say about that.

Tomorrow we're going to church, eating lunch, hanging out, and packing. We fly out at 4 am on Monday. We should be returning to the States around 3 pm on Monday. No the flight is not that short. We have three flights actually. Once again, time is an interesting thing.

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[The following conversation was overheard while sitting in Jerusalem, shortly after eating dinner.]

Mom: (Talking to five kids) Okay, who wants what? Your choices are shwarma, falaffel, or schnitzel.

Kid 1: I want a falaffel sandwhich.

Kid 2 & 3: I want schwarma.

Kid 4: I want a falaffel sandwhich too.

Kid 5: I want chicken stars!

[What followed was Ryan and I laughing because apparently Kid 5 didn't hear the options clearly. As it turned out, Kid 5 needed an attitude check also.]

Middle Eastern Winter: Day 18?

I'm guessing at the day now. I don't even really care, but for the sake of continuity I decided to keep the day going.

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Things I've forgotten to mention:
-I have become the master at sleeping while traveling. Whether in a plane, crowded Egyptian bus, ferry, taxi, or car. Just count on me. Time goes by so fast when you're sleeping.
-Multiple people have thought I'm Jordanian or Muslim or both. I guess the beard is doing its job. The pastor of the Arabic church asked me in Arabic if I was Jordanian. When I gave him the "I don't have a clue what you're talking about look," he asked in English where I was from. I think in the bathroom at the cafe a guy was talking to me. He kept looking at me, but I didn't understand so I smiled like I knew what he was talking about. I probably fooled him. I'm that good.

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Today we went to an Arabic speaking church. It was our second time going there. The first time was pretty good. Today was alright. I think its better than the international church we went to. From my experience, I'm not a huge fan of international churches. There are just weird dynamics.

After church, we came home and Sue (Sam's mom) made some spaghetti for lunch. That was good. While she was preparing it, I got some good reading done. I also set some time aside to listen to music. I've needed just to relax and listen to some tunes. It was nice to do so.

Also, it was Bruce's (Sam's dad) birthday today. The funny thing is Sue never remembers his birthday. So, it only took her until 4 pm to remember today was the day. The Cannons have some funny stories about her forgetting. I'm just glad I had the opportunity to witness it myself. Once she finally remembered, we could talk about it out loud. To celebrate, we went to Fudruckers. Yep, Fudruckers. I got a delicious buffalo crispy chicken sandwhich. Yum. After we went and got some sweets, but we were saddened to find that there was no more baklava in the store. So we settled with some other stuff.

I've failed to mention that we've been playing a lot of Scrabble and Boggle. Bruce loves playing. And he's glad that we actually give him competition. Sue doesn't apparently. In honor of the birthday boy, we played a good deal tonight. Too bad I had to beat him in Scrabble.

We've only got a week left and then back to the States and back to school. I'm kind of excited for this upcoming semester. I think I'm going to learn a lot. What I'm not looking forward to, though, are the flights home. If they ask for people to stay behind in Istanbul we already said we're doing that. Maybe I'll be home when school starts. Maybe not. Probably will though, if we're being honest. And I heard thats the best policy.

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Middle Eastern Winter: Day 16?

I'm sitting in the living room. We just had a delicious dinner made from left overs. Like I said, MoLO. Ryan Adams is playing in the room. I don't particulary like what I've heard from him but the song that just played is pleasant. Good news, its warmer right now than last night. My plans for tonight are as follows: watch Dan in Real Life (don't ask how) and drink some coffee. Sam is complaining about Ryan's gas problem. Ryan has awful gas and he has no problem letting you know. Maybe I shouldn't share that over the internet. Too late.

I haven't listened to much music lately but what I have been listening to has been superb. Jose Gonzalez and the Across the Universe soundtrack have been what I've been playing when I put my earphones in. Sweet music.

This morning I broke the 10 am streak. I woke up at 6:45 am instead. That wasn't the greatest but such is life. We went north today to check some ruins and similar stuff out. We had a great breakfast this morning consisting of walnut wheat pancakes and eggs. Yummy. Eggs are great no matter what country you're in. The first stop this morning was this area that overlooked this valley and the Sea of Galilee. It was awesome, but that probably didn't need to be said. I could see Palestine too. The other places were cool too, but I don't really want to talk about it all that much.

Its been interesting learning about the history of this part of the world. Both modern and Biblical. It hasn't really hit me yet how historical this land is. I saw the sea that Jesus walked on today. I walked where Jesus walked today. I'm seen things that are dated in some of the earliest parts of history. I'm 40 miles from Jesus' birthplace. I'm 3 hours from Damascus, the world's oldest populated city. Hm.

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(Taken from my hostel in Cairo.)

Middle Eastern Winter: Day 15?

Needless to say, my feet are pretty cold. And I have socks on too.

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I haven't got out of bed before 10 am yet this week. Its bittersweet. If you think thats bad though, I've deemed Sam, Sleepy McSleepersen. Personally, he is the one I'd worry about. Always sleeping in around 12ish and lying around and such.

There is this video shop right up the street from the apartment. One of the co-owners, Adham, is really cool. He is 24, I think. We go there once a day and just talk to him. We've bought a couple movies from him too. He likes to desrcibe movies he likes as 'magnificent.' That makes the way he talks very sophisticated. He says we are always welcome there and the second time we went there he proposed that we stay in touch once we leave. Obviously, he's a great guy.

My feet are only getting colder, by the way. Dang.

We're going a little north tomorrow to check out some stuff farther up. I think in two days, we'll be going to the Dead Sea. Maybe I'll get in so I can float around a little.

I also believe the Cannons are some of the best users of left-overs. For Christmas, we had turkey. Yesterday for lunch, we had turkey salad. Today for lunch, we had barbeque turkey pizza. All the meals tasted great. We had some chicken and vegetables tonight. After dinner, there was talk of a chicken noodle soup another time. They are masters of left-overs. Or for short, MoLO.

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(These were taken on the bus ride from the port in Nuweiba to Cairo. That sucked.)

MIddle Eastern Winter: Day 13? (Merry Christmas, Again)

Today was a great day. I slept in until 10, which is something I've never done on Christmas. After that, I sat around for a couple of hours, in which I did various things. Around 12 we sat down to read the Christmas story and pray. Then we opened presents. Sam's parents got Ryan and I five little things each. They got us the same stuff. So when were opening our presents, half the time we knew what it was because one of us had already opened it. It was fun though and I was thankful for it nonetheless. We ate after that. Dot dot dot. We didn't do much after that. Ryan and I went on a walk around 6. We saw a Teletubby at KFC. Weird, funny, and scary all at the same time. Skip a little more time and then we get to the fun part. I wanted to take family Christmas pictures, so when we finally got around to doing them the power went out. Figures. However, it turned out better than I probably ever could have planned it though. Once the power went out, we got candles out to supply light and the rest is history. Or at least thats what they say.

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*Merry Christmas from our family to yours.



*When I say 'our' I don't actually mean this is my family. However, at the current moment they are my family. Don't worry real family, I have not forgotten about you.

Middle Eastern Winter: Day 12? (Merry Christmas)

Here is the post most have been waiting for. Yesterday on our way back from Aqaba, we visited Petra. If you don't know what Petra is, shame on you. Google it. It was amazing. Probably the coolest thing I've seen so far.

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(In chronological order of course, from LA to Aqaba, Jordan)





























(LAX to Downtown Amsterdam to Dowtown Amman to Being Forced To Try Stuff On to A Taxi Ride to Aqaba Waiting for a Ferry)

I hope to post pictures, in chronological order, from the rest of the trip until now. That will be a lot though. We'll see.