Manishmah...yo.

Well, I've been in Israel for a week and a half now. I spent 5 days with some family in a city called Zichron Yakov, and now I'm at Ulpan Akiva, in Netanya, to study Hebrew. Classes go from 8am-1pm, and then you have the rest of the day to do anything you want. I've only been here two days of course, but the thing is that the Ulpan is like a compound of sorts, and its 8km out of town in the middle of nowhere. Nonetheless, it's really beautiful and I'm picking up Hebrew pretty fast. Furthermore, the variety of people here is ridiculous. A lot of the people here are new immigrants to Israel, some are travelers like me, some are older people who come here several times a year, and there are even two doctors from the West Bank who are here to learn Hebrew to expand their practice. For one of them it is the first time in his life out of the West Bank, he is from a city called Ramallah, and you have to admit given the tensions between Israel and the West Bank, that that is a pretty brave thing to do. I think it is interesting to see the reaction of older people here who are presented with polite and intelligent Muslim Arabs that they are predisposed to thinking are radical. Of course, there are radical Muslims, just as there are radical Jews, radical Christians, and radical atheists. The important thing is to realize that no matter what group of people you are presented with, and no matter what the general beliefs regarding them are, you must treat every new person you meet without bias, without predispositions, and with kindness. Nonetheless, it goes without saying that not everyone you meet might act the same way in regards to you. In which case you have to learn from that experience and be prepared to encounter such a situation in the future. Anyways, I'm not going to turn this page into Seth Hoffman's opinions regarding the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, other than that even in this day and age, and even into the future, hope is never, and will never, be lost for peace in the Middle East and anywhere in this world we call home, as long as we give it a try. A nice thing that Ulpan Akiva has is a really enthusiastic teacher of Israeli culture, named Ofer, and he has us sing songs and what not, but when he does he likes to have the song being sung translated into every language that the current student body encompasses. And when he translates into Arabic he loves to show how similar Arabic and Hebrew really are. I think that is really nice for people to hear. Okay...that's enough for tonight. Peace and Love and Rock n Roll.

Y'all come back now.

The What in the Hey?

Sooooo, on Monday I'm leaving for Middle of the East, as in Israel. I have a direct flight from Newark, NJ to Tel Aviv, Israel and man is that going to be one long flight. Anyways, I'll keep you all updated. Swallow the Sun and keep the peace for now. Later.

Bienvenidos a Home

Well I've returned to the States after 1.5 ridiculous months in Panama, and should be home for about 2-3 weeks before I leave for somewhere in the Middle East. I truly enjoyed my time in Panama. It was probably the exact opposite of my China experience because for one, while I was in China I was working out all day, every day. While I was in Bocas del Toro I had 4 hrs. of Spanish every day and then I would go to the beach or go surfing, biking, or partying with friends. But it was nice to get an experience from the "other side" and because I have now experienced both inner peace and external chaos I feel, in a way, more balanced. Now I feel ready to go to an area of the world that is in constant imbalance and see/feel what that does to me. Anyways, talk to you all very, very soon.

-Papi Chulo Seth