One Night in Bangkok

After 24 hrs, several planes, and too many bad airline meals, I finally made it to Bangkok. I got to a friends apartment, took a shower, and collapsed to sleep for a few hours. It is now 18:15 locale time, and I am wondering about. Now that I found email, all I need to do is find someplace to eat.

My friend is well located (Thaks ML!!), there is a chocolatier across the street, who serves coffee and excellent chocolates. This saves me from entering StarBucks, aka the big Satan, of which there are 2 in the immediate vicinity. On the plus side, there is also a Baskin Robins, and I look forward to a well deserved Orange Ice-cream latter on the day....

So those are my first experiences her in Bangkok. More to come.

Out with a Bang

I have finished my work here in Israel for the summer, and tomorrow I am off to Thailand (sweet). Working on the recent crisis in the region has been a fascinating experience. To see what I was working on click here & here, will be easier that way :)

On a technical note, I added an email me feature (on the Left, under my profile) so that you can email me directly for any comments you may have (posting them can be a pain I know).

So that is all for now, inshallah the next posting will be more optimistic, or at least from a place with a nice beach ;)

And now for something completely different…

A friend from Columbia is interning in the Thai-Burmese border, and wrote an interesting piece about his experiences there .

Check it out here.

A veiw from within

I received this forward from friends, and thought that I should share these insights with you all.

Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2006

Dear All,

As I woke up this morning I found out to my surprise that new visitors had arrived to Lebanon: the US Marines were setting foot on that very Lebanese soil they left 24 years ago when their barracks were bombed and they suffered many casualties.
Hope this time things end up differently, for everybody.. Last time around our war didn’t end until 1990, 8 years after the marines left, supposedly never to come back..
My mum, who as you may have gathered has quite some humour, is convinced they’ve come from Iraq simply because it’s getting too hot in the desert

On a less optimistic note, I leave you with an old quote from Robert Fisk, the Independent’s war correspondent in the Middle East (and elsewhere)
(Again, hoping that what was very telling back then is no longer relevant)

“[…] another great army would soon be corrupted. Lebanon’s revenge was to welcome all her invaders and then kiss them to death. The longer they stayed, the longer they needed to stay; and each day, every hour, their presence would be imperceptibly debased and perverted and poisoned.
Those great hot, balmy fields across the Bekaa concealed from all who went there the dangerous, moist centre of this garden of earthly delights. It was like being bitten by a beautiful dragonfly whose wings were of such splendour that the victim did not even feel the nip in the flesh. Later, the skin would itch and the stranger would scratch at the irritation, trying to remember where he had acquired so strange a mark. Much later, the flesh would swell up and give pain, and, very often, it would prove fatal.”

Robert Fisk
Pity the Nation. Lebanon at war


Take care
Pascale

recent events...

For the past few days I have been all over northern Israel, visiting katusha hit sites, talking to victims, hospital staff and emergency services. We have seen the missiles drop, heard the explosions next to us, and sat in the shelters.

While visiting a locale NGO, I met an intern from the US, who told me that her school, which is funding here internship, has requested her to leave Israel, since they deem it to be too dangerous. I asked her where she goes to school, and she replied Columbia law school. This surprised me, since I’m also am getting funding from Columbia… they probably don’t read my blog and have no idea what I’m up to ;)

In the good-news department, I got emails from my friends in Lebanon, who have all made it out safely. I have received several emails asking if I’m worried I will be called up for reserve duty. You can all rest at ease, I’m not worried. I seriously doubt the IDF needs me or even wants me anymore…. Anyways, what I’m doing for HRW is more dangerous, chasing missiles like a nutter.

I became a little concerned at one site, when I noticed that the journalists and rescue workers all had helmets and flack-jackets on, and there I am, with sunglasses and a camera. Oh well…

Here are some picts from the events:

News from the front

Today I went up to northern Israel, to investigate the effects of Hezbollah shelling of Israel. I think it is important to state from the beginning, that while I may by physically on the Israeli side, it does not mean that I blindly support this side or another.

The human tragedy is at the core of these events and my reflections. I do not whish to get into a debate of whose fault this tragedy is, since I believe all sides are at fault, but rather describe what I see. As usual, the victims are those held hostage and manipulated by external powers. By sharing my experiences I hope to show the human suffering behind the stories we read in the media.

I learned that a fellow SIPA student is in Beirut, with his own Blog, it out for the story from the oter side.






Houses hit by Katusha in the town of Nahria



A car hit by a nearby Katusha in the town of Nahria

Flight Delayed

I was supposed to leave for Thailand this Wednesday, but that will be delayed due to recent events in the Middle East.

You may have heard of the recent kidnappings of IDF soldiers by Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Katyushas that have been launched at Israel, and the Israeli response in Lebin Lebanon. Never a dull moment…

As most of you know, I am working with Human Rights Watch over the summer in Israel/OPT, helping with research. I was asked to stick around a bit longer to help out, and couldn’t say no.

Crazy Muppets….

Last night I went to Tel Aviv with Freya (on an evening off from her internship in Ramala) to see one of my many gifted cousins perform.

Ari’s particular talent is puppetering, and he is part of a puppet-human band called Pupet Folk Revival.

His show includes puppet led cover version of such classics as Dylan, Cash, CCR, Jonnie Mitchell, Beatles et al. If the Doors classic “The End” isn’t psychedelic enough, imagine it coming from Kermit the frog…

This was the finale show in Tel Aviv before the big European road tour. If you can, definitely well worth checking out.

Summer Part II

I spent the week with my little brother in Turkey, mostly in Istanbul & Ankara. Ankara is well described as the “Albany” of Turkey, not very much to see or do there. However, I was there with my former roommate from NY, so I got to experience it not as a tourist but as a local “Ankarali”.

As for Istanbul, it is a very interesting combination of the Middle East and Eastern Europe. I felt as though I should be speaking more Arabic, while drinking coffee, smoking shesha, and visiting mosques, yet very few people there speak Arabic (not surprising really, considering that they are not Arab but Turk).

All in all I had good time, enjoying good coffee, markets and Turkish bath-houses (an admirable Roman legacy).

As always, here are some picts….
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/fox_sipa/album?.dir=/7106scd&urlhint=actn,ren%3as,57%3af,0

Summer Part I

I started my summer in Israel, interning for Human Rights Watch. In addition to the normal work stuff, I also got to travel around the West Bank (aka, the OPT) and hang out on the beach :)

In addition to meeting friends from SIPA who are in the neighborhood, I also meet old friends from Israel that I hadn’t seen since I left. One of the absolute highlights was the Roger Waters concert (formally of PinkFloyed) who played the entire album “Dark Side of the Moon” and other greatest hits. Good times…

Here are some of the picts:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/fox_sipa/album?.dir=/d1ddscd&urlhint=actn,ren%3as,1%3af,0

Denver 2006

Moving right along, I went to Denver to celebrate Passover with my brother and his family, and to get in a little snowboarding on the Rockies with my cousin Kristin.

Once again, here are some picts :

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/fox_sipa/album?.dir=2a2ascd&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos

Winter Break 2006

Yeah, so I went down to Florida to warm my cold bones during winter break. After a week of sitting on my uncle’s couch (very comfortable) watching HD-TV (very big) drinking beer (very good) I decided to rent a car and head down to Miami beach. Here are the picts:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/fox_sipa/album?.dir=382dscd&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/fox_sipa/my_photos

Where to begin? I think I will start from my twenties. I finished my undergrad studies (PoliSci & East Asian studies) at Hebrew University in Israel in July 2005, and continued to an MA straight after at Columbia University in New York, in the Human Rights program at SIPA.

During 2005-6 I lived in New York, and here are some picts I took during the year:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/fox_sipa/album?.dir=8c56scd&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos

Enjoy!!

In the Beginning

Ok, I think I figured this out….

I guess the main purpose of this entire endeavor is to share pictures (mostly) and experiences with people. I don’t plan on boring you all with long ranting monologues on the meaning of life, how the sun apparently does shine out of my ass, or other boring insights. What I do intend to happen is to set up a place where people I meet along the way can get an update, see some pictures, and post a shout-out.

Hopefully, this thing will work out for the benefit of humanity, and not end up just another waste of cyber-space 

So here we go…..