My Favorite Part: The Sunset

I live on top of the Mt. Olives with a great view of Jerusalem.  My favorite time of day is when I leave the office to go back to my guesthouse.  I walk along this dirt path with olive trees all around me.  In the background is the city with the sun setting in the distance.  Yesterday, I just stopped and watch the sun go down while the sky turned beautiful shades of orange, pink, and purple.  Unfortunately I did not have my camera.  But do not worry, I learned my lesson and will have that with me everywhere I go.  

The people that work at Mercy Corps are great.  They are very friendly and very helpful.  Last night a co-worker of mine invited me to her friends house where I had my first home cooked meal since I have been here.  Just to fill you all in, all I've been eating since I got here is Cheerios, Yogurt, and toast.  I had one night where I went out and had some sushi.  Needless to say, it was delicious and I ate way too much food!  

Works been fine too.  I am still trying to figure out everything that I am supposed to be doing, but I went to a very interesting meeting in Ramallah the other day.  The meeting was for all the disability NGO's in the West Bank & Gaza.  The big discussion this week was the number of individuals who acquired a disability due to the bombings in Gaza.  They are trying to get data on all the different types of disabilities and help facilitate rehabilitation.  This is the area I am the most interested in, but the man I was with did not see how this was relevant to our Sports For Life program.  I am hoping that I can ask my supervisor if I can go to these meetings without him.  It is a really great place for me to network and get an idea about what role all the NGO's have with this Gaza crisis.  I also want to learn about these different organizations and what programs they have.  I set up a meeting with a woman that works at Handicap International.  We are meeting next week.  Life is all about networking. :) 

Today I am going to Tel Aviv to do a bit of touristy things.  Hopefully I'll have some pictures to share soon!  It should be a lot of fun... even though most of them just want to shop.  I'll have to go up there another time and stay the weekend.  

So far everything is going well.  I think I might be liking it too much. :) I miss you all!