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During my time as an intern at SPNI I have emerged with knowledge that I can carry throughout my environmental studies, particularly with topics associated with community participation and engagement. My experiences at SPNI also have ignited a new interest in community gardens because of the potential they have to bolster and change community in […] I was reading the article, “Jerusalem’s Unique Climate,” that Yvonne posted in her blog post. I wished the author had included the “Figure 1” to which he refers to show that the climate of Jerusalem is very close to ideal. But I agree with his point: I will miss the weather here. In 48+ hours, […] There were several occasions when strangers tried to have a conversation with me, recognizing that I was Japanese. And I was very uncomfortable and scared every time. At first, I wondered if I was afraid of men in general, which I realized immediately is not true because I have no problem with male professors at […] If I were creating a country nowadays I would probably have everyone serve mandatory military service. I mean, it’s a smart move, right? Think about it. If everyone above a certain age has served, the entire country has common ground, a shared traumatic experience. It builds a strong sense of trust, loyalty and nationalism. It […] Though our course was focused on Jerusalem, we were fortunate enough to be able to travel around Israel a bit in our free time. This mostly means taking the bus Tel Aviv. It is cheap (~30 shekels round trip, which is about $8) and the bus ride is an easy 50 minutes. We went a […] The first impression of the Old City can seem like wandering around an “authentic market”, with thousands upon thousands of scarves and cloths, jewelry, and sweets stands. But the more time I spend walking down the streets of the Christian and Muslim quarters, the more I have come to realize that what is being sold […] A memo for dear Asians who are traveling and/or staying in Jerusalem: 1. You will receive freebies from both Arabs and Israelis 2. You will receive compliments every day i.e. “Chinese Barbie” 3. You’re new name is Ni-hao 4. You will be touched wherever you go 5. You will feel like you are in […] Every lunch time, my coworker and I walk to the student center to enjoy the sun and enjoy our lunch. During our daily walks, we insert one shekel into a Mentos machine and get exactly three mentos (assorted and sometimes not). We then cut through the garden and enter the four story student center. We […] The other day me and Gloria were at the Shouk and this lazy from South Africa came and sat next to us as we were waiting for Lily to come out from her shopping spree with a puppy in her arms. She started to tell us that the puppy, who had a collar on its […] |