Palestine and Palestinians

I just wrote ooooh 7 paragraphs and lost them all. So, i wont write it again. I'm in an internet cafe with my house roommate Gini. We gotta leave. I had just written about Palestinians and all the things I'm learning each day on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict...but i guess i'll write more after i get back from Israel. We leave tomorrow. Hey, maybe i'll gain more insight to add to an even BETTER post about Palestine and Palestinian refugees when I get back. My blog is pretty shallow and useless if I don't include at least a LITTLE of what I'm learning here daily. Every day I go to class and discuss politics and Middle Eastern customs (all in Arabic, cool huh?) and the discussions we have are always interesting and I'm always learning something new. I LOVE it. Because my major is linguistics, not Middle Eastern Studies, I have a lot to learn from my classmates and I consider myself pretty lucky to have them and all the locals here as a resource.

Off to Israel. So many things to tell ya'll! Things i wish i could write about: my trips to the canyons around here with rivers and waterfalls, swimming in the dead sea (you really do float right on top! no skinny dipping here...), conversations with locals, the American sheik that lives in my neighborhood, meeting up with 3 aramco buddies: murad, abdullah, and nour. we walked around jabal Amman at sunset= beautiful. there's the awesome cafe in Jabal Amman in which i sat (as did a couple friends) with 2 girls from a BYU archeology dig in Petra that just finished AND seeing other BYU students that just finished their Jerusalem spring semester and were visiting the same cafe in Amman. Weird how Mormons all look similar and flock to the same places. :) its not just an American look, its a byu look.

ok i better get goin. Gini and i are goin to our brother Muhammad's rock concert tonight. he's in high school and has his own band. he LOVES evanescence. speaking of music, enrique Iglesias comes on the radio every morning without fail. Go enrique. Start the day with enrique!