As best as I can tell:

Monday, June 21st: Depart Seattle for Frankfurt, Germany

Tuesday, June 22nd: Arrive in Frankfurt after layovers in New York City and Reykjavik, Iceland.  Hang out overnight.

Wednesday, June 23rd: Hitchhike from Frankfurt to Berlin.

Thursday, June 24th to Saturday, June 26th: Berlin, Germany.  Highlights being the Jewish Museum and a bike tour of Nazi Berlin (which reminds me, I need to make a reservation for that . . . ).

Sunday, June 27th: Hitchhike from Berlin, Germany to Krakow, Poland.

June 28th-29th: Krakow.  Tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and the old Jewish Quarter.

June 30th-July 1st: Hitchhike from Krakow to Istanbul, Turkey.  This could take more than two days . . . we’ll see what happens.

Friday, July 2nd-Monday, July 5th: Istanbul, Turkey.  Also, celebrate America.

Tuesday, July 6th: Fly from Istanbul to Athens for an 18-hour layover—just enough time to see the Acropolis.  Bonus!

Wednesday, July 7th: Fly from Athens to Cairo.

Thursday July 8th-???: Cairo, Egypt.  I don’t have anything set in stone between then and the Sabeel conference, which starts . . .

Wednesday, July 21st-Sunday, August 1st: The climax of my trip, a ten-day conference with Sabeel, a Palestinian Christian group based in Jerusalem.

Monday, August 1st: Fly from Amman, Jordan to Chicago, Illinois, then home to Seattle!

I will be at the Seattle-Tacoma Int’l Airport waiting for my flight to New York City, where I will connect to a flight to Reykjavik, Iceland, where I will connect to yet another flight to Frankfurt, Germany.

There is much to do in the meantime.  I’m currently at home in Vancouver.  Today I graduated from SPU with a BA in Theology.  Now I need to get things set up with my bank, buy a journal, catch up with a couple old friends, finish a few books, fill a prescription for typhoid pills . . . logistical things.  I’m hoping to fly by the seat of my pants a little bit on this trip (that’s part of the fun!), but I do want to have enough things planned out so that I’m safe.

I confess that I am looking forward to this time alone.  Time to orient myself a bit more in this world and gain confidence in my own ability to move in it.

I’m also debating whether or not to trim my beard at all for the next couple months.  Having a big beard has the disadvantage of making you less likely to get picked up while hitchhiking, but the advantage of making you less likely to look like somebody who can be taken advantage of.  Hmm . . . decisions decisions.

Well, it’s time to kick this thing off for real.  This is a little blog I’ve set up to record and reflect on my trip to the Middle East this summer!  I’ve told many of you about this already, but this is really going to be THE place to keep track of me during my travels.

Information about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the reason I’m going on this trip, is here.

Information about my trip here.

Lastly, would you consider sponsoring a day of my trip?  The deal is that a day is $25, and I’ll write you a letter on the day you choose to sponsor!  My itinerary isn’t quite nailed down yet, but don’t let that stop you.  I’ll be in Berlin, Krakow (Auschwitz), Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Galilee, Amman (Jordan), Cairo, and Istanbul.  Pick a city in the meantime and we’ll work out the specifics later.  More information about sponsorship is here.

Welcome to my trip!  I’m excited to have you along for the ride.

This is my blog about my trip to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  That’s kind of an odd way of putting it, but if you look around you’ll start to understand what I mean.

Good news: I got second place in an academic paper competition through the American Academy of Religion!  The paper compared and contrasted Palestinian and Jewish Liberation Theology, represented by Naim Ateek and Marc Ellis respectively.

Better news: the dean of the School of Theology asked me to present my argument at department’s next faculty meeting!  This is a big opportunity for me because it will also give me a chance to discuss (and hopefully raise money!) for this trip.

I’m very excited, but also extremely nervous.  I respect and admire my professors very much and being in the same room with all of them at once will be very intimidating.  Yikes.  I’ll let you know how it goes.