I'm leaving Christmas Eve morning for Jerusalem. Mark (my new best mate) and I are going to walk to Bethlehem for a Christmas Mass in a shepherd's field with the people from the convent. Then on Christmas day we'll have dinner at the convent to celebrate Christmas before heading out of Israel for Egypt. Here's the game plan...

Two days ago a soldier was stabbed to death in Calandia, the check point I use to enter and exit Ramallah. Of course, the result was that the check point temporarily closed and the occupational grip tightened. A reminder that daily life here is different from what I am used to.

I had to renew the visa I was given upon entering Israel, so I figure if I had to go to Jordan to do that, I may as well make a trip out of it and see Petra. I definitely did get a good adventure out of it, but didn’t quite make it to Petra (well, I kind of did). It’s a great story…

I have arrived in Palestine. Actually I got here a week ago. I’m just not feeling terribly inspired to write. The overland trip from Paris to here was fabulous, though a bit exhausting. Everyday I was packing my bag yet again and heading off to the next point on my route. And this is the Middle East: things move, just terribly slowly!

This should have been the first entry. I was lazy and sent it as a group email, so you have probably already read it. It's here anyway.

Paris to Vienna. Vienna to Budapest. Budapest to Bucuresti. Bucuresti to Sofia. And that's only the beginning. This is day five, and already I've seen more than I know what to do with...

A few days left in Italy. My teaching finished Friday and today is Tuesday. I’ve gone through all my stuff.

I suppose that I should have thought twice about how popular a destination Lago di Como is. Then I would have realized that there must be a good reason for it being in every guide book and given copious pages of attention. But not me. I just expected a pretty lake. What a shock it was to first behold the natural and created beauty of that place.

This has been, probably, the best summer I can ever remember. I won’t ignore the difficult moments, but I’ve never been so conscious of my own growth, of self-discovery.