Makin' moves, big girl style: sassing the police like an adult!

Faithful readers, I am loving life right now. I'm going to Cairo, Amman and Irbil (northern Iraq, Kurdistan) in a Middle East grand tour in a couple weeks, one after another. It has been an adult- lifelong dream of mine to go to Iraq. I was supposed to consult for UNESCO summer '09 in Baghdad and got screwed by them at the last minute when they cancelled the whole project, so this is really a special moment for me. Iraq is a real passion of mine; I feel a personal...devoir (not to be snotty but there's no good English word for it, maybe need or job or something) to make up for even a little bit of the utter tragedy we wreaked in that once-glorious country. And, Cairo, wow! Post-revolution Cairo. Cannot wait. Cairo is one of my favorite cities. You either love it or hate it...and I love it. The smog, the chaos, the noise, the dust...yes, yes, yes. It's an incredible place, one I think all of you should visit someday. I'll be there May 26th-28th, if you have a free weekend.

So, what's up other than work? Well, I took the big-girl move today of deciding to live by myself. Wow, you say. I know. It's insane. It's something I never thought I would do. But the idea of having my own space, of never doing another roommate's dish, of having a fridge entirely to myself, is so exciting. I found a great place with a big terrace with a great view, I have friends in the building and on the street, and it's a lovely, sunny, open place (even has ceiling fans, wow!!).

I'll end this brief little update with a small vignette that will hopefully make up for how boring the above announcements were (as if you read this to find out how I am...please. I know the role I play in providing conflict porn for ya'll, so here goes):

I was walking to where the Ramallah-bound buses leave from Jerusalem the other day and got a bit lost. [For context, know that the part of Jerusalem that the Ramallah buses leave from is deeply feared and generally ignored by Israelis as part of their city]. I saw two soldiers lurking around a gate of the old city so I went over to them and said "Shalom. Bab el hamouth?" They started to respond, sort of hesitating as I was openly talking about no man's land, when the dude who I hadn't noticed standing next to them, cigarette hanging out of his mouth, piped up in Arabic "straight down the street, then go left at the bottom". I guess he could tell from the way I said bab el hamouth that I spoke Arabic, and he was Palestinian. I ignored the soldiers, thanked the dude and his grandparents, wished him good health, and trotted on down the hill. I tossed one look back to see the soldiers sort of staring at me in wonder as I waved to my bud. Small victories, folks. Small victories in the middle of one big battle.