Hello hello everyone! Sorry it's been so long since I've written a blog to update you. So, we will do a whirlwind tour of what has happened since Amsterdam (which never ends up been as whirlwindy as I want it to be). Elizabeth and I left Amsterdam hitch hiking to Prague. It was long night and it ended up with a tour bus of old German people feeling sorry for us and picking us up. We spent a few days in Prague and really loved it. It's much less prim and proper than Amsterdam and even Spain, which was refreshing. Grafitti and dirty streets are nice. Then we trekked down to Cheskz Kromlov, a small town in the South of Czech with a nice castle. It was really touristy, but very beautiful. After that we took a train to Budapest (when we had to switch trains we got on the wrong one and went back to Prague and then had to get a new ticket, but I don't like to think about that...). We got to Budapest in the morning and bought another ticket to Belgrade for the night. We spent the day wandering around and ended up going to a thermal bath which was a perfect break from our travels. Afterwards I got an idea to start a really good bath in Nablus just for women and decided that through this hammam (thermal bath in arabic) women were going to be the ones to end the problems in Israel-Palestine by slapping on the boys on the hand and telling them that enough is enough! Our spirits much restored, we got to the train station early because we had no where else to go. Of course we were messing around taking funny pictures and almost missed the train. The store clerks must have thought it was pretty funny to see two girls sitting on a bench with their towels and swimsuits hanging to dry, drawing moustashes on their faces and taking pictures for a couple hours, then looking scared, getting up and running to the right tracks. We got to Belgrade at 7 in the morning and I was hoping we would get to spend the day looking around, but the next train to Thessaloniki left in 5 minutes so we got right back on the train. We got to Thessaloniki and of course I hadn't written down Kristin's phone number or address, so we had to find an internet cafe to look it up and then call her and then get to her house. Sometimes having technology makes you lazy and causes more troubles. We spent the next 4 or 5 days in Thessaloniki, in the north of Greece hanging out, chatching up, eating Gyros, drinking coffee and going to the beach. We said goodbye to Kristin and made our way to Athens for 2 days of sightseeing before catching a plane to Milan. When we got off the bus from the airport, the first priority was find something to eat and second was find somewhere to sleep. So we went to a restaurant that happened to be empty, but they had really good pizza and pasta. We asked them if they knew of a cheap hostel in the area and they spent the next half hour helping us to figure out a place to stay. They called a number of different places and ended up giving us bus tickets to get the the place they found for us. They were so so so nice. Meeting them had the same effect as the thermal bath in Budapest. You get tired of traveling and then you remember what amazing people you can meet and how nice it can be. So Elizabeth left in the morning. We both couldn't believe that a month had gone by that fast. I hitch hiked to Bern thinking I would stay with my friend who I met in Jordan there. But once again I had technical difficulties. I had sent him an email asking for his phone number and address while I was in Greece, and thinking back on it I remembered a window popping up after I tried to send this email. Of course it was in Greek, so I didn't pay attention and I just closed it. When I went to the internet in Bern I was assuming I would find an email from him, but I didn't. I realized that the email I had written hadn't been sent. So I picked up my stuff and got a ride to Basel instead where Irene was staying with her aunt who lives there. Their family was really nice and I had a nice, relaxing time with them. After a couple days I left for France and made it there in a day where I met up with Mahmoud and the rest of the circus there. I suppose this requires some explination. Mahmoud is my boyfriend from Nablus and he started a circus for kids and adults there. They are now partnered with a circus in the north of France. Mahmoud went to France to train with them for 3 months and I was invited/invited myself to come stay with them as a circus slave. I offered to do anything from moving things to brushing their teeth for them. So far I have been there for about 2 weeks and I haven't brushed any teeth but my own, but I have moved a lot of things and I also learned how to weld! Ok, sorry I get excited. So I made it to France where Mahmoud and another Palestinian friend are living in an apartment and the rest of the circus people (about 10) live in trailors (although they call them caravans, which is much more bohemian and hip) around the tent. Arras is the town where they have been (although they're moving soon and we're moving into a caravan!) and it's nice and quiet and quaint. So basically I just hang out and speak some french, some arabic, some english, try to help out where I can and still try to figure out what makes French people laugh. (It's not easy being American among the liberal French!) Maybe by the time I come home I'll be a welding juggler on a uni cycle!! Haha. Ok, so now I'm actually in Germany for Bavaria Summer Camp 2008 with 3 of my friends from Nablus (one from Paris, on from Amseterdam and one from Bavaria). We had a really good time, played a lot of pounce, ate a lot of good food and drank good Bavarian beer. Life is good to me. We had to say goodbye today and although traveling and making lots of friends that you really love is one of the best things there is, it's equally as hard to be saying goodbye all the time. I just wish I could take everyone, put them in my pocket and carry them with me all the time! So yes, I'm leaving tomorrow morning to go to Bern for another shot at seeing my friend and then the next day I'm headed back to France. Whewwww, finished. Well, I would love to do a paragraph about trust or hope or love or something profound, but I'm going to go watch a movie intstead. I'll just say once again how much I love people and that I am thankful everyday for the good people of the world. I miss you all so so so much. As much as the ocean, as much as the world (as they say in Arabic). I'll be home on July 23rd and I can't wait to see everyone! Give eachother hugs and kisses for me.
Love, Lisa
