Hoboken Hotels
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Two weeks and counting...desperately!
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Pack your bags, you all are coming on yet another journey with me! Some of you are new and others have seen me through much of Europe, Honduras and most recently the Middle East. I knew after my trip back in December and January that I'd find a way to return to Egypt and Palestine--and I have. It's all a very loose plan, but then again that's the beauty of it all! I am asked constantly what exactly it is that I'm doing and the simplified answer is that I am enjoying my last chance to truly be young and free before having to return to corporate America and make use of my new Masters degree that I have sweat blood and tears to obtain. Sigh. But it's really much more complex than that and we'd be here all day if I went through it all. But living two years in New Jersey has dirtied my soul and changed me into someone I don't want to be. So my goal is to peel away the layers of grit (I think it came from the smoke stacks that line my ugly train journey to school twice a week and the equally uh, impolite people that call this place home--no offense, but fellow West Coast transplants may understand this best). I tried so very hard to make this my new home, but to no avail. It finally hit me about four weeks ago when a chap with one too many beers in him proclaimed that people from California were "fake." I asked, "Then what are you?" He replied, "REAL!" Well, if being in New Jersey means being real...then I'd rather be fake and friendly. As my buddy Jen puts it "these just aren't my people." So I'm off to find 'my people' again! Those who travel know what I am talking about. Sure, it may just be an excuse or an escape mechanism but hey--it works. When the going gets tough, the tough get travelling!
But let me explain the other reasons I am going so that my mom will have a good answer when people ask her what her crazy daughter is up to these days. On May 9 I am leaving Dirty Jersey and will arrive in Tel Aviv, Israel the following day. I will then make the roughly 5 hour journey down to the border crossing with Egypt and then another 2 hours on to Dahab, Egypt. The goal here is quite simply a little R&R and to improve my struggling Arabic. On June 15 I am scheduled to return to the West Bank to volunteer again with IPYL. I'll be in Hebron teaching english this time. After that, the plan is unknown. It'll depend on how things go in Hebron and how long I want to stay, finances (my poor little dollar just keeps devaluing), who crosses my path, level of homesickness, etc. You just can't plan these things b/c I know first-hand how easy it is to get "stuck" (fellow backpackers know what I'm talking about). It happened to me in the Czech Republic and again in London.
So join me! This is a new format as in the past I've sent group emails out. This website will streamline things a bit more and also give me a way to put up pictures as I go along. Okay, so now it's back to research papers for the time being. I have a million things to do including packing my life into boxes that are headed to California and giving away much of my worldly possessions...but it feels great! Wish me luck on finals and graduation.
Disclaimer: Dude, this is MY travelogue! You may not like what I have to say sometimes or may disagree with my opinions...but this is the real deal, yo! These are MY feelings, MY experiences, MY hopes, etc.--so please keep any negativity to yourself. Instead, enjoy the ride and learn to appreciate differences and maybe you'll learn something in the process...peace.
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