I am in Jerusalem, in the Israeli-occupied territory of
Palestine, and have been here since October 6th. I plan to head back
to Japan on 17 November.
In the slightly larger picture, I have lived basically 2.5
years in Japan, including a 102 day tour on P&B's 49th voyage.
I will go back to Japan to sail on the 52nd voyage!
Gyosei showed me books describing peace work he has done, which
seems to include a lot of pilgrimage type walks, like from Panama to
Washington DC.
As a result, I was like, yargh! what is my big
project?
I told Gyosei how I keep myself hyperbusy and just want to do
everything. He told me I could learn shiatsu in Japan, which is
something I had considered considering when I was there originally.
Now my brain nearly wants to make up for lost time and somehow find a
shiatsu teacher who will teach me free of charge in the 4 weeks I'll
have free in Japan soon.
Gyosei goes, "now you are in Palestine. You must focus on what
you do in Palestine. Next is your boat trip. You will focus on your
boat trip. After that, you will focus on something different."
(i.e. don't focus on something different now. focus on right here
right now)
I learned new vocabulary tonight. 繋がっている (つながっている)
= connecting
9:20pm
I have just walked home from ぎょせい's apartment. It took 2
hours because I walked slowly and took an hour detour in the valley
of the mount of olives. I think.
For certain, it was a valley next to Jerusalem's Old City, with
temple looking things carved from rock on one side.
Once I got around the corner of the old city, I started to
walk past a traffic jam. I passed fifty-one vehicles.
Tonight is the last night of Ramadan, and the streets are
brimming with happy people. And trapped vehicles.
I have studied arabic for about 2 hours since I've been here.
Well, 3 hours I guess.
I have picked olives for two days in Salem, near Nablus, during
which time I lived in the ISM apartment in the Balata refugee
camp.
My current homies are Ben from Canada, Dave from Chicago, Chris
from Perth, Sarah from Perth, Rochelle and Serena from Washington, and
Trent and Suzanne from Washington.
Other peeps are David with long hair, David friend of Chris,
Jason the photographer, Oliver who seems to live in Faisal, Hisham the
backbone of joy in the Faisal, Mohammed the overworked doorman of the
Faisal, Maria who seems to like stirring up trouble, Donald who
definitely thrives on stirring up trouble under the guise of
proselytization, and others I've neglected, like Gyosei the Japanese
monk.
Recently, Joe, who kept his spleen, went back to the US.
The 52nd GET Team has been introducing ourselves to one
another, and have just begun to think about planning for the
voyage.
The 51st voyage has just left Panama, according to an email
from T.
I am feeling inspired to do a long walk or bike ride around the
US once I get back, starting with one organized (or at least pimped)
by Maryann from Austin and the 49th PB voyage.
The idea of riding TJ Bike around for extensive miles feels really
good. And then once TJ Bike retires, I'll take off the shoes and walk
barefoot.
I think I am 13006 days old today.
10:07pm
I am super tired and may sleep quite soon.
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