even more randomness...

I love walking in the middle of a city of thousands of people and having to watch my step for fear of the dreaded goat dropping.

Is Ramallah really that pretentious that there are even mediocre restaurants that require making a reservation?

It is beyond me why I would choose Palestine out of all places to discover the glories of squash.

The more I go to Nablus, the more I like it -- complete with its boulevards, kanefeh, parks, bullet-ridden refugee camps, and magnificently beautiful old city.

Only in Palestine do you have to seriously wonder whether what you just heard was fireworks or gunshots; on the same notion, only in Palestine is it normal when it is gunshots.

I find it ever illuminating how incredibly generous people in Palestine are: a place where a late night trip from Nablus to Ramallah can turn into a kanafeh sharing and eating party.

One of my favorite things to see in the morning on my way to work is the various "ke'k" carts. The sound of the vendors yelling "ke'k" to announce the arrival of their fresh batch of special sesame bread is music to my ears. The sight of them rolling their carts up and down the streets never fails to make me smile.

I was told the other day by a 6 year old girl not to eat with my left hand because it is dirty. Thanks for that.

Friday for me consisted of stumbling upon an Israeli movie set, making friends with a 14 year old kid named Abdul, falling asleep at an office, playing squash to my heart's content, going to a barbecue and filling up on wonderful meats and salads, smoking mint nargileh, attending a "mish-mish" (apricot) festival along with hundreds of Palestinians, and laughing at a friend's attempt to translate the word mechanic into English.