Gibraltar is an odd place. It’s tiny and most of the space is taken up by a massive rock in the middle of the peninsula, namely the Rock of Gibraltar. “The name Gibraltar is the Spanish derivation of the Arabic name Jabal Ṭāriq (جبل طارق), meaning “Mountain of Tariq” (Wikipedia). It’s a British Overseas Territory,…
Reason 404 Why I Love Morocco: I can sit in a crowded taxi with my arm around a strange man and his hand on my knee without all the Western fears of male/male intimacy.
After nearly three long months, we’re finally through the training process. We’re official Peace Corps volunteers! The swearing in ceremony was lovely. It’s hard to believe I won’t be around these lovely folks again for some time.
On Friday, we went to a bath house to experience a Turkish bath. There is no bath, per se, at least in the Western understanding. Rather, the term refers to the way one is washed and massaged by an attendant from head to toe. We were a bit nervous. We had looked at several, but…
As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. –The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka The trip having been so long and having seen so many wonderful things, I had completely forgotten Franz Kafka grew up in Prague. He was not even on my radar, to…
Reason 604 Why I Love Morocco: A man can look definitively masculine despite wearing what the West might see as a dress.
Am I a tourist? What makes a tourist a tourist? How long must one live in a place to not be a tourist? Is it merely a state of mind, or something more substantial? If I wasn’t born in a particular place, will I forever be a tourist there? I have done my fair share of…
There are several sites around Istanbul that serve as memorial sites for religious leaders. Some are elaborate familial shrines that entomb several generations. Some are more like simple graveyards. Several of the dates we notices were from long, long ago. As an American, it’s odd to see things dated from 1289. It’s a good reminder…
Athens is angry, it seems. It’s a tempered anger, for the most part, but it is lies always below the surface. One always has the feeling of underlying tension, not with each other, but with people and social systems in power. This is most evident in the ubiquitous graffiti. In Greece, especially in major cities…
